In Lycopodineae, Lycopodium and Selaginella (or Isoetes). f Gymnosperms. Pinus or equivalent.

g Angiosperms. A monocotyledon and a dicotyledon, to be studied with reference to the homologies of their parts with those in the above groups; together with representative plants of the leading subdivisions and principal families of angiosperms.

Classification should include a study of the primary subdivis ions of the above groups, based on the comparison of the types with other (preferably) living or preserved material. The principal subdivisions of the spermatophytes, grouped on the Engler and Prantl plan, should be understood.

The ability to use manuals for the determination of the species of flowering plants is not considered essential in this course, though it is desirable. It should not be introduced to the exclusion of any other work, but may well be made voluntary work for those showing a taste for it. It should not be limited to learning names of plants, but should be made a study in the plan of classification as well.

The preparation of a herbarium is not required or recommended except as voluntary work for those with a taste for collecting. If made, it should not constitute a simple accumulation of species, but should represent some distinct idea of plant associations, of morphology, of representation of the groups, etc.

SYMPOSIUM

WHAT OUGHT THE HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER IN EACH SCIENCE TO KNOW? WHAT OUGHT HE TO BE ABLE TO DO? WHAT ARE HIS OPPORTUNITIES FOR SELF-IMPROVEMENT?

Prof. Lyman C. Newell-What I shall say will be confined to the last of the three questions to be discussed in this symposium. The third question, "What are his opportunities for selfimprovement?" is important, because it presents so many practical aspects. Perhaps the largest opportunity is access to periodical literature. Magazines devoted to every branch of science are numerous, and no progressive teacher can afford to lose sight of them. It is not always possible to read and digest an article as soon as it appears. Therefore teachers must have some plan of keeping track of helpful articles. Those who have never tried to do this may regard it as an almost impossible operation, but I have not found it so. An hour a month I have found sufficient to enable me to record on cards, about half the

size of an ordinary library catalogue card, the title, etc., of all articles in current magazines which I believe will be helpful. As soon as convenient I read the articles, abstract what seems advisable, or, as often happens, purchase the magazine and file. it away for future use. The cards are filed alphabetically by topics, the simplest word being placed first, though the exact title is always put on the card. Some such plan is necessary if one is to prepare papers and to keep track of discoveries and the progress of principles. I recommend the card system after a trial of nearly 10 years.

A second opportunity for improvement is general reading, specially in one's special field. Teaching is apt to make one narrow. Our daily work does not open many different channels of thought and interest. Many teachers are deplorably uninformed in the different branches of their subject. So important is this matter in the opinion of the New England Association of Chemistry Teachers that a list of books in chemistry has been prepared by them. This list is devoted to the needs of secondary teachers, though others will find it useful. I have brought a number of copies of this list, and they are at your disposal. Additional copies may be obtained of the L. E. Knott Apparatus Co., 16 Ashburton place, Boston Mass. Many books have recently appeared on new subjects which will soon be taught in the secondary schools, and now is the time for teachers to acquaint themselves with the general outlines of these subjects. This is specially true of physical chemistry and electrochemistry. Several books on these subjects are described in the list just mentioned. In addition to the use of printed lists, teachers should not fail to improve themselves by examining new books as soon as they appear. Many hints are obtained from them. In this connection it may be well to state that teachers should keep track of good books. One's circumstances often change; a book not available in one place may be needed elsewhere. To be a serviceable teacher, one must be prepared to adapt one's self readily to new conditions.

A third means of improvement is illustrated by this very meeting. It has been an inspiration to me to meet teachers who

are working in the same line as I, though under different circumstances. In New England we have two science associations, one devoted to chemistry and one to physics. Each has a large membership, and is a source of profit and pleasure to the members. We give and take freely. No one attempts to take without giving in return. The records of the meetings are published in full and are freely distributed.

These three contemporary opportunities for self-improvement may be utilized without adding to our daily burdens, and in time they may become part of our literary recreation.

