A Civic Biology Part 1

A Civic Biology.

by George William Hunter.

FOREWORD TO TEACHERS

A course in biology given to beginners in the secondary school should have certain aims. These aims must be determined to a degree, first, by the capabilities of the pupils, second, by their native interests, and, third, by the environment of the pupils.

The boy or girl of average ability upon admission to the secondary school is not a thinking individual. The training given up to this time, with but rare exceptions, has been in the forming of simple concepts. These concepts have been reached didactically and empirically. Drill and memory work have been the pedagogic vehicles. Even the elementary science work given has resulted at the best in an interpretation of some of the common factors in the pupil's environment, and a widening of the meaning of some of his concepts. Therefore, the first science of the secondary school, elementary biology, should be primarily the vehicle by which the child is taught to solve problems and to think straight in so doing. No other subject is more capable of logical development. No subject is more vital because of its relation to the vital things in the life of the child. A series of experiments and demonstrations, discussed and applied as definite concrete problems which have arisen within the child's horizon, will develop power in thinking more surely than any other subject in the first year of the secondary school.

But in our eagerness to develop the power of logical thinking we must not lose sight of the previous training of our pupil. Up to this time the method of induction, that handmaiden of logical thought, has been almost unknown. Concepts have been formed deductively by a series of comparisons.

All concepts have been handed down by the authority of the teacher or the text; the inductive search for the unknown is as yet a closed book. It is unwise, then, to directly introduce the pupil to the method of induction with a series of printed directions which, though definite in the mind of the teacher because of his wider horizon, mean little or nothing as a definite problem to the pupil. The child must be brought to the appreciation of the problem through the deductive method, by a comparison of the future problem with some definite concrete experience within his own field of vision. Then by the inductive experiment, still led by a series of oral questions, he comes to the real end of the experiment, the conclusion, with the true spirit of the investigator. The result is tested in the light of past experiment and a generalization is formed which means something to the pupil.

For the above reason the laboratory problems, which naturally precede the textbook work, should be separated from the subject matter of the text. A textbook in biology should serve to verify the student's observations made in the laboratory, it should round out his concept or generalization by adding such material as he cannot readily observe and it should give the student directly such information as he cannot be expected to gain directly or indirectly through his laboratory experience. For these reasons the laboratory manual has been separated from the text.

"The laboratory method was such an emanc.i.p.ation from the old-time bookish slavery of pre-laboratory days that we may have been inclined to overdo it and to subject ourselves to a new slavery. It should never be forgotten that the laboratory is simply a means to the end; that the dominant thing should be a consistent chain of ideas which the laboratory may serve to elucidate. When, however, the laboratory a.s.sumes the first place and other phases of the course are made explanatory to it, we have taken, in my mind, an att.i.tude fundamentally wrong. The question is, not what _types_ may be taken up in the laboratory to be fitted into the general scheme afterwards, but what _ideas_ are most worth while to be worked out and developed in the laboratory, if that happens to be the best way of doing it, or if not, some other way to be adopted with perfect freedom. Too often our course of study of an animal or plant takes the easiest rather than the most illuminating path.

What is easier, for instance, particularly with large cla.s.ses of restless pupils who apparently need to be kept in a condition of uniform occupation, than to kill a supply of animals, preferably as near alike as possible, and set the pupils to work drawing the dead remains? This method is usually supplemented by a series of questions concerning the remains which are sure to keep the pupils busy a while longer, perhaps until the bell strikes, and which usually are so planned as to antic.i.p.ate any ideas that might naturally crop up in the pupil's mind during the drawing exercise.

