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The laboratory exercise immediately precedes the textbook discussion, the latter being used to clear up any false inferences the pupil may have made from the specimen in hand and to fix the object of the problem in the mind of the pupil. Too often has a laboratory exercise meant nothing to a pupil but "busy work." A plainly outlined and organized plan of attack, a few references to the text or to previous work performed, and a definite problem will result in better and more definite laboratory work. For use with this book a manual for the solution of laboratory problems has been prepared by my coworker, Mr. R. W. Sharpe. The problems to be solved with the aid of the manual are in boldface italics. It is neither expected or desirable that a pupil take all of the problems so indicated in a year's course.

Two styles of type have been used in the text. The larger type contains material which is believed to be of first importance, the smaller type the less important topics. The manuscript was read in its entirety by Professor H. E. Walter of Brown University. To him I owe sincere thanks for many helpful criticisms and suggestions.

Acknowledgments are due to Miss A. P. Hazen, Head of the Department of Biology in the Eastern District High School; to H. G. Barber, E. A. Bedford, R. E. Call, John E. McCarthy, C. F. Morse, and R. W. Sharpe of the De Witt Clinton High School; Mr. C. W. Beebe, Curator of Birds, New York Zoölogical Park; W. P. Hay, Head of the Department of Biology and Chemistry of the Washington, D.C., High Schools; and Professor A. E. Hill of New York University, for their careful reading and criticism of parts or all of the proof.

Thanks are due, also, to Professor E. B. Wilson, Professor G. N. Calkins, Mr. William C. Barbour, Dr. John A. Sampson, W. C. Stevens, and C. W. Beebe, Dr. Alvin Davison, and Dr. Frank Overton; to the United States Department of Agriculture; the New York Aquarium; the Charity Organization Society; the Folmer and Schwing Company, Rochester, N.Y.; and the American Museum of Natural History, for permission to copy and use certain photographs and cuts which have been found useful in teaching. My acknowledgments are also due to Mr. A. C. Doane of the Central High School, Grand Rapids, Mich., for permission to use

extracts from his excellent article in School Science on the effects of Alcohol. R. W. Coryell and J. W. Tietz, two of my former pupils, made several of the photographs of experiments.

At the end of each of the following chapters is a list of books which have proved their use either as reference reading for students or as aids to the teacher. Most of the books mentioned are within the means of the small school. Two sets are expensive: one, The Natural History of Plants, by Kerner, translated by Oliver, published by Henry Holt and Company, in two volumes, at $11; the other, Plant Geography upon a Physiological Basis, by Schimper, published by the Clarendon Press, $12; but both works are invaluable for reference.

For a general introduction to physiological biology, Parker, Elementary Biology, The Macmillan Company; Sedgwick and Wilson, General Biology, Henry Holt and Company; and Verworn, General Physiology, The Macmillan Company, are most useful and inspiring books.

Two books stand out from the pedagogical standpoint as by far the most helpful of their kind on the market. No teacher of botany or zoölogy can afford to be without them. They are: Lloyd and Bigelow, The Teaching of Biology, Longmans, Green, and Company, and C. F. Hodge, Nature Study and Life, Ginn and Company. Other books of value from the teacher's standpoint are: Ganong, The Teaching Botanist, The Macmillan Company; L. H. Bailey, The Nature Study Idea, Doubleday, Page, and Company, and McMurry's How to Study, Houghton, Mifflin Company.

I. SOME REASONS FOR THE STUDY OF BIOLOGY

What is Biology? - Biology is the study of living beings, both plant and animal. Inasmuch as man is an animal, the study of biology includes the study of man in his relations to the plants and the animals which surround him. Most important of all is that branch of biology which treats of the mechanism we call the human body, of its parts and their uses, and its repair. This subject we call human physiology.

Why study Biology?— Although biology is a very modern science, it has found its way into most high schools; and an increasingly large number of boys and girls are yearly engaged in its study. The question might well be asked by any of these students, Why do I take up the study of biology? Of what practical value is it to me? Aside from the discipline it gives me, is there anything that I can take away which will help me in my future life as a boy or girl with only a high school education?

Human Physiology. The answer to this question is plain. If the study of biology will give us a better understanding of our own bodies and their care, then it certainly is of use to us. That phase of biology known as physiology deals with the uses of the parts of a plant or animal; human physiology and hygiene deal with the uses and care of the parts of the human animal. The prevention of sickness is due in a large part to the study of hygiene. It is estimated that 400,000 out of the 1,600,000 deaths that occur yearly in this country could be averted if only all people lived in a hygienic manner. In its application to the lives of each of us, as a member of our family, as a member of the school we attend, and as a future citizen, a knowledge of hygiene is of the greatest importance.

Relations of Plants to Animals. But there are other reasons why an educated person should know something about biology. We do not always realize that if it were not for the green plants, there would be no animals on the earth. Green plants furnish

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