Prof. Henry R. Linville-I wish to speak of what seems to me to be the difference in value as teachers between the man who has had the conventional college course and the one who has done postgraduate work in a university. If it were possible to find two men of the same capacity, physically and mentally, that could be subjected to the same training up to a certain point, and led into different work after that, I am confident that a practical demonstration of the benefit of thorough work in the best graduate schools could be made. As things are, the comparisons that occur to anyone who thinks on this question are convincing. All of us are familiar with the average college graduate who in the first year after receiving his degree begins his career of teaching. He finds difficulties and in time overcomes them to the satisfaction of himself, his principal and the board. With 10 years of this experience he has made a place for himself in the list of steady and reliable teachers. This man can teach a class in Latin as well as in English or in mathematics, and all of them successfully in a place where the scholar's ideal of good teaching is not likely to be prevalent. Secondary schools are filled with this sort of men, and their presence is responsible for much of the mediocre, humdrum, spiritless work found in these places.

A man who pursues a consistent course of investigation in some special field is being trained (within the limits of his native ability) into the possession of one of the greatest pow ers of the human mind-the power of independent and accurate judgment. Such a man, with a natural capacity for teaching,

can become an immediate force in any institution. He is an abler man than he would have been without his special train. ing. The manifestation of his ability need not be limited to any particular line of work. His judgment has been trained, and the trained judgment may be used in various directions. The teaching of this sort of man has every reason for being characterized by high quality, spirit and inspiration.

When a teacher regards with thorough and intelligent respect the principles of his science, he is undoubtedly in a position to inspire a similar respect for the science in the minds of his pupils. This is the ultimate proof of success.

Saturday afternoon

GENERAL SESSION

STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS

REPORT OF PROGRESS OF THE COMMITTEE

PRESENTED BY PROF. IRVING P. BISHOP

At the meeting of this association held in New York in 1898 the attention of the council was called to certain discrepancies between the facts of physiology taught in the universities and medical schools and those taught in the public schools of the state. As the result of the discussion which followed, a committee of five was appointed "to ascertain and report what is definitely known regarding the effects of alcohol and narcotics on the human body and to recommend suitable methods for teaching the same in the schools of the state." A careful examination of the bibliography of alcohol alone revealed an enormous mass of matter, and a wide difference of statement on almost every point, even among those best qualified to know. As it was known that the Committee of 50 for the Investigation of the Drink Problem, a nonpartizan organization, was conducting original researches, your committee unanimously decided to defer its final report till the material from that source should be available. Recent correspondence with that body shows that the report of the subcommittee on the physiologic and pathologic aspect of the drink problem is now ready, and

that it will be in our hands soon. We present, therefore, certain features of our work which show the progress made to date.

Comparison of textbooks used in medical colleges and in the public schools of the state

To illustrate the discrepancies referred to in the opening lines of this report, we subjoin parallel quotations taken from textbooks used in the medical schools and universities and there considered standard and those in general use in the public schools of the state. With one exception-Hutchinson's-the latter are indorsed by the Women's Christian Temperance Union.1

1A part of the following quotations is taken from the advance sheets of the Report on the Present Instruction in the Physiological Action of Alcohol of the subcommittee of the Committee of 50 for the Investigation of the Drink Problem. Dr H. P. Bowditch, Prof. C. F. Hodge.

STANDARD TEXTS

It may, perhaps, be said with safety that in small quantities it (alcohol) is beneficial, or at least not injurious barring the danger of acquiring the alcohol habit, while in large quantities it is directly injurious to various tissues.2

In practice we find that in many persons a small quantity of alcohol improves digestion; and that by its means a meal can be digested which otherwise would be undigested and so wasted.

In attempting fairly to estimate the action of stimulants, especially of alcohol, one point is of the utmost importance to remember. It is this-alcohol is a food. If alcoholic stimulants were mere disengagers of static force, early exhaustion would be the rule. But as alcohol is a readily oxidizable form of hydrocarbon, it is also a

*Howell. Amer. Textbook of Physiology. Ed. 2. 1900. p. 359.

Fothergill. The Practitioner's Handbook of Treatment. Lond. and N. Y. 1897. p. 688.

SCHOOL TEXTS

Alcohol is not a food or drink. Medical writers, without exception, class alcohol as a poison."

Alcohol is universally ranked among poisons by physiologists, chemists, physicians, toxicologists, and all who have experimented, studied and written upon the subject, and who, therefore, best understand it."

Alcohol also is a poison. It deprives the bones of some of their food, and leaves in place of it, a mineral that makes them more brittle.

As alcohol is a poison, it should not be taken into the stomach. What is a poison? Anything is a poison that harms the body and makes one sick. Alcohol does both." "Is alcohol a food?"

"What do you think about it? (question to the class)-Do you