Field notes, v1753
Page 86
Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley. | www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
Jan. 15 were dissecting recently pitted frogs. I learned the frogs had been brought in for my benefit when they learned I was a zoologist. The study approach was morphological and evidently rote memory. I asked to see examples of previous work and was shown 3 newspaper covered, hard back notebooks with drawings and descriptive data on plant and animal types - emphasis on morphology and classification. Each accepted drawing had been signed and dated by the teacher, a shy, youthful slender young man. I was then shown the students' "rough" notebooks which contained mathematics (trig), physics, & other notes, evidently taken during lectures. Finally I saw neatly written answers to specific questions, all drawn up by each student in notebook form, evidently in preparation for the External Examination. An example -- "What are the evidences of organic evolution?" (1) Evidence from paleontology...... Then an explanation followed by items (2), (3), etc. I asked if the students actually saw fossils or could go into the field anywhere to find them. The answer was 'no'.