Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 55.djvu/661

Rh preparatory nature, including morphological, structural, and physiological botany.

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