\

THE

NATURE-STUDY
REVIEW

A JOURNAL
DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN

SCHOOLS

MONTHLY EXCEPT JUNE, JULY, AUGUST

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE

LIBERTY H. BAILEY, Agriculture CLIFTON F. HODGE, Biology

iiiKNELL UNIVERSITY

CLARK UNIVERSITY

HAROLD W. FAIRBANKS, Geography

EERKBLEY, CAL.

JOHN F. WOODHULL, Physical Science

TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

W. LOCH HEAD, Biology

MACDONALD COLLEGE

MAURICE A. BIGELOW, Biology

TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

MANAGING EDITOR

Volume III, 1907

Published by
M. A. BIGELOW, Managing Editor,
GENEVA, N. Y.

AND

NEW YORK CITY

I 01 Cj 0

PRESS OK

\V. P. HUMPHREY

GENEVA, N. Y.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS

Vol. 3 • JANUARY, 1907 No. 1

THE ESTABLISHED PRINCIPLES OF NATURE-STUDY

BY MAURICE A. BIGELOW

Teachers College, Columbia University

[Read before the Section of Biology, of the New York State Science Teach-
ers' Association, December 27, 1906.]

Some months ago one of the best known experts in the general
field of elementary education asked me essentially these questions:
''What principles of nature-study may be considered firmly estab-
lished? When will the leaders in the nature-study movement begin
to reach agreement so that we may have some definite guidance in
our elementary schools and thus cease the apparently aimless groping
in the dark?" These questions, coming as they did from such an
authority on elementary education, deserve a most serious answer.
And the seriousness of the problem is still greater to one who knows
from the extensive correspondence connected with the editorial work
of The Nature-Study Review that just such questions are being
asked wherever educators have had their attention attracted to nature-
study. Everywhere there seems to be strong popular impression that
each advocate of nature-study is a law unto himself and that in each
region nature-study is quite distinct from all other places in the
world because the local leader appears to have views which are op-
posed to those held by leaders elsewhere.

Is all this widespread impression really well founded ? Is it true
that nature-study as an educational movement is entirely disorganized
and that after all the years of work we have made no decided prog-
ress ? I feel certain that to these questions we can give an emphatic
negative answer, and so I invite your attention to some facts which
point to the conclusion that on some most important principles — in fact
the very foundations of nature-study — there is agreement on the part

2 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W [j: ,-JAN., 1907

of all educators and men of science who are now giving close atten-
tion to the progress of the nature-study movement.

It will help our discussion if in advance we recognize that
principles of nature-study may be agreed upon before they are in
universal practice. Very much of the pioneer practice in nature-
study has been without any suggestion of principles, and helpless
teachers have been turned adrift with only the admonition to "teach
nature." The result is that there is still a deplorable amount of
unorganized practice in nature-study. It was to this that I referred
in a recent editorial note in The Nature- Study Review in which I
wrote that "nature-study is still far from being firmly established in
our school system." Let me here emphasize the explanation that
practice and not principles was meant, for I believe that so far as
nature-study appears to be firmly established locally it rests upon
foundation principles concerning which there is no longer any serious
dispute. To some consideration of these established principles we
now turn.

First, because most important, we have reached agreement in
answer to the question, "What is nature-study V For years and
years this has been the center of all disagreements; but in carefully
reviewing all the literature, and especially the best practice of the
past two or three year§, I fail to find even the shadow of disagree-
ment concerning the working definition of nature-study. Interpret-
ing in my own words what I see in all the present tendencies of
nature-study as an educational movement, I must define nature-
study as follows: Nature -study is primarily the simple observational
study of common natural objects and processes for the sake of per-
sonal acquaintance with the things which appeal to human interest
directly.

Now before I have completed reading this sentence I am sure
that some of my hearers are preparing to object that Professor Hodge
does not so define nature-study and that Professor Bailey has said
something different, — and so on through a list of contributors to
the nature-study discussions of the past. But reserve decision and let
us analyze.

Professor Hodge has defined nature-study as: '-'Learning the
things in nature that are best worth knowing, to the end of doing
those things which make life most worth living." Read his "Nature
Study and Life" and talk with Professor Hodge and you will find (1)
that by "things best worth knowing" he means the common things

MGELOW

ES TA BLISHED PR I A CI PL ES OE A rA TURE-S TUD Y

which touch our every-day life and (2) that simple observational
study is his one approved method of learning these best things.
Wherein does the author of "Nature Study and Life" not agree
with any essential of the summarizing definition above ?

Piofessor Bailey has not attempted to write a one-sentence
definition of nature-study; but we can make one for him by placing
together phrases selected from his "Nature- Study Idea." Here are
his words placed together from two or three paragraphs: Nature-
study is the direct observational study of common things in the
child's environment for the purpose of training the eye and the mind
to see and to comprehend and thus to gain a sympathetic attitude
towards nature for the purpose of increasing the joy of living.
Notice that Professors Bailey and Hodge agree on the essential
points, namely, observational study of common things, and for the
sake of influencing our every-day attitude toward nature.

If time permitted, I would quote from many other writers on
nature-study whose views I have carefully considered in this compar-
ative study. Putting together all direct statements and suggestions
for practice, I find among the writers now prominently identified
with nature-study as an educational movement no one whose idea of
nature-study does not involve the following points as essentials: (1)
direct observational study (2) common things of nature (3) from the
standpoint of our human interests in nature as it touches our daily
life directly. This is what we now mean in theory by nature-study,
and practice is tending rapidly towards complete conformity with the
definition.

The second established principle is that nature-study should be
differentiated from science. The strong tendency of recent years is
to reserve the word science for strictly organized knowledge. We
no longer properly say that a student is studying the science of
botany because we have seen him picking flowers by the wayside, or
engaged in pressing and mounting fifty specimens. All this is a
valuable preliminary to real botany; but botany study should be
strictly science study — a study of the morphological, physiological,
embryological, paleontological and ecological principles or general-
izations, around which the facts concerning plants are grouped into
a unified and classified mass of knowledge. Likewise in all the
other sciences we have come to regard science as dealing primarily
with principles. Now nothing could be more beyond possible dis-
pute than that children need facts and not principles drawn from

4 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 : ,-JAN., ,9„7

grouped facts. Hence we have at last united in recognizing that
true science even stated in words of one syllable is not for children,
because for them we have something better in nature-study. I may
summarize the distinction between nature-study and science as now
held by the most active workers in nature-study as follows: "Nature-
study is primarily the simple observational study of common natural
objects and processes for the sake of personal acquaintance with the
things which appeal to human interest directly and independently of
relations to organized science. Natural-science study is the close
analytical and synthetical study of natural objects and processes
primarily for the sake of obtaining knowledge of the general princi-
ples which constitute the foundations of modern science."1 Along
this line nature-study for the elementary schools is being rapidly
differentiated from the true science of high schools and colleges.

Parenthetically let me remark that we must not forget that some
nature-study is still necessary in most high schools and even in col-
leges, because the students have not had it in the lower school.
However, nature-study in high school or college is not science in the
strict sense. It is simply nature-study supplementary to and pre-
paratory to the real science which deserves much attention in high
schools and colleges.

Another point which we must not overlook is that there can be no
sharply defined line between nature-study and science so far as prac-
tice in our school system in its entirety is concerned. In the upper
grades and first year of the high school the nature-study will gradu-
ally lead the way into more and more advanced study approaching
the real science lessons designed to point directly to the great gener-
alizations of science. However, the line can be drawn sharply
enough for all practical purposes and there is no longer any sufficient
excuse for duplicating the work already well done as science. For
example, what advantage can we possibly claim for the books on
"physical science for grammar grades" and certain books of botany
and zoology which are said to be "adapted to grammar grades." All
these are complete duplications of existing high-school work. There
are plenty of things to be done in the elementary school without
attempting to anticipate directly the proper work of the secondary
school; and the modern teacher of nature-study who hopes for suc-
cess in the future must study to keep her nature-study as far as pos-

'From this journal Vol. I, p. 17, Jan., 1905.

bigblow] ESTABLISHED PRINCIPLES OF NATURE-STUDY 5

sible from the somewhat formal laboratory method of the upper
school and more in direct touch with the great nature out-of-doors.
We want our pupils to get from nature-study something of that natu-
ralist's outlook which Gilbert White found in the fields of Selborne,
which Thoreau found at Walden Pond, and which John Burroughs
stills finds at Riverby. To this end we need to study the possible
differentiation between nature-study and science. If we can get
the mass of teachers to see the difference, there will be an end to
science reduced to words of one syllable, and teachers will not close
the first lesson in physical nature-study with these words quoted from
a book for grammar schools: "We have now learned that matter is
that which occupies space, that it is made up of atoms and molecules,
and that there are spaces between the molecules." The atomic
theory, laws of conservation of energy and indestructibility of mat-
ter, theories of ether motion. Newton's laws, the periodic law of the
elements, chemical equations, and on the biological side the great
central theory of organic evolution — these are examples of the great
ideas of modern science at which we aim directly in the higher
schools, but certainly they are not the proper educational food for
children of the elementary school. Real nature-study must be more
sharply differentiated from true science, and attempt to pave the way
rather than imitate and duplicate the science of the higher schools.

The third principle on which I see general agreement is the state-
ment of aims and values of nature-study . As to values, we recognize
that they are in discipline and information; discipline in habits of
thoughtful observing, and information which has aesthetic, moral,
practical and intellectual influence in the every-dav life of the average
individual. To develop these values we are guiding our teaching
by certain definite aims; and interpreting in my own words the pre-
dominating tendency of the present time, I must say that we have
agreed that in essentials the great aims are as follows: (a) To give
general acquaintance with and interest in common objects and pro-
cesses in nature, (b) To give the first training in accurate observing
as means of gaining knowledge direct from nature, and also in the
simplest comparing, classifying and judging values of facts; in other
words, to give the first training in the simplest processes of the scien-
tific method, (c) To give pupils useful knowledge concerning
natural objects and processes as they directly affect human life and
interests.

The fourth principle of nature- study: There is quite general agree-

6 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 : ,-JAN., igo7

ment that there is one fundamental method oi teaching nature-study and
that consists in getting the pupil to see and think for himself. Upon
this depend two of the three aims above stated, the aim for sym-
pathetic acquaintance and the aim for training in thoughtful observ-
ing. Books and lectures can not suffice for these, as possibly they
might for giving useful information. There will, I think, be found
little dissent from the proposition that true nature-study can not be pri-
marily book study. Rather should nature-study aim to make the pupil
learn to study nature in the absence of books, thus preparing for the
usual condition in our e very-day life.

The fifth principle refers to selection of materials for study. On
this I see general agreement for the proposition that we should first
of all select the most common and the most interesting from the viewpoint
of every-day life. The general application of this principle is re-
sponsible for much of the apparent lack of uniformity in courses of
nature-study. The geographical distribution of natural things is
highly variable and hence the selection of common things for nature-
study must vary. However, this is of no great significance, for if
nature-study be guided by the principles already discussed the educa-
tional result will be the same whether the materials selected be the
common ones available in a Maine forest or those in a Dakota wheat
field.

There is one other fundamental principle which is so important
that it deserves statement more emphatic than that incidentally
suggested in a preceding paragraph. I refer to nature-study for the
child as contrasted with nature-study for adult minds. We must
recognize the established principles of child-study in all our nature-
study for elementary education. To the general recognition of this
great principle we owe the comparatively recent decided advance in
differentiating between nature-study for elementary schools and
science study for higher schools.

Summarizing, I have pointed out that there is now great agreement
on the following fundamental points:- (i)the working definition of
nature-study (2) differentiation from science in the strict sense (3)
aims of nature-study for elementary education (4) the observational
method is fundamental (5) principle governing selection of materials
for study (6) dependence of nature-study on child-study. (The order
of statement is quite unimportant, for these are principles which must
stand or fall together).

These, I believe, are the established guide-posts which definitely

hodgb] ESTABLISHED PRINCIPLES OF NATURE-STUDY 7

mark the pathway of educational nature-study. Progress or retro-
gression in the future will depend upon our application in practice
of these established principles in theory. We have now reached
agreement upon the working theory of nature-study, the way is clearly
defined, and the time has come for concerted action in practice. It
is a serious question whether nature-study is ever to be firmly estab-
lished and generally recognized as a integral part of the elementary-
school course of study in all schools; but the final answer will depend
directly upon future application of the principles now agreed upon.
And in turn the success in practice will depend upon the training of
the teachers. It is a very significant and hopeful fact that wherever
nature-study guided by the established principles is being presented
by well-trained teachers it is now recognized as an all-essential part
of a rational and liberal elementary education.

THE ESTABLISHED PRINCIPLES OF NATURE-STUDY'

BY C. F. HODGE

Clark Un.versity

'Tis a wise saw: "Where opinions differ, there lies a problem to
be solved." In line with this idea I have always found encourage-
ment rather than dismay in the multitude of opinions which cover the
field of nature-study. They all bear testimony to the largeness and
vitality of interests in this "problem of problems."

In the presence of such vital and momentous interests as those rela-
tions to nature which condition the life and welfare our eighty millions
personal motives of every sort disappear completely; and I have al-
ways felt, and often said that I felt, most strongly attracted towards
those who differed from me most violently. As long as divergent views
are honestly expressed, we may hope to learn and progress toward
the solution of our problem. Ideas, like species, must struggle in
order to live and the fittest shall survive in the end.

I have been asked the questions that head our leading paper scores
of times. I have always replied by saying: "The more views, the
better. Choose the one that appears to you best supported by
reason and common sense, and then put more common sense and
reason of your own into it, and so help the good work along."

'Professor Hodge was unable to be present at the meeting when the preceding
paper was read; but sent the following with which he had planned to open the
discussion.

8 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 : i-jan.

1907

Those who cannot do this ask the questions because they are men-
tally too indolent to think for themselves and so do not count on
either side. They might as well say in matters religious: "We
won't do anything until God and the devil agree."

After all, as Carlyle says: "Doubt of whatever kind can be ended
by action alone." General agreement will gradually take form out
of the actual experience of all the teachers who are doing the work.
If we can secure and print in The Nature-Study Review during
the year brief articles, possibly not more than a page or even a single
paragraph, from actual teachers giving some first class bit of nature-
study as they have done it themselves, such a symposium could not
fail to give us data from which to derive principles by the inductive
method. Let us hear from you, fellow teachers, by the scores and
hundreds; and to you who settle our doubts by your works we shall
all accord our highest appreciation and respect.

It is certainly not hard for me to say that I agree with all the
principles advanced by Professor Bigelow. He has represented my
own views with perfect fairness and I only hope Professor Bailey can
say as much for his.

FIELD WORK IN BOTANY IN GRAMMAR AND HIGH

SCHOOLS'

BY CHARLES E. BBSSEY

Professor of Botany in the University of Nebraska
[Editorial Note. — It has been pointed out several times in The Review
(especially in Vol. i. No. 2, p. 77) that nature-study may have a place in high
schools, and even in colleges, when the elementary-school work has not been
sufficient to give general familiarity with the verv common things in nature; and
so much of the field work in botany and zoology which has come into vogue in
recent years is really nature-study rather than organized science study. The fol-
lowing paper will be especially helpful to high-school teachers who must (1) give
their own pupils the essentials of plant nature-study and (2) direct the elementary
school nature-studv so that the coming botany classes in high school will bring
from their nature-study the best kind of a foundation. And this without in the
least aiming to make the elementary-school work directly preparatory to the high
school, for that nature-studv which is best for liberal elementary education con-
sidered as an end in itself will be perfectly satisfactory as a preparation for high-
school sciences.]

Within the last few years there has been a strong tendency among
teachers of botany to recommend a very considerable increase in the
amount of field work to be undertaken by the pupils in this subject.
This is a natural reaction from the unusual emphasis which had been
placed upon laboratory work, especially that form of laboratory work
which included the use of the compound microscope. Today there
are those who would banish the compound microscope from the grade
schools and some even who would greatly restrict its use in the high
school. Some of these reactionists would go back to something very
like the old-time teaching in which the pupil prepared to "analyze
and classify" the floweiing plants by first studying some special
text-book for a few weeks, and then spending as much time as possi-
ble in collecting plants for the practical work of so-called '-analysis
and classification." It must be said for this old-time method that
whatever were its deficiencies, it did make pupils acquainted with
some of the wild plants of the region. It is true that the more diffi-
cult species were judiciously ignored, the pupil giving them no atten-
tion since they were said to be "too difficult for the beginner." On
this point I can speak with authority, since I was taught my first

'Read before the Science Section of the Nebraska State Teachers' Associa-
tion, December 27, 1906.

I o THE NA TU RE-STUD Y RE I 'IE 11 '

[3: 1 — JAN., 1907

botany in this way and I well remember how we avoided most of the
trees, ferns, and grasses, and all of the sedges. We felt that they
were quite beyond our possibilities. Then too, we paid no attention
whatever to the mosses, the liverworts, the fungi, the lichens, and
all the swarm of freshwater algae, — those green growths that abound
in the pools, ponds and brooks. But in spite of all this we learned
a good deal about the plants of the fields, the thickets, the swamps
and the forests, and in addition we knew where the plants grew that
we had collected and studied.

With the coming in of the "laboratory idea'' field work largely fell
into disuse, if not disrepute. The pupil's material was brought to
him from somewhere, possibly from a supply house hundreds of miles
away. To the pupil such a specimen had no place in nature. He
thought of it as occupying a bottle or a box in the laboratory, and
not as a plant growing in some pond, field or forest. This was the
laboratory idea carried to an extreme, and without doubt the pupil
missed a good deal by not seeing plants in their natural habitats; and
yet one must not overlook the fact that such a pupil knew some
things that the earlier type of pupil did not. Thus the laboratory
pupil could tell you about the spores of the mushrooms, and had a
a pretty clear notion of how they serve to propagate these plants,
while the old-time pupil paid no attention whatever to them. The
laboratory trained pupil may not have collected mushrooms in the field,
but he studied them in the laboratory, and when he found them
in rambles in field or forest he was able to recognize them at once.
Moreover, since he studied specimens that were supplied to him he was
not dependent upon the chance finding of plants for his studies, and
thus was able to take up the examinations of the different kinds in
their proper sequence. He had thus another great advantage over
his old-time predecessor in that he could begin with simple forms and
pass regularly to those which are successively higher and higher.
He thus quickly gained some idea of the general classification of
plants, which he could not if compelled to depend upon his own
efforts in the collection of material from the country about him.

From what I have already said it can be seen that I am not one
of those who hold that field work is one of the absolutely essential
things in all stages of the pupil's study. On the contrary I have
long since realized that there is a time to do field work, and a time
to refrain from doing it. In the words of Scripture "there is a time
for all things," but it does not follow that we must always make time

bbssky] FIELD WORK IN BOTANY n

for all things at once. No more are we called upon to have field
work in every course in botany. In some courses it is an essential,
but in others it is quite out of place.

I am here reminded of another subject — civil engineering — the prac-
tice of which becomes ultimately an out-of-door business. And yet
in the training of the civil engineer it is not the habit of the profes-
sors to have field work in connection with every course. I have been
watching from my study window a class of civil engineering students
the past few months while they were engaged in field work, and to me
it has been very evident that they were learning a good deal. Yet these
young engineers have field work in only one of their courses. In
the other courses they do not go out and put into practice in the
field what they learn in the class- room, the draughting room, the lab-
oratories and the shops. For certain courses this field work is essen-
tial, for others it is not. There is a time for all things, and every-
thing must be done in its proper time. Let us not make the mistake
of allowing some things to have more than their appropriate time.
Let us not make the mistake of supposing that in botany all of the
very considerable work done in the class-room and the laboratory are
not valuable and necessary parts of botany. Let us not have such
a distorted view of the matter as to consider field work to be the only-
work worthy of our attention. It is valuable, nay I will say that it
is absolutely essential in its place, but this does not require us to
give it more than its fair share of time.

With this general preliminary discussion, let me separate the sub-
ject so as to discuss, first, field work in the grade schools, and
afterwards field work in the high schools. In this way I can make
my position much plainer.

Let us first inquire as to the purpose of plant study in the grade
schools. Why do we have these pupils take up the study of plants?
Why do we teach the subject? The answer to these questions will
prepare the way for the answer to the main question as to field work
now under discussion. The purpose of such plant study (generally
called nature-study) is to acquaint the pupil with the plants about
him. The pupil is still too young to do much generalizing. He
still deals largely with particulars. He thinks of particular plants, or
particular kinds of plants. He is still adding to his knowledge of
the kinds of things around him. This is the time for him to learn
to recognize the different kinds of trees, the many different grasses,
the considerable number of weeds, the mosses of many kinds, the

1 2 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W [3 : ,— JAN., ,go7

toadstools of different sizes, shapes and colors, as well as the many
kinds of curious pond scums, and other inhabitants of the ponds and
streams. The boys and girls of eight to twelve or fourteen years of age,
if properly handled, are full of interest in regard to all of these forms
of plant life. Here is the place where the book must be kept in the
background and the work in the field put to the front. Here is the
place for a great deal of field work. This is the time when field
work should be emphasized. And yet I should not for a moment be
understood as suggesting that the whole of the pupil's knowledge of
plants should be limited to his own observations. We must remem-
ber that the pupil is young and immature, and moreover, that with all
of the keenness of eye which he sometimes possesses, he is still in
most cases only an ordinary boy who sees only a small part of what
he might see were he older and better trained. So he must be led,
and his knowledge must be supplemented by what other observers
have seen. Thus if he has found a white pine in his rambles, have
him collect his own observations into definite shape and then let him
read a good account of it from some standard work like Sargent's
"Manual of the Trees of North America. " Bv this means his
knowledge is considerably increased, and he has the opportunity of
measuring his observations against those of men who have made a
prolonged study of the subject. He is led moreover to connect his
own observations and the knowledge he has acquired at first-hand
with the knowledge recorded in the standard books. In such con-
sultations of books he will find many references to things that he has
not seen, and these will send him back again to find whether he can
verify them for himself.

So I would have him become acquainted with all of the trees in his
neighborhood. Let him study them and get all he can through his
own observations, but let him supplement this with what he finds on
record in a standard book. And among these standard books I
should include a botanical manual or two of the res: on, such as
Britton's "Manual of the Flora of the Northern States and Canada,"
or Gray's "Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States."
Of course he will find some terms in the descriptions that he does
not understand, but this can be made a means of enlarging his vo-
cabulary, a matter of no small importance in the training of the
young.

In like manner the grasses can be taken up with much profit, for
it is a very poor region, indeed, where there are not as many as fifty

besseyJ FIELD WORK IX BOTANY 13

kinds of wild and cultivated grasses. Let the pupils scour the fields
and the woodlands tor different kinds of grasses, many of which can
be identified by the pupil with the judicious help of the teacher, and
here again the information given in the manual should be added to
the pupil's meagre stock of first-hand knowledge. The mosses,
toadstools, pond scums, and other well-marked types of plants may
be the subject of the field work at the proper season, but in all cases
I should consider that not all possible use had been made of them if
the work stopped merely with the observations made by the pupil.
These observations must be supplemented by reading what is said of
these plants by the authors of standard books.

I should treat the other aspects of plant nature-study in a similar
way. Suppose the grade pupil (eighth grade) to be engaged in study-
ing the forms of flowers, he should combine the descriptive text with
field work for the discovery of illustrations of this or that particular
form. The forms of fruits and seeds, of leaves and stems, in fact of
all parts of the plant, may be s -ught in the fields, and taken up in
the class-room. In some cases the field work should precede the
consultation of books, while in other cases it may well follow. The
point is that the two must go hand in hand. In the pupil's ear-
lier work I should place the emphasis upon the field work, but as
the pupil advances in age and ability I should gradually place more
emphasis upon the indoor work, which finally develops into full labora-
tory and library work, while the field work comes to have a secondarv
place.

This leads me quite naturally to high-school botany. Here, if the
previous preparation has been something like what I have indicated
above, there should be a beginning of intensive study of botany. It
should not be necessary for the pupil to be taught to recognize the
common trees, grasses and weeds at sight. Nor should it be difficult
for the high-school pupil to recognize mosses, toadstools and pond
scums when he sees them. All these and many more should be
quite as familiar to the pupil as are the common animals — horses,
cows, sheep, hogs, dogs, cats, birds, snakes, fishes, butterflies, bees,
and mosquitoes.

He should not have to use precious time in learning to recognize
these familiar things. These he should already know well enough so
that when they are cited as illustrations it will not be necessary for
him to search blindly for them, nor for his teachers to take him out
on "botanizing trips'' to show him where they are and what thev

14 THE XA TCRE-STUDY REVIEW l3 : ,-jan., ,9o7

look like. This knowledge is something that the high schools have
a right to demand of the pupils who come into them from the grade
schools, just as we now demand that pupils entering the high-school must
know the multiplication table. It is a waste of high school time to
use it in learning such simple processes, and so it is with a familiar-
ity with trees. It ought not to be necessary for the high-school
teacher to spend time in field work in order to teach this part of bot-
any. But just as when we find a pupil in high school who has not mas-
tered the multiplication table he must set about mastering the
subject, so it must be when the pupil's knowledge of trees, grasses,
weeds, etc., is defective — this must be remedied by an adequate
amount of field work. I have found it necessary, even in university
classes, to remedy a defective knowledge of the common trees by
giving a couple of months to their study in my classes in systematic
botany. It is a use of valuable time that ought not to be necessary,
since the whole matter should have been attended to much earlier in
the student's experience.

The botany of the high school should be the systematic general
survey of the vegetable kingdom, beginning with the simplest and
most easily understood forms, and passing from these step by step
through the intermediate forms to the highest. This can only be done
by intensive laboratory work, in which the pupil makes out for himself
as many of the structural details as is possible in the time allotted to
him for the work. In such work the pupil should no more be sent
out to get his own material than should the pupil in chemistry be ex-
pected to collect from the drug stores, the gas works, the factories,
the rock piles, and the earth strata, the substances that he is to ana-
lyze in the chemical laboratory. In no general course in chemistry
today is such a procedure allowed. There are special courses in
chemistry in which this field work, as it may be called, is not only
permissible, but highly desirable. And so it is in botany. In the
general courses the pupil must have his material supplied to him in
such quantities and at such times that he may make his studies in
their right sequence and with no delay. This in brief should be the
work of the pupil in high-school botany.

But what can the overworked teacher in the high school do for
his pupils who need field work in order to familiarize them with plants
as they grow in the fields, and woodlands.-' What kind of field work
will repair this defect in the pupil's education ? In other words, how
shall the necessary field botany of the high school be conducted?

bbsseyJ FIELD WOLK IN BOTANY 15

This is not a difficult question to answer in the case of the smaller
high schools where the classes in botany number not more than
twenty-five to thirty, for here the teacher can easily plan enjoyable
and profitable Saturday trips with the whole class. Sometimes a trip
of a couple of hours in the late afternoon may accomplish much, if
the direction has been well chosen. It is essential that if the teacher
undertakes this out-of-door class work he should know his ground
thoroughly, so that his class may not be disappointed in the results.
I warn all teachers who have never conducted classes in field botany
that previous preparation is just as necessary here as it is in the work
indoors.

For such work the class will need a number of tin collecting boxes
of the regulation pattern, pocket-lenses for the closer examination of
specimens, a number of plant-presses, and a supply of drying paper.
In the field an abundance of specimens of many kinds of plants should
be collected and examined with some care, then after they are brought
back to the laboratory they must be put carefully into the presses,
after proper labeling. Such field work, if made to include lower as
well as higher plants, will be very helpful to those pupils who have
never had any practice in it in the grades, and will go far towards
remedying this defect in their education. In the hands of some teach-
ers, those who love the out-of-doors life, such work may be made very
enjoyable also, and much interest and enthusiasm may be aroused.

But when I am asked to suggest field work for the larger high
schools, where the classes number from one hundred to two hun-
dred, or even more, I have to confess that I do so with many mis-
givings. They are always in large towns or cities, and where the
distance to the open country and the woodlands is several miles at
the least. It is impossible, also, to care for such large numbers.
To divide a class of two hundred into sections small enough to han-
dle would require the whole time of several teachers, and of course
that is out of the question. The fact is that the field work should have
been done in the grade schools, where the classes are smaller, and it
is not right that the high-school teacher should be asked to take it
up. But if the teacher in the large high-school must include some
field work, he should break up his class into as small sections as
possible, and take these into the city parks, out into the country,
and where possible into the natural woodlands. He should show
his pupils how to collect in such trips, and he should then select
some of the older and more trustworthy and helpful pupils of pre-

1 6 THE NA TURE-S Ti 7D Y REl 'IE IV [3 : ,-jan., 1907

ceding classes to go as leaders of sections when he himself cannot
go. In some such way as this the work may be done, and many a
pupil will have the opportunity of learning much about the appear-
ance and habits of wild plants with regard to which he previously
knew little or nothing. But I cannot help feeling that the knowl-
edge so gained in the high school is acquired through an extrava-
gant waste of precious time which might have been much better
employed if the elementary school had given the proper nature-
study.

The results of this field work in the high school should be gath-
ered up by each pupil into a collection of dried specimens for his
own herbarium, properly mounted upon standard paper and properly
named and labeled. He has then something to show for his work,
and the time and labor he has pujf upon his collection of specimens
will help to fix their characteristics and names in his memory.

CANADIAN DEPARTMENT

EDITED BY PROFESSOR W. LOCHHEAD
Macdonald College, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec
[All communications concerning this department should be sent to Professor
Lochhead at the address given above.]

NATURE-STUDY WORK WITH INSECTS

In the November issue of The Review, Dr. C. F. Hodge concludes
an article bearing the above title with the expression of the hope that
"a number of teachers may give to readers the benefit of their expe-
rience with this line of work." I take it for granted that the writer
of the spirited criticisms of nature-study methods in Vol. VII of the
Pedagogical Seminary (pp. 95, 208) will not take any objection to the
letter or spirit of the following acceptance of his invitation.

A large, and let it be hoped an increasing number of teachers recog-
nize the great difference between educating children by the use of
natural objects, insects for example, and informing children about
these objects. Judging from lists of books recently published and
commented upon in The Review, there are writers on the subject
who evidently regard the latter as the purpose of nature-study.

A considerable part of the teacher's time and effort has ever beenr
and probably will continue to be, devoted to imparting information.
It is now and always will be impossible for lack of time, if for no other
reason, to communicate to children the half of the information that
it is desirable nearly every person should possess. Further, certain
information that is of great value to some people is of little or no use
to others, and lastly the value of information to those who may need
it varies greatly with the age and apperceptive fitness of the recipient
at the time it is imparted. These considerations raise the question
whether as a city teacher I should give any time, and if any how
much, to informing my pupils about insects. It is quite another
question whether I can with insects profitably employ the children's
time in developing their observing and reasoning powers and enrich-
ing their sympathies. To one if not both questions, Ur. Hodge's
answer appears to be affirmative; he quotes approvingly a city
teacher's remark, "the finest nature-study I have ever tried." With
the training aim in view I go to his article bearing the title above

1 8 THE iVA TURE-STL 'D Y RE I 'IE IV {l ■ ,_,AN., ig07

quoted for assistance in method. What do I find? An interesting
photograph shows a teacher and a pupil passe-partouting ios, lunas,
etc., between plates of glass (p. 268); indeed nearly half the article
referred to is occupied with the mounting of dead insects. Will
someone show the value of this work. as nature-study? Its value as
manual training to that pupil would be increased if she cut the glass
and made the mounting strips herself.

Save as part of the expression of his study which each pupil may
make and take away with him, why mount dead insects at all ? In
the study of the science of entomology their use is evident. But can
one teach nature-study from dead insects? No one has published a
stronger condemnation of the museum method of teaching nature-
study than Dr. Hodge. Has he changed his opinion ? He suggests
a use of the dead specimens to show pupils when starting them on a
competition of egg-hunting. Hunting insect eggs may be more edu-
cative than some people would be willing to grant. When children
are searching for these eggs they are likely to observe many other
things. But if the pupils can find clusters of tussocks' and tent-
caterpillars' eggs, can not and should not the teacher also find samples
about the time she wishes to start the hunt ? With regard to the spec-
imens illustrated on page 266, would not pupils about to study the
cabbage-butterfly with such a mounted life-history before them be
like the boy studying the answer when he begins to work the problem ?
They would certainly be deprived of the joy and reward of discovery.

'•In the case of insects more than in any other branch of nature-
study, a teacher needs actual specimens" (p. 267). Does this imply
that there can be genuine nature- study in some branches without
actual specimens? Is picture study, not to mention word study, ever
real nature-study ? I like to keep pictures and books and museums
behind the real contact with nature and give them a place, if any,
near the close of the expressive stage of the lesson or series of lessons.
Give me abundance of material in the condition in which it most
closely touches the child's interest. I would modify the third
sentence on page 269 to read : — My teaching experience seems to
prove that we must have two or three kinds of living insects before
the attention of the class at the same time in order to get the best
results with nature-study work on insects. Comparison is the easiest
and readiest activity to use in the nature-study lesson.

Is it true that the object of nature-study is "the creating and
increasing of a loving acquaintance with nature" (E. F Bigelow),

Dearnbss] NATURE-STUDY WITH IXSECTS 19

"to put the pupil in a sympathetic attitude toward nature"( Bailey) ?
If the increase of love and sympathy is a criterion of the efficiency of
a nature-study lesson, what is to be said of teaching pupils to kill
and pin insects and of emphasizing the duty of destroying them
because they are* said to le\y an annual tax on the agriculturist of
795 millions of dollars?

Both observation and experience convince me that to conduct a
nature-study lesson properly 1 must be an investigator in the field
where I am to require my pupils to make investigations. Applying
this conviction to lessons on the insect, what have I found ? I have
a garden; insects do a little harm there but also a great deal of good.
It would be only a guess, but probably within the truth, to say that
my garden owes a hundred times as much to insects as it is injured
by them. Without their beneficial aid I should not have any of my
prettiest flowers or my best fruits. My children's favorite pet, a
beautiful white cat. repays its board-bill, perhaps many times, by
protecting against the birds the insects that are so necessary to the
garden's welfare. Clearly my first-hand studies of insects and cats
do not lead me to follow Dr. Hodge in preaching their wholesale
destruction. Should not my pupils and I speak of things as we find
them ? If our sympathies err, had they better err on the side of
preservation of life or on the opposite one ?

The truth is that, having sole regard to utility, some insects
should be killed and others protected. I think I should make a mis-
take if I set out to give the child an emotional bias not justified by
the investigations made. My aim should be to train the child how
to discover truth through his self-activity. The proper emotional
attitude will naturally grow out of the properly conducted and prop-
erly completed observational study.

Mere seeing and naming or seeing plus the excitement that accom-
panies an unexpected novelty, as in the case of the child that saw
the ichneumons make "their way out of the caterpillar and spin their
cocoons on its back," is little if any better than the old object lesson.
To have the merit of education by nature the perceiving must be
attended with apperceiving, relating, reflecting, judging — in short
with all that stands for investigation, and not be simply an occasion
for information or entertainment. The real task is not in getting the
children to feed and watch the cabbage-worms, but in making the
exercise intellectually and emotionally profitable.

Selecting topics for nature-study by Dr. Hodge's test — "the

20 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW i3 : i-jan., 1907

things in nature best worth knowing" — is liable to put the teacher
on the wrong track. It has been part of my duty to criticize many
a nature-study lesson; what I have seen has convinced me that the
proper subjects for nature-studies are not the things best worth
knowing by adults but the things best worth doing and thinking
about by children. Dr. Hodge has declared elsewhere that we need
the spirit of genuine research as we need life, that it is "the breath
of life of education." If there is any genuine research by pupils
in his paper, "Nature-Study Work with Insects" — I should be glad
to have it pointed out.

Normal School, John Dearness.

London, Ontario.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHEMISTRY IN NATURE-STUDY

II. Oxidation

A day or two before beginning the following experiments, some
lime-water should be prepared. This may be done by shaking a
few teaspoonfuls of fresh water-slacked lime in a quart bottle nearly
full of water. When the undissolved residue has settled, the clear
solution of slaked lime (lime-water) may be poured off as needed.
Get some wood charcoal from a stove, or prepare some by charring
a stick. Bend the end of a common brass wire, about 10 inches
long, about a small piece of the charcoal, closely enough to prevent
the charcoal from falling out but not to conceal it from sight. Leave
the rest of the wire for a handle.

Shake together in a test-tube a few crystals of chlorate of pot-
ash and a less bulk of black oxide of manganese.

Try a test stick (a hardwood toothpick is just the thing), first
merely glowing at the end, then burning with a flame, in the mouth
of the test-tube. Note the results.

Heat the mixture with a spirit-lamp till a glowing stick will burst
into flame when held in the mouth of the tube. Keep the tube
loosely closed with the thumb between the tests.

The pupils may be told that this gas in which the stick will
burn so much more readily than in air is called oxygen and that it is
a simple substance.

Add a little chlorate of potash to the mixture, insert the mouth
of the test-tube into the neck of a small wide-mouth bottle held with
the mouth turned obliquely downward, and apply heat again till a
glowing stick will promptly burst into flame when held in the

brittain] CHEMISTR Y IN NA TURE-STUD V 2 i

mouth of the bottle. Then quickly cover the mouth of the bottle
with a wet piece of glass.

Heat the prepared charcoal till part of it is glowing in the lamp
flame; hold it for a moment in the air, then lower it into the bottle
of oxygen, allowing a piece of card-board through which the handle
of the wire passes, to close loosely the bottle's mouth. Note whether
charcoal becomes hotter or colder when put into the oxygen, and
whether it glows more or less brightly than before.

Remove from the bottle the charcoal remaining in the wire, and
before the gas in the bottle has had time to mingle with the air out-
side, shake a little clear lime-water through it. The lime-water should
become quite milky in appearance.

Try the charcoal in another bottle of oxygen if necessary, and
make sure, either by balancing the residue against the original weight
of the charcoal, or by the change in size, whether the charcoal is dis-
appearing.

Rinse the bottle, collect oxygen in it again, and try whether the
oxygen will whiten the lime-water.

After the teacher has performed these experiments before the class,
all the children, working in couples, should go through the work and
try to obtain results as decided as the teacher did. If delivery tubes
are available, the oxygen may be collected in small bottles over water
in a bowl or basin.

The facts having been observed and verified by the class, a
thorough discussion of the meaning and explanation of the facts by
the pupils should follow, the teacher merely directing the discussion.
The argument may follow such a course as this: Since oxygen will
not turn lime-water white, a gas different from oxygen must have
been formed in the bottle when the charcoal (carbon) was burning
there. This new gas was not carbon changed into a gas else when
the bottle cooled it would have become solid charcoal again just as
water-gas (steam) will solidify into ice or frost as soon as it is cooled
down to the temperature at which water remains solid. So this gas
which whitens lime-water is neither oxygen nor carbon gas. Nor did
it come out of either of them, for they are simple substances. Since
this gas is neither carbon nor oxygen, nor a part of either, it must
have been formed by the carbon which disappeared uniting chemi-
cally with the oxygen around it. So we find that the carbon and
oxygen disappeared by uniting together to form a new substance quite
different from either.

This compound gas, composed of carbon and oxygen, is commonly

22 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3: ,-jan., ,9o7

known as carbonic acid gas. Because it consists of oxygen and one
other simple substance it is called an oxide. When carbon or any
other substance unites with oxygen, it is said to oxidize or undergo
oxidation.

But how can we account for the charcoal becoming so hot while the
oxidation was going on ? It must be that the chemical union, in some
way, produced or caused the heat and the bright light, for as soon as
the oxidation ceased both the heat and the light disappeared.

University of New Brunswick, John Brittain.

Fredericton, N. B.

TWO QUESTIONS OF METHOD

Dr. Hornaday's paper, in a recent issue of The Review, raises
two questions of method: one of general method in nature-teaching
and one of detail. The latter is the one to which the most interest
must attach — that of determining the point of time in the pupil's
career, or the stage of his intellectual development, when the pro-
visional and partial classifications of the nature-study grades shall
give place to the ultimate generalizations of science. This is a mat-
ter which framers of courses of study have yet to dispose of.

The former question — that of the validity of the general method
pursued by representative teachers — is one which hitherto had been
considered as settled. Indeed, to deny the pedagogic principle
which prompts the school to pursue its way to the goals of science
along paths strewn with the natural interests and every-day expe-
riences of the child is to discredit the method revealed by psychology
for the pursuit not only of nature-study but of every subject of the
school-curriculum. Is not our critic overlooking in instruction an
element which the teacher of childhood has to reckon with ? Is he
not fixing attention too much upon the ultimate truths to be learned
and too little upon the young learner in his intellectual, emotional
and his experiential relations to those truths? Does he not, for the
nonce, view as a sufficient end the acquisition of systematic knowl-
edge, no matter by whom systematized? Is not this static knowledge
a commodity to be quickly and easily procured by a process (to
adopt his own figure) of tunneling of text- book facts and figures into
empty heads ? Is not his ideal pupil too much a passive recipient,
and his ideal teacher too much a discloser of shortcuts to knowledge
— a knowledge that falls short of power?

soloan] QUESTIONS OF METHOD 23

Let us be grateful, however, to our sturdy antagonist for the
warning he posts for those who tarry too long at the method of the
primary school, who affect to ignore the classifications of science,
and who regard the text-book only as a necessary evil; who permit
"the scanty scrawls called 'notes' made by the pupil;" who do the
work the pupil could do and would be charmed to do. Let us,
however, not be led astray by a symbolism which terms "animal
and plant classification the bed-rock foundation" of nature-study.
Those of us who have school-work to do with young people will be
safer to regard plant and animal classification not as the bed-rock
but as the structure reared upon a bed-rock of observation and
comparison.

Normal School, David Soloan.

Truro, N. S.

24 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 : i-jan., 1907

DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE

[Editorial Note. — Repeating from a note in the first issue of this journal,
the editors invite free and frank and friendly discussion of all papers published.
It is to be understood that each writer presents his ideas through this magazine
in order to get the commendation or helpful criticism from other workers on
similar lines. Therefore, let us have more freedom in the use of this department
for correspondence; and if you agree or disagree with any writer do not hesitate
to say so. Also if you are to be really helpful do not forget to tell us the reason
why for your views.

The letters below follow in the order of receipt at the office of the editor.]

DR. HORNADAY'S "THE WEAKNESS IN NATURE-STUDY"1

I

Dr. Hornaday took for the text of his paper the statement made editorially
that nature-study is disorganized and not yet established in our school system.
This obviously refers to practice rather than to principles or methods; see the
discussion of this point in the first article of this issue.

M. A. Bigelow.

II

My attention has been called to the admirable article of Dr. W. T. Horn-
aday in your journal. Allow me to congratulate you upon its clear recogni-
tion of facts as they exist and its timeliness in the condition of our schools.
As matters stand at the present day, I am convinced that the great need of
students in all our various lines of science is systematic knowledge; that a cor-
rect understanding of facts obtained at second hand from a text-book is much
better than a chaotic mixture of those facts without the sense of proportion,
obtained by methods frequently in vogue; and that to the pupil who starts
with a good general picture in his own mind, it is easier to add details by
observation than it is to correct the errors and mistakes which result from
being taught from the beginning to overvalue the knowledge acquired at first
hand.

President's Office, Arthur T. HaDLEY.

Yale University.

Ill

If getting acquainted with the facts were the main object of nature-study,
I should think that Dr. Hornaday's plan, or any other plan which directs

'See The Review for October, 1906.

DISCUSSIONS 25

the activity of" remembering, would facilitate the business- of teaching very
materially. For example, I remember how swiftly I was progressing when
in my early years I learned by heart the classification in the back of Orton's
"Zoology." In comparison my subsequent feats of memory seemed far less
impressive to me.

Whatever criticism may be offered against the present undetermined theory
of teaching nature-science, we have gone far enough to realize that the old
system of science teaching failed because the natural mind gets no satisfaction
from studying things in isolation. Our fathers knew more places on the map
than we do, including the rivers the places are on, but they didn't know
what the rivers are doing, nor why the places are there. The older botan-
ists and zoologists knew their classification and their morphological charac-
ters, but the things they saw had slight relation for them to other groups of
facts. There is no question now about our children being able to understand
facts better, since the schools are taking to the idea of satisfying the thinking,
not the remembering, mind by giving some atten ion to the interpretation of
the facts of nature in terms of other groups of facts which exist in logical
relation.

No reasonable person would disagree with Dr. Hornaday in his conten-
tion that children should read books, but think of the greater ease with which
facts could be "tunneled" ! I believe all teachers realize that however unsat-
isfactory much of the object teaching doubtless is, the knowledge of things
at first hand means keen intellectual pleasure. Moreover, we all know that
a book is interesting in proportion as the contents are related to things already
in our store of experiences. This common belief gives sufficient basis for
object teaching. The problem we have before us is concerned in the main
with the method with which we approach our end, and it consists largely of
getting more knowledge of how to handle the subject-matter. The great end
for nature-study seems to me to be the extension ot our children's knowledge
of the material world through the process of thinking. In the course of their
thinking they will come to classification near the close, for classification itself
is the outcome of a great deal of thinking.

DeWitt Clinton High School, Henry R. LlNVILLE.

New York City.

IV

Dr. Hornaday has rendered a distinct service to the pupils in the public
schools by pointing out some of the weaknesses in nature-study teaching.
The formal teaching of things already known by the pupil, the over-use of
lectures, talks and quizzes, the piling up of masses of undigested notes, the
discarding of systematic text-books, with the consequent lack of system in the

26 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 : ,-jan., 1907

presentation of the subject, and the gross abuse of the "laboratory method"
(as in the introduction of living chickens, rabbits, cats and dogs into the
sehoolroom) — all these and more too — have made many thoughtlul educators
shake their heads, and wonder where it would all end. To this wrong tend-
ency in our teaching Dr. Hornaday very properly calls a halt. He is
emphatically right when he insists upon more work upon the part of the pupil.
The pupil should be able to give each fact in nature its place in a svstem ot
knowledge. He should have some idea of the relative standing of the things
he studies, — the green slimes, toadstools, mosses, ferns and flowering plants,
angle-worms, crawfishes, insects, snakes and cats. "Lower" and "higher"
must have definite meanings, as also "simple" and "complex" when applied
to living things.

The University of Nebraska C. E. BessEY.

V

With the central thesis of Dr. Hornaday's contribution we must certainly
take issue. The clearness with which his views are stated allows no miscon-
ception of his meaning. "The first need or the hour is a text-book;" "the
pupil should be required to memorize facts and definitions from his own
book;" "they must dig, or they will remain ignorant;" "animal and plant
classification" are "the bed-rock foundation" of nature-study ; "facts should
be set forth according to the svstem of nature, not by mixing up all living
things." "Any sensible children ten years of age can learn and remember
for use a certain number of the grand divisions of the animal kingdom. As
they grow in intelligence they can build on this foundation. Moreover, the
average teacher surely will enjoy teaching a rational, clear-cut, progressive
system."

Could anything be more irrational than such a procedure ? The cart is
before the horse. The child is to begin where the specialist concludes.
When there is nothing in the mind to be classified, why classify ? Shall we
make a study of letter-files as a basis for learning to read and write ? So in
geography, the author argues that the child should begin "with a bird's-eye
view of the world and gradually come down to small details." "Forty years
ago geography was taught whollv from text-books and maps, and it was
learned far more thoroughly and successfully than it is today. Nature-studies
can be taught today from text-books and pictures just as well as geography
was taught in the 6o's." (If he had said "just as poorlv," we could agree
with him.) "Nature-studv teachers ignore the system of nature — the key to
all successful zoological work, great or small."

It is scarcely conceivable that so able a man as Dr. Hornaday should utter
such statements as the above. Nothing could be more unpedagogical than

DISCUSSIONS 27

the position he has assumed. The most important truth he has stated is that
nature-study is far from firmly established in our school system; to this we
must all agree. But this condition of things is in very large measure due to
just a misapprehension or the aims and values of nature-study as is
evinced in the article under discussion. Professedlv the primary aim
of nature-study (as the writer of the article conceives it) is systematic
zoology. With that we should begin, and with that we should end, and
we should get it from books. The view here advanced is so absurd that it
should be unnecessary to make reply. Taxonomy is man-made, subject to
revision, the field of the profound student; book studv is not nature-study.
If nature-study deserves recognition as a distinct contribution to the curri-
culum, certainly its merit does not lie in placing a book between nature and
the child. First-hand contact is essential; therein lies the whole opportunity.
We are teaching children, not subjects. We may be scientific, and vet not
organize a science. Certainlv there is a place for books, — witness Dr. Horn-
aday's excellent "Natural History" — but a text-book for a nature-study
class is a contradiction of terms and an impossibility. In classes well taught
there will be a reference to books and a wholesome respect for scientific
authority, but the atmosphere will be anything but booky. "The pupil must
be made to do the work," but the hearing of recitations is not nature-studv.
A boy cannot be forced into an appreciation of the nature world. School
children have worn blinders (books) so constantly that the senses seem dulled
and there is little of the research spirit If asked to learn something about
houseflies, their fist thought is toward the library. We should put a prem-
ium not upon information, but upon power. What we want most is not a
storage of facts, but trained faculties, habits of inquiry, investigation, testing,
verifying, interpreting data and drawing legitimate conclusions from original
observations. This is what makes useful men and women; the text-book
falls from the hand, but these things abide.

