Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1890 [PAGE 218]

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SPECIAL STUDIES.

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The library and collections of the University are supplemented by those of the S t a t e L a b o r a t o r y of N a t u r a l History, and of t h e S t a t e Entomologist, t o which the students in this d e p a r t m e n t have access. Entomology.—The study of entomology, pursued during a single term of t h e freshman year, is necessarily made largely empirical and practical, the subject t o which it is principally directed being the place of insects in the general system of organic life; and, incidentally t o this, the relations of insects t o t h e interests of m a n . The foundation for a knowledge of structural entomology is laid by the discussion and detailed study of a typical insect; a n d for t h a t of the orders, by a generalization of the characters of selected groups of specimens representing each. A large p a r t of the time is devoted t o the study of tho characters, life histories, habits, and economic relations of a selected list of especially i m p o r t a n t insects. Specimens of these in their different stages, together with synopses and descriptions of the families t o which they belong, are furnished the students, and t h e essential facts, n o t discoverable by direct observation, are given in lectures or acquired by study of text. Practice in field observation is given as o p p o r t u n i t y offers, a n d all are t a u g h t the ordinary methods of the collection, prepa r a t i o n , and care of specimens, together with the approved methods of controlling the ravages of the injurious species. A personal study, continuous for the term, of the life, history, and habits of some insect species is made by each student a n d is finally reported in the form of a thesis. In b o t h field and l a b o r a t o r y work, a n e x t r a o r d i n a r y opport u n i t y is offered t o competent students of this course t o observe and assist in practical entomological work and original research. Geology.—The course in geology covers a period of twentytwo weeks, two hours daily. The scheme of instruction comprises: The study of a series of localities in which g r e a t surface changes have recently t a k e n place, in order t o discover the characteristics of the forces which produced the changes and t h e toolm a r k s by which their action in former times m a y be traced. The mineral composition of t h e different kinds of rocks; the changes produced in their composition by t h e action of underground water; the conditions under which each species was formed and the relation between these conditions, and the struct u r e of the resulting rock; a series of analyses covering m o s t of the varieties of crystalline and sedimentary rocks and the collection and identification of such erratics as can be obtained from the drift.