[_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.
[Illustration: 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.
After studying the relations between the various groups of endogens,
the trees and weeds of the apetalous division of exogens were next
considered, and through _Ranunculaceæ_ connected with polypetalous
dicotyledons. These latter were classified according to whether the
parts of the flower were hypogenous, perigynous, or epigynous. These
terms signify, respectively, under the pistil, around the pistil, and
on the pistil. In this group the rose family presented several
modifications of the pistil, according to which it was divided into
tribes.
When the group of _Gamopetalæ_ was studied, _Solanaceæ_, the
nightshade family, with its regular flower, and _Labiatæ_, or mint
family, with irregular flower, were taken as types with superior
ovaries. Various modifications from these types were found in several
families.
_Ericaceæ_, the heath family, presented, in its suborders of
_Ericineæ_, _Pyroleæ_, and _Monotropeæ_, which had superior ovaries,
and _Vacciniæ_, which had inferior ovaries, an intermediate order
between the preceding _superæ_ and following _inferæ_, of which latter
group _Campanulaceæ_ was considered a type.
The relations between many families were traced, and the _Compositæ_
were lastly considered, this family showing the greatest
differentiation with its coalescence of circles, adnation of different
circles, reduction in parts, and number of individuals brought
together. The greatest deviation from a simple flower and a
complexity of structure were here presented. Through the co-operation
of parts these flowers were of high physiological efficiency.
Throughout the course, families of medicinal or other economic value,
or such as presented evidences of adaptation for cross-fertilization,
dissemination of seed, life in desert regions, or contained examples
of parasiticism or many poisonous genera, were incidentally
considered.
Carefully made illustrated notebooks, collections of dried specimens,
and other evidences of interest in the course were shown by the
teachers, who gained great facility in placing an unknown flower in
its proper family without the use of a key or botany.
The next set of lessons in the botanical series consisted of the usual
number (fifteen) on cryptogamic botany. This was perhaps the course
which was the most difficult of presentation; but, notwithstanding,
much dried and fresh material, representing chiefly the higher
cryptogams, was distributed among the pupils and examined by them.
The fourth and last year of the series was spent on paleobotany. This
was a somewhat novel and valuable course, which was particularly
appreciated by those who had studied geology and paleontology in other
classes of the school. A large amount of laboratory material was
provided from the museum. The duplicate fossil specimens of the
society were used by the class, and ninety determined species were
figured by many members. Since the close of these lessons persons who
have shown throughout the four years a satisfactory knowledge of
botany and have passed the examinations, in the most exhaustive course
ever given in the subject for teachers, have received certificates
stating their qualifications.
[Illustration: GEORGE H. BARTON.]
In the spring of 1887, owing to a suggestion made by Professor W. O.
Crosby and to assistance furnished by him, a private course of
instruction was arranged by Prof. G. H. Barton, of the Institute of
Technology, for a series of lessons in field geology. Twenty-one
persons, nearly all of whom had attended Professor Crosby's course in
The Teachers' School of Science, took these lessons with great
enthusiasm. The series of lessons was continued in the autumn, with
the addition of twelve new members to the class. From this beginning
has grown the systematic course of field instruction in geology now
carried on as one of the regular courses. As at present conducted, it
consists of a series of lessons in the autumn and spring of each year,
so arranged as to give detailed instruction in methods of observation
covering a range through all portions of the subject, embracing
mineralogy, lithology, structural geology, historical geology, and
physiography.
[Illustration: TEACHERS' SCHOOL OF SCIENCE. FIELD CLASS IN GEOLOGY.
PROF. GEORGE H. BARTON, INSTRUCTOR.]
The method pursued is as follows: The class is taken to a typical
place for illustrating the subject in hand. The area to be studied is
pointed out, and then for a half hour or so the class is asked to make
observations unassisted by the instructor and with as little
communication among themselves as possible. Then they are called
together and questions are asked to draw out the results of their
observations, free discussion being invited at this time, and
questions from the class answered by the instructor. Then the
instructor explains the phenomena studied, and finally gives a general
lecture upon the particular subject involved. Notes, taken in the
field, are carried home and rewritten and then handed in at the next
lesson, to be corrected and returned later. A printed synopsis is
furnished each member of the class at every lesson, for which payment
is made sufficient to cover the cost of the printing. Each member is
also required to be provided with a hammer, chisel, and compass.
