User:Lgoetze/sandbox

Smith was a professor of botany at Wisconsin University and was assigned general supervision of laboratory and quiz sections in its introductory botany course. The available elementary botany textbooks dissatisfied him, and thus he persuaded other staff members to prepare a new text. The resulting book was tested for three years in the introductory botany course at Wisconsin University before being published in 1924. Smith and the co-authors understood that technical vocabulary in a scientific textbook is unavoidable but burdened an introductory student. Therefore, they emphasized avoiding unnecessary scientific jargon to make this textbook as comprehensible as possible. Smith et al.'s textbook was unique due to its thorough and detailed yet easily understandable writing style. It was larger than many other botany textbooks at the time, including a vast range of topics beyond the scope of most books on general botany. Consequently, the textbook was alternatively known as the "Wisconsin textbook" and was considered one of the most successful modern botany texts. In over a dozen years, it effectively established itself as a standard in the field of botanical teaching. With every new edition, improvements were praised. Integrating physiological and functional aspects with the structural and morphological aspects aided in students' understanding of botany. Additionally, each edition contained new illustrations that were highly accurate in detail and proportion and showed depth and perspective. This was a considerable improvement over botanical drawings in other elementary botany textbooks. Conversely, A textbook of general botany was criticised by some for its conservative viewpoint in comparative morphology. "A textbook in general botany" can be found in many libraries worldwide, such as the Maastricht University Library as part of the Special Collections.