 | University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va. |  |
MILLER SCHOOL OF BIOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE.
Professor Tuttle.
The work of this School is designed to meet the wants of students who
desire such knowledge of the principles of Biology and of the methods of
biological research as should properly form part of a liberal education, or
who desire such training as will fit them for independent work as students or
as teachers in that department of knowledge; and of those who seek such
acquaintance with the facts and laws of Biology as will prepare them for an
intelligent study of the relations of Biology to Agriculture.
Two introductory courses are offered, each of which is intended to serve
as a means of rendering the student familiar with the method, the aims, and
the fundamental laws of Biology while he is engaged in the one case with
the study of plants, in the other with that of a large and important group
of animals. Each course consists of three lectures a week throughout the
exercises. Graduation in either of these courses may be offered as one
of the electives for the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
I. Botany.—This course comprises a brief survey of the principal groups
of the Vegetable Kingdom, beginning with the lowest and simplest forms.
As the more complex forms are reached, their histology is discussed in its
physiological as well as its morphological relations. Special attention is paid,
as far as time will permit, to those groups of plants which have special economic
importance, and to the flora of the region. On account of the great
economic and sanitary importance of the Bacteria, their morphology and
physiology is made the subject of a special course of lectures before the students
of the Medical Department as a suitable preliminary to the specific
discussion of the principal pathogenic species in the School of Pathology. To
this course members of the class in Botany are admitted at their option.
Text-Books.—Warming's Systematic Botany (Potter tr.); Gray's Manual (6th edition).
II. Comparative Anatomy.—This course is devoted to the study of the
anatomy, histology, and embryology of Vertebrata, and to the principles
of animal physiology. The anatomical and histological structure of the
vertebrate body will be studied, as illustrated by a representative series of
forms; and one or more systems of organs discussed and examined comparatively
in both the adult and the developing organism. The amount of histological
work involved in this course includes (and exceeds) that of the
course in Histology of the Medical Department; and members of the class
who pass with the required standing will receive credit for that subject in
the medical course if they so desire.
Text-Books.—Wiedersheim's Comparative Anatomy (Parker tr.); Parker's Zootomy;
the Professor's Notes on Histology and Embryology.
In addition to the introductory or B. A. courses above described, the following
advanced courses are offered to students prepared to undertake them. In
each the work will be chiefly done in the laboratory, the student being in
large measure independent of his associates; such lectures will be given from
time to time and such reading indicated as will aid the student in an independent
investigation of the subject in hand. The relation of these courses
to degrees is indicated below; the completion of course V, as a Ph. D. course,
involves summer work at a seaside laboratory as an essential.
III. Vegetable Morphology.—An advanced course in Botany, devoted
chiefly to the study of the Algae and Fungi, and to the Histology of the
Vascular Plants. The completion of Course I., or its equivalent either here
or elsewhere, is required as a preliminary to this course.
Text-Books.—Bennett and Murray's Cryptogamic Botany; Strasburger's Practical
Botany (Hillhouse tr.). The library of the department contains numerous standard
works of reference.
IV. Vertebrate Morphology.—An advanced course based on Course II.,
the completion of which, or its equivalent, is required as preliminary. The
work will consist of more detailed comparative study of vertebrate structure
and development, and of the forms which may be regarded as phylogenetically
related to the Vertebrate stock.
Text-Books will be indicated as needed. The library of the department contains a
good amount of standard and periodical literature bearing on the subject of this course.
Courses III. and IV. will not both be given the same year, that one being
chosen which is elected by the greater number of eligible students, at the
beginning of the session.
Graduation in Courses I. and II. and either III. or IV. will be required
of candidates for a diploma of graduation in the School of Biology, and of
those offering Biology as one of their electives for the degree of Master of
Arts.
V. Zoology.—This course, open to graduate students only, includes the
study of Animal Morphology, as illustrated by the Anatomy, Histology
and, as far as possible, the Embryology of a series of representative species
chosen from the principal divisions of the Animal Kingdom, the principles
of classification, and the arrangement of the various orders and classes of
animals in larger groups as indicated by their structural affinities.
Text-Books.—Rolleston's Forms of Animal Life; Claus's Text-Book of Zoology;
Lang's Text-Book of Comparative Anatomy; Balfour's Embryology.
This course will be required of all students who elect Biology as one of
their studies for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy; those who choose it as
a major study will be required, in addition, to do such work as may be
assigned to them individually.
VI. Practical Biology and Agriculture.—The relations of Biology to
Agriculture are so manifold, and the subdivisions of the latter subject so
numerous, that it would be impossible to exhaust the discussion of either in
the work of any one year. A course consisting in part of lectures and in
part of an equivalent amount of practical work and collateral reading will
be offered yearly. It will include the discussion of selected topics pertaining
to Economic Botany (such as the diseases or the parasites of plants, the
natural history of cultivated varieties, and the like); to Economic Zoology
(such as the life-history and treatment of injurious or beneficial insects, external
or internal parasites, the special anatomy and physiology of the
domestic animals, etc.); and to questions connected with the Principles of
and tillage of soils, systems of rotation and allied topics).
Text-Books for 1896-'97.—Ward's Timber and its Diseases; Hough's Elements of
Forestry; Chauveau's Anatomy of the Domestic Animals.
Candidates for a diploma of graduation in Biology and Agriculture are
required to complete Courses I., II. and VI.
The Biological Laboratory is well provided with instruments for the gross
and minute dissection of animals and plants; microscopes, microtomes, reagents,
and materials for the staining and mounting of preparations; apparatus for
photography and microphotography, and other necessary appliances, not only
for student work, but for investigation and research as well. In addition to
the large and valuable collections of the Brooks Museum, an abundant
supply of other necessary specimens and material is furnished. A library
of reference is attached to the Laboratory, and students have access to a number
of leading biological and agricultural journals, thus acquiring practice
in the intelligent use of current literature.
| University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va. | |