The course of instruction begins with a discussion of the general
principles of erosion, and one lesson each is given at places
illustrating an excess of chemical and mechanical action. At Medford a
very broad dike of coarsely crystalline diabase, penetrated by
numerous cracks, furnishes an exceptionally good opportunity for the
observation of rapid chemical decomposition, an almost complete
gradual transition being shown from the fresh unaltered rock through
all degrees of decomposition to the formation of soil. The cause of
the decomposition is explained, with the resulting products, and the
history of the latter is traced till they form parts or the whole of a
new rock. A drumlin is seen, at Great Head, Winthrop, being undermined
and worn away by the waves. By comparison with other drumlins in the
neighborhood, the original form of Great Head can be easily restored
mentally and the effect of waves and currents upon a coast can be
readily appreciated. In an excursion to North Adams and rides over the
Hoosac Mountains and to the summit of Greylock, rivers are seen in
their various stages of action, the cutting backward by the cascade
action, the cutting downward of torrent action, and the more quiet
transportation and final deposition of the streams passing through the
lower levels and approaching the sea. From the sides of Hoosac and
Greylock the surface of the Massachusetts plateau is seen, with its
dissection by the Berkshire and Deerfield Valleys, illustrating the
broad effects of erosion over the surface of the continent.
Passing next to a discussion of the disposition of the material that
is derived by erosion from the land, a lecture upon the sorting action
of water is given, and the resultant beds of gravel, sand, and clay
are studied in a section cut by the Fitchburg Railroad through the
sand plateau at Lake Walden, in Concord.
The next step is to study these products of deposition in their
consolidated forms. At Parker Hill, Roxbury, a large quarry furnishes
opportunity for the study of conglomerate, special attention being
paid to the means of determination of stratification in a nearly
homogeneous, coarse material. Here also is a large section in a
drumlin left in a nearly vertical face by excavation about twenty
years ago, and now illustrating finely the action of rain during the
years. This forms an instructive contrast with the marine erosion of
Great Head, Winthrop. Any one of the numerous slate quarries at
Somerville serves the purpose of studying stratification in a fine,
homogeneous material. In each of these three last-named places the
various phenomena of stratified rocks are studied, such as
unconformity, cross-bedding, ripple-marks, strike, and dip, but
attention is confined more especially to the original structures,
subsequent structures being left for later lessons.
Eruptive rocks are then taken up and studied in respect to their
origin and original structures. The quarries near Winter Hill, in
Somerville, furnish an admirable opportunity to study dikes. Here a
small hill of slate is intersected by three series of dikes of
different character and intersecting each other at various angles,
enabling a determination of their relative ages. An intrusive bed, now
separated from its parent dike by erosion, affords the means of
comparing the characteristics of the two forms and of tracing out the
relation between them. The inclined positions of the dike and bed and
the numerous quarries furnish several sections in varying relations to
the two. The various dikes and the inclined position of the inclosing
slate give an excellent chance for the first instruction in the making
of geological maps and sections. Notes are taken for this purpose, and
both maps and sections are constructed and handed in at a later date.
At Marblehead Neck various other eruptive structures, such as flow
structure, ancient ash-beds, etc., are seen in the felsite, of which
many varieties occur there. Attention is especially called to the
liability of mistaking flow structure for stratification, the
similarities and differences being explained. At Marblehead Neck,
also, a careful study is made of the formation of pebbles, all stages
being shown from the dislodging of fragments from the cliffs by frost
action, the dropping into reach of the waves, the first rounding of
the sharp angles to the subangular outline, and finally the rounding
of the fragment into a complete pebble form.
At Newton Centre a study of contemporaneous beds is made, including
their relations to the inclosing rocks and a comparison of their
characteristics with those of intrusive beds.
Eruptive masses, metamorphic rocks, and vein phenomena are all well
shown at Fitchburg, where Rollstone Hill is an eruptive mass of
granite cutting through the metamorphic mica schists and gneisses, and
the granite in turn is cut by very numerous veins of pegmatite,
abundantly rich in tourmaline crystals and occasionally having beryl.