He is a good naturalist who knows his own parish thoroughly, and to a
pupil of the elementary school "the mice and beetles and sparrows and
dog- fennel" that greet him daily are a thousand times more worthy of his
attention than are the phylum types of the zoologist. No better product can
be sent from the nature-study class to the laboratory of high school or univer-
sity (and to this, I believe, university men generally will assent) than the
pupil whose eves are open, who is alert, self-dependent, awake to his environ-
ment, master of himself and his surroundings; whose native endowment does
not cringe before the objective world to seek refuge in bibliography. Argu-
ing for book instruction in nature-studv, Dr. Hornadav protests because (as
in geography) "the great round world is approached by a long series of

28 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W l3 : ,_|AN,i igo7

stealthv flank movements, chiefly at the expense of the teacher." The alle-
gation is well founded, and so long as schools shall last the instruction which
is worthy of the name will be "chiefly at the expense ot the teacher."
Successful nature-study will continue to deal with material within the expe-
rience and immediate environment of the child mind. The child will study
this material, rather than what some one has said about it; the material will-
be handled scientifically, in well chosen units, but from the child view-point,
not from the view-point of the trained scientist.

"The weakness in nature-study" today is due to the lack of skilled teachers
in this work; the explanation lies in the fact that this is a book-trained gen-
eration, versed, is may be, in the "analysis" of flowers and in a classification
scheme for the animal kingdom, but helpless in the presence of a form not
mentioned in the books, unable to follow where "a little child shall lead
them."

Northern Illinois State Normal School, rRED L,. CHARLES.

DeKalb, III.

VI

Director Hornaday in his article, "The Weakness in Teaching Nature-
Study," fires a broadside of three pages in a manner that suggests, "There,
I have demolished everything that you have built. Now get to work and
build it anew as it should be." As I heard him banging awav at nature-
study, I felt like saying in the words of the small boy, "Never touched it."
And notwithstanoing the note by the editor, that the paper is "full of ideas
radically opposed to those commonly accepted by science teachers," I main-
tain that Professor Hornaday has shot completely over and beyond the mark
that he sets up in the beginning — nature-study.

I do not think that the author has said anything against "nature-study."
And I am not wholly in agreement with the editor when he tells us that the
author has said a good deal that shouldn't be in accord with much of the work
of science teachers. Yet I have no disagreement with the spirit of either.
A confusion of terms, a failure to remember that there are always two sides
to the shield, and two points of view in our relation to nature, is the basis of
the author's claim that teachers are "groping in Egyptian darkness for the
method," and the editor's previous claim that "nature-study is still so dis-
organized."1 I do not believe either theorem, but I do believe that, in the
confusion of false demonstrations, we can best get clear of the entanglements,
by going back to the axiomatic statements so ably set forth by Professor L.
H. Bailey in his book, "The Nature-Study Idea." First and always, the

'[See I. of this series of discussions.]

n/SCI/SS/OATS 29

child, and the adult, too, should have an informal, heartfelt, sympathetic rela-
tion to a variety of isolated, individual, natural objects. This most of us call
"nature-study," an unfortunate term, for it really isn't study, but rather
friendly acquaintance. John Burroughs nicely described it: "1 should not
trv directlv to teach voung people to love nature so much as I should aim to
bring nature and them together, and let an understanding and intimacy spring
up between them." Later, with the desire for further, definite, formal,
intellectual, synthetic relations to classified natural objects, comes what most
of us call "science."

I maintain that Dr. Hornaday is right if he is referring to science, and
wrong if he is speaking from the nature-study point of view, as I have defined
it. He ridicules a book that might contain a "mixing up (of) all living
things — birds, bugs, flowers, mushrooms, shells, crabs and trees — in a chao-
tic mass." Yet he is the director of such a book of living material. I know
of no other place where such variety may be found. Looked at by a "na-
ture-studv child, what a medley. Viewed by a "science" adult, what per-
fect system and classification. The other day I took a party (interested in
both nature-study and science) to see his open book. Here is the chaotic
mass that nature- study found, in the order in which we observed them as we
walked along the paths: deer, osprey nest, pelican, crow, elephant, peacock,
camel, snowy heron, tiger, lion, fox, wolf, skunk, turtle, snake, sea-lion,
raccoon, turkey, grizzly bear, monkey, more sea-lions, rhinoceros, hornbill,
cockatoo. What "a chaotic mass." Yet every visitor to the New York
Zoological Park knows that innumerable lists might be made, in just such
disorderly arrangement, of the things that most appeal to a child when he
begins his work of informal nature-study. A scientist goes along the same
paths in Professor Hornaday' s collection and sees most admirable classifica-
tion. Likewise the whole world seems a delightful confusion of interests and
surprises to the "nature-study" child, but how perfect the plan, how com-
plete the svstem to a scientist! How interesting to the child to see what the
individual plant or animal is doing; how important to the scientist to know,
and know well, where that individual belongs. And the whole of the so-
called "confusion" or "chaotic mass," is a failure to recognize the fact that
we shouldn't always remain nature-study children, and that we cannot be
scientists at the start, not even "elementary" scientists. We need first the
nature-study spirit; but after this first love has been aroused, do not drop the
subject, but gradually lead the student to a knowledge of its strictly scientific
aspects. We must learn the alphabet before we can begin to read.

The ideal nature-studv book should describe things as we see them at Pro-
fessor Hornadav's park md everywhere else in the world— a little of every-

3 o THE NA TU RE-STUD Y RE VIE IV [3 : ,-|AN., iq07

thing, just as we, in a walk, see the landscape. "Everything is 'fish' that
comes to the 'net' of a naturalist."

The ideal scientific hook should have its contents classified and orderly, as
we find them in one of Professor Hornadav's well arranged buildings. The
Park as a whole, especially with the miscellaneous animals roaming around
free in the paths and fields, and into our loving interest, embodies my idea of
" nature-studv." Each building with its excellent classifications and facili-
ties for accurate, systematic knowledge, is a symbol of my notion of
"science." Each phase has its rightful place, and both combined put the
observer in an almost ideal relation to the whole Park and to the world.

While my pupils were admiring the snowy owl, we heard the cries of the
seal-lions, and the children were eager to rush over to the pool. Should I
have said: "Now, be calm, and wait here, while we first study the scientific
classification in which those lions have been placed. Then we will go to see
them. We must have elementary science first, then we mav intelligently
examine the living specimens." If so, then I should take Professor Horna-
day's book, and say, that the name of the sea-lion is Zalophus californianus,
that it belongs to the family Otariida?, of the sub-order Pinnipedia. Then
I should have explained that the Pinnipedia are mammals, closely related to
Ferae, etc.

I feel certain, from what I personally know of Doctor Hornaday, that he
has not lost the "nature-study" spirit of his boyhood davs. It was that
spirit which started and has continued his desire to be a famous systematist.
When he walks about the Park with a company of children, he is yet a big,
enthusiastic, nature-study boy. When he leaves the party and goes into his
fine office, and sits down at his desk to write, he is one of the most eminent
of systematic scientists. And the whole trouble is that he wrote that article
for The Nature-Study Review when he was seated at his desk. To my
mind he has written some pretty good advice to science teachers, though I
think he has turned his illustrative house upside down, and what he calls the
bedrock foundation, I would call the attic.

Now won't he please write another article, a real "nature-study" article,
as he walks about and, with pad and pencil in hand, shows his "chaotic
mass" to a party of jolly young folks?

Stamford, Conn. EdwaRD F. BlGELOW.

VII

There is no use in discussing Dr. Hornaday' s discussion of "The Weak-
ness in Teaching Nature-Study." There can be no discussion; there can
onlv be a cross-fire of declarative statements. Mr. Hornadav says "it is"

DISCUSSIONS 31

or "it isn't," and most of us reply "it isn't" or "it is." There is not
much outcome to that sort of debate.

As teachers we simply know better than to follow Mr. Hornaday's advice.
If we were historians we should say that the world knows better than to go
back to its tested and rejected methods.

The librarian of this university, standing near an extremely absorbed stu-
dent in the reading room, heard this faithful student of zoology repeating
over and over again with utter concentration of mind and devotion of pur-
pose this startling sentence: "This is — the picture — of the — cross-section
of — an eel — this is — the picture — of the — cross-section of — an eel — this is
— the picture — of the — cross-section of — an eel." This student had
adopted and was exemplifying the Hornaday method of nature-stud v.
Needless to say this is not the method which is now or ever again will be
adopted by most nature-study students or teachers.

It may be of some value and of some interest to read that the Ganges
does not rise, or does, if it does, in the Ural Mountains. It is certainlv of
much more interest, and we believe of much more profit, to know, by
discovering with our own eves, how a nameless creek (which is the type of
all the streams in the world) rises in nameless hills (which are counterparts
of all the mountains in the world) and flows and meanders and fights its wav
through soft loam and crumbling shale and ringing granite to its goal in the
lowlands. One is nature-study according to Hornaday, and the other is
nature-study according to most of the rest of us.

But this begins to be discussion. It is not worth while. Whether Agas-
siz based the Agassiz method of studying nature from nature rather than from
books because he believed in that way or because he had no time for anv
other way, the verdict of the decades of trial of the Agassiz method is that it
is the best method so far presented to us. If Dr. Hornadav's method was
a new and untried one, it could not be so readily denied validitv. But it is
the old long-tried, fully-tested and unanimously-rejected one; hence we can
refer to it in declarative terms. It is the wrong way.

Stanford University, Vernon L. KELLOGG.

California.

VIII

In the Canadian Department in this issue of The Review there are other
discussions of Dr. Hornaday's paper.

[Editorial Note.— Letters by President Eliot, Professor Eochhead and
several other well known writers will follow in the next number of The Review.]

BOOK REVIEWS
The Bird: Its Form and Function. By C. William Beebe. New
York: Holt. 1906. Pp. 490. $3.50.

In the preface Mr. Beebe says: "I have intended the book more as an
invitation than aught else." It can but have that effect upon the most casual
reader for the author has certainly accomplished his aim: "To take a few
dead facts and clothe them with the living interest which will make them
memorable and full of meaning to any lover of birds, and at the same time
to keep them acceptable in tenor and truth to the most critical scientist."
Mr. Beebe says that he has lectured to audiences of teachers every one of
whom was able to identify fifty birds or more, but not one of them knew the
significance of the scales on a bird's foot. It is this gap that the book
bridges by an untechnical study of the bird in the abstract.

The illustrations are unusually good, numerous and varied. The paper
is of excellent quality and the type large and clear. Evolution with its var-
ious problems such as those of sexual coloration is well treated; and senti-
mental personification has been avoided. Interesting — because unusual or
unexpected or because suggestive of deeper significance —are all the chapters
of this much-needed book. The author gains the confidence of his readers
by not attempting to explain everything positively and by frankly including
striking and as yet unexplained exceptions to the laws formulated. Points of
unusual interest which are well presented are the head and eve difference
between the pursued and the pursuer; albinism as related to excessive increase
in numbers; the method of making bird sounds (vocal cords being absent in
birds); the position and control of the air-sacs and the strikingly small size
of the lungs proper; the various causes of color in feathers (pigment in black,
red, brown and yellow feathers; miniature prisms in the iridescent colors;
and a combination of pigment with innumerable overlving prisms, as in blue
feathers which contain only brown or yellowish pigment; and other feathers
white because of the innumerable air spaces in them); the peculiar develop-
ment of the hyoid bone making possible the projectile tongue of the wood-
pecker; the third or pineal eye and its relation to the soft spot in a baby's
head; and the structural likenesses to the reptiles, found in such structures as
the occasional bifed tongue, the similar mechanism of color, the scaled feed,
the clawed wings and the transition from scales to hair and feathers.

I. B.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS

Vol. 3 FEBRUARY, 1907 No. 2

TYPES OF THE BEST NATURE-STUDY

I. PRACTICAL WORK WITH MOSQUITOES

BY C F. HODGE, Clark University

[Editorial Note. — As announced in the editorial note in December, it is
planned to publish under the general heading "Types of the Best Nature-
Study" accounts of the best practical nature-study done during the past year.
What have you done ? How did it go ? In short, here is an opportunity for a
lively and helpful "experience meeting;" and if you have worked out any prac-
tical lessons neiv to your school, send a note or an article to The Review at once.
Bear in mind that something new to nature-study literature is not demanded. If
it is new to your school, then we want it for publication. Your experience will
encourage other teachers and help the great movement for the advance of which
this journal stands.]

The work which I shall describe was carried out at the Downing
Street School, in Worcester, Mass., largely under the direction of
Miss Edna R. Thayer with the hearty cooperation of the Principal,
Miss Katharine Smith. In deciding what is "best" in the great
mass of good nature-study that we see being done we must, of course,
take conditions and needs of the neighborhood into the account as
well as the lessons themselves. Exactly the same lessons in a local-
ity to which mosquitoes had to be imported for the purpose would
have to be rated as the worst piece of nature-study imaginable. I
consider this the best piece of insect nature-study because inexcusa-
ble abuses of a once beautiful brook had made the mosquito pest the
greatest nuisance and a serious menace to health in the district.

The stream in question, known as Beaver Brook, flows with very
little fall for more than a mile through the heart of the district. It
had cut a channel three or four feet deep below the lowest meadows
and woods along its course, and had thus been able to do its work of
draining the land efficiently. As the settlement approached the
brook the low places were made dumping grounds for ashes and rub-

34

THE XA TURE- S TUD Y RE J VE W

[3 : 2 — FEE.

1907

bish. This was perfectly proper, but the dumping was so carelessly
clone that side streams were dammed and so made stagnant pools, often
acres in extent, along the brook valley. Not only this, but the
brook channel itself was made the receptacle for everything unsightly-
brush, tin cans, old baby carriages and bicycles, dead cats and hens.
Mud from the wash of newly opened streets, collected on these
obstructions, weeds grew in the mud, complete dams formed, back
water converted meadows and pastures into bogs and fine groves were
killed and turned into swamps. This added scores of acres to the
mosquito breeding tracts.

Photograph by C. F. Hodg -

Pupils of Downing Street School taking a nature-study lesson on mosquito extermination.

May 3, 1905.

The practical work was begun in April. The life-history of the
mosquito was discussed with the pupils and they were asked to exam-
ine any stagnant water about their homes or in the district and to
bring to school anything that looked like the mosquito wrigglers.
The result was such an awakening as the neighborhood had seldom
experienced. The whole brook valley covered with stagnant water
was alive. Specimens were brought in and, in aquaria carefully cov-
ered with cheesecloth, could be actually observed to emerge from the
water as "sure enough" mosquitoes. This was conclusive and con-
vincing. The universal question: "Where can all the mosquitoes
come from ?" was answered.

hodgk] TYPES OF THE BEST NATURE-STUDY 35

Next, several lessons were given showing how newts and min-
nows devour mosquito larvae in the water; with the result, we may
hope, of making the children more thoughtful about destroying such
harmless creatures.

Finally, when interest was at a white heat and everyone was
asking, "What can we do about it ?" similar lessons were given
with petroleum on the water. The magic of it ! A drop of oil on a
tumbler full of wrigglers and in a few minutes every one stretched out
dead on the bottom. A few drops on a covered aquarium, and next
morning every one of the adult mosquitoes caught by the oil him and
drowned.

This was also conclusive and convincing and the proposition to
"oil the pools" met with enthusiastic support. Oil was contributed,
also money, about three times as much as was needed, and a barrel
of gas oil was purchased; and just as the great first brood was about
to emerge from the water nearly five hundred school children armed
with oil cans and bottles of oil, and with several express wagons that
carried five-gallon tanks, began at one end of the brook basin and,
under pretty careful direction, oiled every pool on both sides of the
brook for nearly a mile. Many hands made quick work and it only
took aboutthree hours-from three to about six o'clock-to complete the
task. It was my good fortune to be invited and I came home feeling
that I had seen the best nature-study excursion of my life. Every
minute of it was worth while. I took the picture from farther out in
the water in front of the pupils just as they reached the brook and
were about to scatter out among the man)' pools.

After this great excursion a number of the older children volunteered
to watch different parts of the district and report if mosquitoes were
again beginning to breed, but all reports were negative up to the close
of the term in June. The excursion was made about the first of May
and about June first I again slipped into my rubber boots and spent
an entire Saturday afternoon wading through the worst places and
trying to find pools in the brush that had been skipped. Other years
the mosquitoes would have made such a trip impossible. As it was
I did not succeed in finding a wriggler in the water and did not see a
mosquito the whole time. From the amount of oil that was still in
evidence, I should judge that people along the brook were wasting a
good deal more than necessary to make a sure thing of it.

I do not wish to leave the impression that everything went smoothly.
Even for work as good as this there are bound to be croakers. People

36 THE NA TURE-STUD Y REIVE IV [3 . 2_ FEB., lcp7

who did not know, and could never be taught, the difference between
a mosquito and a crane fly, claimed that "mosquitoes were thicker
than ever." These, however, were few and could not get a hearing.
Then, too, the flighty teacher turned up — one of the typical sort who
believe in the "three Rs." The mere mention of "mosquitoes in the
building! ! " brought her down with a typical case of hysterico-men-
dacious malaria. When it was learned that there had not been a
malarial mosquito in the building and that none of the culex had been
allowed to escape, she was given no support and less sympathy.

The best part of my story is to come and its conclusions must await
developments at least two years hence. I do not wish to be under-
stood as claiming that this work of the school started the great
movement which followed; for, I think, the city engineer had already
proposed a plan for properly draining the district. Many influences
were combining to force the issue — several of the public-spirited
physicians, the Board of Health, and my college biology class had
been working on the problem for two years. I still think that the
simple nature-study lessons above outlined did more than anything
else to arouse the people and to push the measure through the city
council.

Through all the worst part of the district for about a mile, a strip of
land 1 10 feet wide was taken with the view of laying it out as a park-
way, which should wind gracefully through the valley. In this a
cement channel 30 feet wide is now being constructed to drain the
entire region and carry the brook through it. Dams are to be con-
structed so as to keep the channel full and at the same time allow it
to be washed clean during freshets, and the whole will be a most
valuable addition to the park waters of the city.

The reason I have cited this as a type of "best" nature-study is,
again, its relation to the needs and life of the community and the
carrying of it through to a definite result which the neighborhood
could appreciate as worth the while. Bird lessons, school and home
gardening and all sorts of other nature work were being carried on
at the same time; and still I am inclined to think that the main reason
why for the past year we have not heard one word about nature-study
being a "fad," or a "waste of time" is to be found in these simple
mosquito lessons. And why should not the children of every com-
munity grapple with such problems ? Why should they not be
encouraged to utilize every possible condition which may instill the
sense of mutual cooperation and human brotherhood, and thus grow
strong in the principles of intelligent citizenship?

thai ton] TYPES OF THE BEST NATURE-STUDY 37

II. CHILDREN'S HOME GARDENS
BY GILBERT H. TRAFTON, Passaic, N. J.

One of the most successful features of the work in nature-study in
the Passaic schools has been in connection with the children's home
gardens, which have been planted with seeds sold the children in
penny packets. The following details in carrying out this plan are
given with the thought that they may be of interest to other teachers
who would like to try the plan.

The seeds were obtained from The Home Gardening Association
of Cleveland, Ohio, (address 501 St. Clair Ave. J which puts up
penny packets of seeds to be sold to the children in the schools of its
own city and of any other cities that wish to improve the opportunity.
Large order envelopes (price $1.75 per thousand), containing a list of
seeds, both flower and vegetable, which may be secured at a penny a
packet, were given to the children who wished them and were taken
home, where in consultation with their parents the list of the seeds
desired was made out. These envelopes, together with the money,
were returned to the teacher. In the Cleveland schools the envelopes
are sent to the Association where the orders are filled directly, but
for other cities the total number of packets wanted in a school or city
are ordered, the envelopes being retained by each teacher. The
orders for the seeds were sent in before the first of March and the
seeds were received during April. The packets were distributed to
the various rooms and given to the children in their envelopes. At
this time there was furnished each child a direction card (cost $1.35
per thousand) which gives suggestions concerning the care of the
garden .

The children have taken great interest in this work. While waiting
for the seeds to come the teacher is besieged many times with the
question, "When will our seeds be here?" An especially gratifying
result has been the interest aroused in the parents. Many of them
have spoken to the author, telling of the great pleasure which both
they and their children have taken in connection with this work.

The work has been of value in furnishing the children healthful
employment and recreation at home during the summer, and in giving
higher ideals of beautiful home surroundings.

Two sets of prizes were given last year. One series was given to
those schools having the best flower shows, which were held in the
fall, the flowers being brought by the children from their gardens.

38 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W [3 : 2-FEB„ igo7

Another series was given for the best individual flower gardens. The
city was divided into sections according to the conditions under which
the children worked, the aim being to have those children compete
with each other who had about the same opportunities as regards
location and size of garden.

Another organization which is doing similar work to the one in
Cleveland is the School Garden Association of Boston (address
Station A). This Association makes up a number of collections of
flower and vegetable seeds, each collection containing five packets of
different kinds of seeds and selling for five cents.

III. HOME GARDENS IN CLEVELAND
BY LUCY C BUELL

Secretary, Home Gardening Association

The sixth year of work by the Cleveland Home Gardening Associa-
tion, which is described in the report just published, is the most
successful the Association has known. The report of 1900, when
the work started, shows that forty-eight thousand packets of seeds
were sold to the school children of Cleveland. Last year two hundred
and forty-seven thousand three hundred and forty-eight packets were
sold. Besides this amount of seed used in Cleveland, one hundred
and ninety thousand eight hundred and forty packets were sold to
outside organizations doing a work similar to that of the Home
Gardening Association. This increasing volume of orders has been
hard to handle, but with the better facilities which enlarged quarters
give it is believed it can be easily handled. The exchange garden,
which was opened in 1905. grew into two such gardens last year,
while vacant lots cultivated rose from eight to eighteen. Other new
features are projected for the coming season which will, it is believed,
add much to the usefulness of the Association.

The report for 19.06, may be had about February 10th. Address
501 St. Clair Avenue, Cleveland. Price 25 cents.

NATURE-STUDY AND A SOCIAL NEED

BY H. N. LOOMIS
Director of Science, New Britain (Conn.) Normal-Training School

May it not be that the invitation last spring for a list of "ten best
books" on nature-study lacked explicitness ? Mr. Bardwell in his
reply pointed out a difficulty that confronts those who deal at once
with children and teachers when he says, "I also seek to know the
individual, or individuals, before I recommend books. " One gains
from the various discussions connected with the nature-study move-
ment, as well as from the lists in the May Review, an idea of the
many sidedness of the question. Lessons are given with a certain
content and for a certain purpose. On no other basis can one under-
stand the disappointment he encounters as he turns away from the
hundreds of "lessons" annually published. By some we are annoyed,
while to others we are indifferent. Occasionally we are able to lay
the finger on what we regard as defective; usually however, it is a
matter of undefined dislike. In the planning of a "lesson" there are
two or three things never entirely neglected. A lesson may be
planned and taught under the apparent guidance of one of these
directing ideas, the others are present, however, as an unconscious
habit of thought, or hidden in a previous lesson which serves as a
pattern.

Turning to the 22 lists of books submitted one finds confirmation
for this contention. There seem to be but two of the lists submitted
in which books dealing with the purpose of nature-study and methods
of presenting the subject are lacking. Of these two exceptions that
of W. S. Hall's itself explains the omission in the following words.
"I would suggest the following as we have tested them in our summer
home." This writer apparently, is not speaking from the stand-
point of the public-school teacher, but rather from that of a cultured
parent. These two approaches to the subject are so different in
point of view that it is difficult to treat of them together. The second
apparent exception is unsigned 21. It speaks of "beginners in
nature-study and for a general outlook on plant and animal life," at
the same time submitting one of the best lists of books given. The
fact that the list is headed by Selina Gaye's great book renders it

4° THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW (3 ;2_FKB„ igo?

impossible to say the list does not supply a point of view from which
to attack this perplexing subject.

The fact that these lists of books — exceptions noted — contain
works that discuss the point of view from which this subject should
be approached, introduces into the confusion a vital and fundamental
unity. Furthermore, the work which appears in fifieen lists — or rather
sixteen, for it is fair to suppose Professor Hodge omitted his own
book on account of modesty rather than failure to recognize its worth
— is literally charged with a broad, sound and practical philosophy of
our needs in this subject. And that, by the way, is the purpose of
this article, namely, to plead for an adequate philosophy. If there is
one thing more than another that the movement lacks it is a clean
cut and rational rather than sentimental point of view. Because of
this lack, sentimentalism, narrowness in outlook, high-handed treat-
ment of those who have held that nature-study should comprehend
something more than plants and animals, failure to adequately estimate
what is involved in teaching this subject and indifference to public
sentiment and social needs have to an unfortunate extent characterized
the movement. Before any subject can find secure footing in a
democratic system of education, it must work itself free from inciden-
tal and special reasons for being and found itself on some perfectly
apparent sccial need. Whatever other reasons one may give for the
presence of history in the common-school curriculum, the perfectly
apparent one that a citizen of our republic needs to know something
of the origin and nature of the institutions which require his support
raises this study above all apologetic reasons for its presence in our
common schools. If our nature-study is to pass beyond the special
pleadings of a few enthusiasts, it must be made to meet some simple,
and when clearly stated, perfectly apparent social need. Individualists
Ave may be, yet we cannot expect our individual tastes and predilections
to be adopted and instituted at public expense. We sorely lack then,
not a large number of incidental benefits, but some simple clean-cut
statements of a social need which nature-study can reasonably be
expected to satisfy.

This is the reason, I take it, why Professor Hodge's "Nature-Study
and Life" is regarded in the May Review and in discussions on this
subject as the leading book. Its central idea appears to be that
modern social conditions demand of its popular educational schemes
something besides "book learning" and that the physical and organic
conditions that surround and limit the individual shall be objects for

loom. -J NATURE-STUDY AND A SOCIAL XEED 41

his serious study. But the distinguishing mark of Dr. Hodge's book
lies for me elsewhere, rather do I find it in the marked tendency dis-
played to put certain questions to the topics before presenting them.
Much of our nature-study possesses no permanent worth in that it
meets no pressing needs, presents no large truth, promises never to
grow richer in the individual's life, nor lead on and out into some
large conception of the world. Consequently, when one meets a
book with an idea of helpfulness rather than diversions dominating all
its lessons, it stands out like an oasis in a barren waste. While no
one will claim for the book under discussion anything like perfection,
indeed not a little that it proposes I believe quite beyond the possibi-
lity of presentation, yet the clearness with which it names the problems
for solution, and its freedom from cant and the airy aesthetical has
won for itself a unique place in nature- study literature. When the
day arrives that writers and leaders in this subject will agree that a
lesson which is really worth while must need have a solid content
chosen because of a definite purpose in mind, a purpose that has
taken shape not in the woods or by the babbling brook — tho' few
enjoy "walks" more than I — any more than in the easy chair, but a
purpose that results from mingling with one's fellows on the farm,
in the home and in the mart — with a purpose thus born a great step
will have been taken towards securing a place for nature-study and
elementary science in the school program.

Today it is undoubtedly true that on completing the great run of
school programs, city and country, the child steps into a world to
which schooling makes him but a little the less a stranger. So far as
being any the more capable of intelligently performing the common
home duties, of taking hold of shop-work with an enhanced intelli-
gence, of bringing to farm life a quickened appreciation of plant and
animal needs, of entering business with some understanding of
evidence and a trained sensitiveness to cause and effect relations, of
good habits of personal hygiene and moderations in all things. — so
far from this or something like this characterizing the common-school
product, we are actually told by parents, shop owners, merchants,
physicians and educational commissions that the school is of doubtful
value to the individual when confronted by the actual situations of
life.

So far as actully receiving from the school some definite equipment
for life along these lines, the individual is actually a little less apt at
taking in situations, and forming quick conclusions than before years

42 THE iVA TURE-STUD Y RE I "//-: W f3 : 2_FKB., ,9o7

of schooling had fixed certain habits of mind. The alertness and
quickness of apprehension found in the backwood-man and street
gamin suffers fearfully under present curricula. This loss, together
with failure to impart much that is of the very best of our modern
world, point to a social need.

To me. the province of nature-study and elementary science lies
right here. The field is unoccupied by the traditional curriculum.
The purpose is to bring early to the developing individual the agencies
employed by the best of his kind in living their material lives, that
he may receive in a democracy his rightful heritage — a fair opportunity.

AGRICULTURE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

By W. C. LATTA

Professor of Agriculture, Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind.

Agriculture is a very comprehensive term. It means sometimes
merely the cultivation of the soil for food products; sometimes the
several activities of the farm; sometimes the oldest and largest of the
three great industries of the human race; and sometimes the science
of the culture of the soil.

None of these meanings will serve for the present discussion. In
order that we may think and speak to the point, let us attempt to de-
fine, or illustrate, just what is meant by agriculture in the public
schools. As makers of definitions, however, let us remember how
difficult it is to include and exclude aright.

We will exclude, largely, the theory, business and economics of
agriculture. We will dismiss, also, the technique of agriculture, as,
for example, the aims, means, and methods of agriculture practice and
the problems of farm management. We will include the phenomena
and forces of nature as they actually exist, having in mind first,
those most familiar, and later those less known. Then, too, as the
normal child is forever asking "why," we will include the relations
of phenomena and forces — especially those of cause and effect. Our
subject will, also, include the effect of environment on the life of the
child, on all life, and on the practice and products of the farm. Our
subject will further include the story of nature as a whole and in her
various moods, so far as they come within the scope of the child's
mind, and vitally, or strikingly, affect or impress him. The keynote
of the subject "agriculture in the public schools" should be nature-
study; and the minor chord, agriculture.

At first the child is led to observe and study nature's forces from
the standpoint of himself —how they affect his comfort, his pleasures)
or his plans. Little by little the true teacher will lead the child to
see how these same forces affect the lives of plants and animals, his
schoolmates, and men and women, and also how they affect the
operations and results of the farmer.

Thus led, the unfolding mind of the pupil will come to discern
more clearly the relations of phenomena to natural forces, the wider

44 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 :2-feb., 1907

and yet wider applications of these forces to the life about him and
to the work and success of the farmer. With this widening range of vision
there will be a growing interest, which under wise guidance, will often
crystallize into a definite purpose to study systematically the subject
of agriculture. This study, which has begun with the more conspicu-
ous phenomena and forces of nature, might properly be extended to
include at least the elementary phases of agricultural botany, economic
entomology, birds, toads, reptiles, and mammals in their relations to
the farm, agricultural physics, agricultural chemistry, meteorology,
agricultural geology, principles of breeding and feeding, animal nutri-
tion, and the diseases of plants and animals. In this way may be
laid, deep and broad, in our public schools, the foundation for the
making of the broadly intelligent and useful man and the self-respect-
ing, enthusiastic, and successful agriculturist.

To put it briefly and figuratively, yet truthfully, agriculture in the
public school is the flowering and fruiting of nature-studies along
agricultural lines.

Why Have Agriculture in the Public Schools ?

Assuming that all present have caught the speaker's idea of agricul-
ture in the public schools, the question arises, why have such instruc-
tion in these schools ?

Of the many reasons for an affirmative answer to this question the
following, at least, are important:

(1) The subject, in most of its ramifica'ions, is of perennial and
universal interest. The experience of intelligent and sympathetic
teachers in all grades of school work, both in city and country, amply
justifies the assertion that there is nothing better than the study of
natural phenomena and natural forces to create and maintain the in-
terest of the pupils of all ages and nearly all temperaments.

(2) The subject sustains a vital relation to the life and well-being
of the individual and of the community. Take a single illustration
from one phase of the subject, the weather. If no other subject
suggests itself, or if all other topics fail, we fall back on the weather.
Why? Because in a very large and real sense it is the making or un-
making of us all.

(3) The subject is not only interesting and inspiring, but it is also
definitely practical. It has to do with the problem of bread and but-
ter. It deals with the here and now. This reason appeals strongly
to the school patrons — especially those living in the country. All

latta] NATURE-STUDY IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 45

over our fair state farmers are asking that the education of the chil-
dren be made more helpful in solving the every-day problems of life.
This attitude is rapidly crystallizing into a demand for revision of the
school curriculum, in order that agriculture may have its rightful place
in the course of study.

(4) The subject often appeals strongly to the apparently dull or
plodding, or supposedly incorrigible pupil, who takes little interest in
the purely academic studies and who knows more of brooks than
books, more of the parts of a fly than of the parts of speech.

There are many examples of persons whose intellectual faculties
have been stimulated to normal activity, and whose interest has
been aroused by natural history subjects outside the school cur-
riculum.

(5) The subjects of nature-study and elementary agriculture
appeal strongly to the esthetic, the imaginative and the spiritual in
the child, lifting him above the brain racking problems of cube root
and complex fractions, above the mercenary level of percentage and
profit and loss, and above the wearisome definitions of subjunctives
and infinitives into the diviner atmosphere, throbbing with impulses
and wooings and suggestions which both nourish and gratify the finer
instincts and sensibilities and aspirations of the mind.

(6) Another reason for making elementary agricultural science a
part of the course of study is the interest it generally awakens in
mathematics and language, or the opportunity it affords for training in
these lines. The problems of natural science require a knowledge of
both arithmetic and language to compute and define. Thus the
student will come to find the real value and use of figures of notation
and figures of speech in the solution of problems nearest to his heart
and life.

(7) Another reason which applies particularly to the rural schools
is the right of the country children to a school training which will
specially prepare them for life on the farm.

The great majority of these children do not get beyond the eighth
grade. If special instruction in the elements of agriculture is denied
them, they must be greatly handicapped in their efforts to win success
and become useful citizens.

(8) Another excellent reason, and the last to be mentioned, for plac-
ing the subjects of nature-study and agriculture in the public schools
is that they call for and make possible a truly pedagogic order of pro-
cedure. These subjects are of vital interest to the pupil; they appeal

46 THE NA TU RE- STUD Y RE I 'IE W [3 : 2_FEB., ,9o7

at first to the active, observing, and not to the dormant, reflecting
faculties; they cultivate the normal and healthy activity of both mind
and body; they call into action the several qualities of mind and
spirit; they cultivate originality, self-direction, self-reliance, self-con-
trol, independence, patience, perseverance, sincerity, simplicity,
sympathy, love of the beautiful, recognition of a higher power and
the need of working therewith to gain control of nature's forces, and
then use them for material and spiritual advancement.

How to Introduce the Subject

It is quite possible that the foregoing reasons for giving instruction
in agriculture in the public schools may not appeal to some teachers
present.

Recent information, however, from over half of the county superin-
tendents of schools in Indiana leads to the conclusions that many,
perhaps a majority of teachers are in an attitude of expectancy, at
least, and are ready for suggestions as to how the subject of agricul-
ture may be introduced and taught in the public schools.

What will be said on this point will have special reference to exist-
ing conditions and to our own state.

(1) Special instruction relating to familiar objects, phenomena
and forces should begin at the very outset of school life, and should
continue throughout the entire public school course. At first the
objects for consideration should be chosen solely for their interest to
the child. The objects should be so studied as to throw light on the
real life and immediate environment of the child. In this way inter-
esting knowledge of real utility will be gained day by day. As the
work progresses the applications of the knowledge gained to the gen-
eral welfare and to the work and problems of the farm should receive
attention. The instruction should proceed along such lines and by
such steps as will maintain the enthusiastic interest of the pupil.

(2) Under present conditions this special instruction should, in
most cases, be given as a general exercise once or twice a week.
Sometimes before, and sometimes after, the presentation of a subject
by the teacher the pupils may be requested to make observations and
report later to the school. The skill of the teacher must be exercised
to suit the work requested of the pupils, to their ages and degrees of
advancement.

In reporting, by pupils, on special work assigned, both oral and
written methods should be used. Care should be taken by the

LATTA] \ A TC RE- STUDY I iV PUBLIC SCHOOLS 47

teacher to make the most of the opportunity to train the children in
the art of expression and in the use of good language.

If corn fields are near, let the older boys compute the per cent of
a perfect stand the per cent of barren and of smutted stalks,
and the relation of smut to barrennesses shown by percentages.
See that the pupils having like data get like results, and thus
impart a good drill in multiplying and in the use of the
decimal point. Incidentally the student will gain a new conception
of the practical value of language and mathematics.

This drill, however, should not be so rigid, or frigid, as to check
spontaneity or vivacity of expression. Remember that enthusiasm
must be maintained even though the canons of the grammarians may
be occasionally violated.

(3) In the view of the speaker, elementary instruction in agricul-
ture should be introduced in all our public schools, of both city and
country, as soon as the teachers can acquire the necessary prepara-
tion therefor. The truly interested and resourceful teacher can read-
ily get sufficient preparation to begin this work at the opening of the
next school year. Professor Bailey's book, "The Nature-Study
Idea," the several elementary text-books on agriculture, the bulletins
of the U. S. Department of Agriculture and of the experiment sta-
tions, the well-equipped laboratories and the teaching force of the
schools of agriculture, the successful farmers, fruit growers, dairy-
men, stockmen in the vicinity of the schools, afford ample means and
facilities for speedy and inexpensive preparation for such instruction.

The essential that the teacher himself must supply is a royal will
to get the preparation. No feeble desire, no half-hearted purpose,
no spurt of enthusiasm will accomplish it, but a fixed purpose andthe
wise use of the time and means which every teacher can command
will bring it to pass.

Does some one urge that this is impossible with the already
over-crowded course of study and the over-worked teacher ? Nothing
is impossible that has been and is, even now, being accomplished.
All over this state, north, south, east, west, teachers in single-room
and consolidated country schools, and teachers in township and city
schools are now giving at least occasional instruction in nature-study
and the elements of agricultural science. More than this, most of
these same teachers find that with the increased interest of their
scholars the awakening of the dull and indifferent pupils, and the
improved discipline of the school, their "load" is really lightened and
not increased, as some of them feared.

48 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 : 2_FEB., ,go7

Fellow-teachers, beware of the pessimistic croaking of some school
officials, some school patrons, and of some wealthy, but miserly,
childless tax-payers. Demonstrate what can be clone under existing
conditions in the way of elementary instruction in agriculture, and
th s will be the best argument for improved conditions which will
make possible large and better things in the future.

(4) The speaker further believes that the systematic but elemen-
tary text-book study of agriculture should be taken up with the
seventh grade pupils as soon as practicable, and that the subject be
continued with increasing thoroughness throughout the rest of the
public-school course.

In order that this may be speedily and effectually accomplished,
the speaker would respectfully urge:

(1 st) The early and thorough revision of the course of study and
the giving of kindergarten and nature-study work, domestic science,
elementary agriculture, and manual training their rightful place in the
school-curriculum;

(2nd) Consolidation of the rural schools as fast as conditions and
public sentiment will permit;

(3rd) Lengthening of the school year in the country, and such
increase of wages as will secure the best teachers;

(4th) The examination of teachers in the subjects of nature-study
and elementary agriculture;

(5th) The general establishment of rural high schools, centrally
located in the farm communities which they serve, as fully equipped
and as ably manned as the best city high schools.

In conclusion the speaker would call attention to the over-shadow-
ing importance of agriculture to the common weal and to the standing
and stability of our government and nation.

Every one should have, at least, a tolerably intelligent view of
the nature and magnitude of the oldest and greatest of callings.

Every one should have some knowledge of the problems and
achievements and sterling worth of the yeomanry of our land.

The walls of separation between town and country are rapidly
breaking down under the influence of the new education, and they
should soon be banished forever.

We are one people, north and south and east and west, denizens
of cities and dwellers in rural districts — all are one in fact and should
be one in sympathy, one in purpose and effort to make our common
country an earthly paradise and the United States the garden spot
of the world.

..att a] NATURE-STUDY IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 49

Agricultural education, rightly understood and interpreted intell-
igently and sympathetically imparted, and universally diffused will
be one of the most effective means to these great ends.

Fellow-teachers, ponder well the problems and aims and ends of
industrial education in all their phrases and bearings.

Remember that we are, and must ever be, an overwhelmingly indus-
trial people, facing industrial problems which can only be intelligently
and effectively solved by those who have an industrial education.
Remember that, after all, the great work of education is to enable its
possessor to live helpfully, hopefully, serenely, and successfully in
the immediate environment.

Bear constantly in mind that the only school of the toiling millions
is the public school. Will you not therefore as teachers in these
public schools strive to make the education you impart in the highest
possible degree helpful to your pupils and patrons ?

Do not measure your success by the few you induce to enter the
high school or college, but rather by the many who, through dropping
out of school, have been inspired by your influence to seek and do
good, and been have helped by your teaching and training to perform
well some necessary, and, hence, some worthy work.

\_The Educator-Journal.^

50 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE IV l3 . 2-FEb., I9o7

DISCUSSION
DR. GROUT'S "METHODS OF TEACHING NATURE-STUDY"1

I

Several readers have noted in Dr. Grout's paper these sentences: "The
difference between nature-study and elementary biology is not clear to most
people. Personally the author believes thev should not be differentiated but
should become synonymous." What justification could be offered for such
duplication in our school system ? — is the question which readers have asked.
We have referred the question to Dr. Grout and this is his answer:

My statement does not mean that identical work should be done in the
grades and in high school. The biology I studied in post-graduate work
was not the same in content as that I studied in college. Science is classified
knowledge. Nature-study, so called, often fails to become science because
it is too hit or miss and gives information in a pleasing but hap-hazard way.
I believe that grade work should be planned so as to be truly scientific, but
that it need not be one whit less interesting for that reason.

On the other hand I believe that elementary biology in the secondary
school is often so much like college work that it looses its attractive features.
It should be modified so as to become as pleasing as the nature-study now
taught by our best teachers. It should come as naturally after the grade
work as algebra after arithmetic. The on!y difficulty at present is the absolute
scarcity of properly trained teachers, and as long as a jockey gets from five to
fifty thousand dollars a year to ride a man's horses and a tutor for his boy
gets only one thousand, and other like things in proportion, so long we shall
have this difficulty to contend with.

Boy's High School, Brooklyn, N. Y. A. J. Grout.

II

In the excellent paper on "Methods of Teaching Nature-Study," by Dr.
Grout, I find two points which demand comment. The statement is made
that "marvelous and striking facts are legitimate and highly useful material";
one reason that the actions of the sensitive plant arouse so much attention is
that motion is an unsuspected power of plants and also quite unusual"; "un-

See this journal for October, 1906.

n/scussioxs 51

usual and little known facts about common things are two classes of facts that
one can usually relv upon to serve his purpose in nature-study." This is
dangerous doctrine. "Little known facts about common things" are as a
rule worth while, but what legitimate purpose in nature-study is served by an
emphasis upon the "unusual," "marvelous" and "striking?" Is the four-
leaf clover more worthy of consideration than the humble three-leaf? Do
we wish to perpetuate the type of man who quits work for the afternoon,
harnesses his team, drives to town and pays his admission fee to see the two-
headed calf, when he would invest neither one hour nor two cents postage in
the scientific study of a one-headed calf ? This passion for the bizarre and
spectacular, this craving for something new under the sun, is altogether too
common already; perhaps we may say that it is not in the least abnormal,
but this does not argue that it is wholesome nor that it should be encouraged.
Continuous vaudeville may be a useful antidote, but for steady diet there are
much better viands. It is the ignorant who are ever looking for signs and
miracles. For the enlightened mind — and for the growing naturalist — there
is a more lasting jov, the joy of the commonplace. Whom Dame Nature
loves best is not received in state, on extraordinary occasions; but is admitted
into the secrets of her household economy.

Bird study has now so many devotees that a comment on the portion of
the paper dealing with this subject may not be out of place. "After learn-
ing the appearance of the bird," I quote, "it is quite easv to learn to recog-
nize it in the field." So commonly have I seen this method followed — pic-
ture study, pure and simple, with directions to go and find a bird correspond-
ing to the picture — and always with most dubious results, that I shudder
whenever I find it employed. With the younger children the suggestion is
too powerful to be overcome. A boy is shown the pictures of birds which
are advertised to appear in the neighborhood; he becomes an adept in the
recognition of — pictures; under the influence ot strong suggestion he sallies
forth and straightway observes the original of his favorite picture. "Are
you sure you saw a red-breasted nuthatch?" asks the conscientious teacher.
"Yes ma'am." "Describe it for me, so that I may know if you really saw
one." "The boy, if he is in goftd health, glibly describes the picture, is
credited with the observation, and is puzzled to know whether he is guilty
of a fairy story or a lie. A keen observer who had visited an exercise of
this kind characterised it as "a hotbed for liars." So long as the English
sparrows, canaries, pigeons, poultry, and perhaps robins and bluejays are to
be had commonly about our homes, we had best study them rather than the
pictures of birds outside the range of vision. When a boy has seen the real
thing, then is a good time for him to locate the bird on the color chart. The pic-

5 2 THE NA TURKS TUB Y RE VIE IV [3 . 2_FEB. , ig07

ture is very useful, almost indispensable, but it should follow and not precede.
There is little value in resorting to picture study; let the picture be truly
supplementary.

I do not wish to read into Dr. Grout's paper anything which is not there;
but without modification the inferences are not tenable.

Fred L. Charles.
State Normal School, DeKalb, III.

DR. HORNADAY'S "WEAKNESS OF NATURE-STUDY"

I

To my thinking the real reason for the unsatisfactory condition of nature-
study in American schools in general is that it is practically impossible in
manv places to find teachers who are competent to direct the study in an
intelligent manner. Dr. Hornaday's article on the subject seems to me very
far from being a helpful contribution. Surely he misstates and exaggerates on
his first page the difficulties of the situation. His derision of ''teaching from
the object" seems to me very harmful.

I take it that the object of nature- study is to get into the child's mind
something of the naturalist's method. That can never be done by memor-
zing facts out of a book. If the object were merely to acquire information,
Dr. Hornaday's text-book method would doubtless be quicker than Professor
Lange's method of "getting acquainted with life about our homes." Never-
theless, it is not necessary for those of us who believe in the utility of "teach-
ing from the object" to maintain that books, maps, pictures, and diagrams are
useless; — indeed, most of us think that such records and helps should be abun-
dantly used. We are convinced, however, that they can never take the
place of good training in observation.

Wishing you all success in promoting all wise forms of nature-study, I am,

Very truly yours,

Charles W. Eliot.
President's Office, Harvard University.

II

Dr. Hornaday's October article very properly calls serious attention to
some alarming weaknesses of nature-study teaching in our elementary schools.
It is fairly well known that much of our so-called nature-study teaching is a
farce, a delusion and a snare. Most of it is aloes-coated, not sugar-coated;
minced so finely by the teachers that even the youngest pupils look upon it
as a hash suitable for babies; it is nature de-natured with many silly juvenile

DISCUSSIONS 53

stories thrown in to add flavor; and the investigating spirit of the pupils is
snuffed out as soon as its presence is detected.

While these defects are fairly well-known to the readers of The Review,
and to those responsible for the training of teachers, it is doubtful if the
methods advocated by Dr. Hornaday will mend matters in the least. As a
matter of fact, his methods are being tried unsuccessfully by hundreds of teach-
ers who think more of the name and place of the animal or plant in the great
system of nature than they do about its relations to us, and its value as a
working force in the economy of nature, and who thinks more of the subject-
matter than they do of the pupils under their charge.

If nature-study stands for anything pedagogicallv it stands for natural
study, i. e., a method or means of developing mental power in the pupil by
begetting an attitude of inquiry into the meaning of the things of nature so
that the truth is discovered through the exercise of the activities of the pupil.
Dr. Hornaday 's insistence on book-study and classification will defeat the
very object of nature-study. We want more of the spirit of the old field-
naturalists and less of that of the modern systematists. We want the child
to find out for himself the values of the great organic forces of nature. The
method must be that of the investigator. Books are valuable, even indispens-
able, but they must be kept in their place. The studv of books and pic-
tures instead of the forces themselves is fundamentally wrong.

Dr. Hornaday has evidently in mind as he writes the children of the
great cities, where, he says, there is "no life about their homes." Unfort-
unate are those children who live in tenement houses where the front view
is the hard walls on the opposite side of the street, and the rear view is the
dull laundry yard of unknown or unfriendly neighbors; but have they not
parks with trees, flowers, grass, birds, squirrels, insects and other living things
that are worthy of study ? There is a greater need in large cities for a
sympathetic study by the school children of every available plant and animal
form. In rural districts, on the other hand, where organic life forms so
prominent a part of the child's environment it would be subversive of the
natural order of things to make classification the basis and mainstay of his
study of nature.

Unfortunate indeed, arc the children with a teacher who "marshals facts
by the thousand and places them in empty minds" without any effort on the
part of the children, under the impression that such is nature-study. It
would be far better to use the time in studying books and pictures, but we
should be careful not to call this kind of studv nature-study.

W e, as teachers, must realize that the value of knowledge and education
depends as much, even more, on the way the truth is taught or learned as on

5 4 THE NA TU RE-STUD Y RE VIE W ls . 2-FEb., i9o7

the truth itself. Classification and comparison of forms in the system of
nature belong to the later stages of nature-study, for the pupil is not inter-
ested in classifying until he has something to classify. Occasionally they
"may serve as a foundation from which to investigate the forces of living
nature with a view to understand the laws of their action and to discover
means to utilize and control them."

Children are not interested so much in matters of classification, origin, and
structure of the organism as they are in matters relating to its growth, its
habits and its dynamic power in the community.

Macdonald College. W. LoCHHEAD.

Ill

While recognizing some exceedingly valuable elements in the article by
Director Hornaday in the October issue, I believe I also recognize some
which ought not to pass unchallenged. May I express my dissent in the
columns of your valuable journal?