"Such an abuse of the laboratory idea is all wrong and should be avoided. The ideal laboratory ought to be a retreat for rainy days; a subst.i.tute for out of doors; a clearing house of ideas brought in from the outside. Any course in biology which can be confined within four walls, even if these walls be of a modern, well-equipped laboratory, is in some measure a failure. Living things, to be appreciated and correctly interpreted, must be seen and studied in the open where they will be encountered throughout life. _The place where an animal or plant is found is just as important a characteristic as its shape or function._ Impossible field excursions with large cla.s.ses within school hours, which only bring confusion to _inflexible_ school programs, are not necessary to accomplish this result. Properly administered, it is without doubt one of our most efficient devices for developing biological ideas, but the laboratory should be kept in its proper relation to the other means at our disposal and never be allowed to degenerate either into a place for vacuous drawing exercises or a biological morgue where dead remains are viewed."--_Dr. H. E. Walter._

For the sake of the pupil the number of technical and scientific terms has been reduced to a minimum. The language has been made as simple as possible and the problems made to hinge upon material already known, by hearsay at least, to the pupil. So far as consistent with a well-rounded course in the essentials of biological science, the interests of the children have been kept in the foreground. In a recent questionnaire sent out by the author and answered by over three thousand children studying biology in the secondary schools of Connecticut, Ma.s.sachusetts, New Jersey, and New York by far the greatest number gave as the most interesting topics those relating to the care and functions of the human body and the control and betterment of the environment. As would be expected, boys have different biological interests from girls, and children in rural schools wish to study different topics from those in congested districts in large communities. The time has come when we must frankly recognize these interests and adapt the content of our courses in biology to interpret the _immediate_ world of the pupil.

With this end in view the following pages have been written. This book shows boys and girls living in an urban community how they may best live within their own environment and how they may cooperate with the civic authorities for the betterment of their environment. A logical course is built up around the topics which appeal to the average normal boy or girl, topics given in a logical sequence so as to work out the solution of problems bearing on the ultimate problem of the entire course, that of preparation for citizens.h.i.+p in the largest sense.

Seasonal use of materials has been kept in mind in outlining this course.

Field trips, when properly organized and later used as a basis for discussion in the cla.s.sroom, make a firm foundation on which to build the superstructure of a course in biology. The normal environment, its relation to the artificial environment of the city, the relations of mutual give and take existing between plants and animals, are better shown by means of field trips than in any other way. Field and museum trips are enjoyed by the pupils as well. These result in interest and in better work. The course is worked up around certain great biological principles; hence insects may be studied when abundant in the fall in connection with their relations to green plants and especially in their relation to flowers. In the winter months material available for the laboratory is used. Saprophytic and parasitic organisms, wild plants in the household, are studied in their relations to mankind, both as destroyers of food, property and life and as man's invaluable friends. The economic phase of biology may well be taken up during the winter months, thus gaining variety in subject matter and in method of treatment. The apparent emphasis placed upon economic material in the following pages is not real. It has been found that material so given makes for variety, as it may be a.s.signed as a topical reading lesson or simply used as reference when needed. Cyclic work in the study of life phenomena and of the needs of organisms for oxygen, food, and reproduction culminates, as it rightly should, in the study of life-processes of man and man's relation to his environment.

In a course in biology the difficulty comes not so much in knowing what to teach as in knowing what _not_ to teach. The author believes that he has made a selection of the topics most vital in a well-rounded course in elementary biology directed toward civic betterment. The physiological functions of plants and animals, the hygiene of the individual within the community, conservation and the betterment of existing plant and animal products, the big underlying biological concepts on which society is built, have all been used to the end that the pupil will become a better, stronger and more unselfish citizen. The "spiral" or cyclic method of treatment has been used throughout, the purpose being to ultimately build up a number of well-rounded concepts by constant repet.i.tion but with constantly varied viewpoint.

The sincere thanks of the author is extended to all who have helped make this book possible, and especially to the members of the Department of Biology in the De Witt Clinton High School. Most of the men there have directly or indirectly contributed their time and ideas to help make this book worth more to teachers and pupils. The following have read the ma.n.u.script in its entirety and have offered much valuable constructive criticism: Dr. Herbert E. Walter, Professor of Zoology in Brown University; Miss Elsie Kupfer, Head of the Department of Biology in Wadleigh High School; George C. Wood, of the Department of Biology in the Boys' High School, Brooklyn; Edgar A. Bedford, Head of Department of Biology in the Stuyvesant High School; George E. Hewitt, George T. Hastings, John D.

