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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 lowest
and passing to the highest plants; with this is associated a discussion of the principles
of classification and the consideration of the characteristics of the leading
divisions of the vegetable kingdom, and particularly of those which include the
non-vascular plants. The second portion of the course is devoted to the study of
the histology and physiological anatomy of the vascular plants, and of the elements
of vegetable physiology. 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.—Bessey's Essentials of Botany; 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 and Physiology.—This course is devoted to the
study of the Anatomy, Histology and Embryology of Vertebrates, and to the
principles of Animal Physiology. During the first part of the session several
representative forms are dissected, the relations and functions of their constituent
organs 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.—Martin's Human Body (briefer edition); Parker's Zoötomy; the
Professor's Notes on Histology; Marshall's Embryology; Foster and Balfour's Practical
Embryology.
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