On page 242, lines five to nine, the author says: — "A more inadequate
foundation for zoological vvork could hardly be devised,'' than that of "get-
ting acquainted with the life about our homes.'' Now we teachers who
have been so fortunate as to read the lives of many of the greatest naturalists
that the world has ever seen, know that the true foundation for their zoologi-
cal, botanical, or geological work was laid through a childhood spent in the
observation and collection of natural objects in their own neighborhood, and
that at first they mixed up all living things "birds, bugs, flowers, mushrooms,
shells, crabs, and trees." Thus was produced those great men who made
the natural sciences possible. They became naturalists, not on account of
any sound basis laid in their school studies, but in spite of the influence of
those studies. Again, we teachers know of certain very prominent naturalists
of the present day and we can assert from our own knowledge that the love
of nature that led them to become her devotees was obtained in a very simi-
lar manner, not in the schools, but in the fields and woods. As the result
of the growing realization that the basis of all scientific development is the
direct study of natural objects and phenomena, our wiser educators have
induced us to bring this promising method into the school course, and modern
laboratory work is the result. The nature-study movement is but the attempt
to create a wider sympathy with nature and develop heretofore neglected
mental powers by bringing nature into closer contact with those whose long
term of school imprisonment and whose changed conditions of life have kept
them from nature.

It should not be necessary to say that we teachers have seen and used both

DISCUSSIONS 55

pictures and books and believe them to be valuable adjuncts to a good course
in nature-studv, but unfortunately we are also aware of the fact that these
adjuncts are more often over used than underused. A teacher in one of the
public schools of our State (N. Y.) felt that she must complv with the new
svllabus and give a nature-study lesson on the hen. She therefore went to
her friends and asked them where she could find a good picture of a hen.
She was at last successful and fulfilled her obligation to the State by showing
the picture and getting the pupils to talk about it — and this when a five
minutes walk would have taken her class to a neighboring poultry yard. We
can assure Dr. Hornaday that in very many cases nine nature-study lessons
are given with pictures, talks and books, to one with a natural object or with
natural phenomena. If this is to be the character of our work it will not
take long to demonstrate its utter uselessness. For my part I sincerelv regret
that a naturalist has entered the lists apparently as a champion of the work of
little effort and of least worth. One who has studied the real animal as to
form, covering, movement, habit, structure or any standpoint whatever, has
come to knew that a picture is hardly more like the animal "all in all" than
a shadow is like the man who casts it.

In justice to Dr. Hornaday we must note that he says his remarks are
devoted to the course for "pupils of reason and sense." Now perhaps one
of the chief functions of nature-study is to present vivid basal ideas to the
child, to give him material on which he mav profitably exercise and test his
growing powers ofreason. That these powers are neither developed nor
tested by books we may be most certain. Take a book like "Science and
Health" and see how beautifullv it tests the reasoning power of hundreds of
thousands of our American school-bred population. Note also a yet greater
number of "scholars" who todav uphold opinions or dogmas so diverse that
a portion of the public begins to doubt if any of them are true. Where have
been the men of "reason and sense" throughout the great warfare of science
from the time of Copernicus to the present day — in the majority or in the
minority? At what age do our children become "pupils of reason and
sense?' Let those who can, answer. But there is one thing this nation
needs today above all other things and that is MEN "of reason and sense"
and our schools must discover the kind of work in childhood that has done
most to develop such men and then give this work to our school children.
Good as thev may be, the study of geography, language and some other sub-
jects have never developed this power and as lately taught, never will. All
knowledge we now possess was obtained by some one at first hand through
observation. We do not wish to re -discover the field alreadv known, but
we do wish that we had more men with the mental power to do so. That

5 6 THE JVA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE IV [3 . 2_FEB., ,9o7

power can only be trained by the doing and I earnestly urge that we make
our nature-study differ from other subjects in that every lesson shall be an
effort to get knowledge at first hand through observation of either natural
objects or natural phenomena.

State Normal School, Plattsburg, N. Y. George H. Hudson.

IV

In accordance with the invitation to discuss the article "Weakness in Teach-
ing Nature-Study," published in the October issue of the Review, I wish to
take this opportunity to protest against the principles involved in that article,
for I believe them to be detrimental to the greatest good that the child may
acquire from nature-study.

The article seems to be written from the standpoint of a specialist who
puts the science of zoology first and the child second. This is a mistake too
often made in much teaching; the child should be put first. The purpose of
nature-study should not be to develop scientists with a systematic knowledge of
biology, but to develop men and women with some appreciation of nature's
vast realm.

The chief aims of nature-study which have found quite general acceptance
in the columns of The Review are three : (i) the observational study (2)
of common things (3) to create an interest therein. All three of these would
receive scant fulfillment if the principles of the article under discussion were
carried out.

One of the chief features which has lead educators to look with some degree
of favor upon the introduction of nature-study into our schools has
been the opportunity offered to develop the child's powers along new lines.
If nature-study is reduced to the level of mere memory work, what justifica-
tion is there for introducing such a subject into a crowded curriculum which
already overtaxes the child's memory?

One of the chief difficulties which the author has met in his supervision of
nature-study has been the tendency of teachers to make the subject one of
mere memory and book work. To advocate this doctrine is to rob nature-
study of the vitality which it has slowly been acquiring, and to reduce its
educational possibilities to such a low ebb that it could have little claim to a
place in our schools.

Passaic, N. J GlLBERT H. TrafTON.

V

Probably most of us who are in touch with school work today would
take exception to Dr. Hornaday's assumption that geography was better
taught forty or fifty years ago than it is today. If geography means a

DISCUSSIONS 57

"knowledge of the earth and its inhabitants", truly the grammar school pupil
of today knows far more than did the one in the corresponding grades in the
6o's; this would be evident to any unprejudiced investigator. Then knowledge
of geography consisted largely of ability to locate places on a map, "bound"
political divisions, etc.; and most mental pictures of towns, cities, rivers,
consisted of dots, stars, irregular lines as these were represented on maps.
Now pictures of scenery, descriptions of life of the people, including occupa-
tions, etc., have extended and vivified that knowledge with the effect of
greatly broadening the outlook. Not only that, but lest it may be claimed
by som; that all this is at a sacrifice of such knowledge as was formerly
gained, allow me to refer to what occured in our own city recently. A
grammar principal obtained a set of examination papers of fifty years ago,
including arithmetic, spelling and geography. The same questions were
given the pupils in all our grammar schools, with the result that the answers
were of a far higher average; and contained, moreover, a much smaller
number of those absurd blunders which come from memorizing language
without having adequate understanding of the thought. So much for the
"old time" geography.

Now, what is Dr. Hornaday's object in nature-study? As far as maybe
gathered from his article, it seems to be the acquisition by the pupil of a cer-
tain store of facts concerning animals and animal 'life (?), although the latter
might be omitted by inference from his emphasis upon "zoological forms."

For the moment accepting this as the chief object to be attained, is put-
ting a text-book into the hands of a pupil with supplementary exhibition
of "available objects" likely to secure this result? I recall too vividly
instruction of that sort in chemistry, in geologv, in botany during high-school
davs, to believe it; for that which was mainly "words, words" then has had
to be learned since as fact. I would not be understood as decrying the use
of books as sources of information, but they should be the supplement after the
objects or selected typical ones have themselves been studied so that the pupil
has some definite concepts in mind and so something to build upon, or center
new ideas about. The main difficulty in so using books, heretofore, and
will be for some time to come, is that we must train up a corps of teachers
who can themselves intelligentlv study the life about them and then supple-
ment their knowledge by that which others have gleaned and stored in books.

No one surelv would take exception to Dr. Hornaday's emphatic state-
ment that "the pupil must be made to do the work," although most of us
would consider the compelling force to be the inherent interest of the subject
itself, not the teacher who introduces the subject and directs and helps the
pupils over difficulties.

5% THE JVA TURE-STUDY RE VIE IV [s . 2_FEE., 19o7

Why should plants, the heavenly bodies, the weather, physical and chemi-
cal forces, and even the soil itself receive no notice, when every moment they
thrust themselves upon our attention and we must take cognizance of them ?
And how can we have any intelligent notion of the life of animals, even,
without some knowledge of their vital relations to these others ?

Isn't it better to gain some ability to see facts, some power to see relations
between different forms of life, some power to draw conclusions from observed
facts and above all to gain interest which shall lead to a continuance of such
study after school days are over ? And ought we not to recognize the fact
that while one aspect of nature appeals to one portion of the school, other
phrases are more interesting to other portions ? What provision does Dr.
Hornaday make for those activities both mental and physical which at the
period of life which he has in mind are so noticeable, and which should be
made to conduce to the welfare of the child and of society ?

What shall the pupils of the "primary department" who have not "reason
and sense," do? How shall they acquire these desirable possessions ?

Aren't many of the evils of the day the direct result of taking everything
upon authority, memorizing what was put before us, and then when some
facts were found contrary to the teaching received, cause a complete over-
throw ?

Would it not be better to cultivate that form of mind which shall ' 'prove
all things, hold fast that which is good — and true " ?

Office of Supervisor of Nature-Study, tannie A. OTEBBINS.

Springfield, Mass.

BOOK REVIEWS

The Frog Book. Bv Marv C. Dickerson. New York: Doubleday.
1906. Pp. 253, illustrated. $3.50.

"The Frog Book" describes and pictures the North American Salienta
[Anura] "with a study of the habits and life-histories of those of the north-
eastern States." As stated in the introduction, "It is hoped that the book
not only will introduce the elementary nature student to the fascinations of
pond life, but that it will suggest to the more advanced student serious work
on classification, life-histories, and habits of North American Salienta."

Fifty-six species and five varieties are described, making the work quite
complete. There are more than three hundred illustrations, including colored
plates and half-tone engravings, picturing all the species described. These
are nearly all from photographs from life and are uniformly excellent. The
interest of the scientific student will perhaps centre chiefly about these illus-
trations.

Considerable space is given to a general biological discussion of the group,
and the balance of the book consists of detailed discussions of the appearance
and habits of the various species. It is written throughout in a popular vein,
the various stages of frog life being correlated with wild flowers, birds and so
on in a way that will surely arouse the interest of the layman. The thirty
odd pages given to the American toad is perhaps the most interesting as well
as the most suggestive section of the book.

But the work is more than interesting, it is quite accurate and very usable.
Two keys are given, a natural one to families, and an artificial one to species,
based on external characters. This latter key is both simple and accurate.
The author shows a generally conservative attitude in classification, but in at
least one genus, i.e., Bufo, her position is open to question.

The life-histories are a disappointment from the viewpoint of the scientist.
It would seem that the "ten years of observation and study" to which the
author confesses should have furnished more accurate data on such funda-
mental points as breeding seasons, number of eggs laid, quantity and kinds
of food, etc. One can only hope with the author that the paucity of infor-
mation on these points will stimulate the scientific student to serious work.

The success of the volume as a popular hand-book is assured, rand it is
undoubtedly the best number published in this series.

Clark University. Chas. E. DlSNEY.

60 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 :2-feb., i9o7

Familiar Wild Animals. By S. A. Lottridge. New York: Holt.
1906. 60 cents.

A series of sketches and pictures chosen from "Animal Snapshots," which
was reviewed in this journal Vol. 2, page 73. The animals selected are
woodchuck, opossum, fox, mouse, squirrel, flying squirrel, bluebird, robin,
swift, bobolink, screech owl, sparrow, hawk. The book is intended "to
help stimulate school children in the direct observation of outdoor life. It is
certainly interesting reading.

The Renewal of Life. By Margaret W. Morlev. Chicago: McClurg.
1906. $1.25.

This is a book intended to suggest to parents and teachers ways of dealing
with the problem of teaching children the important facts concerning the
origin of new individuals among plants and especially animals. Recognizing
that the great majority of her readers have not had the instruction which
might prepare them for teaching others, the author has in great detail gone
over the facts to be taught and the best ways of presenting the facts.

A few extracts will give an insight into the point of view of the book:
"The child's best teachers of these intimate truths are undoubtedly his
parents." < 'Where biology is taught the pupil comes to a clear understand-
ing of the main facts." "The most beautiful and ideal way of presenting
the renewal of life is through nature-study." "The problem for the
instructor to solve is how fully to acquaint the child with the phenomena of
the reproductive life without making the subject unduly prominent."

The leading part of the story of the origin of life is made to center around
the development of flowers, fishes, amphibians and birds, which so well
pave the way for understanding the life of a mammal. The problems of
training children for the moral life are clearly suggested in Chapter XII, and
especially in the last chapter dealing with the transformation of the adolescent
period. The appendix contains a good list of helpful books.

The book, with rare exceptions, is agreeably free from sickly sentimentality,
and usually direct to the point in plain and yet delicate language. There are
places where it ought to be plainer, for there are many otherwise intelligent
parents and teachers whose own profound ignorance concerning these vital
problems will make it impossible for them to guess the important meaning
involved in some guardedly worded paragraphs, especially in the last chapters.
However, taken all in all it should be read by all parents and educators who
have not already formulated their own ideas on the problems involved. It
is safe and sound.

Among Country Schools. By O.J. Kern. Boston: Ginn. 1906. $1.25.

This attractive new book by Superintendent Kern, of Winnebago Co.,
111., is not a hook on agriculture (for this Mr. Kern prefers practical study);

HOOK REVIEWS 61

it is not a teacher's manual; it is not in any way allied to text-books; but is
a book of suggestion, inspiration and encouragement for making country
schools better and through them rural life more worth the living.

The book is the result of seven years of very earnest thought and hard
work in an endeavor to secure for the country child his rights so far as an
educational opportunity is concerned. In the training of children and the
development of character no greater opportunity can be offered than that now
presented to the teacher in the country school. The author hopes that this
book will prove suggestive to the teacher and school officer who are striving
for the spiritualization of countrv life through the medium of the country
school. He believes that a careful reading of its pages will show a practical
wav of interesting the "farm child through farm topics."

The volume contains chapters on The Country Child's Rights, The Out-
door Art Movement, School-Gardens Art for the Country Child, The
Work of a Farmer Boys' Experiment Club, Educational Excursions, The
New Agriculture and the Country School, Consolidation, The Training of
Teachers for the Country School.

Field Tables of Lepidoptera. By Wm. T. M. Forbes. Davis, Ban-
nister & Co., Worcester, Mass. Pp. 141, one plate. $0.75 net.

In the past few years more requests have come to me for some means of
distinguishing and naming the different caterpillars than for any other ten top-
ics in nature-studv. All sorts of caterpillars are brought into the schools in
spring and fall. They are the easily collected, long-period, actively feeding
and hence destructive stage in the life of a butterfly or moth; and when the
child asks what they do and what they are, it is discouraging to be told all
the time: "Feed them and take good care of them and perhaps next year
they will turn into butterflies or moths and then we can tell what they are
and may be able to find out more "about" what they do." Mr. Forbes has
been doing this ever since his early grammar-school years and as a result, at
graduation from college, he is enabled to give us the first key to the caterpil-
lars of North America east of the Mississippi. This "key" fills about two-
thirds of the book. It will enable the student chiefly by characters visible to
eye or hand-lens to determine practically any caterpillar he picks up. In
addition there is a valuable "Color Key to Butterflies," and tables giving
for 151 butterflies, 49 sphinxes, 17 imperial moths and 21 moths of econo-
mic importance the names, scientific and common, description, dates, size,
number of broods, frequency, and haunts; and for their caterpillars, descrip-
tions, foods and seasons.

The difficulties of printing a book of this character have made it somewhat
expensive, but to anv nature student it will certainly prove many times worth
the price. C. F. H.

62 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 : 2-FEB., ,9o7

NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE NOTES

Snakes Charming Birds. In your November number you published
a note concerning the charming of birds by snakes. Some five or six years
ago last summer I was sitting in our garden in Connecticut when I suddenly
became interested in the excited cries of a number of robins and vireos that
were swooping down through the maple trees, through a hazelnut bush and
up again on the opposite side into a button-ball tree. After a second's rest
they would swoop back again, always passing through the same spot in the
hazelnut bush. I went over to investigate the matter and found a blacksnake
(over four feet long by actual measurement later), wound among the branches
of the bush, with its head held stiffly erect and its eyes fixed intently on a
half-grown vireo perched sleepily on a branch some four or five inches above
it. I had hardly seen the bird when it closed its eyes, gave a little gasp,
slid off of the branch, and settled down into the snake's mouth, its head
protruding. I had nothing with which to kill the snake and while my father
was on his way I watched. After settling into the snake's mouth, the bird
gave no more sign of life. It died apparently without any pain whatever.
The snake began to roll the little body round and round in its mouth. It
may have continued this for a minute; then it was killed by my father. I
picked up the dead bird and found that the lower part of the body had been
entirely stripped of its feathers. I have always believed this to be a case of
charming, but I have never seen any other instance of it, before nor since.
Calhoun, Ala. W. E. Brown.

Ferrets and Telephone Wires. A note in the "Nature and Science"

department of St. Nicholas describes the use of ferrets for pulling wires into
underground conduits. The ferret is muzzled and fitted with a harness attached
to a strong string. A caged rat is placed in the tube and as the ferret chases
the rat the string is drawn through the tube. The rat and ferret are caught
by a wire cage at the other end. By means of the string a small steel wire
is drawn through and this in turn draws the telephone wires. Without the
muzzle the ferret might kill the rat and leave it as an obstruction in the tube.

Cockle-Bur Seeds. There are two seeds in each bur. Professor Arthur,
of Purdue University, finds that in round numbers, in 25 per cent of the
burs the seeds do not grow, five per cent produce two seedlings each, and
70 per cent one seedling, the first year, and about one half of these will pro-

NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE NOTES

63

duce the second seeding in the second or third year. Further experiments
have shown that it is the lower seed which germinates first, the upper one
resting a rear or more. \_Plant World, Oct. '06.]

A Miniature Bee-Hive. The accompanying figures represent a minia-
ture bee-hive, devised last year by Dr. E. F. Bigelow, of St. Nicholas. The

main bodv of" the hive contains five frames, each one-third the size of the
standard Hoffman frame. The super contains sections about one-fourth the
size of familiar "pound sections." The chimney of this house-like hive is
really tne feeding tube. The hive illustrates the structure of regular hives.
Its small size makes it very convenient to handle and interesting to children.
A full description by the inventor has been written for Gleanings in Bee Cul-
ture. It is manufactured by the A. I. Root Co., Medina, O.

64 THE XA Tl 'HE-STUD V KE VIE IV

1 3 : 2— FEB., 1907

Dissemination of Seeds of Osage Orange. The editor of the American
Botanist invites readers to suggest explanations concerning the method of
seed dispersal in the case of the osage orange fruits, which are so sticky and
disagreeable as to repel all grazing animals. Rolling is one apparent explana-
tion, and floating on water another.

Gipsy Moth. An abbreviated account of this insect, which many
entomologists consider the most dangerous ever introduced into America, has
long been needed and is now supplied as Farmers' Bulletin 275 (free, Dept.
Agriculture, Washington). Every nature-study teacher who deals with in-
sects should read this pamphlet.

The animal has now spread from the vicinity of Boston to 2480 square
miles of Massachusetts, also in the sea-coast towns of New Hampshire, in
a few places in Maine, Rhode Island and Connecticut. In 1900, when the
Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture after ten years' work was compelled
to stop because the legislature did not make an appropriation, the insect was
restricted to 360 square irfles. Five years of inactivity (1900- 1905) resulted
in the great spread to the areas named above. Three hundred thousand dol-
lars have been appropriated by Massachusetts for 1905,1906, 1907; $30,000
for experiments with enemies; 20 to 50 per cent of cost of the fighting the
moth must be paid by cities and towns; owners of property must destroy
eggs, pupje, and nests; Congress at its last session appropriated $82,500 to
prevent spread of the gipsy and brown-tail moths; and bills will be introduced
into the present legislatures of the other States to which the gipsy moth has
spread.

INDEX

321

Index to Volume II, 1906

[Names of contributors are printed in small capitals. Abbreviated titles of books reviewed are
in quotation marks, Thd abbreviation n -s. for nature-study is used.

Adaptations, cherries, 39; cock-spur
thorn, 75

Argtculture 55; 185; government pub-
lications, 75; as industrial education,
148; in normal schools, 189; in Vir-
ginia, 224; see also under school-
gardens

Aigrettes, 191

Alcohol, 315

Andrews, E. A., keeping crayfish,
296

Animals, at sea-shore, 73; photographs,
73; game animals, 74

Aquana, 30S

Arbor-day, 192

Bacteria, 26

Baldwin, W. A., n.-s. and manual
training, 41

Bardwell, D. L., best books, 177

Bees, in Australia, 116; notes, 151,
22j, 318

Behavior, animal, 311

Benedict, H. M., Natural History
Club, 216

Bigelow, Anna N., study of snails,
201

Bigelow, M. A., scope and method
of scientific n.-s., 35; physiology in
elementary schools, 67; n.-s. and
manual training, 91; on best books,
168; snails, 198; editorial and all
other unsigned notes and reviews in
all issues of 1906

Bigelow, E. F. best books, 174, 214;
St. Nicholas, 315

Birds, goldfinch, 30; study in fifth
grade; 143; leaflets, 149, 285; collect-
ing eggs, 221; study in college, 271;
daily activity, 2S9; migration, 314;
and boll-weevils, 318; height in flight,

Book, reviews, 73, 147, 218; best for

n.-s., 168, 212
Boll- weevils and birds, 318
Boys and Girls Magazine, 147, 315
Brittain, J., chemical n.-s., 278
Brown, Bertha M., hygiene in elemen-
tary schools, 164

Buds, 27

Burroughs, John, "Ways of Nature,"

218
Burket, C. W., et al., "Agriculture

for Beginners," 147
Butterflies, enemies, 39; colors, 206

California n.-s., 257

Canada n.-s., 140

Canadian Department, 211, 249, 278

Carver, G. W., best books, 174

Centipedes, and Cherries, 39

Chapman, Bertha, best books, 176;
gardens, 225

Cheat, and wheat, 152

Chemistry, and n.-s., 193, 278

Chinchilla, 220

Chipmunk, 31 7

Club for natural History, 216

Clarke, L. J., n.-s. in England, 302

Clover, 288

Coleman, W. B., best books, 175

Collections, see museum

College science, as n -s., 189

Color, changes in newt, 150; of insects,
206; artificial of flowers, 222

Comstock, Anna B., evergreens, 1

Cock-spur thorn, 75

Correlations, 11, 55

Coyotes, 1 15

Coulter, S., best books, 170; field
trip in n.-s., 230

Crayfish, 288, 296

Crickets, 253

Crone. J. V., true n.-s. and its fun-
damentals, 177

Croswell, T. R., fixed course, 282

Davis, B. M., school-gardens, 31; n.-s.
in California, 257

Deer, 288

Diamonds, 2S6

Dickerson, M. C, n.-s. in city pri-
mary schools, 98

Dellinger, O. P., best books, 173

Dog, behavior, 211

Dorner, H. B. "Window Gardening,"

147
Dugong, 116

322

THE NA TURE- S TUD J * RE J 'IE W

Editorials, 36, 313

Education, industrial, 41, 55, 148, 249;

humane, 285
Evergreens, 1

Faddis, J. R., best books, 172

Field study, 230

Fishes, flying, 116; cultivation of, 315

Flies, 76, 77

Forest, development, S. B. Sinclair,
22; fires, 38, 222; Service, 39; plant-
ing, 76, 115; destruction, 191

Fruits, wild, 147

Fur-bearing animals, 317

Galls, 38; and gall-flies, 109
Gallup, Anna B., Children's Museum,

153
Game laws, 318
Gardens, see school-gardens
Gentian, fringed, 118
Goldfishes in Japan, K. Mitsukuri,

Grout, A. J., best books, 174; meth-
ods of n.-s., 233; "Mosses," 220
Guinea fowl, 119

Gulls, 288

Hair-eel, 38

Hair-worm, of cabbage, 191

Hale, D. L., sunflowers for gold-
finches, 30

Hall, W. S., best books, 171

Hallock, W., science and n.-s. 31

Hatch, L. A., what to teach in n.-s. 13

Howes, E. A., school-garden at Bowes-
ville, 48

Hf.menway, H. D., "Hints and Helps
for Young Gardeners." 73; best
books, 175

Hodge, C. F., best books, 172; n.-s.
with insects, 265

Honey, 151

Hormaday, W. T., weakness in n.-s.,
241

Horse, 221

Hotson, J. W., outline of n.-s. ,250

Humane education, 283

Huntington, D. W., "Our Big Game,"

74
Hygiene, 46, 67; in elementary schools,

164
Ice, in plants, 151

Industries, and n.-s., 41, 55, 148, 250
Insects, and disease, 76; fossil, 1 16;

colors, 206; in n.-s., 265; strength

of, 287
Interest of pupils, 150

Jackman, W. S., best books, 175

Johnson, S. A., teaching n.-s,, 244

Kellogg, V. L., galls and gall-flies
109; colors of butterflies and moths,
206
Kellogg, Eva D., best books, 173
Kesler, J. L., best books, 171

Lange, D., best books, 170

Leaflets for n.-s., 74, 75, 147, 148, 140,

2S5, 3.13
Lochhead, W., "Outlines of n.-s.",

74; Canadian Department, 211, 249,

27S

Lottridge, S. A., "Animal Snapshots,"

73

Macdonald Gardens, 140
McGovern, Anna E.,".N-S. and Liter-
ature," 1 48
McMurry, Lida B., "N.-S. Lessons,"

M7
Manual training, and n.-s. W. A. Bald-
win, 41; M. A. Bigelow, 91; A. J.
Pillsbury, 186
Mathewson, C. A., review, 218
Mayer, A. G., "Sea-Shore Life," 73
Miller, L. H., tortoises, 2S7
Mistletoe, 38
Mitsukuri, K., gold-fishes in Japan,

17

Morrison, Grace L., pupils' knowl-
edge of names, 189

Mosses, on trees, 39; book on, 220

Mosquitoes, 77

Munson, J. P., best books, 176

Museum, for children, 153

Nature-Study, selecting subject mat-
ter, 13; problems for research, 21;
physical, 31; scientific, 35; and man-
ual training, 41, 91, 186; practical,
55, 152; outlines, 74; value and meth-
ods. So; in city prmary schools, 98;
for Indian schools, 141; training
teachers for, 121; course by Stevens,
148; and literature, 148; leaflets, 74,
75, 147, 149, 2S5, 313; practical, 152;
true nature-study and its fundament-
als, 177; and college science, 189;
and chemistry, 193; in Term., 224;
methods, 233; weakness, 241; gen-
eral discussion, 244; in California,
257; with insects, 265; fixed course,
282; course in, 285

Newt, 150

News notes, 40, 79, 152, 189, 224, 252,

319
Nitro-culture, 286

LVD EX

323

Notes, nature and science, 38, 75, 1 15,
150 1S9, 220, 286, 316

Okra, 39

Oology, 221

O'Shea, M. V., "Dynamic Factors in

Education," 219
Ox, history, 63
( >\ster, 287
Parsons, H. G., gardens for city

schools, 204
Pearls, 220
Pelicans, 1 16
Penguin, incubation. 115
Peterson, Maude G., "Wild Fruits,"

'47
Physiology in elementary schools, M.

A. BlGELOW, 67
Photography, book on, 73

Plants, sleep, 37; experiments, 96;

poisonous, 150; native, 2S6
Pollination by bees, 31S
Psychology, animal, 311
Pulp-wood, 191

Rice, E. L., college bird study, 271
Richards, H. E., "Bird- Finder," 220
Rodent diseases, 222
Roses from cuttings, E. Yopkr, 255

Salt in New York, 318
Sap-current, F. L. Stevens, 96
School of affairs, W. Lochhead, 2^9
School-gardens, seeds and tools, 40;
at Bowesville, 48; at Hyannis, 43,
149; guide-book for, 73; essay on.

B. M. Davis, 81; in Canada, 140;
for Indian schools, 141; correlations,
149, 186; for city schools, 204; in
San Francisco, 225; notes, 281; in
England. 302

Schools, rural, 148
Schryver, A. A., best books, 172
Scudder, Myron T., 152
Science and n.,s., W. Hallock, 31
Seeds, vitality cf buried. 151
Siiattuck F. W., school -gardens, 28 1
Shields, G. O., best books, 215
Sunflowers for gold-finches, D. L.
Hale, 30

Sinclair, S. B., definite problems in
n.-s., 21

Sleep of plants, 37

Smith, A., n.-s. and high-school
chemistry, 193

Snails, 198, 201

Snake charms, 286

Society for n.-s., 37, 79, 320

Spontaneous generation, F. L. Stev-
ens, 26

Spider webs, mounting, 115

Stebbins, F. A., crickets, 255

Stevens, F. L., spontaneous genera-
tion, 26; sap current, 96; course in
n.-s., 148

Stewart, J. P., practical bearing of
n.-s., 53

Sulphur mining, 191

Swans, 2S6

Teachers of n.-s., 121-135, 315
Telephoning at sea, 190
Ferguson, *A. M., best books, 216
Thayer, E. R., bird study, 289
Ticks, cattle, 76
Trees, evergreens, 1; buds, 37; mosses

on, 39; names, 76; for posts, 76;

locust, 151; see also Forest
Training for teachers, 121, ^15
Trafton, G. H., best books, 214
Tortoise's age, 221, 287

Underhill, L. B., bird study for
fifth grade, 143

Weed, seeds, 40

Weysse, A. W., animal behavior, 311

White, J. F., best books, 173

WiLi-ON, L. L., best books, 173

Window-cage, 135

Window-gardens, 147

Winnebago schools, 148

Wood, D. R., devices for observation,

'35
Wood pulp, 319

Yoder, E., roses from cuttings, 255

WILBUR SAMUEL JACK MAN
January 12, iS55-Jmuary 23, 1907

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS

Vol. 3 MARCH, 1907 No. 3

WILBUR SAMUEL JACKMAN

January 12, 1855 — January 28, 1907

Probably most readers of The Nature- Study Review have
read in the newspapers that Professor Jackman, whose name is
one of the most familiar to all students of the development of
nature-study in America, died in Chicago on January 28th, at
the age of fifty-two years. It seems fitting that this journal
devoted to the advancement of nature-study, to which Professor
Jackman contributed so much in its pioneer days, should place in
permanent record the leading facts of his life.

Wilbur Samuel Jackman was born at Mechanicstown, Ohio,
January 12, 1855. He graduated at the State Normal School at
California, Pa., in 1877. After teaching three years, he studied
at Allegheny College from 1880 to 1882, and then entered Har-
vard College and graduated in the class of 1884. After a brief
career as a remarkably successful science teacher, he was called
to the Cook County Normal School by the late Colonel Francis
W, Parker. When Colonel Parker accepted the presidency of
the Chicago Institute — now the College of Education of the
University of Chicago — his first appointment of associates was
Professor Jackman. . He was dean of the College of Education
for three years (1901-1904), and for two years past he has been
principal of the University Elementary School. Since 1904 he
has edited The Elementary School Teacher.

Professor Jackman's work in connection with the nature-
study movement has been well written in Bailey's "Nature-
Study Idea" and deserves a place in this sketch:

"The introduction of elementary science as an organic part
of school work, ranking with arithmetic and grammar, was made

66 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 :3-mar., 1907

in the Cook County (Ills.) Normal School as early as 1889,
under the presidency of Francis W. Parker. This introduction
was made by Wilbur S. Jackman, whose teaching and writing in
nature-study lines are well known. In 1884 Mr. Jackman began
teaching biology in the Pittsburg High School. During five
years' connection with that school he became strongly impressed
with the necessity of having a broad foundation laid in the ele-
mentary grades for the study of science. The pupils were ignor-
ant of the simplest phenomena that occurred about them. In
the spring of 1889 he planned a general course in nature-study
and presented it to the Superintendent and the Principals of the
ward schools in Pittsburg. It was agreed that in the fall he
should have the privilege of meeting the teachers for the purpose
of starting this work in the primary and grammar grades. Before
the year closed, however, he received an invitation from Colonel
Parker to enter the Cook County Normal School and take up the
work with him. He entered on the work in the Cook County
Normal School in the fall of 1889. During this year (1889) he
elaborated the plan already begun, as above outlined. The fea-
tures which perhaps most distinguished this scheme of nature-
Study were : ( 1 ) That it adopted the apparently irregular plan of
using all the material which the "Rolling Year," season by sea-
son, brought into the lives of the children; (2) that it rejected
the idea of close and specialized study of inert or dead form and
sought to place the children in the fields and woods that they
might study all nature at work; and (3) that, instead of look-
ing upon nature-study as being supplementary to reading, writ-
ing and other forms of expression, nature-study in itself became
a demand that these subjects should be taught. In the fall of
1890 he published bi-monthly pamphlets averaging about 75
pages each, which were called "Outlines in Elementary Science."
In the spring of 1891, upon the completion of the series, Henry
Holt & Company asked the privilege of reprinting and issuing
them in book form. This was done. There was considerable
correspondence concerning the name, which resulted finally in
the adoption of the term "Nature-Study for Common Schools,"
and this term has been used continuously ever since."

In recent years administrative duties have kept Professor

bichlow] WILLBUR SAMUEL JACKMAN 67

Jackman from his work for nature-study. His wife ( Ellen Reis
J.) writes: "He loved this work and gave it up reluctantly;
and in the last year he was delighted with the field for study
opening before him."

Professor Jackman's leading contributions to the nature-
study movement are the following books : "Nature- Study for
Common Schools," 1891 ; "Number Work in Nature-Study,"
1893; "Field Work in Nature-Study," 1894; "Nature-Study
and related subjects," 1898; "Nature-Study for Grammar
Grades/' 1898; "Nature-Study Record," 1895; and numerous
articles in educational journals. Most of these are so well
known to all who have followed the advance of nature-study
that mention of the titles is here sufficient. Whatever changes
in viewpoint have come, or are still to come, in nature-study
as a phase of education, the critical student of Professor Jack-
man's writings must recognize the great value of his pioneer
work. The name of Jackman must always stand pre-eminent
in the first chapter of the history of educational nature-study.

Such in brief review is the record of Professor Jackman's
achievements in the educational world. But no biographical
sketch is satisfying which omits all reference to a man's life as
a man, for we instinctively consider the human side in estimat-
ing a completed life.

"But Professor Jackman was more than a great teacher and
an incisive writer ; he was a noble man, nobly planned, and the
educational world has sustained a large loss in his death. He
stood for all that was best in both his personal and his profes-
sional life, and he was so highly esteemed because of the splen-
did qualities of his character. Character in its best sense was
the golden thread in his brief but honored life, and it gave unity
to his thoughts, perpetual sunshine to his temperament, and
constancy to his friendship." — W. S. Monroe in Journal of
Education.

M. A. BlGELOW.

SHOULD AN AMERICAN NATURE-STUDY SOCIETY BE

ORGANIZED?

In order to get as soon as possible an answer to above ques-
tion from very many nature-study workers, I have decided to
print at once the following suggestions, which for some time
have been in my desk awaiting mimeographing for circulation in
letters to many nature-study workers whose opinions were
wanted before publishing" the question for a general answer.
However, not the opinions of ten men or even of one hundred,
but rather the opinions of at least one thousand should ultimately
decide such a question. Therefore I have thought best to put
the suggestions directly into print, so that the more than two
thousand readers of this issue of The Review may be asked to
express their opinions as to the advisability of attempting to
organize a national society for the advancement of the nature-
study movement. The idea of printing, instead of mimeograph-
ing for limited circulation, bas come so recently that there has
not been time to show the manuscript even to my colleagues of
the editorial committee of The Review. Whether the sugges-
tions given below are impractical or not, the question is impor-
tant enough to warrant a canvass of nature-study workers for
an expression of opinion ; and I hope that the readers of the fol-
lowing notes will at once write their frankest criticisms.

My experience witb the editorial work of The Review has
convinced me that the time has come when nature-study workers
ought to be united in a strong national organization. The fol-
lowing are some reasons : ( i ) in order to get more closely in
touch with each other's work, ( 2 ) in order to get more educators
and scientific men into touch with nature-study movement, and
(3) in order to demonstrate the extent and strength to which
the nature-study movement has already attained. Of course
all these are important steps in the advancement of the work-
in general.

In support of the preceding claim for the value of organiza-
tion, it should be noted that, with the exception of the nature-

bigelow] XATCRE-STUDY SOCIETY 69

study workers who are associated in the national meetings for
science and education, few know each other. Personal contact,
even in an annual one-session meeting, would be helpful. We
need an organization which will bring groups of nature-study
workers together, probably in at the annual meeting's of the
national science and education societies, but not under their
organizations. Moreover, we need an annual directory showing
the location and work of each serious worker with nature-study
problems.

Another fact indicating need of organization is that few peo-
ple realize how widespread the nature-study movement has be-
come. Many people, especially those from abroad, seem to think
that nature-study is chiefly an interesting experiment under the
direction of the former students of three or four colleges which
have given special attention to the subject. Even principals of
certain training schools have made remarks showing that they
have failed to grasp the idea that nature-study is no longer
limited to the few localities made well known by some of the
pioneer work. In all such cases, and my experience is that they
are far from rare, the influence of a strong organization would
certainly be of great value in advancing nature-study.

Another argument for organization is that it would dispel
rapidly the still-too-common belief that there is little agreement
concerning nature-study. The careful reader of the first two
volumes of this magazine will not find serious disagreement con-
cerning fundamentally important questions discussed by the
leaders in nature-study. Organization would go far towards
demonstrating to those who do not read or who have failed to
understand the leading literature on nature-study that agreement
on essentials has been reached and that nature-study is now on
a sound basis.

And still another argument : It is not necessary to do more
than mention the well-known fact that the societies for teachers
of history, languages, mathematics, manual training, etc., have
done a great work for the advancement of these subjects in edu-
cation. It ought to be possible to do as much for nature-study,
for during the past three years we have built up a sort of infor-
mal organization through our friendly co-operative work with

70 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W [3 : 3_Mar., .907

The Nature-Study Review. We have learned much concern-
ing the work of each other. We now have an established journal
for interchange of ideas, and for news and reviews concerning
the things most interesting in the nature-study movement. In
short, it seems that the way has been well laid for the develop-
ment of such an organization as is here proposed.

The following suggestions concerning possible ways of hand-
ling details of organization are submitted as a bases for
discussion :

Name of the Society. American Nature-Study Society
would be in line with the names of many of the science societies.
Of course, the "American" is to be taken in the broad geograph-
ical sense, and not limited to the United States. Perhaps read-
ers will have other suggestions.

Membership. Any persons seriously interested in the edu-
cational bearings of nature-study and elementary science should
be eligible to membership, and those actively engaged in educa-
tional work should be classed as active members. A mail vote
on final organization should be taken when one thousand persons
have agreed to become charter members.

Fees. There should be no admission fee. The annual dues
for all members should be one dollar. As provided below, it
would be possible to make this pay necessary expenses and also
the cost of sending The Nature- Study Review without addi-
tional charge to members.

( Ifficers should be a President, five Vice-Presidents, a
Secretary-Treasurer, and ten Directors. The President, Vice-
Presidents and Secretary-Treasurer should constitute an Execu-
tive Committee for the transaction of ordinary routine business
authorized by the rules adopted. All the officers together should
constitute a Council with the following duties : fix times, places
and programs of meetings ; act as a nominating committee as
suggested in the latter paragraph ; consider and report to the
society all business proposed for a general vote and manage the
business of the society according to rules which may be adopted
by general vote of members.

Terms of Office. For the President and Vice-Presidents
one vear, the Secretary-Treasurer three years, the Directors two

bk.elou i -V. / TL 'RE-STL '£> V SOCIE TV 7 I

years (five of the first directors should be elected for one year,
and five for two years).

Election of Officers. A mail ballot for officers should
be taken when members are remitting their annual dues, prefer-
ably in January. Any member should have the right to mail
nominations two months before election and any name thus re-
ceiving fifty votes should be considered nominated and the name
published in the list of candidates submitted for vote. In addi-
tion to such possible nominations by members direct, the Coun-
cil should be authorized to make nominations for all officers.
The above plan appears to be based upon sound democratic prin-
ciples and not likely to lead to oligarchial or autocratic rule in
the society.

Communications to Members. To avoid the great expense
connected with mailing letters to members, it is proposed that
The Xature-Study Review be adopted as the official organ
(subject to the terms in the next paragraph below) ; and all com-
munications from the officers of the society ( such as concerning
elections, proposed business, membership dues) shall be printed
in pages reserved for the official announcements of the society.
After two announcements of proposed business, a majority of
the votes received by the Secretary before the dates specified
should decide all questions submitted to vote.

The Xature-Study Review. The present publisher of this
established magazine would offer it as the official organ on the
following terms: — (i) The society would assume no financial
responsibility for the magazine. (2) The publisher would re-
quire eighty cents for each member, leaving twenty cents for
other purposes. (Less than 80 cents if number of members
reduces cost of printing).

This proposition is financially sound as follows : Experience
shows that eighty cents net for each member would at present
cost publish 1,000 copies of The Review. The permanent sub-
scriptions from institutions and non-members would help to de-
crease cost. A membership of 2.000 would allow twenty-five
per cent increase in pages printed or a corresponding saving for
other purposes of the society. Even at eighty cents for each
member, leaving twenty cents for administrative purposes, $200

72 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW |3:3-mar., ,9o7

per year would be available for expenses of meetings. By using
The Review for communications to members, the great expense
of letters would not be necessary. Even receipt of remittances
for members' dues could be indicated by change of date on ad-
dress-label of The Review.

Another possible economical arrangement would be for The
Nature-Study Review to receive subscriptions from members
at $1.00 per year, and then pay the Secretary-Treasurer of the
society twenty cents for each member. The advantages in this
arrangement are that The Review would have to maintain the
office-machinery for handling orders from outside the society
and could handle the subscriptions from the members without
expense to the society. Also a periodical may enclose blanks for
subscription in the regular issues thus saving cost of special pos-
tage and clerical work.

If the proposition to use The Review as an official organ
meets with approval, all 1907 subscribers to The Review will
be credited with dues paid for this year, if they become members
of the society. A statement of account will be rendered to the
Secretary-Treasurer when elected.

As heretofore, The Review would continue to be a medium
for free discussion of all problems ; but a standing notice to be
inserted would make it clear that authors as individuals are
responsible for ideas expressed in signed articles.

State Nature-Study Societies. It will probably be advan-
tageous to work out some plan for co-operation with the State
societies now organized. Perhaps officers of these societies will
make suggestions.

Drafting a Constitution. If the general plan for organ-
ization of nature-study workers meets with favorable reception,
the suggestions volunteered by prospective members should be
used in drafting a proposed constitution which should be sub-
mitted through The Review for consideration before a vote for
adoption.

Directory of Members. One will be published by The
Review. Prospective members are requested to give names in
full, official positions, name of institution if engaged in educa-
tional work — otherwise business or profession and address.

BUiELOW

iXA TURE-STUD Y SOCJETY 73

Organizing Committee. A committee of ten should prepare
plans for organization, draft a constitution, and publish its pro-
ceedings in The Review. If this suggestion is approved, each
prospective member is invited to mail a list of ten names sug-
gested for this committee. The secretary of The Review will
tabulate these replies and publish the twenty-five names receiving
largest number of votes. The first ten should constitute the
committee on organization, which should appoint its own chair-
man and secretary, and serve until completion of organization
and election of officers.

If the general plan meets with your approval and you will be
one of a thousand charter members, kindly send name and address
to the undersigned, marking the paper or postal card "for mem-
bership in nature-study society." Also send your suggestions
regarding name of the society, its constitution, and your ten
nominations for the organizing committee. The final vote for
organization and officers ought to be announced in the May or
September issue of The Review. If organization seems desir-
able, the plans should be rushed as rapidly as possible so as to
arrange for a one-session meeting when the science societies
meet next December. Will you join in the organization of an
American societ} for the advancement of nature-study?

M. A. Bigelow.
Office of The Nature-Study Review,
Teachers College, Columbia University,
March i, 1907.

PROGRESS OF THE NATURE-STUDY IDEA IN TEXAS

By A. M. FERGUSON, Choctaw, Texas

The nature-stud}- idea has made and is making- great progress
in Texas. This is evidenced in a positive way in a large number
of city and rural schools where either as nature-study in the
narrow sense or as elementary agriculture it has taken its place
as a school study. However it has not yet attained anything
like general recognition as a school subject in the Lone Star
State. These actual victories I do not care to discuss at this
time ; but the popular recognition of the idea has made very
rapid progress. If a forecast is permissible, it would not be
very hazardous to predict that in a few years every school in the
state will have recognized the idea and acted on it.

'S31

For nearly two years the idea has been growing in favor
with teachers and particularly with the governing officials of our
schools. The support that has been given has for the most
part found expression in the resi >lutions of agricultural associa-
tions, and to some extent in the formal declarations of teachers'
meetings. Of course, in the former "elementary agriculture"
has been mentioned in particular. Expressions from other
sources have recognized nature-study as a part, or in common
with industrial education, manual training, etc., with here and
there a specific mention of one or more of the natural sciences.
Recent developments are very encouraging. Within the last
year a "General Educational Committee" was formed, whose
particular object was to secure favorable recognition for indus-
trial education in the platform of the dominant political party
(Democrats). In this they were successful. The nineteenth
plank, which was well received, reads in part as follows:

"* * *; that there be provided adequate agricultural equipment and
teaching force for the State Normal Colleges, the College of Industrial Arts
for girls, and the Agricultural and Mechanical College; and that industrial
thought in the schools be encouraged bv teaching the elements of agriculture
and the industrial arts; that the Agricultural and Mechanical College, the
College of Industrial Arts for Girls, and the State Normal Colleges be
authorized to grant diplomas having the force of teachers' certificates to all
who complete the necessarv course as graduates in the industrial branches;"

fkrguson] PROGRESS OF XATURE-STUDY IDEA IN TEXAS 75

The General Educational Committee has become an Indus-
trial Education Association. This Association proposes to fol-
low the party declarations through the legislature which is now
in session, and to see that elementary agriculture becomes a
regular subject of the prescribed course of study for the com-
mon schools.

At its meeting just closed, the State Teachers' Association
adopted resolutions strongly favoring the introduction of agri-
culture into the common school course of study.

Other evidences of the increasing popularity of the nature-
study idea are at hand. A recent bulletin from the State Super-
intendent of Public Instruction on course of study for the com-
mon schools gives eleven pages of suggestive outline for a
course of instruction in elementary agriculture. In former
years it was only casually mentioned. Within the last year
elementary agriculture has become a regular subject in the
course of instruction in two of the State normal schools, and in
the third an equivalent amount of instruction is given to nature-
studies having more or less an agricultural significance. Each
of the three normals contemplate maintaining school-gardens
during the current session.

In view of the liberal popular indorsement that has been
given, it is most likely that the current session of the legislature
will pass some laws intended to prepare our teachers to give
more instruction in the natural and physical sciences.

Agriculture is already taught in a great many local schools
on the initiative of individual teachers or superintendents. In
one county every school is reported to have formed classes in
agriculture. Even these early and necessarily imperfectly organ-
ized courses have been received with favor by both pupils and
patrons.

The progress of the nature-study idea has been most decided
during the last two years. During the coming two years we
have reason to expect all our schools to give more or less
instruction in nature-study work.

THE RELATION WHICH SCHOOL-GARDENS MAY BEAR
TO INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY

BY AMOS W. FARNHAM
State Normal and Training School, Oswego, N. Y.

[Read before the Section of Earth Science, New York State Science Teachers'
Assn., Dec. 27, 1906.]

Many of our leading educators recognize school-gardens as
a valuable means of instruction in elementary schools. Many
of our leading cities have made provision for school-gardens ;
and many teachers have found that they contribute not alone
to successful teaching, but to successful class-management as
well. Many children have found school work more congenial,
and the schoolroom and school grounds more attractive because
of their experience in, and the products of the school-gardens.
The popularity of school-gardens is shown by frequent contribu-
tions to educational magazines, contributed by enthusiastic ad-
vocates and read by teachers no less enthusiastic. Also their
popularity is often shown by programs of educational meetings
in which school-gardens receive at least "honorable mention."
Occasionally a normal school indorses the school-garden idea in
a practical way, and in its annual report gives large, illustrated
paragraphs on the subject. The United .States Department of
Agriculture, realizing that school-gardens are an important and
almost necessary means of instruction, has recently issued a
pamphlet of forty pages in which the value of school-garden
work is discussed. (This pamphlet is called "The School Gar-
den," and is known as Farmers' Bulletin, No. 218). In the
President's message, under the heading, "Farming a Profes-
sion," the President says:

"In all education we should widen our aims. It is a good thing to pro-
duce a certain number of trained scholars and students, but the education
superintended by the state must seek rather to produce a hundred good citizens
than merely one scholar, and it must be turned now and then from the class
book to the study of the great book of nature itself * * * All students
now realize that education must seek to train the executive powers of young
people and to confer more real significance upon the phrase, 'dignity of labor,'
and to prepare the pupils so that, in addition to each developing in the highest

farnham] SCHOOL-GARDENS RELATION TO GEOGRAPHY 77

degree his individual capacity for work, they may together help create a right
public opinion and show in many ways social and co-operative spirit."

It is now half a century since Europe instituted school-gar-
dens. Austria. Sweden and ( lermany were the first to intro-
duce them, but other leading European nations quickly followed
their example. These gardens were considered the most prac-
tical form of agricultural nature-study. But it was not until
the year 1891 that a school-garden was opened in America, Bos-
ton taking the lead in the movement. The beginning was a
modest one, consisting of the utilization of a small plot of ground
in connection with one of the grammar schools. This plot was
devoted not to agricultural nature-study, as were the first Euro-
pean school-gardens, but to the raising of native wild flowers.
We learn that a few years later this same school added another
small plot for the cultivation of vegetables — a step toward real-
izing the end for which the first school-gardens were created and
cultivated. In 1903, just twelve years after Boston had taken
the initiative, statistics showed that more than fifty cities of our
country had made some provision for school-gardens. What
has been done along this line during the last three years, we
have not statistics at hand to show, but when we consider that
the school-garden movement is a popular one, and that Ameri-
cans are not slow in putting popular ideas into tangible form,
it is safe to say that the last three years have witnessed the
opening of as many school-gardens as had already been opened
from 1 89 1 to 1903.