McCarthy, and Frank M. Wheat, all of the Department of Biology in the De Witt Clinton High School.

Thanks are due, also, to Professor E. B. Wilson, Professor G. N. Calkins, Mr. William C. Barbour, Dr. John A. Sampson, W. C. Stevens, and C. W.

Beebe, Dr. Alvin Davison, and Dr. Frank Overton; to the United States Department of Agriculture; the New York Aquarium; the Charity Organization Society; and the American Museum of Natural History, for permission to copy and use certain photographs and cuts which have been found useful in teaching. Dr. Charles H. Morse and Dr. Lucius J. Mason, of the De Witt Clinton High School, prepared the hygiene outline in the appendix. Frank M.

Wheat and my former pupil, John W. Teitz, now a teacher in the school, made many of the line drawings and took several of the photographs of experiments prepared for this book. To them especially I wish to express my thanks.

At the end of each of the following chapters is a list of books which have proved their use either as reference reading for students or as aids to the teacher. Most of the books mentioned are within the means of the small school. Two sets are expensive: one, _The Natural History of Plants_, by Kerner, translated by Oliver, published by Henry Holt and Company, in two volumes, at $11; the other, _Plant Geography upon a Physiological Basis_, by Schimper, published by the Clarendon Press, $12; but both works are invaluable for reference.

For a general introduction to physiological biology, Parker, _Elementary Biology_, The Macmillan Company; Sedgwick and Wilson, _General Biology_, Henry Holt and Company; Verworn, _General Physiology_, The Macmillan Company; and Needham, _General Biology_, Comstock Publis.h.i.+ng Company, are most useful and inspiring books.

Two books stand out from the pedagogical standpoint as by far the most helpful of their kind on the market. No teacher of botany or zoology can afford to be without them. They are: Lloyd and Bigelow, _The Teaching of Biology_, Longmans, Green, and Company, and C. F. Hodge, _Nature Study and Life_, Ginn and Company. Other books of value from the teacher's standpoint are: Ganong, _The Teaching Botanist_, The Macmillan Company; L. H. Bailey, _The Nature Study Idea_, Doubleday, Page, and Company; and McMurry's _How to Study_, Houghton Mifflin Company.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

FOREWORD TO TEACHERS 7

I. SOME REASONS FOR THE STUDY OF BIOLOGY 15

II. THE ENVIRONMENT OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS 19

III. THE INTERRELATIONS OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS 28

IV. THE FUNCTIONS AND COMPOSITION OF LIVING THINGS 47

V. PLANT GROWTH AND NUTRITION--THE CAUSES OF GROWTH 58

VI. THE ORGANS OF NUTRITION IN PLANTS--THE SOIL AND ITS RELATION TO ROOTS 71

VII. PLANT GROWTH AND NUTRITION--PLANTS MAKE FOOD 84

VIII. PLANT GROWTH AND NUTRITION--THE CIRCULATION AND FINAL USES OF FOOD BY PLANTS 97

IX. OUR FORESTS, THEIR USES AND THE NECESSITY OF THEIR PROTECTION 105

X. THE ECONOMIC RELATION OF GREEN PLANTS TO MAN 117

XI. PLANTS WITHOUT CHLOROPHYLL IN THEIR RELATION TO MAN 130

XII. THE RELATIONS OF PLANTS TO ANIMALS 159

XIII. SINGLE-CELLED ANIMALS CONSIDERED AS ORGANISMS 166

XIV. DIVISION OF LABOR, THE VARIOUS FORMS OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS 173

XV. THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF ANIMALS 197

XVI. AN INTRODUCTORY STUDY OF VERTEBRATES 232

XVII. HEREDITY, VARIATION, PLANT AND ANIMAL BREEDING 249

XVIII. THE HUMAN MACHINE AND ITS NEEDS 266

XIX. FOODS AND DIETARIES 272

XX. DIGESTION AND ABSORPTION 296

XXI. THE BLOOD AND ITS CIRCULATION 313

XXII. RESPIRATION AND EXCRETION 329

XXIII. BODY CONTROL AND HABIT FORMATION 348