numerous skeletons and skulls of vertebrates, and microscopic preparations of smaller animals. There are, in addition, a general collection of about 150,000 specimens belonging to the professor, and a collection of about 8,000 species of insects belonging to the experiment station, both of which are accessible to students.

The herbarium contains almost a full representation of the plants of the State, and in addition numerous valuable sets of cryptogamic plants prepared by eminent specialists. These include in greatest number, mosses, hepaticæ, fungi, and lichens, about 25,000 specimens in all. In addition, the agricultural museum contains about 1,200 specimens of grains, grasses, forage plants, woods, etc.

No course in biology is offered.

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA.

CHAPEL HILL, N. C.

The study of biology is begun in the first term of the first year in the science courses. During this term each student devotes 2 afternoons each week to the practical study (in the laboratory or field) of typical animal forms, and there is one weekly lecture which supplements this work. During the second term the class is divided into three sections. One section devotes special attention to microscopic technology, as applied in medicine and surgery. The second section takes up the subjects of general ornithology and taxidermy. In the third section students continue the work in general biology, begun in the first term, by studying in detail higher animal forms.

During the second year three lectures weekly are delivered on physiology. In this, special attention is given to the comparative physiology of respiration and circulation, and frequent demonstrations illustrating many of the fundamental points are given. The second term of this year is divided between zoölogy and botany, three lectures weekly being given to each during half the term. The course in zoology consists largely of practical work, while the course in botany is of an elementary character, intended for those who wish afterwards to do more advanced work.

In the junior and senior years elective laboratory courses are offered in general morphology and embryology, 2 afternoons being devoted to each during one term. Opportunities are also given to those wishing to do advanced work in systematic botany, the work consisting largely of a study of the local flora.

In all of these courses instruction is given mainly by lectures, to which about one-third of the entire time is devoted, the remainder being devoted to laboratory work.

The lecture course is required of all students in the course in arts, philosophy, and science, while the laboratory work is required of scientific students only.

Several rooms are devoted to the uses of a laboratory, the largest being 55 by 16 feet. These are fitted with tables and all necessary apparatus for staining, injecting, and cutting tissues, and with microscopes and a complete outfit for photographing microscopic preparations.

The smaller rooms are for more special work. These are either equipped with apparatus from the general stock or special pieces are purchased as needed.

For entrance no requirements in any branch of science are made, the reason being that the schools of the State furnish little or no preparation in science.

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

PHILADELPHIA, PA.

Few institutions in the country give greater prominence to the study of biology than this. The teaching force in the school of biology alone consists of eight professors and four assistants, and with the large, well-appointed laboratory, and other conveniences and appliances for teaching, the opportunities offered are somewhat unusual. The school has its own faculty and is, to a great extent, a separate department; yet the courses offered are open to all students in any of the other departments of the university, and may enter into any of the courses leading to degrees.

One of the college courses leading to the degree of bachelor of science has been so planned that considerable attention may be given to biology during the whole 4 years. Students applying for admission are required to pass an examination in physics, botany, zoology, and physiology. A special course, occupying 2 years and not leading to a degree, has been planned for the benefit of prospective medical students who are desirous of working in those branches of biology having a more direct bearing upon medicine, and who are unable for any reason to complete the full

course.

The "4-years' course in natural history” begins with a course in general biology, occupying 6 hours weekly through the freshman year. In this, lectures are subordinated to laboratory work, and the entire course is so conducted as to give the student a broad general training, based on, the study of numerous living and preserved forms of plant and animal life, and, along with this, abundant practice in the methods used in biological investigation and training in the delicate manipulations involved. At the beginning of the course considerable time is therefore devoted to the acquisition of careful habits of work and a thorough understanding of the methods and the apparatus employed. During the course those methods are used in the study of about twentyfive organisms, and, in addition, each student is required to present some piece of special work, dissections, diagrams, microscopic preparations, etc., as an evidence of his practical acquaintance with these methods.

In the sophomore year all the scientific courses are elective, those offered in biology being (1) zoölogy, the course occupying 1 hour weekly through the year, (2) a laboratory course of 6 hours weekly running parallel to this, and (3) structural and systematic botany. The course in zoology is general, attention being given first to invertebrates, then to vertebrates. The laboratory course in animal morphology serves to fix the details and give additional practice in methods. The invertebrates are chosen first because of their important bearing upon the problems offered by a study of higher forms, as for example, their relations to the embryology of vertebrates, and in reality the phylogeny of all the organs found in vertebrates. Practical considerations are not overlooked. The life histories of injurious animals, parasitic worms, and insects are presented with sufficient fullness to form a basis for methods of treatment. The study of animals which may serve as food, the methods of breeding and improving varieties, are all considered in the practical course. Vertebrates are considered in the same way, proceeding from the simple to the more complex, sufficient examples being in every case considered to give the student a clear idea of what the vertebrate structure is and what modifications the different organs are subjected to as they pass from the lowly, primitive forms up to those which have diverged in various directions to adapt them to special modes of life.