School-gardens in our country are almost entirely conducted
in the interests of nature-study, and are often denominated
nature-study gardens. Xow nature-study does not seem to be
very definitely outlined. In fact some of its strongest advocates
say that it can not be outlined without doing violence to the
spirit and aims of nature-study. Some supervisors go so far
as to leave their teachers free to choose the topics to be pre-
sented to the pupils under their care. This indefiniteness has
brought out the criticism that nature-study "has no beginning
and no end ;" that it begins with "almost any topic and ends
whenever a sufficient number of topics have been suggested to
fill in the allotted time." A school-garden conducted in the

7# THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 ;j-MAR., igo7

interests of an unorganized course of nature-study must share
the same criticism which such a course may receive.

School-gardens are as yet in a stage of experiment. It is
only fifteen years since the first school-garden was opened in
America. Their function is not fully defined. But may they
not realize all that is claimed for them, satisfying all of the
demands of nature-study, and at the same time be so well cor-
related with some of the phases of industrial and commercial
geography that even a greater interest may be created in nature-
study, in school-gardens, and in industrial and commercial
geography as well ?

Some of the claims for school-gardens set forth by the U. S.
Department of Agriculture are : quick discrimination ; skill with
the hands developed by handling small seeds and various tools ;
systematic methods which follow from the order in which the
operations conducted in the garden must be taken up ; industry ;
the idea of ownership and the rights of ownership ; business
experience which is an important result of harvesting and ac-
counting for the products which are grown ; and a basis of
knowledge, provided the operations connected with the school-
garden are properly conducted, i. e., if the requirements of the
different crops in regard to preparation of soil, depth of plant-
ing, date of planting, and the time and manner of harvesting are
all carefully observed. In connection with these already named,
it is also claimed that opportunity is offered to illustrate the good
and bad effects from certain methods of cultivation ; of working
soil when in good and bad condition, with the consequent effects
upon growing crops ; the value of deep and shallow tillage ;
methods of conserving moisture; importance of fertilization:
conditions essential to germination as well as conditions con-
ducive to growth. .

Now may not all of these claims be satisfied even in larger
degree, if the attention is given to agricultural nature-study
(the study of cereals, grasses, fiber plants, saccharine plants,
plants bearing oleiferous seeds, etc.), rather than to the cultiva-
tion of flowers and common vegetables, with which most chil-
dren are quite familiar? Again, would not a school-garden in
which are cultivated wheat, corn, clover, alfalfa, flax, hemp.

PAKNHAMJ

SCHOOL-GARDENS RELATION TO GEOGRAPHY 79

sorghum, sugar beets, castor beaus, etc., help to realize the de-
mands of nature-study? We quote the "special purposes" of
nature-study from the Oshkosh State Normal School Bulletin
of May, 1906, designated ".Nature-Study Number:"

First, to provide discipline especially to the perceptive faculties leading to
the cultivation of close and accurate observation. Second, to develop the
right moral spirit leading to svmpathv, kind treatment, and right feeling
toward life, especially animal life. Third, the work should aim to develop
the spiritual nature, leading to reverence, trust and belief. Fourth, to culti-
vate the aesthetic sense, leading to an appreciation of nature's beauty,
including recognition of the beautiful, training in the securing of beautiful
effects, and appreciation of the beauty of adaptation to use. Fifth, to arouse
love of nature and desire for her acquaintance and companionship. Sixth,
the work should help to maintain interest in all school work and aid in the
work of other studies, especially language, reading, and drawing.

It is difficult to see why the cultivation and study of plants
that administer to man}- of our physical needs may not "provide
discipline for the perceptive faculties," "develop the spiritual
nature," "cultivate the aesthetic sense," "arouse love of nature,"
and "help to maintain interest in all school work and aid in the
work of the other studies," at least in as great a degree as is
realized from the cultivation and study of plants whose beauty
is their only excuse for being? The cereals and grasses have
long been subjects for the artist and poet.

The advocates of nature-study lay stress upon training the
feelings. Surely this is good pedagogy, and is not to be lost
sight of in teaching any subject in any elementary grade. A
present-day educator says, "The emotional spirit of instruction
is the factor that counts." And is it not true that the emotional
spirit can be aroused and developed by considering nature from
the economic side, the human side? Is it not also true that the
child should be introduced to nature in its relation to his life,
to his needs? We recognize the value of the aims and ends of
nature-study and of the nature-study garden. We believe that
the selection of material may be in the interests of industrial
and commercial geography, and at the same time contribute to
the realization of the nature-study aims and ends. We also
believe that nature-studv mav be so correlated with industrial

80 THE NA TURE STUDY REIVE IV [3 . 3_mar., .907

and commercial geography that each may aid in the interpreta-
tion of the other.

The first paragraph in the Oshkosh State Normal School
Bulletin for May. the "Nature-Study Number," defines nature-
study in the following terms: "In general terms nature-study is
a study of one's natural environment. This study should be
carried on in such a way as to bring about the most perfect ad-
justment of the individual to that environment, to the end of
using it for the highest good. Nature-study is learning those
things in nature that are best worth knowing to the end of doing
those things which make life most worth living." We could ask
no better definition, but this definition is often lost sight of in
nature-study and in the selection of material for the nature-study
garden.

The school-garden seems as necessary for the teaching of
industrial and commercial geography as it does for the teaching
of nature-study, but the selection of materials for the nature-
study garden does not meet the demands of industrial and com-
mercial geography ; on the other hand, the selection of material
in the interests of industrial and commercial geography would
meet the demands of nature-study.

In considering the great human industries, agriculture and
stock-raising are first in importance. These two industries place
man's food supply on a permanent basis. It is a matter of his-
tory that men have not emerged from savagery until they have
placed their food supply upon a permanent basis.

Our country holds the first place as an agricultural nation,
and leads the world in the production of all varieties of livestock
except sheep. Corn is our leading and most valuable crop,
averaging over two billion bushels, and forming seventy-five
per cent of the world's supply. Less than one-tenth of this
prodigious yield is usually exported in the form of corn. The
greater part is fed to livestock, especially cattle and hogs. Hence
a large part of the corn crop is exported in the form of meat.

The school-garden should illustrate corn culture, pupils ob-
serving time of planting, care of the growing plants, and time
of harvesting. They should note the time elapsing from day
of planting to day of harvesting. They should note the char-

FARNHAMj

SCHOOL-GARDENS RELATIOX TO GEOGRAPHY 81

acter of soil best adapted for corn, and the effect of heat and
moisture on the growing plants. An ear of corn partially
husked is a good subject for the drawing class. The harvested
ears should be used for schoolroom decoration. It will be re-
called that some of our finest and most elaborate decorations at
the Columbian Exposition and at the Pan American were made
of different parts of the corn plant.

We lead the nations of the world in the production of wheat.
The wheat crop in 1900 equaled 625 million bushels. Wheat
is the most widely distributed and the most nutritious of the
cereals. More than one-third of the world's population are
consumers of wheat bread.

The school-garden should give space for the growth of
spring wheat. The variety sown should be noted, dates of sow-
ing and harvesting should be recorded, the period of growth
determined, effects of heat and moisture observed, and insect
pests, if any, studied. Since wheat is harvested in vacation,
the gardener should note the time and report it to the class at
the opening of school in September. The ripened grain should
be used in decoration. A small plot of winter wheat should be
grown and many comparisons made with spring wheat.

Our country is exceeded in the production of oats by Russia
only. Our annual crop some years reaches one billion bushels.
Oats should be cultivated in the school-garden, a careful study
be made of their growth, conditions for growth, and compari-
sons made with wheat and corn as to growth and conditions
for growth. How may oats be distinguished from wheat before
the plants head ?

Hay forms one of the most valuable crops in the United
States. Its average annual value is 470 million dollars, coming
iiext in value to the corn crop. It is of great importance in
the cattle-raising states of the corn districts, and also in the
dairy states, of which Xew York leads. "Hay" should include
"timothy," clover and alfalfa.

The school-garden should make the pupils familiar with each
of these forage plants, from the seed to the harvested plants.
Note that under favorable conditions more than one crop may be
harvested in a single growing season. Which will produce the

82 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3:3- mar., 1907

largest number of crops? Which is the most rapid grower?
Which are not true grasses?

The United States is the greatest sugar-consuming country
in the world, every person in the country using, on the average,
seventy pounds a year. Our greatest import is sugar. The
sugar which we consume is very largely cane sugar, which is
considered the best sugar. But our beet sugar industry is grad-
ually increasing, especially in California, Nebraska, Utah and
Michigan. Two-thirds of the world's sugar product is beet
sugar.

Sugar beets should be a product of the school-garden, also
one of the common varieties grown for table use. The growth
of each should be studied, likenesses and differences noted, the
matured roots compared, especially in saccharine qualities.

Sorghum being a sugar-producing plant, also a member of
the same family of which sugar-cane is a member, its cultiva-
tion would be of marked interest to the pupils.

Flax is one of the most important of textile fiber plants.
It has a very wide range, thriving in the dry summers of Cali-
fornia and in the moist regions of the Mississippi Valley. It
grows well in the colder parts of Europe and equally well in
tropical Asia. Although almost every American citizen wears
linen garments, only a small quantity of flax is grown in the
United Sates, and that quantity is grown for the seed which is
manufactured into linseed oil.

Because of the importance of the flax in contributing to our
clothing material as well as to the arts, it should be produced
in the school-garden. Its beautiful blue flower gratifies the
sense of beauty. Children should make brush drawings of the
plant in flower and leaf. A firm, rich soil is the chief requisite
for flax growth.

The true hemp of commerce (Cannabis sativa ) is grown in
nearly every country of North America, Europe and Asia. The
prepared hemp is mainly used in the manufacture of wrapping-
twine, cordage and coarse canvas. The hemp is a stately plant,
growing three feet or more in height, and commands attention
when growing. Hemp seed forms a part of the food of caged
seed-eating birds.

parnham] SCHOOL-GARDENS RELATION TO GEOGRAPHY 83

Hemp should be found among the plants of the school-gar-
den. Hemp and flax fibers should be compared in color, length,
coarseness and strength. Children should learn how each fiber
is best adapted to its use. Compare flax seed and hemp seed as
to their oleaginous properties.

The United States is the largest grower of tobacco. In
some sections of our country the cultivation of tobacco is the
leading agricultural pursuit, and its preparation for use is the
leading manufacture. It is a noble plant when growing, having
a height of three feet, and, when left to reach its greatest growth,
attains a height of six feet. Its leaves grow from one foot to
two feet in length. Its flowers are two inches long and rose
purple. Tobacco in our latitude must be started in hot-beds :
a few plants may get a start in the schoolroom. Its culture in
the school-garden may thus be practicable. Tobacco schould be
be set in the garden, north of plants of smaller size. The pupils
will discover that liberal fertilizing is necessary for tobacco, and
that it has its peculiar insect pests.

In some counties of Xew York hop-growing is a prominent
industry. The hop is a graceful twiner, and may be trained
over arches at intervals along the garden paths. Clusters of
hops may be used in class-room decorations for the opening
weeks of the fall term. Hops need comparatively little care,
and yield good returns. The fact that the hop, as well as hemp,
is dioecious, adds interest to its study.

Other useful plants that may be cultivated in the school-
garden are broom-corn, sweet potatoes — which form beautiful
vines — , peanuts, chicory — producing bright, blue flowers, — rye,
barley and buckwheat. The herbs of the kitchen-garden are of
interest because of their flavoring qualities and wholesome odors-
Among them are sage, spearmint, white mustard, caroway, sum-
mer savory, coriander, anise, thyme, dill, fennel and sweet mar-
joram. Many of these enter into pharmaceutical preparations
as well as into foods and confectionery. Some of them have
pleasing foliage and pretty, although rather inconspicuous,
flowers. Their cultivation is simple and their care trifling. Their
cultivation extends the child's knowledge of useful plants. A
handful of sage or of summer savory from a pupil might be as
pleasing in his home as a handful of scarlet salvia.

84 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 : 3-mar., 1907

There are many useful plants from the tropics that may
be grown in tubs. Some of these are coffee, tea, orange, lemon,
banana, pine-apple, rubber plant, date-palm and agave. Coffee
as an import commodity in the United States is exceeded only
by sugar. Coffee, sugar and tea are used in every home. The
citrus fruits, bananas and pine-apples are found on every fruit-
stand. One of the agaves yields a fiber ( sisal hemp) from
which Mexican hammocks are made. All of the tropical plants
are evergreen, and many of them are cultivated as house-plants
for their beautiful foliage. Plants of this order may be kept for
geographical study, at the same time to add beauty to the school-
garden, and variety to the plant collection. A study of these
tropical plants shows their peculiar needs, and how7 they may be
adjusted to new climatic conditions. If the school can not keep
these tropical plants safely through the winter, then a local
florist will care for them in his greenhouse for a small con-
sideration. Sometimes a florist will rent potted plants for the
season. But school ownership means greater interest.

A school-garden large enough to admit of trees should have
at least one of each of our native conifers : white pine, spruce,
balsam fir, hemlock, white cedar and tamarack. It may also
have a sugar maple, box-elder (the ash-leaf maple), a sassafras
tree, etc.

The matured products of the school-garden should contribute
annually to the school-museum, and be used in geography teach-
ing and nature-study whenever they will illustrate such teaching.

The classes in drawing will find wheat, corn, flax, hops, chic-
ory, the caster-oil plant, clover, and many other plants of the
school-garden both pleasing and profitable subjects for study.
The artist prefers single flowers to double, and the more familiar
plants to exotics.

Many school-gardens are too small for the cultivation in one
season of all the plants here named. In such a case, let there be
rotation. "We have raised wheat, corn, flax, sugar-beets, tobac-
co, and timothy this year ; next year we shall raise rye, buck-
wheat, hemp, sorghum, hops and alfalfa." This will hold inter-
est through change of material, which in turn requires change
of methods of cultivation.

parnhamJ SCHOOL-GARDENS RELATION TO GEOGRAPHY 85

The plan of the school-garden must be determined by the
kinds of plants to be cultivated; and the size of the plots must
be determined both by the size of the garden and by the number
of kinds of plants to be introduced.

Summary. The relating of school-gardens to industrial and
commercial geography would more nearly realize the aim which
led to their being opened. Such relation would still furnish
opportunity for the nature-study work, and also correlate nature-
study and geography, thereby saving time and energy in teach-
ing. Nature-study and geography have in common much litera-
ture, art, manual exercises and museum specimens. The two
have field excursions, and use the brush, the crayon, and the
molding board to express ideas. In at least one school. Tif-
fany's nature-study cabinet furnishes material for geography
oftener than for nature-study. The school-garden as suggested
in this paper would require far less outlay of time and money,
and require less care than the nature-study garden planted to
flowers. Under the right teacher — and no school work
''goes" unless under the right teacher — the emotions would be
exercised on a high plane, the plane of patriotism. Many
nature-study advocates overlook the utilitarian idea. This idea
is thought to be sordid : but in this practical age, the utilitarian
idea can not be lost sight of. The aim of education is or should
be to develop the socially efficient citizen. The first requisite of
the socially efficient citizen is that he be able to "pull his own
weight," that he be in no wise a drag upon society. A long
step will be taken toward the development of the socially efficient
citizen when the school-garden is related to industrial and com-
mercial geography.

CANADIAN DEPARTMENT

EDITED BY PROFESSOR W. LOCHHEAD
Macdonald College, St. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec

[All communications concerning this department should be sent to Professor
Lochhead at address given above.]

GARDENING FOR SCHOOLS

This is the title of a recent bulletin by Professor Mc Cready
of the Macdonald Institute, Guelph, Canada, (Bull, 152 Ontario
Agricultural College, December, 1906). The author is of the
opinion that Ontario teachers and people are not ready for the
formal, organized garden. He says: "Investigation on the sub-
ject of school-gardening throughout the province forces us to
the conclusion that neither the country nor the teaching profes-
sion is ready for undertaking it." Practically no schools, out-
side those under the special care and patronage of the Macdon-
ald Fund, have taken up the work. As to the reasons for this
apparent lack of interest in school-gardens. Professor Mc Cready
writes :

"It is not possible to suddenly graft part of an educational system of one
country on to the system of a country very different. Educational systems
are expressions of national tendencies working through many years. They
are shaped by many forces, political, racial, industrial and religious. These
tendencies and forces leading to the introduction ot such things as manual
training, gardening, etc., into our primary and secondary schools are not
acknowledged at the present time by many in our Province. Or at any rate,
the acknowledgment has not reached the point of adoption and establishment.
The truth is, there has been very recently great changes in educational aims,
methods and equipment, to which we have not adjusted ourselves. We will
probablv be the better for making any new adjustment that has to be made,
slowly. Over zeal mav work ultimately to less and slower progress than
guarded procedure.

The ordinary rural school as at present constituted can not very well nor
wisely undertake a school-garden. The subject deserves better than hasty,
inconsiderate adoption. There are many difficulties to lace; there are
indifferent parents, antagonistic trustees, unprepared and changing teachers,
crowded programes of study, and the unsolved summer vacation problem.

LOCHHEADl

CANADIAN DEPARTMENT 87

It will be well to go slow; we can do naught else in comfort and safety.
The time may come when the country school becomes a centre for the spread
of the arts and sciences in its district. It will have a teacher's home in con-
nection with it, and the tenure of the teacher's office will be for his life.
Or it may be that the consolidation of schools will raise the school to its
proper place. In either case, the school-garden will be part of the equipment.
We are not dealing with a possibility, however, but with a condition."

Professor Mc Cready believes that for the present the best
form of work that can be undertaken is home experimental plots
and home gardens in connection with the Ontario Agricultural
and Experimental Union which has its headquarters at the
Ontario Agricultural College. Such home work will, he thinks,
lead in due course to school plots and school-gardens. The
scope and aims of the Experimental Union are outlined, and
followed by a list of the experiments for 1906 in field Agricul-
ture Forestry and Horticulture. While agreeing in a general
way with the views so admirably expressed in the bulletin, the
reviewer is of the opinion that the system of home gardens and
home experiments would tend to isolation of the worker from
his fellows and to consequent lack of interest in his work. The
enthusiasm which is aroused when a number of children are
working together would be wanting. Enthusiasm is a good
thing in school effort and should be strongly encouraged. Again,
when children work independently at their homes, a spirit of
rivalry of the wrong sort is set up, which would tend to keep
the workers apart in sympathy. Co-operation and organization
for a common good are woefully lacking among farmers ; and
the school-garden, with its common plots, should be a means of
fostering and cultivating the very traits which are so much
needed for the welfare of the community.

With regard to the long summer vacations. Inspector Cow-
ley says :

"There is no insurmountable difficulty or serious problem in keeping the
school-garden decent during the long summer vacation. Even it the garden
were to deteriorate from neglect during holidays, the fact will be of altogether
minor consequence against school-gardens, since a well-ordered pupil rather
than well-ordered garden is the supreme end of it all. If the pupils do not
provide for their plots during the vacation, by all means let the weeds grow.

88 THE XA Ti 'RE-S TUB Y RE VIE IV 3-HAR„ igo7

The worst possible mistake in such a case would be to pay a janitor or some
other person to take care of the plots for indifferent and unmindful pupils.
At some school-gardens in Carleton County last summer some pupils returned
after vacation to weed-choked plots in which their flowers and vegetables
compared very unfavorably with those of their diligent companions. Their
silent observations of this fact, and their strenuous efforts to redeem their
plots, impressed upon them a lesson of moral and material value."

Active membership in the Experimental Union would un-
doubtedly be an excellent thing, but it should be supplementary
to the efforts at the school. It would strengthen the hands of
the teacher, and bring vividly home to the parents the value of
school-gardens.

The bulletin is a most excellent and timely publication, and
will no doubt be of much service to the schools of Ontario.

W. Loch head.

NATURE-STUDY IN RURAL SCHOOLS

BY A. B. GRAHAM
Professor in Agricultural College, Ohio State University

The old saying', "Things seen oftenest are seen least," applies
quite as well to the very common things in nature as to the
things of art. Because children are reared in the country or
country villages is no evidence that they have become acquainted
with common things about them.

There is no one who is not willing to testify that real pleas-
ure is experienced from just a slight acquaintance with those
things of nature that are so near us. The roadside, the rock-
pile, the narrow stream, the woods and other places contribute
something that reveals much of the handiwork of our Creator.
The pleasure of the moment passes into joy which is abiding.

We should learn to know nature, that we may the better
understand the relation and dependence of one thing upon an-
other : the animal whose life is dependent upon the plant for
food ; the plant that must depend upon the animal for seed dis-
tribution ; the fertilizing of plants by insects that visit them ; the
place for the common fly and ichneumon to lay eggs ; the ex-
change of carbonic acid gas which is produced by animals, for
the oxygen which is given oft by plants, etc., etc. In short,
to furnish a basis for the future study of ecology.

In literature many allusions to nature are made ; nature fur-
nishes material upon which many very forceful rhetorical figures
are based. The reader selections are read with much more
pleasure and are understood much more easily from knowing
nature.

Nature-study furnishes much material that may be used
in drawing exercises. What is learned from very ordinary
observation also aids in criticising drawings and statements
made in literary selections.

In the rural school, where there is a crowded program, every
minute of the time must be used for some definite purpose. It
must not be forgotten that the regular studies are to have pri-

90 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W [3 : 3-mar., .007

mary cotisideration and that nature-study as such must be sec-
ondary or incidental to the recitation. Too often there is an
entire wandering away from the subject of the recitation. The
nature-study enthusiast often permits himself to be drawn away
from the regular lesson by irrelevant although important ques-
tions asked by the children.

In the field trip, which may be only a school-yard trip or a
short walk down the road, nature work is of primary con-
sideration. Occasionally in opening exercises, or in the Friday
afternoon half-hour the observation lesson should have the right
of way.

Since not as much time can be given to following any nicely
planned, suggestive outlines in reports, books, etc., the most
should be made of such time as is available, and every opportun-
ity that presents itself to the teacher should be utilized. Exper-
ience has led the writer to believe that observations that were in
the main incidental to the regular school work have created a
love for nature quite as genuine as comes from following a hard
and fixed plan. While nature work in the grades should arouse
an interest in the further study of the natural sciences, it must
not be forgotten that something must be left for the high school.
We teachers owe it to ourselves as much as to the children to
be quite as well informed as possible, but, at no time should we
be above being a learner, or in the attitude of a learner, with
the children.

The regular reading-lessons furnish much material for con-
firmation, criticism, and questions. A few lines from a second
reader in general use will be suggestive :

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star."

Do stars always twinkle? Look at a very large, bright star,
then look at small ones.

"For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky."

What is meant by the star shutting its eye? Do stars shine
in the daytime? If so, why can't we see them?

"Spots of red dot his head." What are these spots?

"Three small pairs made of hairs." How many would three
pairs be ? How many feet has a fly ?

grah-amJ NATURE-STUDY IN RURAL SCHOOLS 91

"Spiders never use Hies well." How do they treat them?
Have you e\er watched a spider sitting quietly on his web?

"The strange cat took the little kittens, one by one, and car-
ried them to the attic." How did the cat carry the kittens?
What other animal carries its young in the same way ? ( See
lesson, page 68, Mc Guffey's Eclectic Second Reader. What
other characteristics are common ? Such an exercise forms a
basis for a classification).

"And they caught the little mousie,
Long time ago."

Are kitty's claws always out of the soft paw ready to catch
or scratch? Are a dog's claws always out?

"The kingbird eats flies, etc." Watch him fly from a fence-
stake or limb, out into the air and back. What is he doing?

One might continue making abstracts from readers more
advanced, but they would only serve to emphasize the idea
already presented.

Another feature of nature work is found in making reason-
able criticisms of statements. But this work can be carried on
to such a degree that children look for more that calls for unfav-
orable rather than for favorable criticism. A few examples will
suffice :

"Cowslip, daisy, violet,

In their leafy beds,
All among the grasses

Hide their heavy heads."

Do cowslips, daisies, and violets lie in leafy beds ? Do any
of these hide their heads ?

"One fine day in July, she sent George to the woods ; * * *
While he hunted about the bank, he saw among the moss some
fine wild strawberries." Do strawberries ripen in Ohio in July?
Are they found among moss ?

Another very interesting exercise is in making a study of
pictures to find out whether or not the artist drew them cor-
rectly.

In one reader the spider's web is drawn in a way that the
web is shown to be made up of concentric circles. Is that
correct ?

92 THE NA TURE-STUDY REVIEW l3 :3-Maf., ,9o7

The Geography Class. — Next to the reading classes, the
geography class is probably the best. The variety of tempera-
tures, water forms, wind, and causes for soil formation, together
with experiments to demonstrate, make very interesting work
for the year, as well as for the beginning weeks of school. The
ant and the fishworm are too important in the work of soil mix-
ing to be omitted. A simple study of the habitat of plants will
bring into consideration those water plants that help to change
the courses of rivers or assist in filling up lakes ; more or less
should be learned of plants and trees that indicate soil condi-
tions ; insect friends and foes come in for mention, if not for
stud}', in the lessons on local products.

For a little observation trip the school yard, roadside, a near-
by wood or stream should furnish ample material for several
noonday walks. Objections on the part of parents may arise
because a teacher has failed to keep children properly in charge,
but, more often, objections are made because of prejudice against
doing a thing. Be diplomatic ; be patient ; be persistent.

Opening exercises and the Friday afternoon period should be
for all. The little ones may not get much, but many times
they get more than a few older ones.

The language class has not been mentioned as a place for
the study of nature. It may be so considered if expression is
to assist in impression.

Make the so-called nature-book your servant, not your mas-
ter. Don't lie discouraged because you think you have done
only a little that might pass as nature work. If you will take
the time during the last week of school to make up an orderly
arrangement of the work gone over, you will be much surprised.
Many years of experience have caused the writer to believe that
the ability of elementary children to observe carefully is quite
as well established as when the plan has been prepared and fol-
lowed with care and pains. [The Ohio Teacher.']

NOTES FROM PAMPHLETS AND MAGAZINES

Poisonous Snakes of U.S. A pamphlet (price 10 cts.) with this
title has been published by Mr. Ditmars, Curator of Reptiles in the New
York Zoological Park. It gives descriptions, habits and distribution of the
numerous species. The various species of rattlesnakes found widely distri-
buted; the copperhead of Eastern States; the water moccasin of the
Southeast; and the coral snake of the Gulf States — this is a full list of our
poisonous snakes. In the New England and Middle Atlantic States there
are onlv the copperhead and the timber rattlesnake. The blacksnake, water
snakes, flat-headed "adder" and others popularly dreaded are absolutely
harmless

Contradicting enormous popular beliefs, the author tells us that the snakes
never spring at or chase an enemy, and a rattlesnake can strike without coil-
ing, and extracting the fangs mav cause new ones to develop within a few
weeks.

Full directions for treatment of snake bites are given: applving ligature
above the bite; cutting the punctures to cause flow of blood; sucking out
blood; washing with water containing a few crystals of potassium perman-
ganate; injecting antitoxin, brandy and strychnine as stimulants; taking a
cathartic; avoiding blood poisoning — these are the stages of treatment advised.
All persons going into regions where venomous snakes abound should first
read this pamphlet and provide themselves with the necessary articles.

Report of the Audubon Societies. President Dutcher's report on the
1906 work of the National Association of Audubon Societies fills sixty pages
of the December Bird-Lore. It deals with legislation and enforcement of
laws in various States, bird reservations, educational work and suggestions for
future work. Every reader of The Nature-Study Review who has even
a mild interest in the protection of our native birds should read this report.
A copy of the December Bird-Lore mav he purchased for 20 cents from
newsdealers or from the publishers at Harrisburg, Pa.

War on Game Butchers. All true naturalists will heartily support Mr.
G. O. Shields, President of the League of American Sportsmen, in his con-
tinued activity against hunters who butcher game in and out of season. Anv
one really interested in wild animals will cease to be indifferent concerning
the enforcement of the game laws if he reads the editorial notes in Sbiela's
Magazine. Its boldness in publishing names and pedigrees of all who are

94 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 : 3-mar., ,907

caught violating game laws or ruthlessly butchering wild animals is very com-
mendable. In addition to this editorial work, Mr. Shields has taken an
active part in the campaign against the Italians who shoot song birds near
New York City, and many arrests have for a time stopped the shooting.

Burbank's Experiments. In a review of Harwood's "New Crea-
tions in Plant Life," (an account of the work oi Luther Burbank) the Plant
World states that those competent to judge agree as to the value of much of
Burbank's work in plant breeding, but in justice to the workers who have
preceded and are contemporaneous with Mr. Burbank, we should not permit
ourselves to over-estimate these services or to be influenced in our judgments
by the fulsome adulation of such writers as Mr. Harwood. Blinded by the
glamour of Mr. Burbank's truly remarkable achievements, the public is apt
to overlook the labors of such men as Vilmorin, Crozy, Eckford, Bailey,
Webber, and a host of others whose results are equally important and far-
reaching and, in some instances, indeed, more so.

Concerning Mr. Burbank's methods of work, it is a distinct disappoint-
ment to learn from this book that he keeps no exact records of what he per-
forms, but that in his hybridizing experiments he neglects the first and para-
mount essential for success, — the taking of precautions to insure genuine cross
fertilization and to avoid contamination from foreign sources. The pollen of
the same species is almost invariablv prepotent over that of another species, no
matter how elosely related. Yet according to his biographer, Burbank takes
no pains to insure the purity of a cross. "Mr. Burbank . . . says
that it is wholly unnecessary in ordinary plant-breeding to attempt to cover
the flower with a screen of tissue paper or gauze." He adds, with uncon-
scious irony, "If the pollinating has been thorough, nature may safely be left
to do the rest." It is hardly necessary to point out that a flower treated in
this way may be visited bv insects bringing pollen from many different sources,
and that the parentage of the resulting seedlings must remain absolutely in
doubt. It is quite true that if these seedlings show the characters for which
Mr. Burbank is working, the results are satisfactory from his standpoint; but
what of their scientific value ? What new fact have they added to our
knowledge of plant breeding ? How can the experiment be repeated ? The
fact that a new fruit has been produced is of general interest; it might never
be improved or perpetuated if science did not discover how and why it orig-
inated.

An article in the Century Magazine, bv Professor De Vries, author of
famous books on plant breeding, contains essentially the same criticism as
those quoted above.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS

Vol. 3 APRIL, 1907 No. 4

CANADIAN DEPARTMENT

EDITED BY PROFESSOR W. LOCHHEAD

Macdonald College, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec

[All communications concerning this department should be sent to Professor
Lochhead at the address given above.]

NATURE STUDY DEVELOPMENT IN ONTARIO

In the year 1900, when the author first became superintendent
of the public schools in St. Thomas. Ontario, nature-study, though
common enough in Manitoba and in Nova Scotia, as well as in many
of the States of the Union, was just beginning to arouse curiosity
among Ontario teachers and educators. Circumstances in St. Thomas
forced the subject rapidly to the front, and its development was
directed almost entirely by local conditions and may, therefore, be
considered natural. In September of 1900, a course of nature-study
was outlined for the St. Thomas schools, very much as it appeared
in Morang's "Modern Nature-Study" in 1902, so that this outline
of work preceded the regulations of the Education Department by four
years.

Nature-study was thought of first as a substitute for object lessons,
which, though occupying a place on the outline of work for the pub-
lic schools, were not used by more than one teacher out of forty on
the staff. Object lessons as we all know appealed to the senses of
the pupils, chiefly to the eye, but were usually associated with such
subjects as cork, glass, rubber, etc., the products of foreign countries
or of factories beyond the observation of the teacher and pupils. It
was a natural step to substitute the living plants and animals of the
immediate vicinity for these lifeless products of a far away commun-
ity. Suffice it to say that nature-study was substituted for object
lessons.

96 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE IV [s : 4_ApR., I907

One of the first features of the movement was the securing of about
one hundred mineral specimens of Canada for each of two twelve-
roomed schools. These were donated by the Dominion Geological
Survey Department and were the first specimens ever given to public
schools, though quite common in high schools. These minerals sug-
gested a museum and museums began to develop, resulting in three
fair museums in which are to be found minerals, birds, mammals,
insects, plants and historical specimens.

However, these were lifeless things still, though pupils were natur-
ally interested in the living specimens by collecting for their museums.
Some teachers began to observe the preference of children for the
living things and plants were brought into the class-rooms, and two
or three teachers planted seeds and raised plants from them in pots.
Larvae of insects soon became the most common kind of specimens
brought in and children became intensely interested in the weaving
of the cocoons by the larvae of moths. The first moth to emerge
from these was the beautiful cecropia emperor moth. It is hard to
say who were most interested in this wonderful creature, the pupils
or the teachers. At any rate the teachers took the trouble to carry
the moth to the inspector for his examination.

Work along this line of studying the life-history of insects, frogs
and birds, continued without much change until 1904, when in March
of that year, the question of distributing seeds to pupils was dis-
cussed by the teachers. The idea was obtained from Hodge's
"Nature-Study and Life," one of the best books on the subject yet
published. It was decided to distribute seeds, with a view to hold-
ing an exhibit on June 24, 1904. Folders were printed giving a few
simple directions and requiring a record of growth. So few kept any
record that this plan has not been followed since. The plants did
not develop as rapidly as the authority said they would, consequently
on June 24th, there were very few plants far enough advanced to be
worth exhibiting. However, they were brought to their respective
schools and photographed. Over five hundred plants were exhib-
ited.

In the spring of 1905, seeds of both flowers and vegetables were
distributed. The choice made was as follows: Grade 1 , nasturtium and
parsley: Grade 2, pansy and sweet corn; Grade 3, centaurea and
sugar beet; Grade 4, phlox and celery; Grade 5, peanuts (Canadian)
and verbena; Grade 6, asters and catalpa; Grades 7 and 8, cosmos,
asters and broom corn.

si lcox] NA TU RE- STUD V IN ONTA RIO 9 J

On September 22, 1905, a flower show was held in a large store,
each school arranging its flowers and vegetables in a space assigned
by the committee. The result was a pronounced success from every
point of view. The exhibit was beautiful, the teachers, parents and
children were delighted, and the attendance was greater than the
capacity of the building. The net proceeds were devoted to beauti-
fying the school buildings.

In 1906 another exhibit was held in connection with a more
pretentious exhibition, the "Made in St. Thomas Exhibition." A
program of songs and drills was put on and the attendance was in
the thousands. In fact, it was too great a success, the flower and
art exhibit being almost eclipsed by the program attractions. As an
educational factor, the exhibit of 1905 was the greater success, and
future exhibits will take it as the ideal.

In 1905 three schools prepared plots on the school-grounds.
These were very successful and proved the most valuable nature-
study feature so far developed. This year every school had its
school plot in which the whole school was interested. The flowers
on these plots are used to send to pupils who are absent through ill-
ness. In this way the home and the school are brought more into
touch with each other.

The preceding results are the direct and visible products, but
there have been indirect and permanent results of much more value
than these, due to correlation with other school subjects, composition,
drawing and color work and geography. The remainder of this
paper will deal with the subject of composition.

After the exhibit this year, prizes were offered for the best com-
positions on the raising of plants this year, with a view to discovering
what had been learned. The prize was independent of spelling, writ-
ing or language. The pupil who had learned most and could express
it was considered the winner. Without doubt, the compositions were
decidedly superior to the average composition. Here is one by an
eight year old boy, with the spelling corrected.

"I planted my plant behind the gate and it growed up high. The
next month it still keep growing high and high. I cared of them
myself. I water them every day, and then I put them in a box.
The flower was not very high. I had a garden of my own. Papa
gave me the seed. He said it was no good. But I planted it and it
growed. He said it was no good. When he saw it after a while he
thought it was getting a little better. He began to say it was swell.

98 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

|3 14— APR., 1907

I thought that was the time that he got fooled. I took and put it in
the sun and then I cared for it. One time I got scart. It didn't
seem to grow one bit. I watered it about two times. I had been
watering it two much and the leaves begun to fade. Then I thought
it was a goner."

Another pupil in the 4th grade writes: "I wras interested in my
spinach (beet). I cut it off but not to the root and it came up three
times. Everytime I cut it off it would come up again and I took
good care of it myself, and spinach (beet) has a big leaf and we had
two or three meals off it and it came up again. I learned about my
spinach."

The compositions go into all details about the work required in
raising the plants as in the following: "I got some seeds of beets
and cosmos at school. When I got the seeds I first went to the
greenhouse to get a flower-pot. I then dug up enough earth to fill
it, then mixed some manure with it. then when I had clone that, I
made it very fine and sifted it, then put it in the pot and put a little
water on it, then took a stick and made a small hole in the middle of
the pot, about one and a half inches deep, got the cosmos seed and
put four of them in."

Not to weary our readers with commonplace compositions of
doubtful value, I shall close by quoting from two or three of the
eighth grade compositions, to show that valuable moral lessons are
learned from nature-study. One girl says: "I was quite pioud of
my flowers but there were many more beautiful flowers. I wondered
if the other girls and boys had misfortunes and joys and anxieties like
I had. But after all it taught me some good lessons. It taught me
that we have to have misfortunes, patience, woik, carefulness and
you get rewarded at last with a red ticket."

I have no doubt this girl really learned these lessons. What more
could a teacher wish to accomplish with her pupils ?

A boy planted some broom-corn in two ways — in hills and broad-
cast. He says: i4I tried to see which would grow the fastest and I
soon found out. The seeds that were in hills grew fastest. I planted
seeds in the hills out in the sun and the rest under a butternut tree.
The stalks that were under the tree are weaker than those in the
sun." There are two facts, well worth knowing learned by exper-
iment. That boy developed considerable brain power along with his
gardening.

1 have in my possession one composition of five closely written

BRITTAIN

CHKMISTR Y IN NA TURE-STUD Y 99

pages on "Cosmos," by a girl who brought to the exhibitions each
year cosmos plants in pails. These plants were in bloom and stood
five feet high. Another girl wrote two pages on the cultivation of
"Sweet Peas." Among other things she says: "This has been my
first attempt at planting school seeds and I am very happy to think
that I had such good success. My sweet peas are blooming yet,
while the little girl who lives next door has not had any since early
in the spring. * * * Sweet peas are my favorite flower and I
often wished to have some and now I have had my wish gratified . "
The object of this article is to convince teachers that the school-
garden is the most valuable educational equipment at the teacher's
command. Expensive scientific apparatus, globes, maps, and other
desirable things are "trifles as light as air" compared with the gar-
den, where pupils must labor to produce results Make a school-
garden this year.

Office of Inspector of Schools, S. Silcox, D. Paed.

St. Thomas, Ontario.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHEMISTRY IN NATURE-STUDY

III Oxidation in and by the Air

[The first article of this series was published in The Review for Nov. 1906
(Vol. 2. p. 278); the second in Jan. IQ07 (Vol. 3, p. 19.)]

The children can now see that just as carbon and water disappear
when they combine to form wood (Lesson 1. n. s. r. Nov. 1906. pp.
278-281) so carbon and oxygen gas disappeared by combining to form
not a solid substance but a gas — carbonic acid gas composed of the
carbon and oxygen chemically united (Lesson 11. n. s. r. Jan. 1907.
pp. 20-21). The question will naturally arise here as to whether any
new substance is produced when charcoal burns in the air, and
whether it is the same substance we obtained by burning carbon in
the bottle of oxygen.

Let each pupil char the end of a dry stick, set it on fire, and hold
inverted a wide mouth bottle for a minute or less a short distance
above the flame to catch any invisible gas which may arise from the
flame, then cover the mouth of the bottle with the hand, quickly
empty a little lime-water into the bottle, and shake it through the gas,
still keeping the mouth of the bottle closed. Shake lime-water
through a bottle of air and note the difference in the result. A full
and free discussion will lead to the conclusion that when the charcoal

ioo THE XA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W [3 : 4-Apr., 1907

of the wood burned in the air carbonic acid gas — a compound gas
consisting of carbon and oxygen — is produced, that the wood supplied
the carbon which entered into this gas, but that the oxygen must
have come out of the surrounding air just as it came from the sur-
rounding oxygen when we burned carbon in a bottle of oxygen; and
since the burning carbon got oxygen out of the air, the air must con-
tain oxygen. And so it will appear that when carbon is burning in the
air it is undergoing oxidation. Attention. should be called to the fact
that this union not only produces an oxide which may be caught in a
bottle, but that it is accompanied by heat which may be felt, and by
light which may be seen.

Next, try to burn a piece of glowing charcoal in a bottle of air. It
will not glow and burn brightly as it did in a bottle of pure oxygen,
but soon becomes cold and black again. The children will conclude
that the air must contain, besides oxygen, some other gas in which
charcoal will not burn. They may be told that this gas which prevents
substances from burning as well in the air as in pure, or nearly pure
oxygen, is called ?iitrogen.

Let the pupils take a little lime-water to their homes with the re-
quest that they will try to had by catching in a bottle the gas from a
coal or wood fire whether carbonic acid gas is produced by the fire
in the stove. Their results should be discussed at school and the
questions proposed: Why we burn wood and coal in stoves — whether
for the light, the heat, or the carbonic acid gas produced? Whither
does this gas go and how ? — how does the wood or coal obtain oxygen
in a closed stove? — and why does the burning become slower when
we close the draught?

On the evening before the next lesson the children may be asked
to try to char (not burn) small pieces of bread, potatoes, sugar, meat
and other food stuffs, on^a hot stove, and to eat for breakfast some
of the articles of food in which they find carbon.

At school the problem will be to find whether the carbon in these
foods is oxidized in the body as the carbon of wood and coal are in
the stove. Now, if the carbon of the food unites with oxygen in the
body, carbonic acid gas should be produced and may be caught in a
bottle. The enquiry may be made more dramatic if the teacher will
get a pupil before the class to blow his breath, by means of at
tube, through a small bottle of lime-water. When the lime-water
whitens, the children will see that the carbon of the food taken into
the stomach appears in the breath from the lungs as an oxide of car-

brittain] CHEMISTR Y IN NA Tl T RE- STUD Y I O I

bon — carbonic acid gas. This will be one proof that the carbon of
the food unites with oxygen in the body. But we have found that
this union before (in the stove, etc.) was accompanied by light and
heat. In this case no light appears. Let us inquire whether heat is
produced by the oxidation of carbon in the body. By breathing
closely against the bulb of the school thermometer, the teacher can
show that his breath, and, therefore his body, is much warmer than
the surrounding air. He can then show that inanimate objects in the
room, as water, desks, etc., in which no oxidation is going on, are
no warmer than the air. It will then be plain that the oxidation of
carbon in the body produces heat to keep the body warmer than the
air. So it seems that oxidation always produces heat, but sometimes
no light. Next, must be found how the carbon in the body obtains
oxygen with which to unite, and the number of inhalations per minute
should be counted. Every pupil should be allowed to test his own
breath for carbonic acid gas. Finally the children may be asked to make
an off-hand sketch of a human body with a piece of carbonaceous
food entering at the mouth, the body when the oxidation is going on
at a temperature of 99 degrees while the air outside is 10 degrees be-
low zero — with oxygen entering by the nostrils about 18 times a
minute and carbonic acid gas escaping by the same opening at every
expiration.

Thus ends an attempt to show how the beginning of Chemistry, as
they may be developed in nature-lessons, without formulas or equa-
tions, may be used to train the pupils of the common school to
observe and reason, and in later life may help them in fitting together
intelligently their lives and their environment.

University of New Brinswick John Brittain.

FREr>ERICTON, N. B.

NATURE-STUDY AS AN EDUCATION ■

BY MARY PERLE ANDERSON

Research Student at the New York Botanical Garden and Teachers College, Columbia

University

During the last score of years, nature-study has been exploited in
this country in various ways. It began as an off-shoot of the so-
called object-lessons, such as were introduced by Dr. Sheldon into
the Oswego Normal School and received further stimulus in the Cook
County Normal School under Dr. Francis Parker and Mr. W. S.
Jackman. The latter attempted the first formulation of nature-study
as a distinct subject, and prepared a text-book of numerous isolated
suggestions for the teacher, these suggestions ranging through many
subjects and sometimes going far afield; but still the key-note of the
book, as stated by the author, rings out strong and true: "Let us
place the children in the woods and fields that they may study nature
at work."

About the same time (1889), Mr. Arthur C. Boyden of the
Bridgewater Normal School, championed the new idea, began teach-
ing in the state-institutes of Massachusetts, and published a pam-
phlet on the "Study of Trees in Plymouth County;" one of the first
of a long series of fluttering nature- study leaflets by men and women
who, knowing much or little or nothing at all about the subject, have
found the theme a good one to write upon. At the same time, also,
a department of nature-study was organized in the Summer School
of Cottage City under the name of elementary science. In the
latter part of the eighties, nature-study under the name of elemen-
tary science was receiving consideration in many schools in several
states.

From 1890 to 1895 exhibits of nature-work were common in
cities, the display at the World's Fair in Chicago being the culmin-
ation of this phase of development.

About ten years after the introduction of elementary science into
the grades, two men came forward to whom children will be grateful
for centuries to come. Of all the numerous writers who have con-

'Read before the Convention of the New York Botanical Garden, January 23,
1907. Published simultaneously in the Journal'' of the New York Botanical Gar-
den and The Review.

ANDEKSi IN]

NATURE-STUDY AS AX EDUCATION 103

sidered nature-study from one standpoint or another, the principles
set forth by Professor Bailey of Cornell and Professor Hodge of
Clark University are as sane and practical as anything that has yet
been presented. To little people shivering over their first experience
in the clear, cold atmosphere of science, a milder temperature and
more genial climate were eagerly welcomed.

This meeting of the cold and warm currents, however, resulted
most naturally in a fog from which we have at last emerged into a
clearer, brighter sunshine than we have known before. During this
unfortunate fog — the confusion in regard to the real province of
nature-study — it was the privilege of anyone to enter the game and
pin a tail on the donkey. When the fog lifted, the result was incon-
gruous and ludicrous, for the tails were many and varied and some
did not even hit the donkey.

There was the primitive-life literature including the marvellous
"Story of Ab;" there were Kipling's "Jungle Stories" and the often
beautiful and inspiring stories of Thompson-Seton; th -re were the
fascinating tales of the wilderness as told by Long, and the delight-
ful life-histories of Wabbles the song-sparrow and Bismark the red
squirrel as recorded by Walton the hermit of Gloucester; all these
were pinned to ihe curtain together with the works of Burroughs and
Thoreau and the great nature- poems of the ages. There, too, were
all the elementary botanies and zoologies of the day and some of the
more technical literaiure of Bailey's "Integument-man ' These
with a few books on general nature-study and a multitude of treatises
of all sorts and conditions on specific lines of nature study added to
the diversih and complication, and so long as the fog lasted, and
there was more or less squabbling among tho^e who entered the
game, it is not strange that the wonderful growth following the intro-
duction of nature-study received a set-back until the ideas of the
average teacher could become more definite as to material, and
those of the average principal of the grades more clear as to the scope
and place of nature-study in education.

While there is no doubt of the constant advance of nature-study
over the country as a whole, yet the gain is not the mushroom growth
of the first few years, and this is well. There has been lack of fibro-
vacular tissue, and in more than one place nature-study has been
dropped after a trial. 'This has occurred in a few large cities where
the problem is most difficult, or where the school-board has failed
to recognize the value of nature-study as a means of education, or in
some cases where the teaching has been inadequate.

104 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3:4-apr., iqo7

Nature-study, then, has already passed through various phases
with us: first came the experiment followed by the exhibition which
so inspired the on-lookers that it straightway became a fad; then
came the period of reaction and criticism when nature-study became
less serious —more of a reaction — and here came the opportunity to
run in the unusual, the exceptional, the sensational in nature-litera-
ture (which is not nature-study at all, although it may be very
good literature); and now our leading lights tell us that nature-
study is an idea, an atmosphere, an attitude —in a word, it is
spirit.

This then is the promise of the future, and our prophets prophesy
wisely and well; but we cannot hope for any universal fulfilment of
the prophecy for several generations to come, — not until there has
been time to train our teachers, and they in turn have had the oppor-
tunity of training the children who are to be the parents of the next
generation. Not until this time is reached can we hope to find many
parents who will not destroy that beautiful thing to which we look
forward, — the attitude, the atmosphere of nature-study which is an
inherent part of the nature of the normal child. He inherits from
ancestors remote a primitive love of nature and every natural object.
Any child of three years turned loose in a small space where there is
good clean dirt with worms in it, and pebbles, where green things
are growing, where the chance caterpillar and toad and small snake
are free to come and go, has amusement for a summer. Some one
has well said:

"Out-doors, God amused him; in-doors his mother;
And the finite can never satisfy as the Infinite."

It is only when the child learns from others that he must not
touch the toad tor if he does he will have warts, when he hears that
the harmless garter-snake is a poisonous reptile, and that the cater-
pillar will bite, only then is his faith in nature shaken, the nature-
study atmosphere darkened, and the nature-study spirit ham-
pered.

Dr. M. T. Cook says that while in Cuba he frequently gave his
little one-year-old son small snakes to play with, and the child
considered them the nicest kind of a plaything until at the age of
four when he began to run with other children. In a short time the
boy became afraid of snakes and is still afraid of them. Professor
Hooker of Mt. Holyoke College had a little visitor whom she found
it hard to entertain, so she brought out some little snakes from a

andeesonI NATURE-STUDY AS AN EDUCATION 105

fernery. "Would you like to see my little friends?" she asked.
The child was delighted and played with them happily until she
heard some one call them snakes, then she dropped them in fear
and disgust.