Glacial structures are next taken up. At Newtonville is studied the
esker and sand plateau, rendered famous by the work of Prof. W. M.
Davis and others; at Clinton an exceptionally fine set of terraces,
and the best example of _roches moutonnées_ near Boston, where a class
can be taught in a very few minutes to recognize that the movement of
the ice sheet must have been from the north toward the south; and at
Stow and Haverhill are studied drumlins.
After this, special attention is devoted to the subsequent structures
of rocks, such as folds, faults, cleavage, joints, etc. Typical
places, as before, are selected for each, and the work carried on in
the same manner. When this course has been entirely accomplished, then
places of greater complexity and where the problems are not quite so
plain are visited, and opportunity is given to exercise the skill or
knowledge already gained.
Following this, a series of lessons is devoted to the study of typical
places illustrating the various historical strata occurring in
Massachusetts; among others, Nahant and Braintree for the Cambrian,
Attleboro for the Carboniferous, Mount Holyoke for the Triassic, Gay
Head for the Cretaceous and Tertiary, Rockport, Martha's Vineyard, and
claypits of Cambridge for the Glacial Champlain.
The work in this course has been marked by enthusiasm, and the
attendance has been very large, reaching a maximum of two hundred and
ten, with an average attendance of seventy-one in the autumn of 1896.
As a direct outcome of this work, and connected with it, several
excursions to distant points have been made by parties under the
charge of Professor Barton during the summer vacations. The most
important of these were the following: A five-days' trip through
western Massachusetts; a seven-weeks' trip to the Pacific coast,
including visits to the Lake Superior copper regions, the Yellowstone
Park, Butte, Montana, Great Shoshone Falls in Idaho, Columbia River,
Mount Hood, Frazer Cañon in British Columbia, the Great Glacier of the
Selkirks, and the Hot Springs at Banff; and two trips through Nova
Scotia, one in 1894 and another in 1898. In each of the latter trips
special attention has been paid to the various kinds of mining coal,
iron, and gold, to the famous mineral localities like Cape Blomidon,
and to the general geology.
Also, connected with this work, a special course of lessons has been
given by Professor Barton each spring to a class from the Boston
Normal School, and many occasional lectures and field lessons to the
classes of the State Normal School at Framingham, and at other
schools, teachers' clubs, etc. During the Boston exhibition of the
cyclorama of the volcano of Kilauea, Hawaii, over three hundred
teachers and a large number of schools visited that exhibition and
listened to personal lectures by Professor Barton in direct connection
with the work of The Teachers' School of Science.
Owing to the request of members of the field class, a private class
was organized in the winter for a course of twelve lessons in
mineralogy. This proving successful, and a demand for laboratory work
being shown, this work was incorporated as a distinct course in the
school. It was during the early part of this work that Professor
Barton introduced for the first time in The Teachers' School of
Science the system of daily and final examinations--a system since
followed as the general practice of the school and now considered as
one of its most fundamental features.
This course, after various experiments, has finally developed into a
definite four-years' course of instruction, at the end of which those
members who have met all the requirements receive the diploma of the
school. The full four-years' course is designed to give a thorough
training in the fundamental principles of geological science. Each
year is given a series of fifteen lessons of two hours each, partly
laboratory, partly lecture, and fully illustrated with specimens and
diagrams. The first year's work is devoted to mineralogy. One
introductory lecture is given on the principles of chemistry as the
basis of understanding the composition of minerals, and the four
following lessons are devoted to a study of the physical properties,
mainly crystallography. During the remaining lessons, about one
hundred and fifty of the commonest mineral species are studied, the
class being required to learn to recognize each species and be able to
tell its composition.
The second year's work with lithology is carried on largely in the
same way as with mineralogy. At first a brief review is made of the
most important rock-forming minerals. Then all the commoner species of
rocks are taken up and studied, so as to learn to recognize each
species at sight and to tell its composition. Besides this, lectures
are given upon the origin of the rocks and the derivation of their
component materials, involving a large amount of dynamical geology.
During the third and fourth years are taken up, respectively,
structural and historical geology. Both these subjects are taught
largely by lectures, illustrated by charts and diagrams, a select set
of specimens for the table, and a few such specimens as can be passed
around the room. In the historical geology special care is taken to
furnish for class use as many specimens as possible of the typical
rocks and fossils of the various ages. It is nearly impossible to
provide so abundantly, however, as for mineralogy and lithology. As
regards examinations, the methods used are as follows: The first half
hour of each exercise is taken up with answering questions or
identifying specimens, the examinations in all cases being written.
