TEACHERS' SCHOOL OF SCIENCE.
By FRANCES ZIRNGIEBEL.
[Concluded.]
Parallel in time with the course in historical geology or paleontology was that in botany, under the leadership of Dr. Robert W. Greenleaf, a Boston physician, who in his student days had assisted Dr. Goodale and was at the time of giving these lessons Professor of Botany and Materia Medica at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. A growing interest in the study of botany in the schools, and Dr. Greenleaf's exceptional ability as a teacher, made the attendance at this class very large. After an hour's lecture the instructor and two assistants directed the observation of the specimens by the students, who were required to make sketches of the objects studied. The first set of lessons was similar to that given in the school by Dr. Goodale several years before, and was of a preparatory nature, including morphological, structural, and physiological botany.
Robert W. Greenleaf.
The introductory lesson dealt with the relation of botany to its various subdivisions and to other studies. The meaning of morphology was illustrated by comparing the four plant members—root, stem, leaf, and plant hair—with the different plant organs, and a practical exercise, with specimens whose parts were sketched and labeled, was given to show that the position and mode of development of a part determine its rank as a member or structural division, while its function may give it quite a different rank as an organ.
A preliminary view of vegetable histology, considering the shape, wall, markings in the wall, and contents of cells, was next given. This was followed by lessons on vegetable physiology, in which the absorption of liquids and gases for the making of food, assimilation, transfer and storage of food, the growth of cells and tissues, the excretion of waste products, special kinds of work, as climbing, catching of insects, etc., reproduction, and the process of metabolism as illustrated in cells, were treated of first in a general way and then elaborated upon in the succeeding lessons. Much time was devoted to the anatomy, histology, and germination of seeds and to the structure and function of root, stem, and leaf. The morphology of fruits and their anatomical classification (profusely illustrated from the fruits of the market and neighboring fields), with a discussion of the contrivances for dissemination of fruits and seeds, furnished subject-matter for both a profitable and interesting lesson.
The last lessons of this set were devoted to the study of the flower and its parts, particularly stamens and pistils, and ended with an explanation of the processes of pollination and fertilization. The work of making vertical and horizontal plans of the flower served as an introduction for the second year's course on Systematic Botany, wherein the relations between the common families of flowering plants were shown. This course was illustrated by numerous hothouse flowers and also by dried specimens, of which one hundred kinds were given to each teacher. This course was given to teachers, many of whom could by means of a key analyze any common flower, but who knew nothing of the principles of plant relationship. The theories of special creation and of evolution were explained, and the theory of descent with variation was taken as a hypothesis.
Starting with this theory of evolution as a basis, the structure of certain families was studied and they were taken as types with which other related families were compared. After a classification of all known flowering plants into gymnosperms and angiosperms, and subdividing the latter into monocotyledons and dicotyledons, the lily family was considered as typical of monocotyledons. It and its related families afforded a simple means of demonstrating the problems under consideration. Members of this family were found to be characterized by having an endogenous stem, usually parallel veined leaves, six-parted perianth free from a three-celled superior ovary, and six stamens. The allied families were shown to agree with the type in the internal or fundamental characters, such as the number of carpels and cells of the ovary, but were found to differ in the more external or environmental characters, such as the arrangement of the parts of the perianth.