A child in the first primary grade of the University School for
Girls in Chicago brought a tiny leafless twig to her teacher and asked
her to use it for the nature-study lesson. The teacher thought it a
rather small affair for a class, but a leaf-bud or two offered suggestion,
and the teacher held out for what seemed to her a very creditable length
of time and then turned with relief to a gay picture of an oriole on
the wall. But the children did not want orioles in pictures on the
wall; they wanted a little live twig, and the small girl who had
brought it in raised her hand and asked severely, "Why don't you go
on with the Nature-science?"

That which we are to aim for, then, we have at the very beginning;
but by the time that the child goes to school he has lost more or less
of it, and it is more difficult to restore it in a soil that has been ster-
ilized than it would be to start anew in fresh soil. Allowing for indi-
vidual exceptions, I have found it true that interest in nature-study
in schools where the subject is not a vital one varies inversely with
the age of the children, and that the difficulty in exciting an interest
varies directly with the age.

The problem that confronts us is, how shall we recover that which
has been lost; how shall we reach the pervading atmosphere that
colors, the idea that permeates the whole life, the nature-study spirit.
The child of the graded school has many teachers. It is a chance
if he ever has one who reallv understands and fully comprehends
just what Bailey means by atmosphere and attitude and idea and
spirit. It is possible that one may be all this and that the school
may have the spirit and never know it. I am not sure but this is
the essence of the whole thing — the spirit free because unconscious
of itself.

At one of the State Summer Schools held in Bennington, Vermont
a voung teacher came to me and told me how much she regretted the
impossibility of having any nature-study in the little rural school
where she taught. "The parents are not wiling that the time
should be given in school," she said, "the programme is already
crowded, we have no money with which to buy books. But," she
added, "there is a little brook back of the school-house, and the
children and I stav out there about all the time at recess and noon

106 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 :4-apr., i9o7

and we all go early in the morning before school. We have a series
of pools, and in them we have several kinds of fish, and in one pool
we have some salamanders, and in another turtles, and in another
pollywogs. We feed them and keep the pools in order and the
children do have such a good time. Then once a little house-wren
came into the school-house and built her nest on the stove-pipe by the
chimney, right in the schoolroom. And the children would keep just
as still as possible so as not to disturb her."

This dear girl assured me over and over again with tears in her eyes
that she would be so glad to have nature-study in her school, but
that it was simply an impossibility! This illustrates how difficult it
is for one to grasp the real significance of the study as presented by
even so plain and simple and straightforward a speaker as Professor
Bailey.

Atmosphere is intangible at best, and not an easy mark for the in-
experienced. One may be sure the arrow will hit somewhere, even if
sent at random, and many of our public-school teachers have evidently
taken refuge in this thought, and the result is random and haphazard.
The result would be the same and perhaps the idea might seem more
definite if, with the idea of attitude as the ultimate goal we should
begin by aiming at some nearer mark. To inspire the boys and girls
with a vital rational interest in their immediate natural environment —
an interest that shall continually widen with the circles of growing
experience and knowledge founded on experience, and so lead to a
wider environment — this is concrete and feasible.

In the country there is such abundance of material that the question
is one of choice; in the more cramped conditions of the larger cities
the question of choice is largely eliminated and here it is necessary to
seize upDn every natural object that comes within the reach of the
children and to widen their pathetically limited environment by con-
stantly reaching out, always from something they have seen or ex-
perienced, to the things beyond, and thus to inspire them with a
desire to learn what lies outside the few blocks which immediately
surround them. Settlement-workers tell us that most children in the
crowded tenement districts seldom go beyond the dozen blocks which
supply the necessities of life. A little girl of nine years was taken to
the country for the first time. She was amazed beyond measure; she
had attended the public-schools, but she had never been told that the
earth was not paved all over, and it had never occurred to her that it
could be any other way.

andbkson] MATURE-STUDY AS AN EDUCATION 107

Let us teach the children to love the parks, not just as nice places
in which to play but as places where one can know the trees as in-
dividuals that in time may become one's comrades and friends. To
know the trees that are in our parks, to know them by their outlines
and buds and twigs and leaves and flowers and fruits, and to watch
the changes in them from week to week and season to season is to
have an unfailing resource for pleasure throughout life. To teach
the child appreciation of our parks and scenery and to make him
feel a sense of ownership in them is to make him some day a better
man.

These aesthetic values of nature-study are not to be overlooked in
a time when utilitarian ideas are as prominent as today. Let the child
know that the sky and clouds and sunset coloring and the river and
hills beyond are his in the same sense in which the parks are his — to
appreciate and enjoy. Whatever one can see that is beautiful is his
own as much as though it were his individual property. All that any
one can do with a beautiful object is to contemplate it with apprecia-
tion and enjoyment. It is possible for the poorest child to be richer
than the multi-millionaire.

Of the thousands of poor and ignorant people who visit the New
York Botanical Garden during the spring and summer and autumn
months, on the one day of leisure in the week, one does not dare to
venture a guess at the per cent of those who really care for the things
of the park aside from space and coolness. If only these people had
been educated to an appreciation of nature what an additional inspira-
tion this place would become in their sordid lives!

President Cleveland went fishing when the affairs of state became
too taxing; President Roosevelt hunts bears. When the little boy in
the first grade of today becomes president, the same instinctive crav-
ing for nature may be satisfied in a simpler way if nature-study be
rightly taught. It was not the fish that President Cleveland wanted;
he could have bought them with much less trouble at the market. It
is not the bear-skins that President Roosevelt wants; he can buy them
at the furriers. What both men want is the free pure air, the un-
trammeled woods, the sound of rippling water, the call of the thrush,
ferns, moss, and wild things: in a word, nature. And, after all,
fish and bears are only excuses; just the same results could be had
by hunting with a camera, or in listing the trees of a region or study-
ing its ecology or in hunting for rare ferns.

Nature- study, then, should educate for the best enjoyment of leisure.

1 08 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE IV ,3 : 4_APR„ I9o7

And in defence of this we can do no better and go no farther today
than did Aristotle when he said:

" It is clear then that there are branches of education and learning which we
must studv with a view to the enjoyment of leiture, and these are to be
valued for their own sake, whereas those kinds of knowledge which are use-
ful in business are to be deemed necessary, and exist for the sake of other
things. It is evident then that there is a sort of education in which parents
should train their sons, not as being useful or necessary, but because it is
liberal or noble.' '

In commenting upon this passage in "Aristotle on Education,"
Burnet says:

"Aristotle's System of Education aims at producing such a character as
will issue in acts leading to the happiness of the state; in the second place it
aims at preparing the soul for the right enjoyment of leisure which becomes
possible when practical needs have been satisfied.

"We must do what is necessary and useful, but still more what is fine.

"Here in simple form is the perennial problem as to whether the end of
education is culture, or to fit us for the business of life. The most ardent
business men will tell you that they work hard in order that they may be
able to retire; the misfortune is that when they have retired they are very
often at a loss what to do with their time.

"An education which took as its aim to train people in such away that they
could rightlv enjoy the rest which they have earned by a life of toil would,
we can see, have a good deal to say for itself, and might be quite as 'practical'
as one which merely anticipated the 'useful and necessary' activities of the
business life itself. It might sound strange at first, but it would not be amiss
if we were once more to speak with Aristotle of the noble enjoyment ot
leisure as the end of education in its highest sense. It is just the want of
such an education that makes men put up with that very poor and cheap
substitute for theoria, the life of amusement.

"The Gospel of Work is a noble one and has been nobly preached, but the
neglect of the still higher Gospel of Leisure has produced the results which
Aristotle has indicated so clearly. We cannot always work, and if our
education has not fitted us to use our spare time rightly, we are sure to take
to the life of mere amusement. We all know men who would be trans-
formed if only thev knew what to do with themselves when they are not at
work. We can all see that whole classes of the community are sunk in need-
less degradation just because their lives are a succession of periods of overwork
and intervals of low or vicious relaxation. And we can see too that the end of
the nineteenth century, the century ot work, has been marked by a morbid,

ANDERS in I

NA TURE-STUDY AS A X EDUCA TION 1 09

an abnormal growth of the craving for amusement and excitement which has
threatened at times to break up society altogether."

A second value of nature-study is that it developes the power of
reason. One learns to generalize from the particular and to make
critical comparison. The whole subject of adaptations comes in here
and appeals strongly to the child. Bills and beaks and teeth and
feet and tails take on new interest when one grasps the fact that they
are to serve some special need. Nature-study leads to faith in
causality which involves the belief that every phenomenon is linked
with preceding factors. The child is freed from superstitions; and
bats that cause your hair to fall out, and toads that cause warts, and
deviTs-darning-needles that sew up your ear if you ever told a lie,
lose their terrors and become objects of interest and perhaps com-
panionship.

In addition to the development of the power of reason which
should be the second aim of the teacher of nature-study, we may
look with assurance for many valuable results which are by-products.
In the past one or another of the by-products has too often been
mistaken for the main object. This was especially true at first when
it was claimed that the greatest gain to be derived from the study of
natural objects was the increased power of observation. This
increase is a natural result; one looks at the things in which he is
interested, and the more things one is interested in, and the more he
is interested in some one thing, the more he sees. "It is active see-
ing, not passive looking, which constitutes observation," says Pro-
fessor Ganong. The result should culminate in visualization — the
power to reproduce subjectively that which has been seen objectively.
Instruction can never take the place of observation. The compara-
tive value of the two methods is shown in the following incident which
occurred in a school in the State of Missouri:

The nature-teacher said to the third-grade class, "Children, I
want you to watch a spider and see if you can learn something about
it that you did not know before. Then I would like you to write
down whatever you find out and bring it to me." The next day
Locke Sawyer brought in the following to his teacher: "Onct I
sawn a spider spin his web. He span it on the winder-pain. I
watched him as clost as I could. He went along in front and spun
behind." Here is the real thing — visualization; one sees the spider
'going along in front and spinning behind.' But the delighted teacher
was young and carried away by the enthusiasm of the moment, she

1 1 o THE XA Tl TRE-STUD Y RE J 'IE W [3 : 4-apr., ,9o7

began to tell the children how spiders spin, how they have a little
reservoir of adhesive liquid substance within which is forced out and
hardens into a thread on exposure to the air. Locke was vastly inter-
ested; he wanted to write down what the teacher had said, and at
his request his paper was returned. This is what he added: "Inside
of himself the spider has two tin cans. These are for its web
which is glue before it is spun."

Of the other values of nature-study we may note briefly:
i. Power of expression; the child can talk about the thing he is
interested in; he can write about it; he can make a picture of it.
But let his teacher remember that these are the products of nature-
study, and that nature-study can never be the product of talking of
writing or of drawing. The child's language should become more accur-
ate and logical. He should learn to tell the truth and not exaggerate.
Laboratory methods should lead to greater skill and dexterity in the
use * f the hands.

2. Knowledge for its own sake and love of knowledge should
result from the widened environment of the child. Knowing his own
surroundings, he is able to interpret what he reads, and geography
and literature take on a new meaning.

3. The industrial and economic side of the question appeals to
many, particularly to parents and school-boards. Plants and ani-
mals beneficial and injurious, pests and their extermination, problems
of food and clothing, of shelter and sanitation and personal hygiene
all become a part of the great subject.

4. Finally, the ethical value of nature-study which results in hap-
piness to the individual is most important. One is never happier
than when riding a hobby and riding hard. Birds or butterflies,
trees or mosses, ferns or fungi — it doesn't matter so long as one has
an absorbing interest in the world without. Health and happiness
are not to be despised in these clays of nerves and demand for new
sensations. To the sympathetic appreciation and love of all created
things, nature-study should lead; and if it be true that love is the
greatest thing in the world, then is nature-study indeed justified. A
man who ranks high in the scientific world showed this spirit when
he carried a tub of sea-water back to the beach from which it came,
a distance of some rods, and poured the water into the sea saying,
"I could not see any life there but it would be a pity to run any risk
of destroying life needlessly."

The first value of nature-study then is the aesthetic value. The

an dek>. »n I A '■! Tl 'A'/:-S TUD Y AS AN ED CCA TIOAT 1 1 1

first aim should be to widen the environment of the child; to give
him the attitude, the idea, the spirit of nature-study: to teach him
appreciation of nature as an unfailing resource for pleasure through-
out life; to train him for the right enjoyment of leisure. The second
value is the scientific value developing reason and recognition of
causality in nature, leading to increased power of observation, vis-
ualization and accurate expression, and to an appreciation of know-
ledge for its own sake. The industrial and economic value speaks
for itself, while the ethical influence making for happiness cannot be
over-estimated.

Nature-study has no need to demand more than rightfully belongs
to the subject.

THE AMERICAN NATURE-STUDY SOCIETY

A large number of letters received in the last five days, since the
March issue reached readers, makes it clear that the suggestion for
organizing an American society meets with very hearty support from
the leaders of nature-study. Already there is a long list of promin-
ent names. But some energetic work will be necessary to get the one
thousand charter members before September. Will you help ? Re-
member that we need one thousand members for a beginning. Part
of these may be associate members, that is, those interested in the
nature-study movement but not actively engaged in teaching. Sub-
scriptions paid to The Nature- Study Review in 1907 will be cred-
ited as membership fees for this year, and the editor will render an
account to the Treasurer when elected. In order to make a fair
arangement for those who are not already subscribers it has been
suggested that members enrolling now should pay fifty cents and
receive The Review for the last six issues of 1907, which will con-
tain notices or reports of interest to members. The proposition ap-
pears to be financially sound. The undersigned will personally take
the responsibility of sending The Review (six copies) to new mem-
bers at fifty cents this year, and of paying the expenses connected
with the organizing of the Society to December 30, 1907. Please
announce this to your friends. Will you join in this movement for the
advancement of the nature-study movement ? Are you interested suf-
ficiently to lead you to help get together the one thousand charter
members ? If small circulars such as will go in your letters will help
you reach your friends who ought to be members, write to the under-
signed stating number of circulars needed. If the Society is to be
organized in September so that we can plan for a meeting at the time
of the scientific societies in December, and perhaps for meetings in
other parts of America at the same time, it will be necessary for every
local leader of nature-study to take a personal interest in getting
applications for membership.

If you are now a subscriber to The Review please write whether
you wish to be enrolled as a member of The Nature- Study Society.
Also please suggest names for the Organizing Committee.

Another point: Should there be sections of the Society organized,
for example, Pacific, Canadian, Central, Southern, Northwestern,
and Eastern ? There would be decided advantages in these sections
when local meetings, in addition to an annual national meeting, are
desirable. M. A. Bigelow.

Teachers College,

Columbia University

,,,

THE CORNELL RURAL SCHOOL HOUSE

In a letter referring to this new building described below Professor
Bailey explained its purpose as follows: "I have built this schoolhouse
primarily for the purpose of raising the whole question of the rural
school and its efficiency. Whatever the merits of this particular build-
ing may be, the question is up for discussion. One may go from Maine
to Minnesota and see practically the same kind of rural school build-
ing, and it is the same type of building as was in use fifty years or
more ago. In cities and towns the new ideas are expressed in new
school buildings, new churches, new residences, and new kinds of
stores and shops. I think it is quite useless to talk about the reor-
ganization of the school curriculum without talking, at the same time,
about the reorganization of the building in which the work is to be
done."

The New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University
has erected a small rural school-house on its grounds, to serve as a
suggestion in school-house architecture and to contain a real rural
school as a part of its nature-study department.

The prevailing rural school-house is a building in which pupils sit
to study books. It ought to have a room in which pupils do personal
work with both hands and mind. The essential feature of this new
school-house, therefore, is a work-room. This room occupies one-
third of the floor space. Perhaps it would be better if it occupied two-
thirds of the floor-space. If the building is large enough, however, the
two kinds of work could change places in this school-house.

i 1 4 THE NA TU RE-STUD Y RE I 'IE IV [3 : 4-AI.R., Ig07

It has been the purpose to make the main part of the building
about the size of the average rural school-house, and then to add the
work-room as a wing or projection. Such a room could be added to
existing school buildings; or, in districts in which the building is now
too large, one part of the room could be partitioned off as a work-
room.

It is the purpose, also, to make this building artistic, attractive and
home-like to children, sanitary, comfortable, and durable. The
cement-plaster exterior is handsomer and warmer than wood, and on
expanded metal lath it is durable. The interior of this building is
very attractive.

The picture shows the building just as completed, before the grad-
ing of the grounds. School-gardens and play-grounds are being made
at one side.

The cost has been as follows: Contract price for buildings complete,
including heater in cellar, blackboards, and two outhouses with metal
drawers, $1800; tinting of walls $25 00; curtains $16 56; furniture
and supplies $141 75; total 51,983 31. In rural districts, the con-
struction might be completed at less cost. The average valuation of
rural school buildings and sites in New York State in 1905 was
#1,833.63.

The building is designed for twenty-five pupils in the main room.
The folding doors and windows in the partition enable one teacher to
manage both rooms. The openings between school-room and work-
room are fitted with glazed swing sash and folding doors, so that the
rooms may be used either singly or together, as desired. The work-
room has a bay window facing south and fitted with shelves for
plants. Slate black-boards of standard school heights fill the spaces
about the rooms between doors and windows. The building is heated
by hot air; vent flues of adequate sizes are also provided so that the
rooms are thoroughly heated and ventilated.

On the front of • the building and adding materially to its pict-
uresque appearance, is a roomy veranda with simple square posts,
from which entrance is made directly into the combined vestibule and
coat-room and from this again by two doors into the school-room.

Inquiries about the construction details of this school building may
be addressed to L. H. Bailey, Director College of Agriculture. Ithaca,.
N. Y.

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THE ATTENTION GIVEN TO SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY

[Editorial Note. — The relation of nature-study and geography, which is
growing more and more intimate as nature-study develops along practical and
industrial lines in addition to the sensible side of its original aesthetical tendency,
makes it certain that many readers of The Review will agree with the following
which appeared recently as an editorial in the Journal of Geography. We reprint
it with the hope that some nature-study workers may be led to help the geog-
raphy in their schools. The improved geography will react helpfully on the
nature-study.]

"This Journal has from time to time voiced its conviction that insufficient
attention is given to school geography in many of the school systems of the
country. This is indicated in several ways. A large number of the workers
in the school field still believe that geography is a cram subject and, as such,
deserves no more time than is necessary for memorizing the facts marshalled
in a more or less skeletal way in the school geographies. It is also evidenced
by the constantly decreasing time allotment in school curricula and by the
stuffed courses of study printed for many cities in which the amount of ground
to be "covered" in a week or month is simply colossal.

Even more the tendency of the country to believe that geography needs
but little attention is indicated by the scant amount of space devoted to the
subject in educational periodicals. With the exception of a few extremely
progressive papers, geography receives but little attention in the periodicals
most used by teachers. An occasional brief note may be included, while
other subjects like English, history, art, nature-3tudv or manual training have
several pages regularly devoted to them. This is not as it should be, for
geography is one of the four time-honored and proven fundamental subjects
in the education of any man or women. As such it deserves an adequate
amount of attention bv publishers, editors, superintendents and supervisors.
If these several classes of leaders would indicate their belief in geography by
devoting attention to its educational aspects geography teaching in schools
would improve as in no other way. If no incentive is given to the average
teacher to pay more than passing attention to geographv, the subject will
get but little more time or effort than the minimum prescribed by the
course of study. This Journal believes that the great problem in geography-
teaching is elementary school geography. The larger number of the pupils
in the country study geography in the elementary school or not at all. The
material here is most difficult to handle, is less well ordered and more in-
volved. It is in this field that teachers need the most help. The problem
is large enough and sufficiently important to be worthy of all the attention it
can receive. Let us hope that a new era mav soon dawn and that geog-
raphy teaching may receive the attention from all workers due to so important
a subject."

INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S SCHOOL FARM LEAGUE

The friends of the Children's School Farm movement in New York City
have formed an International Children's School Farm League. "Interna-
tional" because of several important developments in foreign countries as
well as in all sections of this country. The Children's School Farm in
New York City, founded by Mrs. Henry Parsons, and now conducted under
her directorship by Municipal authority, has been so successful, that urgent
requests for advice and information in regard to the work have been received
in such numbers that Mrs. Parsons cannot adequately respond to them.

It is the purpose of this organization to furnish practical information; also
opportunity for mutual help and to carry on the work in directions precluded
bv the restrictions surrounding Citv Departments.

The proposed plan is to issue concise information as to how to start and
conduct similar work; to whom to apply in each section for proper advice
and influence; to establish an exchange of photographs and lantern slides, and
to provide for the services of a lecturer and practical adviser.

Under the auspices of such an organization, Children's Gardens can be
placed on unimproved property and introduced in connection with institutions
for children and convalescents. The boys and men in the Tuberculosis
Hospitals frequently say: "Oh! if we had something to fill in the long
hours." Wherever this work has been introduced in prisons it has proved
most advantageous. Appeals have recentlv come for the starting of Gardens
for feeble-minded children. The International Committee of the Educa-
tional Department of the Young Men's Christian Association have asked for
literature and photographs that thev mav, through their various Secretaries,
interest bovsto do similar work in their leisure hours.

The opportunities for co-operation are innumerable. Florists and private
individuals with country places have offered seeds and land. The Agricult-
ural Department at Washington and several Experiment Stations of different
States have alreadv promised their aid.

The membership will consist of Active, Honorarv, Advisory and Sustain-
ing Members. All those who desire to have a part in this work are invited
to become e ther Active or Sustaining Members. Active Membership dues,
Si.oo; Sustaining Membership dues, 525.00. Additional donations are
desired.

The officers are: Mrs. Henry Parsons, President, Miss Emily Lamb
Tuckerman, First \ ice-President, Mrs. Howard van Sinderen, Second Yice-
President and Treasurer, Miss Emily B. \ an.Amringe, Secretarv.

There is a Board of Directors, several Honorarv Vice-Presidents, and
an Advisorv Board.

For fuller information address the League at 29 W. 56th St., New York.

THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION

At a recent meeting of the trustees of the association, held in Pittsfield,
Mass., Dr. Edward F. Bigelow, of Stamford, Conn., was unanimously
elected to the office of president. The Agassiz Association was established
in 1875, in Lenox, Mass., the president of the first society being Harlan H.
Ballard, whom Dr. Bigelow succeeds as president of the national body.
Louis Agassiz, whose name it adopted, had recently died when the little soci-
ety, which was the pioneer of a large movement, came into being, and his
widow and his son gave their hearty approval to the new undertaking.
Something of the sort had before existed in Switzerland, the native country
of the scientist, but the American association reached proportions of which its
originators never dreamed. The association was incorporated in 1892, un-
der the laws of Massachusetts, and its headquarters have been in Pittsfield.
The objects stated in the act of incorporation are the promotion of scientific
education, the advancement of science, the collection in museums of natural
and scientific specimens, the employment of observers and teachers in differ-
ent departments of science, and the general diffusion of knowledge. It has
chapters all over the United States, and several in foreign countries. The
chapters contain from 4 to 120 members each, and there is said to be a total
membership of 10,000 or 15,000. The age of its members varies from 4
to 84 years, but of course there are very few at the extreme points. The
bulk of the members consists of boys and girls, with a liking for healthy, clean,
outdoor life, and a desire to study plants and animals. In the organization of
the association, there are twenty corporators, most of whom live in Massa-
chusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Jersey. All are prominent
men in their respective localities. Seven trustees are chosen by the corpora-
tors.

The association had an exhibit at the St. Louis exposition that attracted
considerable attention, and it was awarded a diploma.

The officers serve without salary, and thev have always shown enthusiasm
for the work in which it has been engaged, the encouragement of nature-
study. This has been directed largely through correspondence, and, as a
matter of fact, it can be fairly claimed that the Agassiz was the prototype of
all correspondence schools. The income to meet current expenses comes
from voluntary contributions, small fees from chapters, when entering, and
as annual dues. There is no charge for the instruction given, and this invol-

THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATIOX 119

ves the answering of many thousands of questions upon almost every conceiv-
able subject. The association has a small endowment fund.

The Agassiz Association is not especially endeavoring to make new dis-
coveries in the scientific field, but to bring before young people facts well
known to experts. And yet members of the association do often add to the
sum of human knowledge. It is surprising how little the average person
knows about the flowers, the trees, the birds and the animals in our gardens
and fields. It is impossible to explain the value of this knowledge. One
has to discover that for himself, and the association's aim is to encourage the
discovery.

A distinguished Russian, Kropotkin, in an article in the Nineteenth Cen-
tury Magazine, mentions the Agassiz Association as a splendid idea for the
exchange of correspondence and specimens, and for education through inter-
change of ideas with young people all over the world. This plan, carried
out from the first, will we hope, be developed to a greater extent than ever
before, and it will be expanded.

Circulars giving full information may be obtained from the new President.
The movement deserves increased support.

BOOK REVIEWS

Agriculture Through the Laboratory and School-Garden. By C.

R. Jackson, Teacher of Agriculture and Botany and Mrs. L. S. Daugherty,
Assistant in Physical Geography and Zoology, instructors in the State Nor-
mal School at Kirksville, Mo., is published by the Orange Judd Company of
New York. Price is $ 1 . 50. This is a thoroughly valuable book for one
engaged in teaching elementary agriculture or in directing the work ot the
school-garden. It is also an excellent book to put into the hands of any far-
mer who wishes to keep in touch with the latest and best in his line of work.
It is written in good clear English and the organization of its contents is of
such a nature that it will be of most value to the student. It contains a rich
fund of materials and suggestions of a very practical character. It is a timely
book. The print (407 pages) and the illustrations (150) are both most
excellent.
State Normal School, De Kalb, III. L. A. Hatch.

School Gardening for Little Children. By Lucy R. Latter. London :
Swan Sonnenschein & Co. 1906. 166pp., illustrated. Introduction by
Professor Patrick Geddes. Dedication: "To the little children who show
the way."

Our authoress has taken charge of a primary school in one of the thicklv
settled districts of London, induced the School Board to tear out a newly laid
asphaltum play-ground and cart in loam in its place. (Please read this sen-
tence over and realize what it means). We will allow Miss Latter to tell
the result of her experiment in the words of her preface.

"I have tried, with the aid of a sympathetic staff, to prove that it is
possible to make nature-teaching the central point of the life of a school with-
out detriment to the children; that such teaching gives a real meaning and
incentive to all the handwork, and leads to a richer and truer appreciation of
poetry, pictures, and music. The experiment has been going on for nearly
six years, during which time it has successfully stood the test of Government
inspection. Each year has shown an increasing gain to the children intellec-
ually as well as physically and morally. Instead of the children being less
prepared for the work of the senior schools, it is found that they read, write,
and do arithmetic as well, if not much better, for having had daily contact
with plants and animals, and opportunities for observing the various natural
phenomena which affect their lives in one way or another. It is further found
chat such children pass on to the senior schools with a quickened power of

BOOK REVIEWS 121

observation of far greater intelligence, a keener desire to learn, and a greater
refinement of heart, than if their earlier years had been spent in acquiring
mechanical perfection in the arts of reading, writing and arithmetic before
any real experience has been accumulated as a basis for those more formal
branches of instruction.

"Teachers who have had longer experience in actual school work need
surely have no anxiety, therefore, in giving full play to nature-teaching in
their schools. The way should be easier, and the results richer and greater.
The suggestions from the Board of Education offer facilities hitherto unknown
to elementary teachers. Let us not rest, therefore, until every kindergarten
and school becomes, indeed as well as in name, a place where our children
may have opportunities for enjoving as fullv as possible communion with some
of the beautiful things of Nature, and where we, as educators and teachers,
may come to find a new and deeper interest in life, since in wandering forth
with our children into the realms of Nature we mav be helping to hasten a
new order of things which shall conduce to the welfare of humanity as a
whole."

We learn directly from Miss Latter that Germany is her "second home,"
and this explains in a measure how she has been able to bring so large a con-
tribution to English, and, we may hope, to American education. It should
also be stated that Miss Latter has come to the work after about fifteen years
of experience as Assistant Superintendent of Methods in Infant Schools of
London; of which a testimonial says: "Quietly and steadily, but none the
less effectively, you have successfully established Frobelian principles in our
schools, and indirectly into Voluntary Schools also. "

While the book abounds with artistic touches of great delicacy and beauty,
it never fails in accurate detail which make it at every step helpful to the
practical teacher, and the theory in the reasons for each phase of the work is
clearly and convincingly stated. The picture on the title page gives us the
key-note of the whole book. It shows a little girl watering a bed of flowers,
looking down into their faces as she pours, and is entitled: "Like a mirror
one giveth back to the other." This instant reaction of the lesson upon the
life and character of the child stands out everywhere as central and dominant.
Nowhere have I seen this thought more skilfully expressed than in this book.
Miss Latter has wrought under difficulties and against odds that to most vould
have seemed ample excuse for not attempting anything; and as usual, success
has been accorded in proportion to the intelligence and sincerity of the effort.
We need have no fear for garden work anywhere in this country, since it
can prove itself so valuable in London.

Professor Geddes writes a perfect introduction. The school official is

I 2 2 THE NA TL TRE- S TUB Y HE J VE W [3 : 4-APR. , ,9o7

first depicted self-satisfied in the consciousness that he had duly "encouraged"
every "practical" study — "save, perhaps, that of childhood itself" — "of
course, outside of mere sentimental interest, mere evolutionary dreams — say
of "lilies how they grow."

Then after ten or twelve pages of such suggestive banter, he finally con-
cludes:

"As amid our politics, re'igious controversies, and education enactments,
realities of education again disclose themselves; we again see now and then a
little child in the midst; and the hope is not perhaps wholly Utopian, that
even those respectively inheriting the watchwords of "science" and "relig-
ion" may be able to unite in such an exegesis as that a certain passage of the
child's reading not only says "consider" — "the lilies" — "how they" —
"grow," — but means that.

"Meantime, however, may we not allow our own schoolmistress and her
children to proceed to the reclamation of the administrative desert of our
particular school-yard? Each oasis, once begun, may grow; some day they
may even meet."

Another fundamental thought is that garden work does so much for the
child because it has in the past done so much for the race. It has been basal
to the evolution of civilized life. This crops out in the closing words of the
preface and finally appears in the last words of the book: "Life calls — and
responds — to life; and with prophetic insight the pioneers of gardening in its
highest and best sense see in this pure and healthy occupation the beginning
of a newer and better order of things for all mankind —
"The freedom and divinity of man,
The glorious claims of human brotherhood."

We are not surprised to learn that the book is already being translated into
Danish and Italian.

C. F. HoncE.

The Log Of the Sun. A Chronicle of Nature's Year. By C. W. Beebe.
New York: Holt. 1906, pp. 345, 52 full page plates. $6.00.

This new book bv the Curator of Ornithology in the New York Zoologi-
cal Park and author of the excellent book on birds which was reviewed in this
magazine in January, consists of fifty-two short essays on "familiar subjects
from unusual points of view." "Emphasis has been laid upon the weak
points in our knowledge of things about us, and the principal desire of the
author is to inspire enthusiasm in those whose eyes are just opening to the
wild beauties of God's out-of-doors."

Many of the essays are intensely interesting. As might be expected from the

NATURE-STUDY AND SCIEXCE NOTES 123

author's earlier books, birds are prominent in this chronicle of a year. The
superb illustrations, most of them bv Walter King Stone, certainlv help in-
spire enthusiasm in the reader.

The wide range ot topics which would naturally enter into such a book
make it impossible to describe adequately its contents in a brief review. One
who will sit down to recall the natural objects which he has seen in a year
will get some idea of the topics which the author had available for use in this
book. An index makes reference possible.

The book will appeal chiefly to those who buy nature books for their literary
and artistic charm. It is not indispensable to those who must occasionally
buy books as guides to studies ot nature.

First Book of Birds and True Bird Stories. By Olive Th orne
Miller. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin. New school editions, 60 cts. each.

It is proper that these well-known books intended for children should be
issued in school editions. The author's point of view is true to nature-study
ideals, for she says: "It has seemed to me that what is needed at first is not
the science of ornithology, — however diluted, — but some account of the life
and habits, to arouse svmpathy and interest in the living bird, neither as a tar-
get nor as a producer of eggs, but as a fellow-creature whose acquaintance it
would be pleasant to make." With this purpose in mind the author has
written these introductions to bird studv.

NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE NOTES

Fur Seals. The destruction of the Pribilof Islands fur seals by pelagic
sealing still continues. The herd which, according to the surveys made in
1874 by direction of the Congress, numbered 4,700,000, and which, accord-
ing to the survey of both American and Canadian Commissioners in 1 891,
amounting to 1,000,000, has now been reduced to about 180,000. This
result has been brought about by Canadian and some other sealing vessels kill-
ing the female seals while in the water during their annual pilgrimage to and
from the South, or in search of food. As a rule the female seal when killed
is pregnant, and also has an unweaned pup on land, so that for each skin
taken by pelagic sealing, as a rule, three lives are destroved — the mother, the
unborn offspring, and the nursing pup, which is left to starve to death. No
damage whatever is done to the herd by the carefully regulated killing on
land; the custom of pelagic sealing in solely responsible for all the present
evil, and is alike indefensible from the economic standpoint and from the stand-
point of humanitv.

124 THE NA TURE-STUD V RE VIE W l3 : 4-APR., ,go7

In 1896 over 16,000 young seals were found dead from starvation on the
Pribilof Islands. In 1897 it was estimated that since pelagic sealing began
upward of 400,000 adult female seals had been killed at sea and over 300,
000 young seals had died of starvation as the result. The revolting barbarity
of such a practise, as well as the wasteful destruction which it involves, needs
no demonstration and is its own condemnation. [From President Roosevelt's
Message, 1906.]

Species of Aster. Two species of Aster named in Gray's "Manual of
Botany" have a large number of forms with slight variations. Dr. Burgess, of
New York, separates the two species into eighty-one new species. Commenting
on this species-making, The American Botanist says: It is safe to say that
none but the author could identify these eighty-one species if the labels should
accidently get mixed, but the author, undaunted by this array of species, has
named ten more varieties and nearly two hundred and fifty lesser forms! Two
species expanded into nearly three hundred and fifty forms. This ought to
amuse even the hawthorn specialists. If anybody ever starts in on the human •
race with similar ideas of what species are, some families will doubtless be
found to consist of at least half a dozen new species and possibly one or two
new genera."

Unstable Names Of Plants. Referring to an attempt to make another
change of scientific name for a well known plant The American Botanist,
makes the truthful statement that the movement for stable nomenclature has
made scientific plant names so unstable that common names are used by pre-
ference when one wishes to be exact. Three-fourths of the names of orchid
in Grav's "Manual" have been changed by the systematists.

Birds and Burdock. Bird- Lore publishes a note and a photograph
showing a bird entangled in the burs of burdock on which it had alighted.
Similar cases have been reported.

Aigrettes. The good news is reported (by Bird- Lore) from London
that there is a decided falling off in the sales of heron plumes (aigrettes) "on
account of the absence of American trade." For this thanks are due to
the Audubon Societies behind the laws. At a recent meeting the Federation
of Women's Clubs of Pennsylvania and New Jersey adopted a resolution
against the use of aigrettes by club women. Each month there is news of a
decided advance in the work of bird protection. It is to be hoped that every
nature-study teacher is helping in the great movement toward making the
coming generation of women realize their full responsibility for the utterly
barbarous practices connected with securing bird's skins for ornamental pur-
poses.

NA TURK- S TUD Y A ND SCIEA CE NO TES 1 2 5

Fungi Which Discolor Wood. Many of the blue, brown, black, pink,
purple and vellow stains which appear on pine and other lumber in piles are
caused by fungi. The "1906 Report of the Missouri Botanical Garden"
contains an extensive paper by Dr. Hedgcock, who has recently investigated
the subject. Certain colors are due to the insoluble colors of the filaments
(mycelium) of the lungi which penetrate the wood but do not actually stain
the wood cells. In other cases soluble pigments are taken up by the cell-
walls of the wood. Or both causes may be combined.

Bag- Worm Killing Branches. In the above mentioned report Dr.
H. von Schrenk describes the killing of arbor-vitae and other twigs by the
constructing bands which suspend the bag-worm cocoons. Growth pressure
causes swelling followed by girdling similar to that produced by a tightly
wound wire. Commonlv most of the cocoons drop from twigs about the
end of June because the growing twigs break the encircling bands which
suspend the cocoons.

Seedless Oranges. According to an article in The World Today the seed-
less or naval oranges came from Brazil. Four shoots were sent to California
in 1872. Two lived and in 1877 produced 16 oranges. The new
orange tree could be propagated only by budding, and the first buds sold
at $1 each, and later at $5 a dozen. One box of naval oranges was
grown in 1880; since then the annual product has risen to ten million
boxes, and the two trees have multiplied to over four million. The original
parent tree last vear bore two bushels of choice fruit. In Southern California
alone $100,000,000 is invested in citrus fruit culture, chiefly of oranges,
and in related industries.

Economic Role Of Lichens. These plants are the first to attack rocks and
they greatly aid in reducing rocks to soil. Lichens, such as the "reindeer
moss," are food for both man and animals in high northern regions where
other plant food is not available. Another species in northern Africa is blown
long distances by the wind and falling in the deserts where food is scare is
eaten by man and animals. It is supposed to have been the manna of the children
of Israel. Other species are important for both man and animals in Finland,
Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The nutritive qualities are due
to a peculiar starch-like compound. Many species were formerly considered
medicinal. Many dyes, chiefly reds, purples and blues, are used for home
coloring of cloth, wood, etc. Litmus used for testing acids and alkalies in
chemical experiments is obtained from lichens, chiefly in Holland. Orseille
is another name for this dye. It is supposed to be the "blue and purple"
of the old Testament. \_Plant World, Nov. 1906.]

126 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW ;[3:4-APR., w

Meadow Mice. A recent pamphlet from the U. S. Dept. of" Agriculture
points out their destructiveness to grass, fruit, vegetables, hav in stack, and
orchard trees. There is danger that the continued destruction of hawks,
owls, snakes, and small carnivora may allow the mice to multiply until exten-
sive ravages result.

Workingmen's Gardens. The Century Magazine for March contains
an interesting account of the development of the so-called workingmen's
gardens in France. The author is W. H. Tolman. The movement for
such gardens was instituted bv certain philanthropists in 1889, the object
being to improve the people morally and physically as well as to benefit them
financially. The present status of the work is well indicated bv the fact that
last year there was held in Paris a "Congress of Workingmen's Gardens"
attended bv 700 delegates. In brief the plan followed is for certain
individuals or organizations to acquire suitable vacant property in various
cities and by aggressive work arouse the workingman's interest so that he will
rent a patch which he mav cultivate with such advice and assistance as is
necessary to enable him to produce successfully. The average rental charged
is $2.50 for a plot containing 478 square yards. In many cities prizes are
given for successful results. The competition aroused is often quite keen, and
the spread of the idea thus greatly accelerated.

C. A. M.

Snake Myths. The following from Surface's "Serpents of Pennsyl-
vania," (Published by the State Department of Zoology, Harrisburg) refer
to popular beliefs which are entirely erroneous: Snakes do not sting with
their tongues. Snakes do not charm birds and people. The green serpents
are not venomous. There is no such a creature as a hoop snake, which rolls
like a hoop. There is no horn snake, with a venomous horn at the end of its
tail. Snakes are not blind once per month, and regularly during "dog
days." Snakes do not molt or shed their skin each month. Serpents can
not blow out or spit poison. Snakes do not chase and attack people without
provocation. Serpents and other reptiles are not slimy. Certain kinds of
snakes do not milk or suck cows. When snakes are killed the tails may die
before the sun goes down or before it thunders. Kill a snake and turn it
over will not bring rain. Snakes do not spring or jump from the ground at
their victims. Snakes do not lose their venom by being deprived of water
for six days or more. Snakes do not have medicinal properties.

Field Studies in Botany. No. 4 of this series issued by the Depart-
ment of Botany of the University of Michigan is "Bog Studies;" No. 5
on "Field Work in Towns and Cities."

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS

Vol. 3 MAY, 1907 No. 5

THE ORGANIC FIELD OF NATURE-STUDY

BY GEO. H. HUDSON
State Normal School, Plattsburg, N. Y.

In preparing a syllabus for a course of lectures on zoology,
published by the Extension Department of the University of
the State of New York in February 1893, I felt that one legiti-
mate purpose of such a course might be the gaining of a popular
appreciation of what man had already obtained as a reward
for his time spent in the study of animal life. This field was
briefly outlined under the heading "Scope and power of the
appeal of nature to man." Finding the scheme useful in teach-
ing, it was soon amplified and made to include the plant as well
as the animal kingdom. A form very like the first part of that
accompanying this article was distributed among the members of
the Nature-Study Section of the State Teachers' Association
during its meeting at Cliff Haven in the summer of 1903, and
used as the basis of my talk to the teachers of that session. In
Nature for January 28, 1904, p. 290, there appeared an interesting
grouping, by Professor E. Ray Lancaster, from which I im-
mediately borrowed material to make my scheme more complete.
The scavengers of his group C and his groups E, F and G, were
new to my table. Group G and the scavengers were placed as
the second and first divisions of my section C ; Group F became
the new section G; group E was not used but might have formed
a special sub-division of my section bearing the same letter.

One who will examine the first two pages of the accompanying
tabular form and will make a brief historical retrospect of each
division, will find that man's study of nature has contributed to
our present position of comparative comfort and safety in a de-
gree rarely appreciated.

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130 THE iVA TURE-STUD Y RE I 'IE IV [3 : S-M ay, 1907

Compare the plant and animal foods of primitive people, or of
our own early history, with the variety and the abundance of
todav. How large a part of the world now contributes to the
table of a working man compared with that which furnished his
table in King Arthur's time. Looking forward we desire and we
anticipate a very marked improvement in the food-supply of
nations. Those men who through the study of nature discover
or make new foods, who increase the yield or quality of others,
or who discover better methods of food -preservation, are public
benefactors of no mean order. Ought not every child to re-
capitulate in part, through his own personal effort, the main
steps taken by the race in the development of its food industries?
Such a recapitulation is needed in order to make of the child a
man of broader sympathies and clearer foresight. The child
may become in time a member of a legislative body, or he may
use his mental powers as a moulder of public opinion. In
either case he will render his country better and more intelligent
service if he has come to recognize the value and dignity of that
labor which directly furnishes a nation's food-supply and which
is, in the most fundamental manner, one of its surest and greatest
sources of wealth.

Group B will bear similar study. Compare the comforts of
the primitive cave or hut with those offered by a single room
today. Try to enumerate the plants that have given woods for
the roof, walls, floor and furniture; fibers for woven fabrics and
papers, gums and oils for paints and varnishes; and dye stuffs
to contribute to the color scheme. The animal kingdom has
given of its furs, hair, leather, ivory, feathers, silk, lacquer, and
red and purple. The book in your hand, in the pigment and oils
of its letters, the fibre in its paper, thread and silk, the paste and
glue used in its binding and the morocco of its covers is an
expression of nature's bounty and man's conquest.

The geographical extent of the biosphere involved and the
millions of human' hearts and hands connected with the col-
lecting, curing, shaping and assembling of the material is really
beyond comprehension. It opens to the mind an immense
vista of human industry and commerce. Was not our Whitman
intoxicated with this view in his "Salut au Monde?" How
many of us living in the colder lands of the north (sheltered
from the storm, lighted and warmed, fed and made comfortable

huuson] ORGANIC FIELD OF MATURE-STUDY 131

bv nature's gifts) ever think for a moment of the cost in human
effort : — beginning back in primitive times in the trying life of
the savage, passing through the dangers of explorations in foreign
lands, and finally coming down to our own times with its great
army of trained workers endeavoring to wrest yet more of nature's
secrets from her, and with them to minister in still greater
degree to our well being and comfort. Not alone do the materials
themselves speak of nature's bounty and man's effort, but the
designs used in decoration and perhaps the thought of the book
are made to mirror some of nature's finer moods and so meet
still higher needs. May we not find a number of good reasons
for wishing our children to have a training that shall give them
a larger measure of appreciation of this great field than that
which has formed the habit of our thought? Will being blind to
our abundant blessings, or possessing the power to see them,
lead to the happier and more contented life?

In training for good citizenship we cannot afford to neglect
subjects which stand in so close a relation to life or death as do
those listed under section E. The older knowledge concerning
the danger of loose tigers is very generally understood by the
public at large, but the greater danger from flies and bacteria
is so little appreciated as to be more usually the subject of jest
than that of serious thought. Nature-study may well lay a
foundation in this field that shall yield results of tremendous
moment to mankind.

This tabular form should speak to us of the value of real
nature-study in no uncertain tones. The race in its early child-
hood passed through a compulsory course in which the suc-
cessful pupils were rewarded with prizes of food, clothing, and
mates; while the delinquents were granted an early and per-
manent cessation from the struggle for existence. To eat and to
avoid being eaten were two great ever present and ever pressing
questions of the day; and man was compelled to investigate
nature in the most direct and persistent manner for her answers.
Crude as were the early ideas gained, as shown by early methods
and beliefs, from this direct study has come a wealth of know-
ledge so great that no one life can compass it, and few of us even
realize its extent and variety.

Sections H to N, Part II of the tabular form, outline a portion
of this field of knowledge. If one would realize its vast worth,

1 3 2 THE NA TUKE-STUD Y RE VIE IV [3 : 5_MAYj ,9o7

let him think how much of this field his physician ought to
know and then trace its value in relation to food and textile
industries. It would be well for the world if the rising genera-
tion could come to know in a practical and intimate manner
just how this knowledge was obtained by man. It did not
come through any artificial system of education but by a method
very foreign to all such systems, and that was through the
direct study of nature herself.

The method by which man has lifted himself so far above the
rest of the brute kingdom and through which he has received
such practical and valuable returns is a method that we should
train our children to use, and it is most assuredly the true method
for nature-study. It has as yet but a very small place in our
schools; and one of the strongest reasons we have for the
introduction of nature-study is to supply that training which
only this direct method can give. Its contributions to civili-
zation should convince the most skeptical as to its great worth.

The need of this contact or laboratory method has been the
more markedly felt on account of the influence of city life and the
increased term of the child's imprisonment between uninviting
school walls. Many have noted with grave apprehension that these
influences have both served to markedly lessen if not in greater
part to do away with the nature-schooling which in former
generations played so prominent a part in early child life. If
the law of biogenesis demands a recapitulation of race history
as a foundation for all higher development, should we not view
with some concern so marked a suppression of free contact with
nature in the child life of today? This great biological law not
only gives us important reasons for the introduction of nature-
studv into the too cold atmosphere of ordinary school life, but
serves as a guide in the order of presentation of our material.
The children of the lower grades should be led to picture to
themselves the life of the hunter and the reasons why he must
often go hungry. The story of the famine in Longfellow's
"Hiawatha" illustrates this phase. How superior to this is the pic-
ture of nomadic life. Next comes the tillage of the soil with the
more permanent and better home, and last the story of the im-
provement and preservation of our foods and the work of the agri-
cultural experiment stations.

There is another organic law which should be one of great

hudson] ORGANIC FIELD OF NATURE-STUDY 133

value in education and yet it seems to be little known by teachers.
It is the "law of acceleration" of Cope and Hyatt. This law
will caution us against the common error of making the earlier
portions of our course too full of ancient detail. Too persistent
stimuli of the ancient type may be made to minister to character-
istics which are now on their normal way to extinction. The
newer parts of the field should receive the greater care. This
adjustment of the materials to the needs of the developing mind
is a question of some difficulty, but it is one that should receive
its proper attention.

The aim of nature-study may well be made more definite. It
is not to train the child to raise cabbages and cucumbers, —
yet the raising or caring for something growing in the soil is very
essential to his obtaining a vivid basal idea concerning agri-
culture, and this knowledge is essential to good citizenship. He
must be led to realize his dependence on mother earth and to
learn how his race reaped the various blessings he now receives at
her hands. He may never become an investigator or searcher
for additional benefits, but as a citizen he will respect and will
foster research. Citizens of this stamp are needed. A com-
parison of the national attitudes of Russia and Japan toward
biological and physical research and its results are well worth
some earnest thought. In other words the training outlined
gives him a knowledge and a finer appreciation of a very vital
department of the history of civilization, with books in the hands
of his teachers but with real things in his own hands. He is
learning in the most fundamental manner by doing.

Sections O to V are an attempt to indicate some directions
in which this study of the environment has reacted on man
and been an important factor in his mental development.
Ought not our course to be so planned as to secure in a definite
manner some of the effects of this reaction and is not here to be
found one of the most valuable things which our course might
give, the development of intellectual and ethical power?

Hawthorne, in "Mosses from an Old Manse," has written: —
"Childless men, if they would know something of the bliss of
paternity, should plant a seed — be it squash, bean, Indian corn
or perhaps a mere flower or worthless weed — should plant it with
their own hands, and nurse it from infancy to maturity alto-
gether by their own care." Hodge, in "Nature-Study and

1 3 4 THE NA TURR-S TUD Y RR VIE IV [3 : 5-mav, 1907

Life," says that "To allow a child to grow up without planting a
seed or rearing a plant is a crime against civilized society."
These quotations show a deep appreciation of the value of contact
with nature to develop that factor in character which we have
classed under section T. The ethical effect of such work is
gradually coming to be realized. Must we not see also that the
rearing of young animals, particularly birds and mammals, is a
still more potent influence. The child that has never seen a cat
nurse and care for a litter of kittens has lost something of in-
calculable value. One of the most potent factors in placing the
ethical feelings of the civilized races so far above the plane of the
hunting savage was the development of altruism through the
care given to flocks and herds. Do we make too much of this
influence? How high an ethical ideal do you find expressed in
the words, "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather
the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and he
shall gently lead those that are with young?" How rich a
tribute to the character of Jesus in his title of "Divine Shep-
herd?"