The ground covered by each examination includes all that has been gone
over during that year previous to the examination. After the
examination is finished, the instructor briefly answers and explains
the questions. The papers so handed in are marked by the instructor
and returned the following week. All of this serves to enable the
class to keep a comprehensive grasp of the subject constantly in hand.
At the end of each year's work a final examination of three hours in
length is given, covering the complete subject. The final rank given
each member is made up equally from an average of the term's work and
the final examination. This course has proved decidedly popular. The
instruction was originally given in the Geological Department of the
Institute of Technology, in a room adapted to seating thirty-six
persons. This was gradually crowded to accommodate fifty-six persons.
At the beginning of the last four-years' course the number of the
applications was so large that each applicant was required to sign a
printed statement promising to be present at all exercises for the
four years, except for good and sufficient reasons. One hundred and
seventeen persons gave the required promise. In order to meet this
demand, two divisions were formed, and on each Saturday afternoon the
same lesson was repeated. In order to defray the additional expense of
the second division the members of the class voluntarily contributed
three dollars each. The labor of repeating the lessons on the same
afternoon proving too great, provision was made the second year to
transfer the instruction to the large lecture hall of the Natural
History building, where accommodations were made for one hundred and
twelve students. The work has since been carried on there, and a
complete new set of specimens, diagrams, etc., is gradually being
obtained.
The membership of the class is, of course, principally made up from
Boston and the towns immediately surrounding, but a few come from
places as far distant as towns in Connecticut and Rhode Island, from
Bridgewater, Scituate, Framingham, Fitchburg, Lowell, Lawrence, and
Beverly.
One member of the class has made an exhaustive study of the granites
of eastern Massachusetts, and others are teaching geology in secondary
schools outside of Boston.
An important and influential outcome of the first lessons of Mr.
Barton was the formation, in the fall of 1888, of the Barton Chapter
of the Agassiz Association, by seven ladies who had been
fellow-students in mineralogy. Later, men and other ladies who had
attended Mr. Barton's field lessons were invited to join. For ten
years this club has flourished, and held weekly evening meetings for
nine months of the year, at which the members have done much
systematic work in the study of geology, mineralogy, chemistry,
botany, entomology, and zoölogy. At some of the sessions the
individual members have taken their share of the work by the preparing
of exhaustive papers which have been read to and discussed by the
class, and sometimes a series of lessons has been given by specialists
in the several departments. Many of the first scientists of Boston
have aided this association by the giving of lectures and advice
regarding courses of lessons and opportunities for study, while the
club has in return been a great benefactor to many who sought its
instruction and the association of those with like tastes. In
arranging regular Saturday outings for the study of field geology and
botany, this club was the pioneer in this vicinity of the kind of
study which happily now seems to be fast becoming popular. A number of
persons who were members of this association in their younger years
are now holding positions in the United States Geological Survey or
other departments of the Government, or in the capacity of curator or
instructor are connected with large museums, colleges, or schools in
different parts of the country, thereby having opportunities to
continue their favorite lines of work, to spread a knowledge of the
things about them, and to induce in others tastes such as were
fostered in them while connected with the Barton Chapter of the
Agassiz Association.
[Illustration: FIELD CLASS IN ZOÖLOGY. LOOKING FOR SHORE LIFE AMONG
THE BOWLDERS AT WOODS HOLE.]
Since closing the four-years' course in botany Dr. Greenleaf has
repeated the lessons on vegetable morphology and physiology and those
on systematic botany. Finding the class not so well prepared as in
former years, instead of continuing the third course of the series, he
has given a set of fifteen lessons on the elementary structure and
function of flowering plants, as he believed that course to be a
necessary foundation for further botanical study.
Another feature of The Teachers' School of Science should not remain
unnoticed. It consists of effective work in zoölogy and geology by Mr.
A. W. Grabau, the official guide in the museum and a graduate student
of geology. A course of lessons on The Shore Animals of New England
was begun by him in April, 1897. Directly connected with these field
lessons was held a class in laboratory work, which was attended by
about twenty persons.