The course in structural and systematic botany consists of lectures and laboratory work, occupying 5 hours weekly, and so planned as to give the student a knowledge of the most obvious facts and conditions of plant life. The separate organs of plants are first considered, both as regards their gross and minute structure, after which their functions are considered and their relations to the same organs in other plants. General systematic botany, with special reference' to the phanogams, occupies the second half of the sophomore year. In this work the attempt is made to secure the largest results as a means of education. Plants are examined and analyzed in order to exercise the student's powers of observation and generalization. Finding the name of a plant is treated not at all as the aim of the study, but merely as a control, since any erroneous observation is at once detected by the failure to find the name. The study of the various orders and the detection of the unity of plan running through the vegetable kingdom is thus made to depend upon the practical work of each student mainly, only so much being presented in lectures as is necessary to systematize and supplement this work.

During the junior year courses are offered in histology and embryology as well as in structural and cryptogamic botany. To the former course one lecture and 6 hours laboratory work are devoted each week. Instruction is given in the most approved methods of histological technique, and most of the tissues making up the bodies of animals widely separated in the scale are examined. The study of embryology begins

with the cleavage of the egg, and proceeds through the subsequent stages with sufficient minuteness to give the student a fairly complete idea of the different methods of development found in the different animal groups.

The

The botanical work follows that offered in the sophomore year. cryptogamic plants are specially studied, beginning with the lowest and proceeding to the highest forms, with a view to pointing out those principles and relationships which give unity to the whole group of flowerless plants.

During the senior year the student may pursue any of the studies offered in previous years, with physiology in addition, or may follow special advanced courses in vertebrate or invertebrate morphology, mammalian osteology and anatomy, histology and embryology, physiological and economic botany.

The course in physiology occupies 2 hours weekly through the senior year, consisting of lectures and demonstrations. This course is largely practical, being so planned as to give the student an idea of the position, form, and uses of the various organs of the body, and to give him a rational basis for laws of health.

The advanced courses in animal morphology differ from the elementary in being devoted to the investigation of special points in the life history or anatomy of certain animals. The work is therefore purely individual and special, and the instruction given is of an informal nature suited to the special requirements of the case.

The courses in mammalian osteology and anatomy are designed to give a minute knowledge of the skeletons and general structure of the mammalia. Beginning with some familiar example the student puts all the methods of anatomical study into practice until he has made himself master of all the details of its structure. From this he may pass on and consider in a less detailed way forms that are not so familiar.

In the advanced courses in histology and embryology no new features are introduced, save that the work is purely individual, a special line of work being planned for each student and instruction being given in an informal way as required. The botanical work of the senior year consists of physiological and economic botany. This work may be adapted to meet special needs, attention being given to medicinal plants or examination of vegetable foods. In this course, too, students may devote time to the microscopic study of woods, giving attention to the relations existing between the microscopic characters of different woods and their strength, weight, and other qualities of practical valuě.

The laboratory building was erected in 1884. It is a three-story structure, 82 by 47 feet, and contains twenty-eight well-lighted work rooms, besides the necessary lecture rooms, offices, and museum rooms.

The workrooms are supplied with gas and water and with all the apparatus necessary in the work for which they are designed. Compound and dissecting microscopes are provided in sufficient abundance

for each student to have one for his own use, and all other apparatus ordinarily needed is furnished on the same scale.

The museum at present is merely a teaching collection. It contains a large series of skeletons for use in connection with the course in comparative osteology, and a number of alcoholic preparations illustrating various points in the anatomy of vertebrates. Supplementing this is a large collection of models in glass, papier maché, gelatine, and wax, which illustrate the courses in anatomy, histology, and embryology. The museum also contains a large number of mounted and alcoholic specimens of various vertebrate and invertebrate types, which illustrate the course in general zoology. In addition to these may be mentioned a large set of embryos preserved entire, and many others prepared for microscopic study, both vertebrate and invertebrate.

The herbarium is of large size and great value. It includes a set of about 6,000 specimens illustrating the flora of the region about Philadelphia, and about 50,000 specimens from all parts of the world. It also includes most of the native species of ferns, mosses, and lichens, and more than 2,000 species of fungi, all determined by leading authorities.

As further aid in this department there is a greenhouse and a botanical garden, both of sufficient size to furnish material for class work in abundance, and to afford a place for such experiments in vegetable physiology as can not well be made in the laboratory.

UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER.

ROCHESTER, N. Y.

No scientific subjects are required for admission except to the scientific course, in which case an elementary knowledge of botany and physiology is expected Biological instruction is given by means of lectures, laboratory exercises, and recitations. Four distinct courses of biological work are given, and these are placed at different times in the different courses.

A course in general biology gives an introduction to the modern methods of biological research. It includes a study of typical plants and animals, beginning with low forms and continuing to the higher ones. This course occupies 5 hours weekly through two terms, and is required of scientific students in the freshman year, but is elective to classical students, and those in the Latin scientific course in the junior year.

A course in botany, with special reference to morphology and physiology of the phanerogams and higher cryptogams is given, occupying 5 hours weekly during one term. This course is required in the freshman year of students in the scientific and Latin scientific courses, and is elective to students following the classical and Greek scientific courses in either the sophomore or junior years.