It should not be necessary to further point out the relation of
nature-study to the lettered sections of the tables. The stu-
dent of comparative religions, particularly if he gives his atten-
tion to older forms, will find enough to convince him that the
part played by animal and plant in the development of these
forms was a very important one. If we question as to the
value we might obtain from nature-study in the development of
the will, let us examine the effect it might be made to give on so
fundamental a condition of intellectual operations as voluntary
attention. Here we may have that interest which is so powerful
a holder and trainer of attention and Professor James is author-
ity for the very sweeping statement that attention so held
"makes experience more than it is made by it." Of the millions
of items present to the senses he also says, "Only those items
which I notice shape my mind." There is food here for reflection.

Is it not time to disabuse our minds of the idea that anyone can
teach nature-study? Ought we not to insist at least on breadth
of mind, some knowledge of the field in its various branches, and
a sympathetic love of both nature and the child? And again is it
not also unwise for us to assert that the love of nature is the
only thing we expect our course to cultivate in the child? There

HUDSON

ORGANIC FIELD OF NA TURE-STUDY i 35

are other essentials which we may cultivate: — essentials to good
citizenship, to broader knowledge, to finer personal character,
and to success in life. These things must hold our attention
vet in the building we may gain an earlier, deeper, and more
abiding love of nature which shall also include his fellow man.

The tables outline only the organic field of nature-study,
but the author does not mean to exclude the inorganic from
practice. The development of man's tools takes us from bone or
stone to bronze and steel. The first artificial source of warmth
and light was from burning woods or oils, — now the source is from
coal or electricity. The ox was at first one of the greatest
sources of power, but the modern locomotive is the mightier.
The inorganic enters the field of medicine, produces dye stuffs
and flavors, and may yet enter the realm of foods. The study of
minerals and of phvsical phenomena must have a share of the
time devoted to our work; and they must not be treated as
aliens but as closely related essentials.

The tables are far from complete. While the relation of
plants to food-supply is treated at first as a matter of plant
parts, it should be treated later from the standpoint of plant
orders or plant families. It is hoped, however, that the table
will be helpful in many ways, by suggesting material for study,
the breadth of the field, the historical element, order of pre-
sentation, relative values, and final aim or purpose.

SLAVE-MAKING HABITS OF ANTS

BY LOUIS I. DUBLIN, Ph D.
College of the City of New York

Stranger, perhaps, than anything else in the life of the ants is
the story of their slave-making habits. The ATery idea of de-
pendence is opposed to all the activities of these forms among
which such strong instincts for productive work exist. It is
remarkable, too, that these habits should have arisen in species
in which the integrity of the colony is so universally preserved
and in which any intrusion from without is so actively resented.
Yet there can be no doubt of the existence of this institution
among them; for every stage of slavery from the simplest to the
most complex conditions is now a matter of easy observation.
It is the aim of this account to describe some of the more typical
cases of slavery in the order of their increasing complexity, and
then briefly to attempt an explanation of their origin and
development.

The reader will recall, perhaps, the very common and active
red ants known as Formica sanguinea or more familiarly as the
sanguinary ants, (Fig. i). These show the first pronounced
condition of this peculiar habit. In the spring the sanguinary
queen, just returned from her wedding flight and full of eggs, is
most often found in an old nest of a closely related species Formica
fusca, surrounded by a small number of queenless workers of the
latter species. This is the beginning of the large slave-colonies
very common later in the summer. Strange as it may seem,
these workers do not resent the presence of the intruder as ants
generally do; but feed and protect her with that same loyalty
which characterises their treatment of their own queen. Among
these she lays her eggs which, carefully tended by the fusca
workers, soon hatch into the first lot of sanguinaries. These
constantlv increase in numbers and make the colony more and
more mixed in character. A new composite colony is thus pro-
duced in which, through a new division of labor, the good of all
is assured. The fuscas or slaves live freely, working without
any apparent restraint; but as they are queenless, it is clear
that with time thev would decrease in numbers while their

DUBLIN |

SLAVE-MAKING HABITS OF AXTS

137

younger masters increased. This if continued would, of course,
in a comparatively short period lead to the formation of a pure
sanguinary colony. In some cases where the sanguinary ants
are already firmly established this actually takes place. More
often, however, this does not occur; for from time to time the

Fig. 1. — The common red ants, Formica sanguinea, with pupae. Photographed by

Dr. O. S. Strong.

slave-makers make sallies upon neighboring nests, robbing
them of their young. Brought into the nest, these serve in part
as food, but a large portion always remains to be raised into
slaverv. Bv this means is the mixed character of the colony
preserved.

In such a well developed community it is interesting to observe

«3«

THE XATURE-STUDY REVIEW

13 : 5-mav, 1907

the part played by the two species, respectively. At first
glance the black slaves may be distinguished from their somewhat
larger red masters. Here and there the former may be observed
digging tunnels, "milking" the so-called "ant-cows" or aphids
and then feeding the young, cleaning the nests, and in many
other ways performing the many domestic duties of the colony.
Rarely, if ever, do these duties take them outside the nest and then
only in their quest for new aphids. This important activity seems
to be entirely in their charge. On the other hand, the masters far

Fig. 2 — a, The slave-maker Polyergus and />, a mandible of the same, c, the Formica

slave and if, a mandible.

from lying about unoccupied, as might be supposed, take an
active part in their own affairs. They seem to be most interested
in those activities which relate the colony to the outside world.
Thus they determine the migrations, at which times they may be
seen carrying their precious slaves from place to place; and they
fight their battles and obtain their own food, all of which is no
small task when the size of many of these mixed colonies is con-
sidered.

Not all the colonies of this species are slave-makers. This is
especially true of the American sanguinaries, among which, as
Wheeler has shown, the largest colonies are very often pure.
This would indicate that as the colonies become more and
more firmly established they refrain from the further pillage of

dublin] SLAVE-MAKING HABITS OF ANTS 139

the fusca nests and soon dispense with slavery altogether. These
are eases of temporary slavery in which the mixed condition is
resorted to only during the most critical period of the foundation
of the colony. It may therefore, be concluded that these

slave-makers show but little ill effect from the habit. Although
they may in this way reap a considerable advantage in their
struggle for existence, they are as yet in no sense dependent upon
their slaves. The slave-making instinct itself is in this species
in an unfixed or formative condition.

Much further advanced is the slave-making habit in the
related Amazon ants, represented in Europe by Polyergus
rutescens, (Fig. 2 a) and in America by the so-called shining
slave-maker Polyergus lucidus and some other related varieties.
It is safe to say that among these Amazons no slaveless colonies
exist, so far has this instinct progressed among them. The
colonies begin in much the same way as among the sanguinaries,
a young fertilized queen being most probably adopted in a
queenless or weakened Formica fusca (Fig. 2c.) or F. rufibarbis
colony. With the advance of the season and multiplication of
Amazons the number of slaves is maintained and even increased
through the robbery of the neighboring nests of these little
black ants. The plundering is on a much larger scale than
in the preceding instance. Forel, to whom more than to anv
other observer we owe our knowledge of these forms, calculated
that a single colony in the course of one summer captured as
many as forty thousand larva? and pupae of the unfortunate
slaves. Indeed this seems to be the only activity of the ants of
this species of Polygerus.

Nothing can be more fascinating than these slave-robbing
expeditions. Thus, to quote a well known description from
Forel :

"One afternoon at half past three o'clock, the Amazons of a large nest
located in a meadow ten steps from a path drew out in a direction at right
angles to it; after they had gone obliquely a little, they took the straight path
again. Finally, I discovered at a distance of two steps from the army a nest
that was covered with Rufibarbis which was at a distance of fifty steps from
the Amazon nest. The vanguard of the armv recognized that thev had
reached their destination while they were as yet one decimeter from the Rufi-
barbis; for they suddenly stopped and sent a crowd of emissaries which with
incredible haste rushed back into the main bodv and the rear guard of the

140 THE NATURE-STUDY REIVE IF |s:S-may, i9o7

army. In less than thirty seconds, the whole army is assembled in a mass
before the nest of the Rufibarbis, on the surface of which they throw them-
selves with a second movement of incomparable swiftness. This was not
wasted; for the Rufibarbis having perceived the arrival of the enemy the
moment the vanguard stopped, a few moments had sufficed for them also to
cover the dome of their nest with defenders. An indescribable scuffle now
follows, but in spite of it, the greater part of the armv of the Polvergus
pierces within through all the openings. In the same instant, a stream of
Rufibarbis emerges out of the same holes carrying hundreds of cocoons,
larva? and pupae fleeing in all directions * * * The Amazons remain
hardlv a minute within the nest and come out in myriads from the holes each
one with a cocoon, a larvae or a nymph. But no sooner is the head of the
armv again on its return than the scene changes once more. The Rufibarbis
observing that the enemy is in flight throw themselves with energy in pursuit.
Thev grasp the Amazons by the legs and seek to tear the pupae away from
them. If a Rufibarbis attaches itself to a cocoon which an Amazon is carry-
ing, the latter lets her mandibles slip down over the cocoon to the head of the
Rufibarbis. In most cases, the latter lets go. If she does not, the Amazon
grasps her head between her mandibles and if this does not suffice, then she
pierces her head '■'■'- * * Having reached home, the Amazons bring
their bootv within and do not go out again on that dav. The Rufibarbis
also return to their nest with the cocoons which thev had saved from the
pillage * * * On the next day, at about the same time, these same
Amazons plundered the Rufibarbis nest again.''

The captured young, now properly located within the nest,
soon hatch and finding themselves in the presence of their con-
querors, begin at once to perform those duties which their par-
ticular structure or caste makes necessary, precisely as if they had
been born among their own kin. No attempt is made to escape,
but rather in addition to their own work the}' now do nearly
everything that pertains to the life of their masters.

For the Amazons can do nothing for themselves. The all-
important tool of the ant, her mandibles, have been converted
into a pair of thin and finely pointed sabres (Fig. 2 b). These
are, to be sure, most effective weapons of offence, but as instru-
ments of work, they are quite worthless. The Polyergus ants
are thus incapable of digging their tunnels, or of caring for
their own young which they produce in large numbers. What
is most astounding, however, is the fact that they have lost
the power of feeding themselves. It has been most clearly

dublin] SLAVE- MAKING HABITS OF ANTS 141

shown by many observers that if left for as short a period as
two or three days without the aid of their slaves they would
starve to death, even if surrounded with an abundance of
food. Replace the black ants and the scene changes immedi-
ately; the Amazons take new courage and are soon fed with
the regurgitated food which the slaves are only too eager to offer
them.

We may now clearly seethe degrading effect of the slave-making
habit. Unlike the formicas, both the American and European
types of Polyergus are thoroughly dependent upon their slaves.
Every aspect of the domestic affairs of the Amazons is dull and
lifeless. Apart in one chamber of the nest are generalby located
the fertile male and females, the others clustering everv where
within the slave-dug galleries, idle and listless. In truth, the
so-called slaves are within the nest the real masters. Thev
determine the character of the nest, plan and conduct migrations,
carrying the Amazons from place to place, the latter subject to
no impulse of their own. An originally fine group of animals
is, thus, reduced to a mere band of soldiers and robbers other-
wise absolutely unable to care for themselves. The true worker-
caste has been replaced by soldiers and all those creative
instincts which make the life of the ant-species so strikingly
self sustaining seem here to be sacrificed to the mere develop-
ment of the mandibles as powerful weapons of offence. In
America, this once widely distributed species is on the road to
extinction. This is certainly a big price to pay. It is the
fighting and larvae-robbing instinct which natural selection has
developed. In this alone now lies the secret of their preser-
vation, for there has been developed a fighting organization
with which very few other species can compare.

The next stage in this story of degeneration is that presented
by a species widely spread over the continent of Europe and
known as Strongylognathus testaceus. This is a light-red ant
of considerable size and is found associated with a well organized
and active little form, Tetramorium caespitum. Like the
Amazons, these slave-makers possess ridgeless, sabre-like
mandibles which they try to use in much the same way. But
altogether they are really nothing more than the merest cari-
catures of those powerful fighters. In the first place, the very
mandibles upon which the soldiers of the latter so effectively

142 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW i3 :5-mav, .9o7

rely are here too weak to do any injury and when a conflict does
ensue between them and their slaves, it is the masters that
invariably succumb. Secondly, and as might be expected,
these degenerate and useless soldiers are very much reduced in
numbers. In this species, therefore, the worker-caste has
disappeared, and except in name only, the soldiers also. They
have become totallv dependent.

We are now confronted with the difficult problem of the
origin of this mixed colony. Surely the explanation given in
the case of the Polyergus colonies cannot apply here. For in
many cases at least the slaves are not queenless, and this rules
out the possibility of the adoption of the Strongylegnathus queen
by Tetramorium orphans. Still more improbable is the per-
petuation of the mixed colony through the later plundering of
near-by slave nests. It is therefore, necessary to seek some other
explanation. In this case it is quite possible that we are con-
cerned with the third type of mixed colony, that is, one that
arises through the alliance of two distinct colonies. Two young
and fertilized queens representing the two species come to-
gether and in a common nest lav their eggs and raise their first
batch of young, the bulk of the labor falling on the Tetramorium
slaves. But with the growth of the colony a strange fact be-
comes apparent. The slave- workers apparently affect the
small Strongvlognathus kings and queens much more than
their own larger ones, and as a result we find that while the
number of sexual forms of their own decreases, that of the others
increases. In this way is very probably produced this mixed
colony presenting the peculiar numerical relations of the castes
of the castes of both species; the sexual forms of the masters
preponderating, while the workers and soldiers are almost
exclusively slaves.

This account of the slave-making habits among ants must
now be concluded with the final and most complete stage of depend-
ence of one species upon another. This is typified by the
European genus Anergates (Fig. 3) and by the recently dis-
covered American species Epcecus pergandei and Epipheidole
inquilina. In these forms all the neutral females, that is, the
workers and soldiers, have entirely disappeared, leaving only
very peculiar males and females to continue the race. In the
case of Anergates these are found associated with small numbers

nruLiN]

SLA VE-MAKING HABITS OF AXTS

J43

of queenless and aged Tetramorium workers. At first sight
such a colony gives the impression that only one species was
represented in which the males and females have a strangelv dif-
ferent appearance. But in spite of the fact that such polymor-
phism does actually occur among several species, there can be no
doubt that this is not true in this case. Very careful studies
have shown that the workers belong to Tetramorium caespitum,
the same form described above in association with Strongylogna-
thus; the fertile forms on the other hand, are absolutely unlike
those found in Tetramorium colonies and belong to an entirely

Fig

3. — A species of Anergates in which there are no workers or soldiers, a, male; b, fertile
female; c, abdomen of virgin female. (From Wheeler.)

different genus. These males and females can do nothing for
themselves and show rudimentary characters in almost every
detail of their structure. The males, for example, are wingless
resembling larvae rather than mature ants, while the mouth-
parts of both sexes are most degenerate, the jaws and feelers
being reduced to mere stumps.

How, then, could a colony such as this have been formed?
The problem is made all the more difficult because of the absence
of the sexual forms and the brood of the slaves. The colony as a
whole is thus incapable of perpetuating itself and the Anergates,
entirely dependent upon their aged slave-workers, and therefore,
doomed to die with them. The stealing of slaves is out of the
question and so- also must be considered the possibility of an
alliance taking place between representatives of the two species.
Very novel indeed is the suggestion made years ago by Sir
John Lubbock who in his discussion of this very question wrote :
"If the female of Anergates could by violence or poison destroy

1 4 4 THE NA TURK- S TUD Y RE VIE IV [3 : s-may, .9o7

the queen of the Tetramoriums, we should in the following year
have a community composed of the two Anergates (the king
and queen), their young, and workers of Tetramorium, in the
manner described by Van Hagens and Forel."

But in view of the structual weakness of the supposed murder-
ess, this too would seem impossible. We must, therefore, once
more resort to the adoption-idea as an explanation of the origin
of these colonies. Conceive for a moment that an Anergates
queen had succeeded in making her way into an old and queenless
colony of Tetramorium. As has been experimentally verified,
she would most probably be adopted. Once established, she
would lav her eggs, which in time would give rise to several males
and females that would live on with their queen-mother as long as
their Tetramorium slaves survived. On the death of the latter,
however, one of the winged females of the new generation
might succeed in locating and infecting some new colony and
thus repeat the process. Surely no more degraded condition
can be conceived.

We have now described the slave-making habit among ants
from the simplest to the most complex conditions. At the be-
ginning was the occasionally temporary slavery in which the
F. sanguinea indulged and to which no ill effects could be traced.
In the Amazons later a striking adaptation toward slave-making
was observed, every individual in the colony with the exception
of the sexual forms being a soldier or a robber. Most of the
constructive instincts, including even the ability to feed them-
selves, are sacrificed in the race for sharpened jaws. Finally,
there are observed those cases where the habit reaches its
highest point and becomes sheer parasitism. In Strongylogna-
thus and Anergates the slave-makers, not the slaves, are reduced
in structure and entirely dependent, producing a type as far from
the self maintaining, active and ingenious ant of ordinary ob-
servation as can be imagined.

Let us see what series of circumstances may have led to the
formation of this habit. In the first place, it is clear that in this,
as in many other biological phenomena, there are several origin-
ally distinct factors combined to produce the complex condition.
We must, therefore, look for suggestions to the simplest cases
where these factors may be found dissociated. In this way we
learn to distinguish two elements; first, the founding of the

doblin] SLAVE-MAKING HABITS OF ANTS 145

mixed colony, and second the means taken for its preservation.
While the actual founding of the Sanguinary colon v has unfortun-
ately not been observed, there can be no escape from the con-
clusion that this is accomplished through the adoption of the
newly fertilized queen of the slave-makers by the workers of an
impoverished and queenless colony, whose nest the former has
sought out and entered.

Probable as this seems from the evidence already presented,
the above account is made even more plausible by the several
cases of temporary slavery recently described by both Wheeler
and Wasmann from America and Europe, respectivelv. These
observers have found that Formica consocians and Formica
truncicola, together with some other forms all closelv related to
Sanguinea, are incapable of founding their colonies unassisted.
The queens of these species have been observed to enter orphaned
colonies of other species where they were adopted. More
recently the European investigator Santschi working in Tunis
on the colonies of Bothriomyrmex, which in like manner tem-
porarily enslave a species of Tapinoma, observed every detail
in the adoption of the queen of the former by the workers of
the latter species. The young fertilized queens in descend-

ing to the ground from their nuptial flight make their way to the
mounds of the Tapinomas where they are almost immediately
seized by the workers and forcibly pulled into the nest. Once
within, the Bothriomyrmex queen falls upon the queen of her
hosts and either alone or aided by some of the workers soon
kills her. The slave-maker is thus left in undisputed control of
the colony. The eggs are then laid and the young reared, the
workers acting as slaves; but with the increase in number of the
young and the dying off of the slaves the colony soon becomes
pure and self sustaining. The similarity of this with what is
found in Sanguinea is so complete that there can be no question
of the similarity of the founding of both. So too with Polyergus
and Anergates. We may conclude that at one time the habit
of temporary slave-formation or parasitism was generally dis-
tributed among ants and that this probably served as a founda-
tion for the later permanent slave colonies.

It must be apparent, however, that in this way alone no
permanent mixed colony could be formed. There must be some
way of replenishing the young colony with slaves as the original

1 46 THE NA TURE- S TUD V RE J VE IV [3 : 5_M AY, ,qo7

ones are removed by death or other causes. This is accomplished
by the habit of plundering neighboring colonies. Recalling the
simple conditions of the Sanguinaries, the reader will remember
the important part this habit played. For considerable periods
the colonies seem to be on a continuous slave-hunt, the captured
young forming the chief food of the robbers and those that are
not devoured being reared into slavery. Many other species
not slave-makers at all, like Eciton for example, are constantly
guilty of this same habit. So pronounced is this that Darwin
in his attempt to explain the slave-making instinct among ants
was tempted to look upon this as in itself sufficient to explain
the conditions then known. Thus in the "Origin of Species"
he wrote :

"Bv what steps the instinct of Formica sanguinea originated I will not
pretend to conjecture. But as ants, which are not slave-makers, will, as I
have seen, carry off pupae of other species, if scattered near their nests? it is
possible that such pupae originallv stored as food might become developed;
and the foreign ants thus unintentionally reared would then follow their
proper instincts, and do what work they could. If their presence proved
useful to the species which had seized them — if it were more advantageous to
this species to capture workers than to procreate them — the habit of collecting
pupae, originally for food, might by natural selection be strengthened and
rendered permanent for the verv different purpose of raising slaves. When
the instinct was once acquired, if carried out to much less extent even than in
our British F. Sanguinea which, as we have seen, is less aided by its slaves
than the same species in Switzerland, natural selection might increase and
modify the instinct — always supposing each modification to be of use to the
species — until an ant was formed as objectly dependent on its slaves as is the
Formica (Polvgergus) rufescens."

These two habits, then, originally distinct and each widely
distributed throughout the ant-world, once combined or rather
superimposed in the life cycle of any one species, would give at
one bound conditions such as are at present observable in San-
guinea. In the hands of the forces of Natural Selection, coupled
with the effects of use and disuse, the later and more complex
conditions would in the course of time readily enough arise. It
must not, of course, be assumed that the processes of Natural
Selection have given origin to this institution. In the field of
Instincts quite as in that of Structures, these processes alone
can do nothing. There must first be some material basis for-

Dublin] SLAVE-MAKING HABITS OF ANTS 147

Selection to work upon. In this particular instance, the primary
parasitism of the young queen of the slave-makers as well as
the secondary plundering habit of her worker offspring are, in
their rudiment at least ,1 already assumed to exist. It is their
further developments and combination into one distinct activity
that Natural Selection has, in all probability, accomplished.

THE NATURE-STUDY EXCURSION

BY R. O. JOHNSON, State Normal School, Chico, Cal.
[Read at California State Teachers' Association at Fiesno, Dec. 27, 1906.]

The work in nature-study brings the teacher face to face with
perhaps more difficult problems than any other line of school
work. And if this be true of that part of the work done in the
schoolroom, it is doubly so of the work done in the field. It is
the purpose of this paper to define some of the problems which
arise in connection with the field trip and to offer a few sugges-
tions to aid in their solution and further to give a few practical
suggestions for making the field trip profitable.

Before proceeding to a discussion of these problems I should
like to state what to my mind are the chief reasons why the
excursion should have a prominent place in nature-study. First,
it gives to the pupil a breadth of view such as no other subject
in the curriculum affords. To most children school means a
room with four walls shutting the outside world out and shutting
them in. It means books and paper and pens and apparatus
of various kinds. Children are too seldom made to realize that
school means anything else or that it has any intimate connec-
tion with anything outside of itself, hence they easily become
contracted in mind and soul. As a consequence many of them
have little appreciation for the things about them in nature and
often just as little appreciation for the things of the school.
They need the excursion in order to learn that their little school-
room is only a very minute part of the great school all about
them in which they may enjoy the privileges of membership.
Second, those parts of the subject which possess for the child
the most intense interest mean little or nothing to him unless the
question of environment enters in. This is especially true in the
matter of protective coloration or protective resemblance,
illustrations of which never fail to challenge the admiration of
children. The stripes of the tiger and the spots of the leopard
are of little significance in themselves, but when it is realized
that each of these animals when at home in his habitat is often
concealed almost wholly from view. by these markings they then
contain a world of meaning. Apart from any consideration of

„ ,„NSI „ ] THE -V. i TURE-S Ti TD ) ' EXCl TRSWN i 49

habitat in the case of the ancestry of the dog, the peculiar
habit of this animal in turning around several times before
lying down has been explained only by saving that he turns
once and then since one good turn deserves another he con-
tinues the action. But scientific observers noticing that the
wolf and other relatives of the dog often execute such motions to
make a place to lie down in the tall grass which characterizes
habitat, explain it as an inherited instinct. When seen in the
aquarium the dark color of the tadpole means little or nothing
to the child, but when he has observed time after time in nature
that the tadpoles can often be seen only with the greatest difficulty
then the color becomes the most inceresting thing about this
animal.

The first problem which confronts many teachers with regard
to the field trip is that of lack of knowledge of the subject. She
knows that in the field the pupils will ask many questions which
she will be wholly unable to answer and she naturally shrinks
from such a humiliation. How shall this problem be met?
The teacher must first of all realize that in order to be successful
in nature-study and especiallv in field work with pupils she
must possess a knowledge of things apart from books, or at least
the aptitude for gaining knowledge from things as well as from
books. One of the chief reasons why this subject has fallen
into disrepute in many places is that so manv teachers had
only a book knowledge of the subject and this they sought to
pass over to their pupils. We are reminded of Montaigne's
words written more than three hundred years ago: "We toil
only to stuff the memory. . . and like birds who fly abroad
to forage for grain, bring it home in their beaks, without tasting
it themselves, to feed their young, so our pedants (he might
now say "our nature-studv teachers") go picking knowledge
here and there out of several authors and hold it at their tongue's
end, only to spit it out and distribute it among their pupils.
Xature-study must be learned bv the teacher and taught to the
pupil while in living contact with the things of nature. Any-
thing less than this is not nature-study. The teacher who finds
herself lacking in this knowledge must remedy the deficiency
or give up the idea of trying to teach the subject. If she have a
love and appreciation for nature (but is without much knowledge)
I believe this difficult v will take care of itself as she seeks to

1 50 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W f3 : 5-MAy, 1907

unravel the mysteries of nature with her pupils. She will not
then be under the necessity of saying "I don't know" to questions
asked, but may say instead, "we will seek to find out." She will
thus be enabled more fully to sympathize with her pupils in their
struggles to see and understand, and she will necessarily avoid
the danger of "shooting over the heads of her pupils."

If the teacher be lacking in an appreciation and love for
nature she must seek to acquire these in some way. But how
can this be done? It is not always possible to place ourselves
in contact with lovers of nature who would be able to impart to
us such an appreciation, nevertheless there still remains a way.
The old saying, "Books are the best of things well used, abused
among the worst," is as applicable in nature-study as anywhere
else. Among the vast number of books about nature and
nature-study there are a few which though true to life are
capable of arousing in us the love for nature which we may lack.
Such are the books of William Hamilton Gibson, books redolent
with the odor of fields and woods, and written and illustrated
with a charm that will captivate all who do not set themselves
stubbornly to resist. I am wholly at a loss to understand how
any one with even the least imaginative power can read these
books, or some of those by John Burroughs, or the volume
entitled, "Insects Life" by Fabre (styled by Darwin "that
inimitable observer"), or "Our Social and Solitary Wasps" by
the Peckhams, without becoming enthusiastic over the study of
nature. Besides, among the great number of interesting things
mentioned in these books, those which interest us most can be
seen by the most ordinary observer, and that, too, in the im-
mediate vicinity of his own home, very often in his own door-
yard. My own interest in nature was much quickened when I
found by accident the stables which the ants build for the plant-
lice and the two-story nest of the summer yellow bird, giving
me at first hand the story of how she outwits the cowbird as so
charmingly told by Gibson. Such sights are not reserved, as I
at one time thought, for the favored few, but are placed within
full view of him who has eyes to see and uses them.

Many teachers are hindered by prejudice from entering into a
full appreciation of nature. False and unfounded fear of insect
larvae, mice and reptiles must be overcome, or at least greatly
modified by the teacher win > Avould be able to instruct her pupils as

1' IHNSONJ

THE A 'A Tl 'RE- S TL 'D Y EXCi 'RSrOA ' 1 5 *

she should. One of the great benefits of nature-study teaching is
that by it superstition and needless fear are removed from the
child's mind and he is thus given a saner and more intelligent view
of nature. What an enviable opportunity is mine when I can
demonstrate to the child the fact that the dragon-fly is not a
"stinger," that he cannot "sew people's ears up," and that he is
altogether a harmless, yea, more than that, a defenceless creature;
when I can induce the child to prove it to his own satisfaction.
What an opportunity lost, if, through timidity or fear, I fail to
dispel his groundless fear and superstition. I believe it to be
entirely possible for any teacher who has sufficient interest
in the subject so to accustom herself to all forms of animal life
that she shall be able to give the nature-study lesson in school-
room or field without the least show of fear. She must do so if
she is to succeed in imparting to her pupils one of the most
valuable lessons from the work.

Another problem which every teacher in conducting field
work must meet is that of class discipline. One of the objections
most stronglv urged against the field trip is that it weakens
and sometimes destroys discipline. Whether it does so or not,
all depends upon the teacher. It is without doubt true that the
teacher's power in that line is either greatly weakened or greatly
strengthened by the class excursion. In no other line of school
work is there so great need for ingenuity in maintaining dis-
cipline as in the field trip and nowhere else has the teacher so
great an opportunity for becoming strong in government, for
new problems are constantly arising and some of them require
unique solutions. To illustrate: On one of our excursions in
the Chicago Vacation Schools in which three hundred and fifty
children from the slums participated, a number of boys dis-
regarding the customary regulation went bathing in the creek.
When discovered and spoken to by a teacher for the first and
second times they made not the least show of obedience, but when
the teacher quietlv stooped and gathered a few stones of a
proper size for throwing (the teacher in this instance was a man I
there was not a boy among the bathers who did not make all
reasonable effort to get to the bank for his clothing. Now, of
course, these boys felt almost certain that the teacher woiild not
have thrown the stones, but they also knew that he could have
done so if he had wanted to, and knowing that he had a way of
enforcing obedience thev readilv yielded.

i 5 2 THE NA TURE-STUD V RE I 'IE IV l3 : 5-Ma-y, .go?

Without discipline the most carefully planned trip is likely
to come to nought, while a well-disciplined class in the field can
hardly fail to learn enough worth the trip even from a lesson
without a plan, provided the teacher have an interest in the sub-
ject. The progressive teacher will welcome the nature-study
excursion as another opportunity for strengthening her powers
of discipline. It is the teacher who is always shrinking from
new problems in discipline who always finds discipline most
difficult. It is by no means an easy task to lay down rules for
making discipline easy, for in this so much depends on the
personality of the teacher. The study of the individual child
has, I believe, done more than anything else to strengthen the
teachers' power to control her pupils; not the study of children
as they are in school but the study of them when they are their
real selves. Nowhere else, unless it be in their games, are
children so much themselves as on the field trip; for with com-
petent leadership they become so engrossed in the subject that
they forget to be otherwise than natural. If the teacher has a
lively interest in the subject and each time has the excursion
well planned, she will find her power of discipline becoming
stronger with each succeeding trip.

The necessity for interference in discipline diminishes with
decrease in numbers. It is often possible and many times
desirable to divide the class up into small groups, sometimes
into pairs. This plan is especially recommended for bird work
and has been put to a practical test through some months by
Mr. Stebbins, the principal of our grammar room. It is not
practicable below fourth grade. Considerable variety may be
utilized in dividing up the groups. Pupils may, for instance,
sometimes be allowed to choose their own partners; but it is
usually better for the teacher to select the partners, choosing in
such a way that the stronger students accompany the weaker,
the reason for which is plainly evident. The teacher also takes a
small group with her and each time a different group until a
round of the class has been made. In group work pupils are
thrown largely on their own resources and they profit by the
work just to the extent that they assume responsibility in the
matter. They are made to feel the necessity of looking more
sharply for distinguishing marks and are compelled to rely
wholly upon their own powers of description. It is well to

roHNsoN] THE NATURE-STUDY EXCURSION 153

precede group work by some drill in the description of mounted
specimens, at least until the pupil can name and recognize the
limits of the different regions of the body, and has a tolerably
definite idea of the commoner shades of color as found in the
plumage of birds. He should be encouraged where possible
to make hasty sketches, to show any peculiar distribution of
color or markings, and to write short, concise descriptions of
specimens observed on the trip but unknown to him. If any
particular bird is sought, a signal previously agreed upon is given
bv the group first finding it thus enabling the other groups to
gather quietly and study it. Particular subjects may some-
times be assigned to different groups, as for instance: "Watching
a bird for ten or fifteen minutes and reporting upon his actions,"
"A census of all the birds seen on the trip, or in a certain definite
locality," "Feeding-habits of certain species."

The dav after the excursion should be used for a full and free
discussion and comparison of notes and observations. Con-
siderable rivalry is thus stimulated among the various groups
and questions will arise which will call for more careful observa-
tion at a future time. Sometimes the class may be divided into
two equal parts for this part of the work, the intention being
to see which side can make the clearer reports. In the same
way a pupil on one side may describe a bird as accurately as he
can while the other side guess the name of the bird described.
Group work in bird study is especially commended because
the birds can thus be approached more nearly and the pupils take
great delight in approaching the bird by stealth, thinking at the
time, no doubt, of the ways of the Indians in approaching the
animals they hunted for game. Pupils have been known to
become so enthusiastic over the work when conducted according
to these plans that it was almost impossible for the teacher to
talk with them at intermissions about anything else. Some of
these plans slightly modified might easily be used in the field
work in general.

In closing I should like to express my faith in the ability of
true nature-study to endure the test of time. I should also like
to sav to the friends of the subject that when our teachers have
been more fully educated up to an appreciation of nature and
have had opportunity to see its wonderful possibilities when
well taught, then the movement will take on new life. The
excursion will then come to be a part of the regular program and
as such will ever be awaited with the greatest delight bv teacher
and pupil alike.

THE FORESTRY EXHIBITION

JOHN C. DANA
Librarian of Newark Public Library

This exhibition was opened on Friday evening, April 12, 1907,
New Jersey's Arbor Day, on the third floor of the Free Public
Library of Newark. It includes pictures of trees notable for
their size, or their age, or their beauty, or their rarity, or their
historic and literary associations; pictures of the leaves, flowers
and fruit of trees; pictures illustrating the cultivation, the trans-
planting, the pruning, and the protecting of trees from injuries
by insects and animals; pictures illustrating proper and im-
proper methods of lumbering and the evil effects of improper
methods; pictures of insect enemies of trees; pictures of streets,
parks and gardens adorned with trees, and of the great forests
of the country.

It includes also maps showing our national forests, and others
showing the distribution of trees in New Jersey and in the
country at large.

In cases or on the walls are shewn injurious insects with leaves,
bark and wood on which they have worked; wonderful re-
productions in wax of flowers and blossoms; leaves of many
kinds; a beautiful collection of freshly cut branches from
fifty different kinds of evergreens; hickory nuts of many kinds;
samples of wood in the form of boards and of veneer; material
illustrating every step in papermaking from the log to the
finished article, and many of the useful products of trees, like
turpentine, varnish, gums, cork, and India rubber.

All these things and many others are so displayed as to be
easily examined. Though the amount of material displayed is
considerable and though the room in which it is shown is of
good size — 50 x 156 feet with 250 linear feet of wall surface and
thirty glass cases — the exhibition professes to be an outline sketch
only and is arranged rather in accordance with the material
secured, with the character of the room, and with an eye to its
attractiveness to the layman than after a logical plan. It has
grown to quite unexpected dimensions from the simple display
first planned about six months ago — of a few pictures of beautiful,

dana] THE FORESTRY EXHIBITION 155

curious and historic trees. As it now stands it is the outcome
of the interest taken in our original plan by the Forestry Depart-
ments of the national government and the several states — very
notably New Jersey — ; by the Park Commissions of many
cities and states — and notably that of Essex County — ; by
Municipal Improvement Associations, landscape gardeners,
nurserymen, botanical gardens, and notably by the Newark
Shade Tree Commission.

The first object of this exhibition, as of all those which the
Library has held, is to put before the people of our city instruc-
tive material in an interesting and attractive way. The city has
wisely built for itself a librarv building — no city has built itself
a better one for the purpose — large enough for many years to
come and containing many rooms not now needed for strictly
library purposes. Exhibitions like this one are here convenientlv
arranged and seem to come naturally within the library's field
of work. The record which follows of 40 exhibits in the past
five years with a total attendance of 229,317 shows that the
custom meets with approval.

Another object of the exhibition is, of course, to draw attention
to the library and to lead our citizens who maintain it to visit
it, enjoy it and make use of its books.

A third object — and we hope this will not be thought un-
important because placed last — is to call the attention of young
and old to the glories of the trees, their beauty, and the charm
they add to the city which possesses them, to the value of our
forests as a national asset and to the need of jealously guarding
them against those who would selfishly injure them.

The library has many good books on trees, their study and
their cultivation, and on all aspects of forestry. It has also
many interesting pamphlets, published chiefly by National and
State Forestry Departments, for free distribution.

EDITORIALS

LEADING ARTICLES IN THE REVIEW

One of our esteemed readers, who happens to have the ability
to write those "sensible abusive letters" which have heretofore
been credited with improving The Review, wants to know why
the managing editor does not always place the real "leading"
article first in the monthly issues. The reply to him may interest
others who wonder why the article which appeals to them as
strong is printed second or third instead of first.

The truth is that the managing editor has never attempted to
arrange the articles in the order of merit. As a rule the first
article is one which has been planned in advance for a certain
number. Others equally good, or even better, may come after
the printer has begun work on an issue and, following the rule to
publish papers as soon as possible, we try to work in many papers
received at the eleventh hour. If you want to read the real
"leading" article in The Review, you must read all the io-point
type, and then the one which pleases you best is the leading
article. Our arrangement of articles, particularly the use of
black-faced type for headings, important sub-divisions, and
notes, and with not more than forty pages, makes it impossible
that anything important should be overlooked.

INDEX TO VOLUME II

Many inquiries show that the index bound with the February
issue has been overlooked. One subscriber writes that he can-
not imagine a more stupid place for that index than where it is
located and that he cannot imagine how any one could be dense
enough to have bound it in Number 2 of Volume III. With
this comment the managing editor agrees heartily and it exactly
expresses the sentiment which he transmitted to the printers
whose carelessness caused the absurd blunder. The orders
given on the proof and also in a letter were that it should be
inserted but not bound in the February issue. However, the pages
can easily be removed and pasted in the last number of Vol. II.

EDITORIALS J 57

NAMES WANTED FOR SAMPLE COPIES

The publisher wants at once 1500 names of persons who will
probably care to see copies of The Review. Please send list
this week if possible; but names for sample copies are gladly
received from subscribers at any time.

MANUSCRIPTS SHOULD BE CORRECT

Corrections in proof have become very expensive and so here-
after the editor must ask contributors to take special care in
revising manuscript before setting in type. Changes in proof
which are not the fault of editor or printer will be charged to
authors at the rate of three cents for every line in which a
change, even a comma, occurs. This is the average expense to
the editor.

PROFITS OF THE REVIEW

A reader, who in December last cancelled her subscription
"because a friend also takes The Review," asks the question,
"Who gets the profits from The Review. It has been widely
advertised as a cooperative journal, but surely somebody is
making money out of it. My friend, who is a printer, tells me
that 2000 subscribers at one dollar means profit."

In answer to such readers who demand an accounting, the
managing editor begs to say: (1) that there is profit in 2000 sub-
scribers at $1.00, but that so far manv of these 2000 possible sub-
scribers have, like the writer of the letter mentioned, decided
to help the movement by using a friend's copy or borrowing
from a library. Moreover, the average of $1.00 per subscriber
is purely theoretical, for a large number of subscribers send
their periodical orders to agencies which charge a commission;
in fact two large agencies practically demand 50* ,' on new sub-
scriptions as the price for listing The Review in their catalogue.
Finally, in order to settle all doubts concerning profits, the
managing editor stands ready to open to the inspection of any
one interested the books and vouchers proving that up to date
The Review has cost the managing editor personally nearly
one thousand dollars for printing, advertising and clerical
assistance. The deficit in the first year was approximately $650,
last year S250. and so far this year $100. This personal loss

158 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 : 5-may, 1907

cannot be carried longer than the end of this volume. If the
new Nature-Study Society of 1000 or more members will adopt
the journal as its official organ, The Review will pay expenses
for printing, postage and clerical work. Or 300 additional
subscribers would make good the present annual loss ; but to add
300 permanent subscribers without going into the field of popular
nature-study and ceasing to be a journal for research in nature-
study is apparently impossible, unless more individual sub-
scriptions supplement existing library subscriptions. The manag-
ing editor is always glad to have useful suggestions, particularly
on the financial problems which are prominent in the case of
most special magazines which must depend upon subscriptions.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS

Vol. 3 SEPTEMBER, 1907 No. 6

THE AMERICAN NATURE-STUDY SOCIETY

The number of applications for membership in the proposed
society for nature-study now justifies the making of definite plans
for completing organization. It is true that the list is still far
short of the one thousand names suggested in the March issue
of The Review as desirable for a beginning; but the dailv
stream of applications for membership makes it probable that
many more than one thousand will be registered before the end
of this year. However, the plans for the new society have not
yet been widely advertised and it is highly desirable that those
alreadv enrolled take an active interest in the work of increasine
the membership. For convenience in reaching those who do
not yet know about the proposed society some small circulars
intended for enclosing in letters have been printed and will
be mailed from the office of The Review to any reader who
will help distribute them. One person enclosed these circulars
in nearly one hundred letters and secured over thirty names
for membership.

Organizing Committee. — It was suggested in the March Review
that applications for membership should be accompanied with
nominations for ten members of an Organizing Committee.
Very many letters have contained such nominations and the
names given below have received the largest number of votes.

Professor L. H. Bailey, of Cornell university; Professor C. F.
Hodge, of Clark University; Professor O. W. Caldwell, of the
University of Chicago; Professor Stanley Coulter, of Purdue
University; Dr. H. W. Fairbanks, of California; Professor V. L.
Kellogg, of Stanford University; Mrs. A. B. Comstock, of Cornell
University; Professor D. Lange, of the St. Paul schools; Prin-
cipal W. A. Baldwin, of the Hyannis Normal School; Professor

1 60 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE IV \3 :6-sept., 1907

M. F. Guyer, of the University of Cincinnati; Professor F. L.
Stevens, of N. C. College of Agriculture; Professor W. Lochhead,
of Macdonald College; Professor M. A. Bigelow, of Teachers
College, Columbia University; Professor C. R. Mann, Depart-
ment of Physics, University of Chicago; Mrs. L. L. Wilson,
Philadelphia Normal School; Dr. E. F. Bigelow, Stamford,
Conn.; Professor J. F. Woodhull, Teachers College. Columbia
University. No attempt has been made to arrange names in
order. There are more than ten names because, with five or
or six exceptions, it has proved impossible to select on the basis
of majority of votes; and also all the above are needed to give
proper geographical and institutional representation. The
above names will certainly be approved as satisfactory for a
committee on organization; and in order to push plans to com-
pletion the managing editor of The Review has asked these
persons to cooperate in making definite plans for organization
of a society for the advancement of nature-study in schools.
The proceedings of this committee will be published as soon as
possible in The Review.

Meeting for Organization. — It has been suggested that a
meeting for organization should be held in Chicago when the
national scientific societies meet next December. No other meet-
ing will bring together so many who are interested in nature-
study, and therefore, the suggestion seems to be a good one. The
suggestion will be referred to the Organizing Committee.

The Official Journal. — Concerning the proposition to make
The Review the official journal, it has been suggested that it
should be in the control of the association and the editor or
editorial committee elected. To this the present editor and
publisher will agree, and will later submit a proposition involving
the above suggestion.

Membership fees paid for iqoj. — The announcement last March
brought a large number of applications for membership accom-
panied by $1 orders and checks for membership fees. In most
cases it was requested that The Review should be sent beginning
with January 1907. After July all remittances accompanying
applications for membership will be credited to membership dues
for 1908, and The Review will be sent beginning with next
January, unless specially ordered according to the following
notice.

THE AMERICAN NA TURE-STUDY SOCIETY 161

The Review will be sent for the last four months of igoy for
jo cents. This will accommodate those who wish to get all numbers
before January when the magazine will be sent free to members
of the Nature-Study Society. This offer may be used by all
who have recently subscribed for The Review at the regular
price, and who may want the dollar paid credited to membership
dues for 1908.

The red mark on the address-label of this and later issues means
that your name has been placed on the membership list. If your
copy is not marked, kindly notify the managing editor of The
Review.

THE AIMS OF NATURE-STUDY

BY ELLIOT R. DOWNING
Northern State Normal School, Marquette, Mich.

Centuries are marked more by the ideas that dominate them
than by the deeds they accomplish. The Iliad gives immortality
to its heroes. Aristotle is infinitely more forceful now than the
great Alexander. The idea of evolution is the nucleus of the
nineteenth century thought. It has absorbed the hitherto
unorganized accumulation of facts and constructed them into a
vital whole. Its influence has permeated all departments of
knowledge, catalytically reconstructing astronomy, biology,
geology, history, sociology, psychology, child study, pedagogy,
and theology. It has enabled us to express old truths in more
cogent terminology, to organize successfully the attack upon the
unknown, to apprehend more completely and align ourselves
more perfectly with "the one increasing purpose which through
all the ages runs."

We realize now that children are not little men and little
women but that the development of the child is a change in kind
as well as in degree, a change as marked as the phylogenetic
transition from worm to monkey. The mental life too is an
evolution. The powers of mind appear successively dominant,
contemporaneouslv with definite physical changes, (i) A
period of rapid physical growth of brain and other bodily organs
is accompanied by the rapid accumulation of sense percepts and
their utilization in imagery. It is a time of nervous instability, of
susceptible emotions, of developing will when control is best
achieved through the feelings. This period culminates iti and
apparently is terminated by the second dentition. There ensues
(2) a pause in the growth. The physique tills out. Energy is
superabundant. The organism reaches a maximum of resistance
to disease. The brain cells are developing their connecting pro-
cesses. Powers of association are at their best. Hence this is a
time for the correlation of sense percepts, for memory, for the
formation of phvsical habits. The individual is phlegmatic
if ever. Control must'be authoritative. (3) Then follows the
adolescent period, the second period of intense change with the

downing]

AIMS OF NATURE-STUDY 163

culmination of new powers both physical and mental. Reason
and judgment become ascendent and volition must needs be
controlled through them.

The stages through which the individual passes in his mental
development are recapitulated in the history of every judgment
which we form. Sense percepts form the foundation for all of
our mental processes. Upon these we build our judgments by
synthesis, correlation and reasoning. It is evident then that
accuracy of sense perception, the most efficient power of observa-
tion, is important always, since it is so fundamental", but that
the appropriate time for its intense cultivation is early childhood,
not because its absolute importance decreases in later life but it
becomes relativelv less important, since the later mental powers
come to occupy a larger place.

These considerations lead to the conviction that one aim in
nature-studv should be the development of the power of observa-
tion— not of eve alone but of all the senses. Further, that this
work should assume large proportions in early childhood in view
of its dominant place in the mental life of that period. During
the second period we may continue, in lessening amounts, this
fundamental drill and add the accumulation of facts and state-
ments of laws. Not until the adolescent period should we
expect the child to reason closely on the facts he has in mind.

We come to understand, in part at least, the tendency to dif-
ferentiate science and nature-study when we realize this differ-
ence in mental aptitudes with advancing years. Certainly the
systematic marshalling of facts and their rational interpretation,
which we commonly designate science, will belong to the later
school years and we may appropriately apply a different name
to that studv which aims simply to train the powers of observa-
tion.

We have neglected too long in our modern school work inces-
sant drill upon this fundamental step in all mental operations.
The race spent its apprenticeship in savagery sharpening its
powers of sense perception. The individual does well to go much
and often to the same instructor, nature, to keep keen his powers
for the conflict of life. While the struggle for existence has risen
to a higher plane and new powers are involved, they are in addi-
tion to, not in place of the old. Indeed modern business and
professional life demands accuracy of eye, ear and muscle more

1 64 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W [3 : c-sbft., i9o7

frequently, of the novitiate at least, than excellence of judgment.
It is lack of this training that exposes the high school and college
graduate to the charge of impracticability. There is no dearth of
training in memory, reasoning and the formation of judgments,
but little or no training is given on first-hand acquisition of the
sense percepts upon which these depend.

Not alone does nature-study and the later science work afford
superior opportunity for sensory training but it gives an unex-
celled opportunity for drill in the complete thought process, the
formation of judgments on the basis of sense percepts which the
student himself has secured. In most school subjects the judg-
ments which we call upon the student to make are formed from
borrowed concepts not from those that he builds for himself.
Perhaps the judgments themselves are reasoned out for him and
he is required merely to give his assent or to simply memorize
them. In every-day life, however, the situations which we must
successfullv meet or face ignominious failure are not enigmas with
half the explanation written upon them, but problems which we
must master from the elemental sense percepts, to the final
judgments expressive of the solution. This is impossible in some
valuable studies because original sources are inaccessible. But it
is the glory of nature-study to deal with the very commonplace.

Nature-study has a still more significant content. The nature-
study movement is no evanescent, educational fad, but a perma-
nent product of fundamental forces operative in the intellectual
and social evolution of the race. In recent years this evolution
has been so rapid as to amount almost to a revolution. It has
multiplied schools, increased attendance and remodelled courses.
It has opened the schools not alone to the favored few but to the
ambitious masses. It has established the polytechnic and agri-
cultural schools, introduced manual training and commercial
courses, often replaced the classical by the science course and
developed the demand for nature-study. These significant
changes indicate that the schools are trying to serve a new con-
stituency.