The next year Mr. Grabau endeavored to give his audience a
comprehensive view of the action of cold and heat, of winds and waves,
rain and rivers, and of the chemical effect of the atmosphere in the
production of the natural features of the earth's surface, by giving
eight lectures on The Surface of the Earth, its Rocks, Soils, and
Scenery. Special attention was given to the scenery of New England,
and this awakened an interest in local scenery, which interest led to
Mr. Grabau giving several lectures in surrounding towns, under local
auspices. One of these lectures called the attention of the people of
Arlington, Massachusetts, to the fact that they had in their midst a
valuable geological monument, and led them to start a movement for the
preservation of a terminal bowlder moraine on Arlington Heights, which
is the only good accessible example of such moraine near Boston.
Under the same instruction ten lessons were given on the use of the
microscope and the preparation of specimens of hydroids.
The work begun at the winter lectures was continued during the spring
by excursions to the seashore. The beaches of Revere, Swampscott,
Marblehead; the cliffs and tide pools of Nahant, Marblehead Neck, and
Nantasket, and the mud flats and piles of Beverly, were explored. One
excursion was made to the outer shore of Cape Cod and Buzzards Bay.
The party spent four days on this excursion.
During the early part of the summer an outing was made to Bayville,
Maine, where a laboratory was furnished, with microscopes and other
accessories, and fourteen persons (mostly teachers) devoted ten days
to the study of marine fauna, special attention being given to
hydroids. Some geology was studied during this excursion, and a small
island mapped. Those who attended this expedition were delighted with
an experience new to most of them, as many of them had not before
studied zoölogy and knew not what a field could be opened by the study
of natural history. One of the party afterward remarked, "I feel as if
I had been born into a new world, so different are these things in
their homes from their representations in books."
In the autumn and following spring field lessons were given on marine
zoölogy, the object being to study animals in their natural habitats.
Another excursion was made to Woods Hole, Buzzards Bay, and a summer
laboratory established for ten days at Goldsborough, Maine, where work
similar to that done the previous summer was here carried out. Among
the field lessons of the spring of 1899 was an excursion of four days'
duration to Cuttyhunk, one of the Elizabeth Islands, where there was
an opportunity to study a marine fauna southern in character and
different from that found on the Maine coast. On the afternoon of
Agassiz's birthday a sail was taken to another of this group of
islands--Penikese, the site of the famous summer school. In the
evening the class of seventeen persons listened to the reading of
selections from the life of Agassiz, poems regarding him, and magazine
articles describing events connected with the great meeting in the
summer of 1873. The next day an excursion was made to Gay Head,
Martha's Vineyard, where the afternoon was spent in studying the
wonderfully colored clay cliffs and in searching for fossils. As an
outcome of Mr. Grabau's field lessons the Hale House Natural History
Club was formed. This club consists of teachers and other persons who
have banded together for the study of natural history. Meetings are
held twice a month, and similar classes have been formed for children
of the neighborhood.
The Teachers' School of Science has been of great assistance to the
Boston Normal School by furnishing certain of its pupils with
instruction in geology and zoölogy.
In 1893 The Teachers' School of Science took part in the exhibition of
elementary science teaching made by certain teachers of the schools of
the eastern part of Massachusetts. The school was enabled to take part
in this public exhibit through the generosity of Mr. T. A. Watson, a
pupil in the school, who paid the necessary expenses.
* * * * *
A collection of articles obtained by the Baron de Baye in a
scientific expedition last year to Siberia and the Russian
Caucasus contains specimens from very ancient times down. Among
them are mammoth bones and chipped flints, like those of the
Mousterian period in France, from the Yenisei; arrowheads, like
the European and American, from the same region; bronze weapons
from the Caucasus; iron arrowheads like those of the Congo;
skulls, weapons and ornaments, necklaces of hard, polished,
pierced stones, from the Kurgans of the steppes, dating from
antiquity down to the beginning of the middle ages; Caucasian
jewels, and ceramic ware ancient and modern. A very curious
object is one of the statues, called Kamenaia Baba, of a kind
supposed to have been set up by the Scythians and always held in
veneration, of which the present specimen is the only one yet
allowed to go out of Russia.