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B. A. COURSES.
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 session, the lectures being
accompanied in each case with associated laboratory exercises.
Graduation in either of these courses may be offered
as one of the electives for the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
I. Botany.—The course begins with the study of the
anatomy, both gross and microscopic, of a series of representative
plant forms, beginning with the highest and
passing to the lowest plants; with this is associated the
study of the elements of vegetable physiology. The second
of classification, and the consideration of the characteristics
of the leading divisions of the vegetable kingdom,
and particularly of the non-vascular plants. The concluding
portion is given to the more specific study of the classification
and distribution of higher plants, and to the local flora.
Text-Books.—Strasburger's Practical Botany (Hillhouse tr.). MacDougal's
Plant Physiology. Gray's Manual of Botany.
To the student who seeks a knowledge of the principles
of Biology as a part of a general education, this course is
particularly commended. All the fundamental laws of
Biology are well illustrated in the study of the morphology
and physiology of plants, and in most instances in such a
manner as to cause them to be more readily apprehended
by the beginner than is the case in the study of animals.
II. Comparative Anatomy.—This course is devoted to the
study of the structure and development of the Vertebrata.
During the first part of the session several representative
forms are dissected, their organization being at the same
time discussed in the accompanying lectures. This is
followed by a study of their histology, particular attention
being paid to mammalian histology as understood by the
aid of that of the lower vertebrates. The work is done in the
laboratory, the associated reading and lectures being
accessory thereto. The work of the session is concluded by
a course of lectures upon vertebrate embryology, accompanied
by laboratory work upon the development of the
frog, the chick, and such other forms as may be available.
This course is recommended to students who contemplate
the study of medicine here or elsewhere. It is included in
the required work of the first year of the course in medicine,
and students passing it with the required grade will there be
credited with it.
Text-Books.—Parker's Zoötomy; the Professor's Notes on Histolgy;
Shaefer's Embryology; Foster and Balfour's Practical Embryology.
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