A century ago the average child might not go to school beyond
his tender years. He was required as a producer. Now mighty
steam and deft electricity have supplanted human brawn and
supple fingers and freed the little laborer from the slavery of com-
merce. The industrial revolution produced by the change of

in iwning]

A IMS OF NA TURE-S TUB Y 165

power from muscle to steam made possible and necessary the
revolution in education though the effect was long delayed by
expensive war and social inertia. A single engine frees a hundred
laborers and multiplies by just so much the productive power of
one operator.

This industrial emancipation has made education possible for
the masses who come demamding that with the least possible
expenditure of time, money and energy there shall be provided a
course as effective from the educational standpoint as the classical
but made up of those studies that have a distinct wage-earning
value. Nature-study comes to us as a part of this popular, prac-
tical, scientific movement. The commonplace objects are its
appropriate subject-matter. It affiliates with gardening, agri-
culture and other commercially valuable subjects. Yet its pur-
pose is not primarily commercial. Its aim is not to teach the
farmer lad how to win a few more bushels of grain from a relcu-
tant soil nor the would-be carpenter how to select his timber
more profitably. While the demand for nature-study has come
from the practical masses its aim is to put into the commonplace
objects a spiritual significance, to fill them with the suggestions
of the vast import that the world's master minds have seen in
them, to insure their recall of the vision of the seer, the inspired
interpretation of the artist and poet.

"How wearily the grind of toil goes on
Where love is wanting, how the eye and ear
And heart are starved amidst the plenitude
Of Nature.

!p *J» *!■ *T*

And, in sad keeping with the things about them,
Shrill querulous women, sour and sullen men,
Untidy, loveless, old before their time,
With scarce a human interest save their own
Monotonous round of small economies,
Or the poor scandal of the neighborhood;
Blind to the beauty everywhere revealed,
Treading the Mayflower with regardless feet;
For them the song sparrow and the bobolink
Sang not, nor winds made music in the leaves;
For them in vain October's holocaust
Burned gold and crimson, over all the hills,
The sacramental mystery of the woods."

Nature-study embodies a protest against the mere intellectual

1 6 6 THE NA TURE-S TUD Y RE VIE IV l3 : 6-sept., .9o7

apprehension as well as the purely commercial appropriation of
nature. Our scientific texts and the bulk of our scientific instruc-
tion have been negligent of the development of the will and
emotions. They have centered effort on the production of
intellectual keeness. Science is a statement of bare facts, — a
cold, impartial, uncolored recital of truth. This is inadequate
for the complete education. It lacks interest. It fails to stir
the emotions, to stimulate the will. It does not recognize an
important soul power, faith. But add to the scientific know-
ledge of fact, the artist's joy in beauty, the glamour of poetic
interpretation, the raconteur's literary style, the interest of
human kinship and utility and it makes subject-matter in which
the imaginative child soul revels.

Nature-study supplies in part at least that element of culture
and spiritual uplift in modern scientific education which the older
classical courses gave by virtue of the student's contact with the
splendid thoughts and sturdy heroes of the classical literature.

Nature-study aims at an ennobling, inspiring, healing com-
panionship with nature rather than mere knowledge of nature.
The love of nature is the goal; the moral uplift is the ultimate
desire. Humanity owes much to these friendships with nature.
Thev have been the source of inspiration for poets, moralists,
reformers, a never failing fountain of perpetual youth for the
world's great toilers. The exquisite Lake region of England and
our own charming Concord valley have stamped their character
on the literature of a brilliant period because they have moulded
the characters of the poets and philosophers their beauty has
inspired. Every religion has drawn on nature for parables and
the great religious leaders have spent years apart meditating
amid the suggestive voices of nature. Man's worship of God
has evolved from a worship of nature. Religion has been con-
ceived of the solitary places. Freedom has been nurtured by
the hills. Literature and art have been cradled in the lap of
Mother Nature. That which is true of the race is true of the
individual. Sturdy character is the gift of the sun-flecked forests
the rushing river, the eternal hills.

"By the breadth of the blue that shines in silence o'er me,
By the length of the mountain lines that stretch before me,
By the height of the cloud that sails with rest in motion
Over the plains and the vales to the measureless ocean

downing]

AIMS OF XATURE-STUDY 167

(Oh, how the sight of the things that are great enlarges the eyes!)
Lead me out of the narrow life, to the peace of the hills and the skies."

We may not retain in the school curriculum any subject unless
it accomplishes some object of education better than any other
subject and contributes also to the whole purpose of education.
Nature-study is incomparable in its training of the powers of
observation, unrivalled as discipline in the complete thought
process and an exceptionally powerful factor in the moral and
religious development of the individual and the race.

PLAN OF ORGANIZATION FOR NATURE-STUDY FACTS*

BY JOSEPH S. TAYLOR, Pd.D.

District Superintendent of Schools, New York City

The defects which the writer has found in nature-study teach-
ing may be roughly divided into two classes : Defects of organiza-
tion and defects of expression.

(i) Errors of Organization — The syllabus of nature-study in
the New York public schools calls, in the first five years, for a
mass of facts, of which the following for Grade i A is a sample :

"Four-footed Animals : Cat, mouse, rabbit. Recognition
and name; observation of their characteristic movements and
actions; their color, covering, food, uses, and care of young."

There is no suggested organization of the facts, and the conse-
quence is that when a supervisor enters a class-room and asks for
a recitation or a lesson on any given animal or plant, the follow-
ing procedure is the rule : There is attempted a mere enumera-
tion or heaping up of actions, qualities, parts, and uses, without
regard to rhyme or reason. If the animal under consideration be
the duck, for example, one pupil says the duck is a bird, another
says she has a bill, another that she has feathers, another adds
that the bill is yellow, and still another that the bill is broad.
But there is no attempt at orderly sequence, no separation of
significant from trivial facts, no effort to relate facts of sti~ucture
to facts of function. Every fact is an isolated, unrelated thing,
which has to be mastered by sheer force of memory. The conse-
quence is that in a few days the information slips away, and when
children are asked to tell what they remember of an animal, they
stare at you in bewildered silence. They can't remember which
of the hundred or more independent facts that were told to them
• nnes first. In fact, there is no necessary first or last ; one could
begin anywhere to recite the long catalogue of names without
doing violence to the arrangement.

(2) Defective Expression — The second error of teaching which
the writer has found almost universal is lack of drill in the correct
expression of facts taught. Perhaps it were more accurate to say"

Copyright by Joseph S. Taylor, 1907.

taylor] ORGANIZATION FOR NATURE-STUDY 169

"facts told;" for a thing cannot properly be said to have been
taught until the pupil can adequately express the same.

A lesson in nature-stud}' usually consists of the enumeration,.
by the teacher, of the facts called for. This is true even in cases
where the actual object is at hand. When the pupil is asked to
reproduce what he has learned, the teacher puts a question calling
for a single fact, which the pupil answers with a monosyllable.
It does not seem to occur to either teacher or pupil that a child
can state more than one fact. It does not occur to teachers, as a
rule, that the information about an animal or plant can be woven
into a storv, and that a child can reproduce such a story from
start to finish as well as he can tell fairy tales and folk stories.
The fairy tale can be remembered because there is sequence of
time as well as of cause and effect in it. Things proceed in an
orderly way. There is a firstly, a secondly, a thirdly; and these
steps must follow in the correct order, else the story is ruined.

Is it possible to organize nature-study facts in such a way that
there is sequence and necessary order? The writer ventures to
answer this question in the affirmative.

The following scheme is based on the well-known fact that
children are concerned chiefly with the function or use of an
object and care little about parts and qualities as such. The
latter items are, therefore, considered only in so far as they relate
to the mode of living of the animal or plant studied. The plan
provides a causal series for nature-study similar to that which we
now have in geography in the 5 B and higher grades. The facts
are to be presented in story form, and the child is not required to
be conscious of the causal series. But if the facts are presented
in the manner proposed, they are scientific facts and will not
have to be unlearned at a later stage of the child's development.
The human relation, which should also be emphasized, is always
an incident of the mode of living of a plant or animal. For
instance, the silk-worm, in the course of his life-history, spins
a cocoon, which happens to have great commercial value. The
potato-bug likes the leaves of the potato plant for food, hence, in
a single vear the insect destroyed potatoes valued at $73,000,000
in the State of Illinois alone. When the child recites, he should
give the facts in story form, and should group all items under the
two heads, care of self and care of young. An animal or plant
has two things to do in this world, and only two — he must make a

I 7 o THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W [3 : 6- sept., .9o7

living for himself and bring up a family. The perpetuation of
the species seems to be, from the point of view of life, the supreme
end of existence for these humble brethren of the field and forest.
The female of many insects, for instance, lives just long enough
to lav her eggs, and then perishes. It is therefore proposed to
adapt the following outline to each animal or plant studied in the
grades of the first five vears :

&

I. General Formula* — The Business of Animals and Plants.

i. To Care for Themselves. (a)Food: finding, securing, transforming.
(b) Self-protection, (c) Adjustment to physical surroundings. 2. To
Care for Offspring.

II. Business of a Cat — Adaptation of the General Formula.

1. Care of Self, (a) Food: (1) Information: feelers, eyes, ears,
etc. (2) What: meat, mice, etc. (3) How it laps milk: how it catches
mice. (4) Cleanliness, etc.; how it cleans itself; dislike of water on its
body. (5) Work: day or night? (6) Food habits: friend or foe of
man? (b) Self Protection: (1) Ememies: how it escapes; runs, climbs a
tree, etc. (2) How it fights: claws, (c) Adjustment to Physical Sur-
roundings: (1) Lives on ground. (2) Fitted: run, jump, very quick;
soft footsteps; claws; sharp teeth. (3) Protected against cold and heat ;
sheds fur in spring ; heavy coat in winter.

2. Care of Kit/ens. (a) How fed. (b) Provision for safety: carries
away and hides them, (c) Taught by parents? (d) How long for babies
to grown])? (c) How long does it live? (1.) Treatment of cat at home;
on street ; kindness; playmate; pet.

III. Business of the Burdock.

1. Care of Self. (a) Food: from air, hence leaves, from earth, hence
roots. (1) No organs of locomotion; hence cannot go after food. (2)
No sense organs, since no use to get information at distance. (3) Friend
or foe? Leaves used. as cooling application in swellings; roots and seeds
in blood and skin diseases. (b) Self Protection: (1) Competitors for
favorable position: manured soil, (c) Adjustment to Physical Surround-
ings. (1) Long stem to avoid shading, etc.

2. Care of Offspring, (a) Propagation: burs which hold tenaciously
to dress of man or fleece of animal, (b) Storage of food in seed for baby
plant.

*Michael F. Guyer, University of Cincinnati, in Pedagogical Seminary,
Vol. XII, p. 87.

taylor] ORGANIZATION FOR NATURE-STUDY 171

IV. Business of the English Sparrow.

1. Care of Self . (a) Food: (1) Information: very sharp eyes, able to
see seeds, insects, etc., at long distance. (2) What: grain — wheat, oats,
rye. rice, buckwheat, etc.; fruit — grapes, cherries, plums, apples, pears,
peaches; garden vegetables — peas, corn, lettuce, cabbage. Will not eat
insects, if he can get grain, etc. (3) How it flies from place to place in
search of food, hops; runs; bathes; rolls in dust. (4) Work: dav or
night5 (5) Food habits: foe of man; eats farmer's grain, fruits, etc.,
and does not eat the caterpillars that destroy his trees.

(b) Self-Protection: (1) Enemies: how it escapes — by flying. (2)
How it fights: sharp bill and sharp claws. Drives out native birds like
robin and wren. While parents of baby robins or wrens are out looking
for food, the sparrows will go to the boxes and pull out the young feather-
less birds and kill them.

(c) Adjustment to Physical Surroundings: (1) Found all over this
country; protected by feathers against cold; stays all winter.

2. Care of Baby Birds: (a) Its home : rough and loosely made of straws,
sticks, etc. (b) Lays 4 to 7 eggs. (Size and color.) (c) Hatched in 12
or 13 days, (d) From 4 to 6 broods in a season, from January to Sep-
tember. (V) Thus in Xew York a single pair may rear from 20 to 30
young in one season.

Note. — The introduction of this pest is credited to Hon. Xicolas Pike
and others, directors of the Brooklyn Institute, who imported eight pairs
in 1850. It was introduced into many States by legislative enactment
under the mistaken notion that it is an insectivorous bird and thus a
friend of man. It is now known to be one of his worst enemies, inasmuch
as it destroys his fruits and grains and drives out native birds that are a
benefit to man. The question, therefore, arises, What shall we say about
the sparrow to little children on the score of his relation to man? We
want to teach kindness to animals; but here is an enemy. How far
shall we dwell on this feature and thus arouse the child's feelings against
the creature?

V. Business of the House Flv.

1. Care of Self, (a) Food: (1) Information: wonderful eyes; sense
of smell. (2) What: dirty foods, various kinds of filth; in the house it
eats sugar, milk, etc. (3) How it eats: proboscis, something like a tongue
with which it laps up food. (4) Work: day or night ? (5) Food habits:
friend or foe of man ? We are obliged to screen our doors and windows
to keep it out. Specks everything, crawls over our food, falls into our
milk and cream, etc.; eats and breeds in filth, and thus carries disease.

(b) Self- Protection : (1) Enemies: how it escapes. (2) Does it fight?
(3) Has it a home ? (4) Does it lead a solitary life, or is it in a community ?

(c) Adjustment to Physical Surroundings: (1) Lives on ground; can
walk on side of wall or ceiling with its six legs; how' (2) Where does it
go in winter? 2. Care of Young, (a) Lays its eggs in manure or door-
door-yard filth, (b) Lays as many as 100 at a time, (c) The eggs hatch

1 7 2 THE NA TU RE- STUD Y RE VIE W [3 . 6-sept. , t9o7

in a day — a larva or maggot. (d) Larva grows from 5 to 7 days; then
pupa (cocoon), (e) Pupa from 5 to 7 days; then fly. (/) Thus in
from 10 to 14 days a generation of flies is born; and we see how from a
few in spring we have swarms in summer, (g) Xo one knows how
long a fly lives; probably a month or six weeks.

The above list of adaptations includes a mammal, a bird, an insect, and
a plant. These illustrations are sufficient to show that the general
formula has universal validity.

Further adaptations of the formula to the various animals and plants
of the different grades are earnestly solicited from teachers and principals.

Relation of the Proposed Plan to Observation

It must not be inferred from the method here described that
objective teaching is to be abolished. In the lowest grades, only
living things are to be studied, and as far as possible objects that
can be brought into the room.

This is obviously impossible in the case of some animals, as for
example, the horse and the cow. Here the model or picture must
be employed.

If the object can be brought into class, models and pictures
may be used after the reality has been studied. So also books
should be introduced after the thing, to supplement the informa-
tion obtained at first hand.

As many as possible of the facts it is proposed to teach should
be observed by the child, under the direction of the teacher.
Some information must be taken on the word of another; such,
for instance, as the number of eggs a bird or fly lays and the num-
ber of days it takes to hatch them. If the instruction is limited
to facts that children themselves can observe, it is necessarily
incomplete, unsystematic, and largely worthless. The mere
presence of the reality is no guarantee that they learn anything
worth knowing.

Professor Bailey has said somewhere, in effect, that nature-
study is seeing what we look at and making proper inferences
about what we see.- His own pamphlet on "Four Apple Twigs"
is an illustration of his definition. The untrained eye sees in
those twigs nothing but dead branches. But he reads in the buds
and scars a wonderful story of the life and work of the tree.
We must not expect children to see as much as Professor Bailey
sees, or as the teacher sees, or even as the adult layman sees. The
mind sees with what it knows, and children know so little. There-
fore, in any case, observation must be supplemented by the more

taylok] ORGANIZATION FOR NATURE-STUDY 173

enlightened seeing of the teacher. Even in high schools and
colleges, students receive minute directions as to what to observe
and are assisted by suggestive hints to make proper inferences.

The facts, then, may be gained by observation, suggestion, or
direct telling. What is proposed here is that in whatever manner
thev are acquired, they shall be organized into a consistent body
and put into a form suitable for ready expression. The story is to
gather up what has been learned, and is to put it into compact
and attractive form for storage and transmission. The pupil
must not only know but must be able to tell what he knows ; and
it is almost safe to take the position that what he cannot express
he does not know. There are, of course, subjects in which this
is not true. Music, literature, art of any kind, noble conduct,
religious appeal, may influence a child emotionally and give him
an artistic or ethical bias which, though these things constitute
real education, he cannot express. But information is different.
This is not knowledge unless he can formulate and utter it.

In conclusion, the author begs to request that all suggestions,
stories, results of experiments, etc., be addressed to Joseph S.
Taylor, P. S., 4, 173d Street and Third Avenue, Bronx, New York.

[Editor's Note. This article is also published for local use in School
Work, New York City, which also gives several specimen stories.]

NATURE-STUDY AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE

BY GEO. P. SINGER
State Normal School, Lock Haven, Pa.

[Editor's Note. — The following is an abstract of an address by
Professor Singer before the Pennsylvania State Educational Association.
More of the address is published in Pain. School Journal.]

"Now what I want is facts. Teach these boys and girls
nothing but facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing
else and root out everything else. You can only form the
minds of reasoning animals upon facts. Nothing else will ever
be of any service to them. This is the principle upon which I
bring up my own children and this is the principle upon which I
bring up these children. Stick to facts, sir." So Dickens, the
master of pedagogy, introduces Thomas Gradgrind, " A man of
realities, a man of facts and calculations," the chief personage in
"Hard Times," which was written as Dickens' earnest protest
against the science then taught in English schools.

I fear the story of Sissy Jupe, the joeky's daughter, and her
experiences in Gradgrind's school has far too many parallels in
our own schools today where the nature-study period is too often
used for instruction in elemental y science which the teacher has
read from a so-called nature-study book and which she demands
to be reproduced in an oral or written lesson.

How shocking that Sissy could not form a definition for a
horse when the master called upon her the first day she wras a
pupil in the school! What appalling ignorance! And how
scientific the answer of Bitzer, the bright boy: "Quadruped,
graminivorous, forty teeth, namely: twenty-four grinders, four
eve-teeth and twelve incisors, etc., etc. Hoofs hard but requir-
ing to be shod with iron; age known by marks in the teeth."
Sissv Jupe not know what a horse is? Why she knew everything
about their habits and dispositions; loved them dearh . as they
had been her daily companions for years. Well might Grad-
grind, Bitzer and M'Choakumchild sit at her feet and be instruc-
ted by her on this subject from the standpoint of nature-study,
than to hold her up as an ignoramus in the facts of natural science.

[Here Professor Singer emoted and discussed paragraphs by

S1NGKK] NATURE-STUDY AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE 175

Hodge, Fairbanks, Stevens, and Bigelow in The Review, Vol. I,
No. 1, Jan., 1905.]

The fact that physics and chemistry are not generally drawn
upon for materials for nature-study work, while botany and
zoologv are exhausted almost to the condition of a vacuum by
some of the text-books, is my apology for indicating a few practi-
cal lessons which I hope may be suggestive and illustrative of
my contention that nature-study is most closely related even to
phvsics and chemistry, the generally considered formal sciences.
Is it not a fact that the home environment of every child abounds
in phvsical and chemical facts which will appeal to his interest
and curiosity equally at least with any facts he may note con-
cerning plants and animals? The motion of the mercury in a
thermometer brought from the winter air into the warm room;
the motion of the water when the spigot is opened or when the
pump handle is lowered ; the movement of the kite or toy balloon
are just as interesting to the child, if not more so, than the hop-
ping of the toad, waddling of the duck, or snapping of the jewel-
weed pod. The fact that "things in motion sooner catch the eye
than that which does not stir" is as strong an argument for physi-
cal and chemical nature-study as for biological nature-study, as
is pointed out in a paper read by Professor Hallock before the
New York Science Teachers' Association in 1904. (Bull. 28, Oct.
1905, X. Y. State Ed. Dept.)

In a class in science some y^ears since, I was asked this question
while we were discussing center of gravity^: "Can you stand an
egg on end?" Instantly my class was on the qui vive. My
reply was that I could not and that I thought no one could unless
they playTed the trick of Columbus. Imagine my surprise when
the next recitation the students brought half a dozen eggs to my
class-room and stood them on end on a pane of glass which was on
my lecture table. VeruV, to see is to believe. This I deem a
valuable experiment in that it will catch the interest of every boy
and girl in the school and very few will be content to give up
until they too can balance the egg — an excellent education to the
muscular sense, nerve control and patience. The cigarette
smoker in the school can hardly succeed, which is a practical
lesson in hyrgiene that will not be soon forgotten.

It is not the purpose in the nature-studyr relation of this scien-
tific fact to go into the details of center of gravity, unstable

176 THE NA TUKE-STUD Y RE VIE IV [3 : 6- sept., .907

equilibrium or the laws of equilibrium. The visible fact that an
egg will stand on end, and that, too, on the smaller end, and
that the boy or girl can make it stand, is a strong appeal to the
interest of the child and gives opportunity for the earnest teacher
to draw out a good many principles as to correct habits of walk-
ing and standing. But first learn to balance the egg before you
teach this lesson.

A young lady -called my attention to an interesting modifica-
tion of the Cartesian diver experiment of the text-books. A
homeopathic vial half filled with water so that it floats when
inverted in water is put into a pint flask filled with water and the
flask tightly corked. The slightest pressure on the sides of the
flask causes the vial to sink to the bottom, and it will come to the
top or remain at the bottom or half way up, as the pressure is
varied. I have never known this to fail to interest a class, and
the important suggested lesson is that every boy and girl in the
class will float in the water just as truly as the vial; that they
cannot drown unless water gets into the lungs and makes them
sink, therefore, if accidentally thrown into the water, teach them
to lie on the back and not to breathe unless the nose is in the air,
and the mouth is kept shut, for so they cannot sink. How
much more valuable this lesson than any that can be taught
about plants or animals ?

Make children absolutely sure that they are floating bodies
naturally and how quickly they will learn to swim. This experi-
ment suggests also the swimming of fishes, the principle of the
balloon, the fact that skim milk is heavier than new milk, in fact
so many interesting things that the teacher can use it for a series
of lessons, all valuable in the extreme in the after-life of the
pupils.

A senior in our model school took a dozen large needles, a spool
of thread and a small magnet to her class-room, had the pupils
magnetize the needles by drawing them eye to point over the
south pole of the magnet and suspend them in different parts of
the room. Nearly every child perceived that the needles pointed
in one direction, and the word north became a reality in his
vocabulary. The teacher next took a small compass and told
them of how Columbus used the knowledge they had gained by
their needles to guide him in his voyage across the ocean when he
discovered America.

singer] NATURE-STUDY AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE 1 77

It is needless to say there were ten interested pupils in that
class, and when thev were allowed to take the apparatus they
had made home and asked to locate the north from their own yard
their cup of joy was more than filled. Science, yes, but nature-
studv emphatically of the true kind. Better that one lesson than
a dozen of the pouring-in kind. The effect of catching the
interest of that class lasted during the term and insured the
teacher's success with a class which before that had proven rather
refractory. One boy discovered that his needle would pick up
bits of iron and steel, another that he could magnetize a second
needle from his own needle. A third boy saw a surveyor laying
down the line for a granolithic pavement about his home and
recognized the needle in the transit. A fourth saw a lumberman
who wore a small compass suspended to his watch fob. A fifth
was interested in the gun-metal case worn by an electrician to
protect his watch from the magnetism of the dynamos. So the
wide-awake young Americans came in touch with much valuable
information about things magnetic and electrical as well as the
geographical lesson which was primarily intended.

Take a Florence flask with rubber cork through which passes a
glass tube half-way to the bottom. Heat a teaspoonful of
ammonia water in the flask and connect the glass tube with a pail
of water by means of rubber tubing, when as if by magic in the
eves of the children, the water runs from the pail up into the
bottle as high as they can hold it and plays in a fountain until
the bottle is nearly filled. The idea of a vacuum and the principle
of "suction" will suggest to the active minds the pump-siphon,
sipping of soda-water through a straw, and many of the interest-
ing facts of pneumatics and hydrostatics.

Chemistry abounds with experiments many of which are
entirely free from danger and intensely interesting to children.
For example : A solution of sugar made by the children, a thread
suspended in it and the watching of the growth of the crystals of
rock candy; the same experiment performed with alum or blue-
stone. A doll dressed with clothes dipped in cobalt solution,
serves as a hygrometer — pink before a storm, blue in dry weather
—and will make the children observant of other weather signs
more related to their every-day life.

The chemical tablets which will enable the child to grow plants
in the most unique positions — suspended by a cord in mid-air, in

1 78 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W [3 : 6-sept., ,907

a sponge or luffa gourd, in a glass of sand or coal, cannot but be
helpful aids to the school-garden work and work in elementary
agriculture so often combined with nature-study work.

I feel very strongly that much of the most valuable material
for nature-study lies in the realm of physical science, and that
phvsics and chemistry abound in subject-matter which is often
much more available and at smaller cost than the materials so
frequently called for along the line of botany and zoology which
have filled the nature-study manuals.

My point is that the true nature-study idea is for the teacher to
use in the fullest way all science so long as the experiments and
apparatus will awaken the interest of the child in the world
around him. I believe that the science curriculum in the normal
schools embracing as it does botany, zoology, geology, chem-
istry and phvsics, for the most part taught from the view of
interest, will solve in the next decade the relation of nature-study
to natural science. The trained teachers who graduate each year
from these schools will go to the elementary schools prepared
to do original work in the nature-study period and will not
be tied down to the absurdities too often found in nature-study
outlines, supplied to the schools by enterprising publishers.

I have been astonished at the reaction against science, as it has
been taught in our elementary and high schools for a term of
years, as is shown by the new crop of text-books in chemistry,
physics, botany and zoology. Subject-matter, illustrations,
press-work and binding all appeal to nature-study methods of
interest.

Now I confess that, personally, it went against the grain for me
to accept the fact that my strictly scientific training, my techni-
cal physics, chemistry and botany would have to be somewhat
discounted in my classroom if I wished to do what was really best
for my pupils; but I am now thoroughly converted to the idea
that if I get my pupils interested in these subjects in the spirit of
nature-study they will teach much better in the elementary
schools than if I harass them with the — to most pupils — abso-
lutely detestable laws of physics, chemical formulas and botanical
definitions. There is so much in these subjects of intense interest
that I do not think it right to make too much of the principles
which, though of great value to the professional physicist, chemist
and botanist, have no real value to the average teacher or pupil.

singer] NATURE-STUDY AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE 179

Not that I advocate following the lines of least resistance in edu-
cation, but I want, in this paper, to enter protest against the mass
of science contained in the average text-book intended for use in
secondary and high schools. I believe them to be beyond the
comprehension and capacity of the pupils who use them in the
time given to these subjects in an over-crowded curriculum.

In conclusion, fellow teachers, let me appeal to you to use
whatever in physics, chemistry or other sciences will attract the
interest of the children and make them love nature, and to dis-
card all that part of science which, though of value to the few
especially engaged in technical or theoretical work, is distasteful
to and beyond the ken of the majority of the pupils. Remem-
ber that only that is of vital interest to the child which comes into
the sphere of his experience, and is in reality part of his environ-
ment. Too often "we study nature from books and when we go
where she is we cannot rind her," but brighter days are dawning
and much depends upon you, enthusiastic teachers, to solve this
problem. The measure of your success will be the number of
pupils you can inoculate with a love for nature, which will often
lead to a real love for science, but there must be this sequence,
nature-study winning the attention of the children in the lower
grades, homeopathic doses of science in increasing cmantities
until the nature-study of the elementary schools blends into
science in the last years of the high school. I want, in closing, to
second the protest of Professor J. V. Crone, "against that effort
made in response to an awakened interest in nature in our public
schools to lay the foundations of science there under the name and
at the expense of nature-studv. True nature-study must say to
science, 'Thy ways are not my ways, nor my thoughts thy
thoughts.' Science is for the few; nature-studv for all. They
have nothing in common. They should not conflict, but let them
not be confused."

SOME TEXT-BOOKS FOR SECONDARY-SCHOOL
AGRICULTURE

BY C. H. ROBISON

Fellow in Teachers College, Columbia University
A few years ago a demand arose in many schools for certain instruction,
which for convenience we now call "elementary agriculture." In many
other quarters a demand arose for "agriculture" without anyone having a
very clear notion of what the word meant. Out of the confusion has come
two types of text-books representing two widely different viewpoints, with
a comparativelv recent attempt to produce something combining the good
features of each. In one of these types of books abstract principles claim
most attention; the other is purely informational or encyclopedic.

A majority of the books are intended for the elementary schools, since it
seems to have been thought that the typically rural schools, must be altogether
elementary ones. The "common schools" are the ones that stood in the
eyes of lawmakers who have endeavored to settle the question for the educa-
tion of the rural population. But two facts not heretofore given much recogni-
tion are coming into prominence: One is that in an intelligent farming com-
munity a large clientage helps to support the village high schools, whose
courses have very little, outside of a little English, some history, and a small
amount of "review arithmetic," to offer which is at all suited to the commun-
ity's needs. Another fact, strangely overlooked, is that we cannot success-
fully modify a curriculum, even by legislative enactment, by the cart-before-
the-horse method of pushing a new study into the course, until the teachers
have been prepared to handle it. Public opinion need not be considered
here, as it is much ahead of the teachers' preparation, in the teaching of agri-
culture at least. That legislation is wise which recognizes itself as represent-
ing a public opinion in advance of the teachers' preparation, and which pro-
vides adequate means for affording the teachers the necessary relief.

A recognition of this state of affairs has given us the three books more
suitable than the others for high and normal schools, which are the particular
subjects of this review.

Professor L. H. Bailey, was the first prominent exponent of the study of
agriculture below the college, and the foremost exponent of one type of
elementarv agriculture in particular. His formulation of his own ideal has
been more precise than has been that of any one else; and his book
("Principles of Agriculture") is a consistent embodiment of that ideal.

robison]

TEXT-BOOKS FOR AGRICULTURE 181

His preface is the best possible exposition of his conception of the
question; and one could do little better, if time permitted^ than to quote it
in its entiretv. In starting he savs: "The greatest difficulty in teaching
agriculture is to tell what agriculture is. To the scientist, agriculture has
been largely an application of the teachings of chemistry; to the stockman,
it is chiefly the raising of animals; to the horticulturist, it mav be fruit
growing, flower growing, or nursery business; and everyone, since the
establishment ot the agricultural colleges and experiment stations, is certain
that it is a science. The fact is, however, that agriculture is pursued
primarily for the gaining of a livelihood, not for the extension of knowledge:
It is, therefore, a business, not a science." He emphasizes the fact that in
farming "business method is the master, and the teachings of science are the
helpmates," though teacher and farmer are apt not to distinguish "between
the fundamental and the incidental applications of science, or between
principles and facts." They are apt to forget to teach "how to overcome
mere obstacles before explaining why the obstacles are obstacles." "How
to kill weeds is a mere incident; the great fact is that good farmers are not
troubled with weeds. Rather than to know kinds of weeds, the farmer
should know how to manage his land. How to know weeds and how to
kill them is what he calls practical knowledge, but standing alone, it is really
the most unpractical kind of knowledge, for it does not tell him how to pre-
vent their recurrence year after year. The learner is apt to begin at the
wrong end of his problem." "The farmer too often wants to sew on the
buttons before he cuts the cloth." The purpose of agricultural education,
according to Professor Bailev, "is to improve the farmer, not the farm."
The view often taken is that it is the function of the rural schools to teach
the trade. However right and proper it is to establish special schools in
counties, or congressional districts, as is being done to teach farming, I think
Professor Bailey is right in combatting this idea as applied to the public schools
where all must go, with little regard to the age or experience of the pupil.
To quote again from his preface: "Business cannot be taught from a book
like this, but some of the laws of science as applied to farm management can
be taught, and it is convenient to speak of those as the principles of agri-
culture." The author would seem to imply here that he conceives of the
student's problem to be one of understanding in a purelv intellectual wav,
and not bv doing. His treatment of the subject seems to corroborate this
impression, as all of the illustrative material is evidently for demonstration
alone. He says "a book like this should be used only by persons who know
how to observe. The starting point in the teaching of agriculture is
nature-study." The book breaks down at this very point. It teaches prin-

1 8 2 THE XA Tl 'RE-STUD Y RE I 'IE IV r3 . 6-*ept., ,9o7

ciples and provides little opportunity for their application. It is much better
for one with a large apperceptive mass — that is, for the farmer rather than
for the farmer's child, and for one who wishes to organize on a scientific
basis knowledge he already has and who wishes to provide scientific hooks
upon which to hang new knowledge where it will be handy. The fault,
I should say, is not so much with the book, which is admirable in many
wavs, as in the uses to which it has been put. It has been made a substitute
for nature-studv against the advice of its editor. It has been literally thrown
at children who did not "know how to observe." It has been used in a
wild attempt to improve at once the farmer's child and the farm, but not the
farmer for whom it was primarily written. These errors are largely
excusable on the ground that for a long time no other material was available,
and it had to function as a "dual purpose" book, to borrow a stockman's
phrase.

The following characteristics are mentioned for sake of comparison with
those of the two newer books noticed later. The book is well balanced and
shows little unevenness of treatment. The entire contribution of chemistry
to the topic of soil is more difficult than the rest of the book, but shows little
internal inconsistency. In class work the book lends itself too easily to a
dead memory method. Where agriculture has been made mandatory, that is
the wav the book has been often taught, even down in the eighth grade, and
with little use of the illustrative material furnished in the chapter notes.
This, bv the way, is parti v of the nature-study type that is considered to be
the prerequisite.

Some of the purelv elementarv texts go to the opposite extreme. Their
tables of contents are scarcely more than lists of crops and breeds. Such a
" Ready Reference for Little Farmers," stuffed with facts but completely
devoid of thought content, is as well calculated to starve the mental life of
the child as the shorter catechism.

Jackson and Daugherty's "Agriculture through Laboratory and School-
Garden" is fundamentally different from Bailey's '; Principles" in many
respects. (i) It provides for much doing; it calls for much practice of the
principles enunciated and for use of the knowledge given, and also for con-
siderable inductive work. On the other hand, :he spirit of the text of
"Principles of Agriculture," by Bailey, is purely deductive. (2) much
more of the spirit of the high-school sciences as such is evident. The first
two chapters are a condensed physical geography, dealing with solar energy,
the ocean, and with all the weathering agents, even to the glaciers. This
forms the setting for the next two chapters dealing with soil and its relation to
the plant. Similarly Chapters IX, X, and XI make up a concentrated com-

kobison] TEX T- BOOK'S FOR A GRICUL TURK 1 8 3

pend, or possiblv I should say, a superficial bird's-eve-view of botanv as far
as concerns seed plants, and very properly is largely given up (over half of
the 90 pages) to the practical application of botanical principles to farm and
horticu.tural practice.

There is so much here that is built upon the old time-recognized prin-
ciples of the science treated in standard text-books that one wonders that the
writers of these have failed to realize the social possibilities of their subject.
But so long as books are written by the average college professors or for
pupils in large cities with little of the facilities for actual practice that a village
affords, so long must we expect the books and teachers to direct that work
be done within the four walls of a building. This brings us to the third
point (3 ) that this book rather differs from the other book cited in that it has
a method of treatment, or classification of data and principles, that does not
cause one to forget that this thing we call scientific agriculture has, after all,
drawn from manv other sciences. This treatment at once brings out clearlv
how very differently the same subject-matter may be handled when viewed
as agriculture, and when studied as botanv, or any other science. A some-
what derailed study of Chapters IX, X, and XI, will illustrate this.

Chapter IX, "Propagation of Plants," deals with: (1 ) Seed planting, testing,
vitality, harvesting, and preservation, — what might be called applied plant
economics. (2) Seed germination, — pure plant phvsiology, as commonly
understood. (3) Variation, treating of food supply and climatic environ-
ment,— two phases of what commonly comes under plant ecology; sexual
reproduction, which would seem to imply a treatment of plant structure
which is absent; and a somewhat philosophical treatment of fixation of
variations by selection. The above three topics are grouped in a division
"Propagation from Seeds." (4) "Propagation from Buds," ranking as
one of the two main divisions of the chapter, has less of the structural treat-
ment than we might expect; it has a great deal that is treated in good
secondary botanies as physiological work, but it makes the social application
which few of them do. Were the structural treatment strengthened a little,
the combination would be verv good; but as it stands the advance in broad
conception of what botany may do is a good one.

In Chapter X, "Improvement of Plants," we have some more work on
seeds that writers of standard text-books of botany would probably say
should have come with the first part of the previous chapter. This work is
still of a functional sort, namely selection, which seems to me to give insuffi-
cient fact basis. Later in the chapter, we have a further treatment of the
subject of varieties, the originating of new ones that is a continuation of one
phase of the preceding chapter. This goes into cross fertilization, which

184 THE NA TURE-STUD V RE FIE IV l3 . 6-Sept. , .9o7

involves a more complete study of the flower structure for a mastery of the
idea than the book provides for. Work of this sort needs definite help from
the text, and can hardly be given satisfactorily as supplementary work.

Chapter XI, "Pruning of Plants" sounds more like nursery business than
it is, for the first part of the chapter is rich in theory and purpose, from
an educative point of view. It also has some structural treatment of the
stem that might, with advantage, have been more organically united with part
of Chapter IX than it has been. The most of this chapter is along the
applied line and has considerable theory.

The purpose in giving a detailed account of these three chapters is to
furnish a concrete example of a new tendency that may become a dominant
one in secondarv-school science. Where we would formerly have made a
vertical classification into chapters dealing with the seed, its structure and
physiology, with the flower and its functions, with the stem, its buds,
internal structure, and manner of working, with the abstract subject o
variation illustrated bv Darwinian or Burbankian examples; these authors
have cut the subject-matter in horizontal section, respectively, propagation of
plants, improvement of plants, and care of plants.

The book shows some faults on the pedagogical side, especially relating to
the organization of details: (1) A lack of balance in many places, omitting
or barely mentioning some things that might seem to many to be essential, and
amplifying other things that hardly seem worth while. (2 ) An unevenness
of treatment in which difficult and easy facts are put on the same plane, or
on wrong planes, so far as treatment is concerned. This often results from
(3) lack of proper sequence, by which a term is sometimes made use of in a
vital wav, without being sufficiently discussed until a chapter or two later.

"First Book of Farming." by C. L. Goodrich, is devoted exclusively to
Soil, and Soil Crops in the abstract, with little on particular kinds of crops.
"The object in presenting the book to the general public is the hope that it
may be of assistance to farmers, students and teachers, in their search for the
fundamental truths and principles," which are presented "in the order of
their importance, beginning with the most important." The last part of
this extract from the preface relates to the importance from the standpoint of
the agriculturist, and not from that of the scientist. While the author does
not claim to have written the book for use as a text, it has so much merit,
and will prove so helpful to inexperienced teachers, that it may well be con-
sidered in this connection. It is so divided that the underlying scientific facts
and principles are gathered together into Part I, while the actual farming
operations are deferred to Part II. Its chapter headings and arrangement of
subject-matter are more conventional than is the case with Jackson and

ROBISI IN I

TEXT-BOOKS FOR AGRICULTURE 185

Daughertv's book. The fact that horticulture is not noticed accounts for
grafting and pruning getting less than half a page, while insects are hardly
touched upon. Soil temperature, seed planting, the various operations of
cultivation, and the leaf are treated more fully than in Jackson and Daugherty's
book. It has excellent experiments, which, unfortunately for class use, have
no marginal or topical indication of their aim or contents, being merely
labelled "experiment" and not even numbered.

The experiments are evenly graded, and seem to be arranged in good
sequence, and do not explain things needed in preceding chapters. For text
purposes the book has another poor feature, in addition to that mentioned:
The text carefully explains how to carry on the experiment, and gives the
experimenter plenty to do in preparing it. But it leaves him with nothing to
do in drawing his conclusions. It starts out in a perfectly inductive way,
and then makes the induction tor the student, in a manner that sounds like
Samuel Wiggles worth's "Book of Doom," so much used by New England
Puritan children, which after telling an austere anecdote of an impossible
child, adds "which is to teach us." One might go through Goodrich's
book, never make an experiment, and still not have twinges of conscience.
For are not the results right here on the printed page before him? The book
is an excellent one for a grade teacher who is unfamiliar with the subject or
doubtful how to map out the work. If she is not sufficiently up-to-date to
believe in allowing the pupils to contribute to the problem, she can dictate or
copy the directions verbatim, and can be perfectly sure of the moral lesson to
be drawn therefrom. The only trouble is that once in a great while the
author does not tell just exactly what is to happen during the experiment, and
therefore, the voung teacher might not see, in case the experiment failed to
do just what it should, how ill-fitting said moral might happen to be.

The book should not be in the hands of one you wish to inspire with an
appreciation of the method of induction reasoning and verification by
experimentation. It may safely be used by one who already has the
enthusiasm and the wit to see an incongruity between an experiment gone
wrong and the predicted result. The Goodrich book may be said, in many
ways, to stand between that of Jackson and Daugherty and Bailey's
"Principles."

NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE NOTES

Burbank's Work. Teachers everywhere will doubtless be interested in
Professor De Vries's verdict in regard to Luther Burbank's work, as set forth
in a highly interesting and non-technical article in the March Century
Magazine. The author points out that much of Burbank's work is a repeti-
tion of things already satisfactorily accomplished in Europe. He deplores
Burbank's lack of theoretical knowledge, and takes occasion to point out that
the biological training of the future must include not merely the theoretical
side but also the practical side. The scientist engaged upon the problem of
heredity is able to make much better progress when he is acquainted with
the methods of practical breeders. Perhaps the most interesting point
developed in De Vries's discussion is that the hundreds of sports which Bur-
bank has on his place are not, so far as the known facts show, true mutants,
and for this reason De Vries learned practically nothing that would assist him
in his investigations into the underlying causes of mutation. It has been
stated in numerous magazine articles that Burbank could produce a mutant
at will. De Vries points out that the production of new, reallv new, pro-
gressive or retrogressive characters is true mutation, and that these have been
exceedingly rare in Burbank's work. Striking new combinations in crosses,
bud-sports, and the evolution of some scarcely visible mark into one of com-
mercial value Burbank regards as important as the characters referred to
above. This shows a lack of the scientific differentiation so necessary in
work which is to be of any permanent theoretical value. The Carnegie
Institution is now endeavoring to supply this lack bv detailing one of its
experts to establish a theoretical basis for Burbank's work, especially by
instituting a statistical inquiry into the history of all his most interesting hybrid
races. Bv this means it may be possible to develop out of Burbank's rich
experience something that will be of illuminating scientific value.

C. A. M.

Boys' Gardens. An organization has been formed in Hamilton, Ohio,
to be known as the "Bovs Agricultural Club." Hamilton is a city of about
25,000, and is distinctly a factory town. The object of the proposed
organization is to cultivate vacant lots during the summer, thus providing
useful occupation for many otherwise idle boys.

Cultivation of Rubber in Ceylon. Five years ago there were only
2500 acres devoted to rubber in Cevlon, and today there are 104,000 acres.
The Hevea brasiliensis, which produces the well-known Para rubber, is

NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE .VOTES 187

most extensively planted. There are great possibilities of rubber for pave-
ments for roadways The rubber pavement, under the archwav leading to
Euston Station in London was laid down in 1881 and in 1902 was found to
have worn down to 5 g inch in the thinnest places. This pavement cost less
than three times as much as wood or asphalt; but the life of wood or asphalt
is 4 years, while the life of the rubber is 20 years. [From the India Rubber
World.']

J. B.

Serpents of Pennsylvania. A large pamphlet with this title has been
prepared bv Professor H. A. Surface, State Zoologist, and published bv the
Pennsylvania State Department of Agriculture. It fullv treats structure,
classification, life-historv and economic relations of all species found in the
State.

Cedar Wood for Lead Pencils. The lead pencil is one of the most
common articles in everyday use, and nearly 320,000,000 pencils are
manufactured in this country every year. To manufacture these millions of
pencils there are required I 10,000 tons, or 7,300,000 cubic feet, of wood,
so that each dav in the vear 300 tons, or 20,000 cubic feet, of wood are
used for pencils. Since practically all of the wood is red cedar, and since the
pencil industry is steadily growing, the supply of red cedar is greatly depleted;
vet no substitute has been found for it. Leaving out of consideration the
imported pencils, the average educated American over 10 years of age uses
six pencils of home manufacture each year. Ten years ago he used less than
five.

Red cedar has a soft, straight grain, and when grown under best conditions
is very free from defects. Because of its peculiar qualities no equally good
substitute for it has ever been found, and it is doubtful if any other wood-
using industry is so dependent upon a single species as the pencil industry is
dependent upon red cedar. In fact, red cedar suitable for pencil manufacture
is the only wood the price of which is always quoted by the pound.

Strange as it may seem, no steps have heretofore been taken to provide for
a future supplv of red cedar. This has been largely due to a lack of informa-
tion on the rate of growth and the habits of the tree, and to the widespread
belief that second-growth red cedar never reaches merchantable size.

In accordance with its policy toward the conservation and economic use
of commercial woods, the Forest Service has made a careful study of red
cedar and has come to the conclusion that it can profitably be grown in
regions of its development. Several changes are recommended in present
forest management in order to secure the desired growth. In the southern

1 88 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3:6-seft., i9o7

forests the cedar will have to be given a better chance instead of being con-
sidered, as now, a negligible quantity in its younger stages, and many of the
forest-grown trees which are now cut for fence posts can profitably be left to
attain their full development and thus become available for pencil wood.
[Press Bulletin, Forest Service.^

Changing Names Of Animals. With reference to the tendency to
substitute older for well-known scientific names of certain plants and animals,
Professor Kingsley, of Tuft's College, writes in Science the following inter-
esting sentences : " Names of animals and plants are but means for easv
reference ; nomenclature is not the end and object of all biological science.
* * The safest plan for the morphologist or the ecologist is to

stick to the well-accepted, time- honored names and to utterly ignore the
vagaries of the nominalist."

Timber Supply. Every person in the United States is using over six
times as much wood as he would use if he were in Europe. The country
as a whole consumes every vear between three and tour times more wood
than all of the forests of the United States grow in the meantime. The
average acre of forest lavs up a store of only 10 cubic feet annually, where-
as it ought to be laving up at least 30 cubic feet in order to furnish the products
taken out of it. Since 1880 more than 700 billion feet of timber have been
cut for lumber alone These are some of the remarkable statements made
in Circular 97 of the Forest Service. A study of the circular must lead
directlv to the conclusion that the rate at which forests products in the United
States have been and are being consumed is far too lavish, and that only one
result can follow unless steps are promptlv taken to prevent waste in use and
to increase the growth rate of everv acre of forest in the United States.
This result is a timber famine.

Destruction of Deer by Wolves. Timber wolves have become so
numerous and destructive to game in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and
in extreme northern Wisconsin and Minnesota as to threaten to exterminate
the deer. Deer are found in considerable numbers in the swamps and dense
timber, where, during the time of deep snow, they had gathered into well-
beaten yards, often a hundred or more in a vard. Within the yards and
along the trails food was abundant, and the deer would have wintered in good
condition if unmolested, but while the snow was soft they were entirely at
the mercv of the wolves. — \Dept. Agr. Circular .]

Danger in Cattle from India. An importation of zebu or Brahman
cattle from India made last vear showed that there is danger of the disease

NATURE-STUDY AND SCIEXCE NOTES 189

known as surra being introduced by animals from that country, and that these
cattle are apparently immune to Texas fever and to the attacks of the cattle
ticks of the United States. They have been exposed to the ticks carrying
the infection of Texas fever, and not onlv have they failed to contract the
disease, but the ticks do not seem to develop upon them. When exposed on
the same pasture with American cattle which are heavily infested with ticks,
thev remain practically free from these parasites. It remains to be seen
whether they will continue to withstand infestation during the warm season.
In view of the danger from surra, the Department of Agriculture is unwill-
ing to allow further importations from India. Surra is caused by a micro-
organism scientifically termed Trypanosoma and is a very fatal disease of
horses, mules, dogs, and certain other animals, while in animals of the bovine
species it is relatively a mild affection Cattle mav carry the infective agent
in their blood without showing any marked evidence of disease, and herein
lies the great danger, as apparently healthy cattle from India might be the
means of introducing a disease highly destructive to horses and mules. Flies
may carry the contagion from an infected to a healthy animal ; hence the
cattle in the importation above mentioned were confined in separate box stalls
and carefully screened while in quarantine.

NEWS NOTES

[Editor's Note. — Again the Editor must request the cooperation of readers
for this department. News concerning nature-study and especially concerning
persons and institutions interested in nature-study in all its phases will certainly
interest many readers. This department would be a regular feature if informa-
tion for news notes could be obtained by The Review.]

The above editor's note was called forth by a letter of recent date which

contained an incidental reference to the death of Professor Buel P. Colton,

of the Illinois State Normal University, author of the well known text-books

of elementary physiology and high-school zoology. A letter of inquiry has

brought the information that Professor Colton's death occurred nearly a vear ago.

Professor Otis W. Caldwell has resigned from the normal school at
Charleston, 111. to accept an appointment in the Department of Botany and
School of Education in the University of Chicago. He will have general
charge of the nature-study work.

Courses for Teachers Of Agriculture. An arrangement has just been
■completed between the College of Agriculture of Cornell University and the
Department of Biology of Teachers College, Columbia University, for

1 90 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE YV l3 : 6- sept., .907

cooperation in the work of preparing teachers for nature- study and elementary
agriculture. The Teachers College Annual Announcement calls attention to
a two-year major (Junior and Senior years) in nature-study and agriculture,
leading to the Bachelor's degree and a special diploma. The program of
studies requires courses in the elements of the sciences, in general elementary
methods, in the special methods ot nature-studv and elementary agriculture,
and the equivalent of at least two summer terms devoted to the study of
principles of agriculture at Cornell University or approved courses elsewhere.
Under this arrangement a student might spend one year at Cornell studying
principles of agriculture and the sciences and the second vear at Teachers
College devoted chiefly to educational problems. More details concerning
the plan will be announced in a special circular soon to be issued by the
Department of Biologv of Teachers College, New York.

Miss Mary Perle Anderson, graduate student in the Department of
Botanv, Columbia University, has been appointed instructor in biologv and
nature-study in the Horace Mann School of Teachers College, Columbia
University. Miss Anderson will also take charge of the critic teaching in
connection with the Teachers College courses in high-school biology and
elementary-school nature-study.

Professor E. R. Downing, of the Marquette, Mich., normal school
will spend a vear of absence in eastern universities and in Europe.

New nature-study books are being prepared for publication bv Pro-
fessor Holtz, of the Mankato, Minn., normal school ; by Mr. G. H. Traf-
ton, of the Passaic, N. {., schools ; and by Dr. Horace Cummings, of Salt
Lake City.

An imposter has for several months been working among nature-study
teachers in New York and New Jersey. His specialty is paid-in-advance
subscriptions to a magazine "Birds and all Nature," including sixty colored
plates. Evidently he is trading on the good reputation of the well-known
Chicago magazine, but he pretends to represent the " Nature-Study Com-
pany, 1 135 Broadway,. N. Y." — a firm unknown to postoffice officials and
not found in any directory. Many letters of complaint have reached the
office of The Review, and they all tell essentially the same story : The agent
signs his name F. W. Cooley, is a Quaker, about 70 years old, gray hair,
blue eves, slender form, not well dressed (probably he can afford better
clothing now), and minus two fingers on his right hand. Even an amateur
Sherlock Holmes should be able to identify him at sight after reading this
description.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS

Vol. 3 OCTOBER, 1907 No. 7

THE NATURE-STUDY COURSE

ELLIOT ROWLAND DOWNING, Ph.D.
Northern State Normal School, Marquette (Mich.)

"On the whole the existence of these Olympians" the 'grown-ups) "seemed to be
entirely devoid of interests. To anything but appearances they were blind. For them
the orchard (a place elf haunted, wonderful !) simply produced so many apples and cher
ries: or it didn't — when the failures of Nature were not infrequently ascribed to us.
They never set foot within fir wood or hazel copse, nor dreamt of the marvels hid therein.
The mysterious sources, sources as of old Nile, that fed the duck-pond had no magic for
them. It was perennial matter for amazement how these Olympians would talk over our
heads — during meals, for instance — of this or the other social inanity, under the delusion
that these pale phantasms of reality were among the importances of life. We illuminati,
eating silently, our heads full of plans and conspiracies, could have told them what real
life was. We had just left it outside and'were all on fire to get back to it. Of course we
didn't waste the revelation on them; the futility of imparting our ideas had long been
demonstrated." — From The Golden Age, by Kenneth Graham. Chap. I. The Olympians.

If the conclusions of the preceding article are measurably
correct, it follows that nature-study has some very definite and
verv important aims. The course of study must needs be
adapted to their attainment in a precise manner. The haphazard
use of whatever material comes most easily to hand is to be de-
plored quite as much in nature-study as it would be in any other
department. There is such a wealth of material that may be
utilized, it is evident we must elaborate certain principles of
selection and arrangement of subject-matter. This may be ac-
complished if we bear in mind our purposes.

It would seem, at first thought, that we might accomplish the
desired training in observation on almost any group of natural
objects, with equal facility, but the intensity of sensory im-
pressions is conditioned largely by attention, and this, in turn,
is determined primarily by interest. We may safely state our
first principle of selection then ; utilize such material only as appeals
to the interest of the child. This is a principle which will admit
nearlv, if not quite, the entire universe to the curriculum; since

1 9 2 THE NA TURE-STUD V RE VIE W [3 . 7-oct., .go7

the interests of the child are so constantly changing with advanc-
ing years. Yet it is a principle which will at least help materially
in arranging the sequence of subject-matter. Thus animate
objects are of greater interest than inanimate to the young child.
His pets and the plants he can rear are delightfully attractive.
Early childhood is the reappearance of the racial age of mythology.
The stars and the meterological phenomena about him appeal
strongly to him when presented in connection with the myths
they have generated. At adolescence the child becomes more
utilitarian. Things begin to assume commercial values. Then
the chemistry and physics of common objects and processes, the
forces that man utilizes, acquire dominant interest. These sug-
gestions will serve to make apparent that a comprehension of the
fundamental ideas of genetic psychology is essential to the formu-
lation of a successful course in nature-study. Otherwise, the
teacher will miss the high tide of interest and will ever be attempt-
ing to force upon the child, subjects which though they appeal to
her, may be utterly foreign to the child's world. The child's
interests are fortunately exceedingly cosmopolitan, not at any
one phase of development, but taking childhood as a whole.
There should be a corresponding range in the subject-matter of
nature-study. Let the child know, familiarly, the common stars,
the constellations and the fables they suggest ; let him name the
animals and plants about him and know their habits as he sees
them. Teach him the common minerals and rocks of his native
place, something of the chemistry and physics of the every-day
life. Let him follow the brook and roam the hills with open eyes.
This do and you equip him with a fund of delightsome memories
to enrich his mature years. What a monotonous world this is to
many Avhose early training dulled some senses to the simple joys
that abound about them. Read Shakespeare, Scott, Longfellow,
James Lane Allen, or for that matter, any writer of repute and
observe how wonderfully important a part are these sensory
images of childhood in the equipment of the successful author.
Then realize how much of literature is necessarily a terra incognito
to the child who is deficient jn the corresponding imagery.

There is undoubtedly danger in the exclusive training of the
power of observation in extenso, danger that attention may be
dissipated by a multiplicity of interests and that, therefore, that
power of concentration be lost which is so essential to valuable

DOWNING

NA TUNE- S TUB V CO UA'SE 1 9 3

achievement. Distraction of thought may easily result from
obtrusive sense impressions. This danger may be eliminated
however, and the training in observation be given its most valuable
form if, — and here is enunciated the second principle — we select
subject-matter, in the higher grades, that readily leads itself to
problem form, thus compelling the child to observe for a purpose.
This insures concentration and gives a practical turn to the train-
ing, for it is thus that we apply our sense training in every-day
affairs to the solution of the difficulties that confront us.

Our second general aim was stated to be a drill in the complete
thought process. It behooves us in the formulation of any new
course of study to carefully inspect the old. The classical course
was weakest where nature-study claims exceptional strength.
Still constant attention to inflections, terminations, accents, etc.,
certainlv made eye and ear alert in a measure, and there can be
no doubt of the prime value of the classical course in intellectual
and moral training, for the pedagogical skill of centuries is con-
centrated in this course. The ennobling thought, the holy am-
bitions, the high ideals, the mighty deeds of two unrivalled
civilizations are encompassed in it.

The classical course has dependent continuity, increasing com-
plexity, corresponding to the increasing capacity of the student,
and a consequent unity, all of which are essential characters
in anv course that pretends to develop intellectual power. The
first lesson in Latin consists of a few rules of grammar, a small vo-
cabulary. The second adds more of each, built upon the founda-
tion of the first. So each lesson, each term's work presupposes a
knowledge of all that preceded. One might not think of enter-
ing a Virgil class without the preparatory work. But the average
high-school and even college course in science has been and still,
too often, is characterized by an entire lack of such dependent
continuitv. It consists of a term or two of work in physical
geography, physics, chemistry, botany, physiology, zoology,
geology, and perhaps a few other "ologies" that are taught as
independent subjects. A pupil may enter any class without
question as to his successful completion of preliminary subjects
and the studies are taught so as to permit of their successful
completion without demanding proficiency in the logical pre-
requisites. As a result science has been stigmatized as ineffi-
cient for educational purposes when the weakness lies in the man-

194 THE NA TUKE-STUD V REIVE IV [3 : 7- 0ct., .907

ner of presentation and not inherently in the subject-matter.
We need to avoid such desultory work in nature-study, or be
assured it will be temporarily abandoned.

Some unifying element must be introduced or the course of
study becomes fragmented, resulting in a series of uncoordinate,
efforts that lose their cumulative effect. In a course aiming to
develop thought power this unifying factor would best be a series
of logically related ideas or a dominant concept. It is only by
some such unifying idea that the nature-study movement can
hope to achieve uniformity. The objects to be studied are so
varied, the world over, that there can be no course prescribed
with identical materials. A theme, however, may be worked out
uniformally and still use dissimilar objects. We must seek, then,
some unifying idea in nature -study sufficiently complex to insure
an increasing difficulty commensurate with the increasing power
of the pupils.

Historically, scientific thought has been unified by the concept
of evolution. I can find no other idea that promises to so
thoroughly unify nature teaching. Not that the concept of evolu-
tion should be taught, or even suggested in the grades, but in the
selection of material and of the minor problems for study, we
should choose such as will store the mind of the pupil with the
facts, which, in his mature years, will enable him to think clearly
along the line of evolution — an idea that has come to affect
vitality the whole philosophy of life and that promises large
inspiration. Moreover, such a stimulating concept is rejuvenat-
ing to the teacher. It sends her afield with new interests, keen
to perceive again with childish delight the old, now new, environ-
ment.

I am advocating in this no pedagogical heresy or even a new
idea. For we select the matter for study in the grades in other
lines in a totally analagous manner. We do not study all histoi v.
We ignore the Patagonians, the Icelanders, the Dahomies.
Attention is engrossed in fact by a geographically insignificant
region. We study the history of those people that have con-
tributed directly to the evolution of modern civilization. In
literature we do not read all authors. In fact we strive to elimi-
nate from the student's consideration the great bulk of printed
matter and confine his attention to those writers whose work has
contributed to the development of the world's thought and the
advance of the art of expression. The third principle may then

downing] NATURE-STUDY COURSE 195

be stated, that we disregard many of the phenomena about us and
select for elementary instruction those tilings that have contributed
directly to the evolution of the world and its life, from the simple
beginning to present complex conditions.

Some illustrations will render the meaning clearer. You are
out of doors with a group of children studying a near-by brook
or a water runnel after a shower. Now many things will be seen,
but the teacher should endeavor to have those phenomena
studied which will impress most forcibly the active part the brook
is playing in the change of the earth's surface, Pupils may
measure from year to year the erosion and sedimentation at some
particular points, estimate the seasonably variable amount of
material transported and so come to know the brook as a dynamic
agent. Later this knowledge will fall into its appropriate place
in the discussion of sedimentation, rock formation and earth
sculpture, when the child more matured shall be thinking out the
problem of the earth's development.

The spring ponds are full of creatures that interest the children
and that hold them fascinated about their banks. Now the wise
teacher will make sure that they see, among other things, and see
repeatedlv.the development of the toad or frog from its egg, that
thev may be impressed with the wonderful story. A tiny speck
of living substance gradually transforms day by day, in the
home-made aquaria, growing, elongating, assuming head, body,
tail. At last it is a swimming creature. Then the tail resorbs
as the legs grow and the fish like animal transforms so as to live
on the land. Here is evolution. The child who has pondered
such things in the individual will not be staggered by the idea of
an evolution in the race.

Finally we will select that subject-matter which will also best
enable us to add the moral inspiration voiced by the world's great
writers or portrayed by the artist. In bird study, for example,
one might profitably pass by many a gorgeous songster to have
the class study the wild duck in her haunts to the end that the
pupils may appreciate Bryant's "Ode to a Waterfowl," ending
"He who from zone to zone

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone
Will guide my steps aright."
That note of faith, stored in the child's retentive memory, may
serve as a fitting: climax to a term's study of the birds.

DEVELOPING THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE
OF SCHOOL-GARDENS

LUTHER A. HATCH
Superintendent of Schools, DeKalb, 111.

Something has been done along the line of school-gardens in
United States, but it is little when one considers the possibilities.
Some of the work has "taken" and may be considered established
but much that has been undertaken has fallen by the wayside.
Somehow not all the people have become enthusiastic advocates
of school-gardens. Until teachers know more about the work
that needs to be done in a successful school-garden, and how to
make it bear fruit from an educational standpoint they will be
slow to undertake the work. Until patrons see some use in the
school-garden they will be slow to give it their financial support.
It must reach over into the home and bear fruit. As long as there
is no well defined purpose to the work done, as long as it consists
of many little things, often unrelated and more or less useless, it
will be passed by as a fad and the school gardener will be looked
upon as a fiddler of second rank. As soon as it stirs up the boy
or girl to do better gardening at home and to think more about
what is done, then will it be looked upon as a useful adjunct of
the school and it will be well cared for by the community.

In what follows an attempt will be made to indicate some lines
of work that may be done in connection with the school-garden
to establish it upon a sound basis. It is taken for granted that
the teacher understands that he is not "the whole thing." The
children should have a large share in projecting the work. This
means that the work is not to be imposed upon the children, as is
often done.

Suppose for instance, that one is teaching in a farming com-
munity where grapes may be grown, but are not grown generally
because of ignorance of their culture. If the teacher is able to
interest her pupils in grape culture she can do them much good.
Together they may work out many interesting and profitable
problems. Let us see what can be done.

The teacher and pupils can investigate the extent to which
grapes are grown in the territory about the school. This may be

hatch] EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF SCHOOL-GARDENS 197

limited to farms within a distance of three miles. If the work
is well planned a considerable amount of valuable data will be
gathered as to varieties, hardiness, productiveness and cultiva-
tion of the grapes found near home. We do not investigate the
near-at-hand things as much as we should. We are prone to
begin with books or with something that is beyond our reach.
After the best that the home has to furnish upon grape culture
has been gathered, pupils may learn much from the catalogs
obtained from nurseries. Suggestions will be found as to suitable
varieties for different sections of United States with descriptions
and possibly pictures of different varieties. With these data at
hand pupils and teacher should be able to make a selection of
varieties that will do well. Further assistance mav be trained
by writing to the nearest experimental station, to the state
agricultural college, or to the department of agriculture at
Washington, D. C.

If it is found that nearly all of the hardy varieties are grown
in the neighborhood or the territory investigated, it will not be a
difficult matter to arrange to secure cuttings in the early spring
when the vines are being trimmed. A cutting consists of a healthy
piece of vine having three buds. If possible enough cuttings
should be obtained so that each pupil may have several plants
either in his school or home-garden.

He must discover how to make the cuttings grow. This will

o o

set him to reading, to asking questions, possibly to take a trip to a
nursery if there is one nearby. It will be necessary to make a
study of the soil to determine if it is right for grapes. If it is not
right but may be made right, then pupils must find out what to do
to it to improve it. Then the cultivation of grapes, how to pro-
tect them from drought or too much rain needs to be considered.
As the season advances the subject of winter protection comes up
as another important problem to be solved. As spring ap-
proaches one begins to think of pruning. When this should be
done and how it should be done are important questions for those
who make a success of raising grapes. It will be discovered that
there are several different methods of pruning and that each has
its merits. As the cuttings grow into vines they will need to be
transplanted. When and how should this be done to secure the
best result is a subject by itself. Some will be transplanted on
the school ground where the best methods of cultivation and

1 9 8 THE NA TURE-S TUD V RE VIE IV 1 3 : 7-oct. , , 9o7

pruning may be taught to pupils. Others will be taken home by
pupils and planted and cared for by them. The various kinds
of trellises may be made for the grapes in the school-garden.
Insects and other injurious animals and fungi will need to be
studied with a view of protecting the vineyard against harm from
them. This will lead to a study of the matter of spraying grapes.

As the vines begin to bear the girls will want to learn various
ways of serving fresh grapes on the table. They will want to
learn how to make grape jelly, unfermented grape juice, and how
to preserve them in various ways either alone or with other fruits.
It may be well to know how to make wine. The matter of cold
storage and other methods of extending the season of the grape
makes an interesting subject of study. The boys will want to
investigate ways of putting fresh grapes on the market. They
will find it an interesting problem to estimate the yield per acre
and the profits from the same. The profits from other fruits and
farm crops should be estimated and comparisons made. This will
lead to thoughtful farming and gardening.

The school vineyard might be a sort of experimental vineyard
for the whole community. From time to time new varieties
will be introduced and their merits discovered, if they have any.
If they are a success new plants will be propagated from them and
in this way better grapes will find their way into the home vine-
yards of the community. Something may be done along the
line of raising new varieties from seeds which will introduce pupils
into a field of study that has great possibilities. At this point it
may be well to suggest the importance of going beyond the parti-
cular to the general. For instance, while the pruning of the
grape is being considered the broader subject of pruning and the
principles underlying pruning should be grasped. While studying
spraying of the grape pupils should get something more that will
guide them in the spraying of other plants. In the same way
they should learn more than the propagation of the grape while
they are planting the cuttings from the grape. It is the discovery
of the general in the particular that makes our teaching worth
while. This leads our pupils to grow in strength. It will tend to
make them resourceful when surrounded by new conditions.

What has been said about the grape is typical of what might be
said of many of our common fruits with a view of indicating how
such subjects may be handled in our schools so as to enlist the

hatch] EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF SCHOOL-GARDENS 199

cooperation of pupils and parents. One kind of fruit calls for
study along one line while another emphasizes another line.

With one. for instance.it is pruning, with another it is spraying
with still another, winter protection is the important problem.

The writer is aware of the fact that many will think these sug-
gestions very theoretical but not practical when applied. They
are suggested because they are practical. Two years ago the
writer went with a class of boys and girls to a vineyard where
enough cuttings were secured to grow about fifty good vines in
our school-garden. In the spring about a dozen of these will be
planted in the school-garden and cared for as suggested and the
remainder will be given to pupils to plant in their home gardens.
Arrangements have already been made by which we will be able
to have all the cuttings we wish if we will properly trim the vines
in the early spring. In this way we hope to secure at least two
hundred cuttings for our school-garden. These will be from
good varieties as the Concord, Worden, Moore's Early, Niagara,
Delaware, and Pocklington. We have a little school-garden
monev on hand which may be used in part to buy a few new
varieties to test their value in this climate. This work is practi-
cal, it leads somewhere, it furnishes a basis for the best of school
work in that it is full of problems that are closely related to life.
More than this pupils are given a chance to do things with their
hands while their minds are busy. It is very much like what
thev will have to do when they grow up. They will have a
motive in going to books if this work is handled in the right way.
They will have something to think about in the home that relates
to the work done in school. Parents out of their fund of experience
will be able to help their children with their school work
and possibly they will be stirred up to study better ways of doing
things. It should make the farm a more interesting place for the
farmer's boys and girls.

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF GERMINATION WITH A

LAMP-CHIMNEY

By H. N. LOOMIS
State Normal-Training School, New Britain, Conn.

The experimental study of germination affords in many ways
ideal nature-study lessons because, (i) the lessons may be made
observational at almost every step, (2) they may be made experi-
mental and, therefore, subject to the teacher's control, (3) much
of the work can be done with inexpensive apparatus by the
children, (4) the ideas presented are of the larger sort and grow
with the child, (5) the applications are numerous, important and
right at hand. These five points are worthy of more than a
passing glance in the arranging of nature-study lessons.

In some ways I have found an ordinary five-cent Argand or
student-lamp chimney peculiarly well suited for the study. The
method of using it is as follows: Roll the portion of chimney
above the bend in blotting paper, cut the paper off so that the
edges will not meet when rolled on the outside of the chimney but
when rolled so that edges meet, the paper cylinder should slip
into the chimney without binding. As you push the cylinder
down into the chimney insert pea, corn, morning glory, squash
and oat seeds on different sides of paper cylinder between paper
and chimney. Do not insert too many seeds; 12 to 20 seeds are
quite enough for a chimney. It requires a little patience to
insert the larger seeds, but when once placed and the paper
cylinder is pushed down so as not to protrude above the top of the
chimney no further trouble will be encountered. ' Do not wet
blotting paper until after it is in place. Insert at both ends of
paper cylinder wads of wet moss (sphagnum) which may be had
at any greenhouse. Now for the first time thoroughly wet the
blotting paper by standing the chimney on small end and fill the
large end of chimney with water; shortly the water will soak
through the moss and thoroughly wet the blotting paper. Per-
haps no further wetting will be necessary throughout the experi-
ment. Breaking of chimneys from tipping over can be prevented
by tacking corks large enough to fit the large end of chimney to a

LOOM is]

STUDY OF GERMINATION

20I

thin board and setting chimneys down over the corks as shown
in Figure i .

Following are a few ideas of the conditions that are concerned
in the sprouting of seeds that can be taught experimentally with
the chimney germinator:

Seeds must have water in order to sprout. Arrange two chimneys
of seeds; thoroughly dampen the blotting paper and moss in one
while the other is kept dry. Otherwise treat the chimneys alike.

Seeds kept too wet decay before, or soon after sprouting. Prepare
a third chimney of seeds leaving the moss out of top. Smear a

-/g5&^

0

L

Figure i. — A student-lamp chimney with a
cylinder of blotting paper, seeds between
paper and glass, and wet moss inside the
paper cylinder. A cork at bottom is nailed
to a board for support.

Figure 2. — Chimney arranged first as in Fig.
1, then closed by tying rubber sheeting at top,
filled with water and finally water displaced
bv hydrogen generated in the bottle con-
taining iron nails and sulphuric acid. To
demonstrate that seeds require air for germi-
nation.

cork large enough to fit bottom of chimney with vaseline or drip-
pings of burning candle ; fit cork into chimney so as to be water
tight and fill the chimney to the top with water; keep the chim-
ney filled until it is evident the seeds will not grow.

Applications of these lessons. Seeds are kept in dry places
until they are wanted for planting. At times certain seeds

as corn, for instance, are soaked for a few hours before planting
that the seeds will sprout more promptly when placed in the
ground. After preparing beds for seeds the ground is some-
times sprinkled before or after planting the seeds. Some grass

202 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 : 7-oct., icp?

seeds for instance, is almost never sown except during or after a
rain. A common practice is to cover beds in which seeds are
sown on the surface, or but slightly covered, with brush. The
brush shade the ground from the heat of the sun thereby keeping
the soil moist for the seeds.

On the other hand, many seeds mould and are ruined by getting
too wet. Before planting seeds in the early spring, it is custom-
ary to wait for the sun to dry the excessive dampness out of the
ground; otherwise the seeds might decay before sprouting.
Plowing and spading greatly hasten the drying out of excessively
wet soil. Some land is naturally so wet that it has to be drained
by means of ditches and tiles before cultivated plants will grow
in it. Portions of some fields are so depressed that when a hard
rain follows planting water collects in the depressions and pre-
vent the seeds from sprouting.

Seeds require heat of a certain degree in order to sprout quickly.
Prepare two chimneys of seeds alike in all particulars with the
exceptions that one is placed where it is warm while the other is
placed in the coldest place you can find. It is very easy to con-
fuse light and heat in this experiment. A dark corner may be the
warmest place in the schoolroom; in order to make no mistake,
place one of the chimneys out of doors in a shaded spot, or take
the temperature of different parts of the building and select a
spot that is decidedly cooler than the place chosen for the other
chimney.

Light is unnecessary and even retards sprouting. Prepare two
chimneys of seeds, treat alike except about one chimney wrap
a number of thicknesses of dark colored paper gumming the
outer edge to hold it in place. When paste is dry you should be
able to slip the paper cylinder up and down in order to examine
the progress in sprouting made by the seeds.

Applications of these lessons. The temperature of the soil is
quite as important a factor to consider in planting of seeds as the
presence of moisture. For this reason seeds are not placed in the
soil until the spring sun has warmed the earth considerably.
The turning up of the soil in the processes of plowing, spading
and harrowing very materially quicken the warming of the soil.
Seeds of cabbages, tomatoes, etc., are commonly started in the
house and cold frames that they may get more heat than is sup-
plied by the ground at that time of the year. Horse manure is

loomis] STUDY OF GERMINATION 203

sometimes bedded in cold frames to furnish artificial heat to the
soil containing seeds which is placed on the manure. The man-
ure undergoes a fermenting process during which a remarkably
large quantity of heat is given off. As every one knows, certain
spots protected by buildings, or on the south side of walls and
hedges are chosen for early vegetables. For a similar reason
plots on the south side of hills are chosen. Crops in valleys are
usually many days earlier than the corresponding crop on the
neighboring hill. Even though the seeds are planted on the
same day, the extra amount of heat of the valley produces
quicker sprouting and subsequent growth.

Although light is necessary for proper growth later, it clearly
has a retarding effect on sprouting. Very little attention is
given to the matter for the reason that in the planting of seeds
light is incidentally shut away.

Seeds will not sproui without air. Arrange another chimney
with seeds and blotting paper and then close the top in the fol-
lowing manner: Secure from a dentist enough rubber sheeting
(rubber dam) to go over the top of the chimney twrice. Halve
the rubber, put mucilage around the top of the chimney and tie
one of the pieces of rubber over the top, winding twine many
times around to secure an air-tight joint. In order not to fail in
this matter, tie the other piece of rubber sheeting down over the
first tying it lower on the chimney, thus covering the first tying.
If you are painstaking in the matter, the joint will not only not
leak water, but air will not pass through it. It is practically
impossible to secure an air-tight joint with an ordinary cork,
otherwise it could be used in place of the rubber dam. As soon
as the mucilage is dry, invert the chimney and fill with water,
then displace the water with hydrogen gas. If a chemical labora-
tory is convenient you can secure apparatus for generating
hydrogen with little trouble. If you are not so situated, the fol-
lowing arrangement will answer very well. Into a small wide-
mouthed bottle (2- or 37ounce) drop a number of ordinary nails,
add wrater and to this add not over an ounce of sulphuric acid.
Bubbles of hydrogen gas will almost immediately begin to rise.
Keep all flames away from the escaping hydrogen. Lower the
bottle into a dish of water deep enough to cover the bottle an
inch or so. Now place a card over the bottom of the inverted
chimney of water and lower the chimney over the bottle from

204 THE XA TU RE-STUD Y RE VIE IV [3 : 7_OCt., ,9o7

which the hydrogen is escaping, removing the card as soon as the
bottom of the chimney is below the surface of water. While in
this position the hydrogen will rise and displace the water in
the chimney. See Figure 2. When the water has been
displaced, place the card under the bottom of chimney so that air
cannot enter and mix with the hydrogen, and transfer the chim-
ney to a shallow dish of water. Place beside the chimney another
chimney of seeds arranged with moss as in previous experiments.
The seeds will not sprout in the hydrogen'if you succeed in exclud-
ing air.

Application of this lesson. It is not commonly realized that
seeds require air as well as water and heat to sprout, yet
such is the truth taught by this experiment. The hydrogen
has no effect on the seeds, but is vised as a means of keeping the
air from them without which they cannot sprout. It is known
that the oxygen of the air enters the soaked seeds and starts the
processes of growth. Perhaps on the whole it is not wise to
enter into a discussion of the part played by oxygen in the sprout-
ing of seeds; for aside from the technical nature of the question,
there is considerable uncertainty about certain steps of the pro-
cess. The fact that air is absolutely necessary for seed sprouting
is so simple a truth and at the same time so important for one to
appreciate who raises plants that it is well worth the trouble of
presenting as a lesson. It is not probable that seeds often fail to
sprout for lack of air, for ordinary soil is well supplied with a
"soil atmosphere;" besides the processes by which the soil is pre-
pared for planting introduces large quantities of new air into the
soil. When the soil is soggy, or covered by pools of water, air
may be excluded sufficiently to prevent sprouting.

Sprouting seeds are influenced by gravity. Prepare two chim-
neys as described in the first experiments. As soon as the seeds
begin to sprout see if you can cause the eaulicle to grow up and
the plumule down by putting one of the chimneys in different
positions. The undisturbed chimney acts as a control with
which you can compare the growth of the plantlets in the dis-
turbed chimney.

Application of this lesson. Our inability to confuse the eaulicle
and plumule in direction of growth is regarded as one of the most
difficult activities of plant life to understand. The eaulicle
whose function is to secure food from the soil persists in growing

loom i s l -S" TUD i ' OF GERMINA TION 205

in the direction where soil usually is found, while the plumule
whose function is to spread leaves to sunlight persists equally
well in growing upward, or in the direction in which sunlight is
usually met. It has been customary to say gravity causes the
caulicle to grow downward, but why the pull of gravity should
not influence the plumule in a like way is beyond our understand-
ing. Whatever the true explanation of the contra movements of
caulicle and plumule, the fact that they persist in growing in
opposite directions is something to cause every one to marvel at
the adaptations these parts display for the good of the plant.
Notwithstanding stones and hardness of soil, caulicles are found
working their way with marked success into regions of food,
overcoming difficulties in the shape of obstructions and distances
through which they must grow that never fail to surprise the
observer. Likewise the plumule while in a compact form forces
its way between hard masses of soil and around stones on its way
to air and sunshine above. Were not caulicle and plumule able
to respond to the stimuli that gives them the directions in which
to grow, and were they less persistant in pushing forward on
their journey to soil and sunshine, the sprouting of seeds would
present difficulties that would very much modify present prac-
tices.

THE QUESTION OF COMMON NAMES

The labelling of the shell collections brings up once more the oft asked
question "why doesn't every specimen have a common name?" An easy
answer to this is that there are not enough common names to go around and
while over 350,000 animals, great and small, have alreadv been described
and the list is steadily growing, our largest dictionaries contain onlv about
300,000 words. Another reason is that the great majoritv of animals are
not commonly known and never have received and never will receive any
common names. Insects and shells are familiar examples of the case in
point, to say nothing of the vast host of minute organisms that the public
never sees, but each one of which must be named. A great manv so-called
common names, too, have no meaning to people outside of the countries
where the animals to which they are applied are found and it is not probable
that many readers of this are familiar with Colugo, Wobbvgong, Mullagong,
Scheltopusic, Cacomistl, Aye Ave, Kagu, Awa, Kea and Kakapo. And yet
each one of these is an extensively used "popular" name.

It may be objected that these are all names borrowed from people who do
not speak the English language but many strictly English names are just as
incomprehensible to us. The chaffinch, for example is variously called pink,
spink and twink (these three names referring to its note), beechfinch,
horsefinch, shell apple, skelly, scobby, and shifla. And how manv here
even know a chaffinch? The truth is no name means anything to us unless
we know the creature to which it is applied, or at least something about it,
and so can associate the name with the object. Not until then does it have
much value as a "common" name. The robin is found throughout the
length and breadth of the United States and everyone thinks he knows "a
robin." But the original robin of England, the robin-redbreast of a thousand
and one stories, is very different from his North American namesake and
related to our redstart, while in Jamaica the name is given to a little tody,
one of a group of birds peculiar to Tropical America. In India the robin is
a warbler, in Austral a a flycatcher, or a little Petroeca and the South African
"robin" is a coly, a bird about as much like its English namesake as is a
parrot. Here surely is a case where a common name means nothing more
than a bird with an olive brown back and a reddish breast, that mav belong
to any one of seven different families, which is very much as if everv red-
haired boy should be called Redman, in spite of his parents being named
Brown, Black or White. \_Museum News, Brooklyn]

BOOK REVIEWS

School Gardening for Little Children. By Lucy R. Latter. I ondon:

Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1906.

[Editorial Note — A review of this book was published in the April issue, but
the manuscript of the following was received a few days too late for publication
in April. It strikes the editor as a useful and accurate criticism supplementing
the review already published. The desirability of book reviews by more than
one writer has often been suggested; and the managing editor takes this opportu-
nity to invite readers to send their own Mipplementary or critical notes on any
reviews published in this journal.]

This book on school-gardening for little children has many good points,
but in general it is not a safe guide lor nature-study as we would see it taught
in America. The best points are (ij that the children do actually work
with the objects under consideration and also do the related manual work,
which we are not always careful to include in our nature-study work in this
country; and (2) that not onlv the life-history of every plant studied is
definitely shown, but the fruits of one year are used in the next season's
planting.

While in New York last winter Miss Latter described her work, giving
several facts which materially affect the estimation of value of the lessons
described in her book. The ages of the children range from four to eight
years; less than six pupils from each class-room have any part in the out-
door garden work; and the same work is done in the different grades but
"taken up from different standpoints." Spending weekly the amount ot
time indicated on page 18 (three hours or three hours and forty-five minutes)
it would puzzle a high-school or college instructor to spend a month upon
either the earthworm or the radish with "additional work in August and
September." Add to this the problem of a different point of view for each
ot the grades and the despair of the most capable instructor would be com-
plete. The topics suggested under the subject, the sun, are more varied,
but it would be difficult to hold an American child to three months' work
on even the fifteen topics given. The English children apparently study the
caterpillar for seven davs (or lessons) before the shape and color are thought
of; the fourth lesson on the daffodil brings out the color and shape of the
flower; the fifth tells the children where the "seed-box" is; but they are
not allowed to prove this, even though it is the first flower studied by many
of the children, because (page 61) "no child is ever allowed to pull a flower
to pieces; indeed it should not be permitted in any infants' school." This

208 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 : 7-oct., 1907

last strongly flavors of the sentimental attitude, which is clearly shown in the
vague paragraphs headed "standpoints with regard to the child;" and in various
quotations, (page 44 ) "we desire to help the children in this process of
spiritual evolution without detracting from the wonder of the phenomena by
any questions or explanations which may destroy vigor of mind;" (page
139) in describing a burning log, "our beautiful fir-tree was giving us back
the little sunbeams which it had stored up during its life in the forest;" (page
6) where the fruit of the plane tree is called "Nature's own little ball on a
string" (Children under nine would not voluntarily and understanding^
use the word "Nature," nor would the word, if given by the teacher, add
anything to the child's pleasure in the ball and string idea). Such lessons as
those given on pages 49, 59, 90, and 92 indicate that too much time is
spent on details and that the teachers talk too much.

As to the illustrations, it is probably not too severe a criticism to say that
the book as a nature-study book gains little by their use. Miss Latter is so
fond of her "tinies," as she calls them, that she fails to recognize the same-
ness of many of the illustrations; or the lack of force or appropriateness in some
of the titles of pictures, such as the quotation "There are more things in
heaven and earth, than are dreamt of in our philosophy" under the picture
entitled "transplanting carrots" on page 87; or the one opposite page 166
(a child sleeping) where "gentle sleep" takes too prominent a part for live
nature-study work and the wide-open mouth of the child suggests to medical
readers a case of adenoids demanding immediate attention, rather than any
other title.

Teachers College, Jean BROADHURST

Columbia University.

Entomology with Reference to its Biological and Economic
Aspects. Bv ]. T. Folsom, Philadelphia: Blakiston. 1906, pp. 485,
300 figs. S3. CO.

This new book does not compete with the well-known Comstock's
"Manual of Insects" and Kellogg's "American Insects," for these give
great attention to classification while Dr. Folsom emphasizes biological and
economic relations as illustrated by common insects. Although intended as
a text-book for students specializing on insects, it is well adapted to general
readers who want a fairly complete account of the general biology of insects.

Half Hours with Mammals. By Charles Holder. New York:
American Book Company, 253 pp., ill. 60 cents.

In this, the latest addition to the series of Eclectic Readings, the story of
the mammals has been presented in simple and untechnical language, and in

NATURE-STUDY AND SCIEXCE .VOTES 209

an interesting manner. This volume gives the student a good general idea
ot the structure ot the mammalia, the principal species, their geographical
distribution, and their relative economic importance. Many notes and
incidents from personal experience are introduced. The book has numerous
illustrations.

Forest Friends. By J. Madden. Chicago: McClurg. 1907.

A story ot a boy pioneer whose parents emigrated from the East to a forest
home on the shores of Lake Michigan. Of course there were numerous
opportunities to observe wild animals and to make friends with manv of them.
Human interpretation of animal behavior is prominent throughout the book,
but it will probablv interest manv boy readers.

Water Wonders. By Jean M. Thompson. New York: Doubleday,
Page, 1907. pp. 233, 152 ill. $1.10.

The new book in the "Every Child Should Know" series deals with
dew, frost, snow, ice and rain. On the whole, it is suitable and interesting
reading for children, but rather long drawn out. The photographs of snow
crystals and other water forms are excellent. It will suggest some interesting
lessons for nature-study in schools.

NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE NOTES

[Editor's Xote. This department will be conducted by Chester A.
Mathewson, of the High School cf Commerce, Xew York City. Xotes
and suggestions may be sent to him in care of the editor of The Review.]

Results of Animal Study. School Science for October contains a stereo-
typed article on the "Study of Animal Life," by A. P. Froth of the Spo-
kane High School. It calls attention to the educational value of zoology,
showing the importance of first-hand knowledge and laboratory training,
but winds up with the paradoxical statement: "An interest results lead-
ing to a desire to read with something more than mere entertainment such
books as Kipling's 'Jungle Books,' Seton Thompson's 'Wild Animals I
Have Known,' 'Lives of the Hunted' and others of similar nature."
The article is mentioned here merely to call attention to the fact that if
our nature work is to have only the ephemeral results mentioned in the
above quotation it is quite fruitless.

Insect Collecting. The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has
issued a twenty-page pamphlet on insect collecting which will prove use-
ful to teachers. It deals in a practical way with the various questions con-
fronting the teacher who has had little or no experience in insect work.

New Botanical Garden. The American Botanist for September contains
an interesting account of the establishment of a botanical garden on
rather new lines in the city of Minneapolis. The teachers have ex-
perienced increasing difficulty from year to year in obtaining suitable

2 I o THE NA TU RE-STUD Y RE VIE IV [3 : 7~oct., I9o7

plant materials, and by interesting the State University, Park Board and
many citizens, they have succeeded in having suitable land set aside.
The Park Board provides for the labor, etc., while the teachers control
the management. Artificiality is tabooed, the attempt being to retain
all the indigenous species and to add other plants needed. Sixteen
species of trees, twenty-five of shrubs and numerous herbaceous plants are
found within the confines of the garden, among the latter, pitcher-plants,
sundews, cypripediums, trilliums and others usually rather hard to find.
The idea is one that may well be copied in other cities.

Dogfish. A recent bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries contains the
results of four years' study of the problem of the destruction wrought by
dogfish and the available remedies. Two common species of dogfish
destroy lobsters by the hundred thousand, and mackerel, herring, etc., by
the millions, besides inflicting vast damage to fishing gear along the whole
Atlantic Coast. The author points out that dogfish are valuable not only
for their hide and liver but also as food, notwithstanding the prejudice
against them. The solution of the problem then is an expansion of dogfish
fishing which will result in a depletion of the numbers of this animal
similar to that of other economic fishes.

Russian Mulberry. A recent circular of the Forest Service calls at-
tention to the value of the Russian Mulberry as a commercial species in
this country. This tree was first introduced into the United States in 1875
and is now widely planted throughout Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma
and Indian Territory. It will endure almost any amount of drought and
neglect, and is quite free from parasitic fungi. In the states named this
tree is quite valuable for fence posts, producing good ones in ten to fifteen
years. The wood has a high fuel value, and the habit of the tree makes
it an ideal windbreak.

Protection of Game. The U.S. Biological Survey of the Department of
Agriculture has isued a useful circular under the title "Directory of
Officials and Organizations Concerned with the Protection of Birds and
Game, 1907."

Hawks and Owls. In a bulletin published by the Biological Survey, it
is pointed out that there is a great deal of ignorant prejudice against
hawks and owls. Most species of these birds do more good than harm,
destroying mice, squirrels, insects and other harmful animals in great
numbers. Many of them are locall\r injurious on account of the scarcity
of the sorts of animals just mentioned and they must, perforce, attack
the farmer's poultry. The species that are always injurious are gyrfalcons,
duck hawk, sharp-shinned hawk. Cooper hawk, and goshawk. Xearly
two-thirds of the birds of prey in this country are more beneficial than
harmful.

Periodical Cicada. A bulletin issued b\r the government during the
summer contains an exhaustive treatment of the habits, characteristics,
distribution etc., of the various broods of cicadas. The account is written
in a most interesting manner. As to the origin of the various broods, it is
inferred that at a very remote period the insect was represented by a

NA TURE-STl DY AND SCIENCE NO TES 2 1 1

single brood. In the long course of geographic, climatic and topographic
changes this early brood became broken up into many broods, and whereas
the date of maturity was at first synchronous for all, there followed a
gradually increasing divergence in this date. At present every year has
its brood or broods, limited as a rule to well defined areas, each reappear-
ing with absolute regularity Most of the twenty broods have been care-
fully studied and their dates and limitations marked. The thirteen-
year broods are distinctly southern and the seventeen-year northern.
One of the common popular superstitions in regard to this animal is that
it has a harmful, not to say fatal sting. The evidence shows that this idea
is quite without foundation. The insects are very sluggish when handled
and can never be provoked into resentment. The author appends to his
accoant a voluminous bibliography covering a period of nearly two
hundred and fifty years.

Tree Planting for Profit has hitherto not been very successful, but actual
statistics gathered in Illinois and published by the Forest Service show
actual returns of $4.28 per acre annually from larch and $15.00 from
catalpa.

Swallows, according to a recent Biological Survey bulletin, are the
"light cavalry of the avian army." Specially adapted for flight and un-
excelled aerial evolutions, they are experts in capturing insects in midair.
They eat nothing of value to man except a few predacious bugs and wasps,
and in return for their vast service, ask only harborage and protection.
Their service to the cotton grower can scarcely be overestimated, because
of their skill in catching prey on the wing. They get the adults weevils
before they have a chance to alight on the cotton bolls and lav their eggs.

Soil Fertility. Few scientific theories have stood the test of time and
experiment so long and gained such universal acceptance as the Liebig
theory of soil fertility. Nevertheless, recent investigations seem to indi-
cate that this conception is likely to undergo considerable modification in
the near future, suggesting that the "exhaustion" of many soils may be
due, not so much to the withdrawal of mineral constituents as to the ac-
cumulation of certain organic toxic substances.

Investigations at the Woburn Experimental Fruit Farm, in England,
have shown that the presence of grass in the soil about apple trees has a
marked deleterious effect upon the growth of the trees. It was shown
experimentallv that this effect could not be due to removal of nutrient
materials, nor of water, nor to the exclusion of air, and it was suggested
that it must be caused by poisonous bodies emanating from the grass roots.
A similar antagonism has been shown to exist between butternut trees
and cinquefoil, and between peach trees and several herbaceous plants.
In 1904, Livingston published evidence to the effect that bog water
exhibits properties of a toxic nature and suggested that the xerophilous
character of bog plants may be due to these properties.

In Bulletin 23, of the U.S. Bureau of Soils, it was shown that the un-
productiveness of certain soils examined could not be attributed to any
lack of available mineral matter, and that the injurious properties of the

212 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3:7-oct., .907

soil could be transmitted to its aqueous extract, independent of the salt
content. In later publications from the same bureau, evidence was pre-'
sented in favor of the idea that certain poor soils contained toxic substance
which act to retard the growth of roots. Further evidence favored the con-
clusion that wheat roots give substances toxic to themselves, and that
this toxicity, as well as that of the soils mentioned above, can be removed
from nutrient solutions or soil extracts by the absorbent action of carbon
black, ferric hydrate, and other finely divided inert solids.

Two recent bulletins (Xos. 36 and 40) from the Bureau of Soils have
contributed more information on this subject.. In Bulletin 36, Living-
ston and others give more evidence in- favor of the existence of toxic
bodies in unproductive soils and add certain points as to the nature and
origin of such substances. The conclusion is that toxic material is present
in certain unproductive soils, either in very minute quantities or in a very
slightly soluble form; that this material is volatile in some cases and in
others non-volatile; that it is often destroyed by boiling the soil extract
in which it occurs; that it is often accompanied by an acid reaction of the
extract, but that in such cases the toxicity is not due to the acidity as
such; that it is probably organic in its nature; and that it is absorbed by
finely divided solids. As to the origin of such material, it is shown that
toxic properties appear not only in nutrient solutions in which wheat is
growing, but also in pure sand when this is used as a medium for growth.
Similar substances appear to diffuse from soaking wheat seeds, and a
similar toxicity is exhibited by the washings from the leaves and bark of
certain trees.

The importance of all this to scientific agriculture is evident, and the
changes that these considerations may bring about in the theory of soil
fertility may be very profound. The beneficial effects of crop rotation
may be explained equally well from the standpoint of the Liebig theory
or of this newer one. [Plant World.]

Primary Nature-Study. A series of excellent lesson-plans and sugges-
tions for first and second grades of the New Y< irk State Syllabus of Xature-
Study is given in the "Home Nature-Study Course," (Cornell University)
Vol. Ill, Xo. 1 and Xo. 2. Mrs. Comstock and Mr. Spencer are the
authors.

Minnesota Leaflets. Some interesting nature-study leaflets for local use
in schools, home study and correspondence are being edited by Florence
E. Lillie, Minneapolis, Minn.

Sportsmen as Game Savers. The following interesting notes are from a
recent letter by Dr. W. T. Hornaday to the editor of the New York
Times.

Of .all the game laws throughout the world that are in effect to-day, at
least nine-tenths of them owe their existence to the initiative, the hard
work, and the money expenditures of sportsmen. But for the work of
American s] >< >rtsmen in protecting wild life from the pot hunter, the market
hunter, and the game butcher, there would hardly be a game bird or a
game mammal left alive today in the United States. In this country there
are at least 400 permanent organizations of sportsmen, formed chiefly for

. \ \4 Tl TRE- S Tl'DY A A rD SCIE . \ 'CE NO TES 2 1 3

the purpose of protecting wild life. In this state [Xew York] alone there
are over fifty. Since 18S0 the aspect of hunting and sportsmanship has
completely changed. The time was when every sportsman felt that it was
right to kill as much game as he pleased. Today it is only the pot hunter
and game butcher — but no sportsman wrorthy of the name — who feel that
way. The real sportsman takes toll of the wilds, but now he kills very
sparingly, and often hunts harder with his cainera than witli his rifle.
Fifty years ago there were no game laws in America. Today there are
hundreds in force. When game is seriously threatened, who is it who first
proposes better and inore stringent laws ? The sportsmen. Who does the
work necessary to secure them? The sportsmen. Who pays out cash for
game-protection campaign work? The sportsmen, and their personal
friends.

Where is the nature faker who ever lifted one finger to secure the pro-
tection of any wild life ? So far as I can learn, nowhere!

"Cecropia's Love Story." A well known zoologist has called attention
to an article with this title in a recent issue of a normal school magazine.
The zoologist wants to know whether this is approved nature-study.
We have advised him to call it literature, and that not for schools. We
quote the first paragraph which is typical. Perhaps it is all right; but
such things make an unfortunate impression on the men of science whose
hearty approval nature-study must have before it can be considered
established.

"The night was fit for lover's dreams. The moonbeams from a widen-
ing cresent fell slantwise through the lattice of clustered blossoms, whose
fragrance distilled into the gentlest of spring breezes. It was no wonder
that the rapture of mere existence merged into passion, or that Samia's
whole being thrilled at the touch of her handsome suitor. His strength,
dash and hardihood were quite enough to please so fair a mistress, al-
though his beauty was scarred with the marks of gallant frays. From
Samia the bloom of youth had not begun to disappear. She was clothed
in all the exquisite freshness and elegance of a debutante. As she lightly
moved or poised in graceful attitude, her whole being seemed the incarna-
ti< >n ( >f radiant beauty and perfect happiness. The world was full of charm
for this winsome child of the sunbeams and zephyrs; life was pulsing with
unabated energy and zest; suitors were all gi.llant lovers and she care-
free."

NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE BOOKS RECEIVED

Good Health. By Frances Gulick Jewett. A Primer of hygiene. Pp.
172. Boston: Ginn & Co. 1906.

The Spirit of Nature-Study. By Edward F. Bigelow A series of very
readable essays full of inspiration. Pp. 222. Xew York : A. S. Barnes e\
Co. 1907.

Fingerposts to Children's Reading. By Walter Taylor Field. For
parents, teachers and librarians. Pp. 276. Chicago: A. C. McClurg &
Co. 1907.

Elements of Agriculture. By J. II. Shepperd and J. C. McDowell. A

2 i 4 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W f 3 : 7-oct., ,907

high school text book. Pp. 254. St. Paul, Minn. Webb Publishing Co.

*9°5-
Practical Zoology. By Alvin Davison. An elementary text-book for

high schools. Pp. 36S. New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, American Book

Co. iqo6. $1.00.

Town and City. By Frances Gulick Jewett. A pupil's book of elemen-
tary hygiene by a new method of approach. Pp. 272. Boston: Ginn &
Co. 1906. 60 cents.

First Book of Birds. By Olive Thorne Miller. A children's book for
beginning the study of birds. Pp. 149, illustrated. Boston: Houghton,
Mifflin & Co. School edition, 1906. 60 cents.

True Bird Stories. By Olive Thorne Miller. A series of strictly true
stories, many of the birds being pets owned by the author. An excellent
book for children, Pp. 156, illustrated. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin &
Co. School edition, 1906. 60 cents.

Animal Micrology. By Michael F. Guyer. Practical exercises in
methods of microscopical study of animal materials. Pp. 240. Chicago:
The University of Chicago Press. 1906. $1.75.

Half Hours with Mammals. By Charles F. H olden. A reader for
children. Pp. 253. New York: American Book Co. 1907. 60 cents.

Forest Friends. By John Madden. Woodland adventures of a boy
pioneer. Pp. 260. Chicago: A. C. McClurg. 1907. $1.25.

Practical Lessons in Biology. By Clarabel Milkman and J. W. Ball. A
pamphlet based on Xew York course of study in high school biology. Pp.
93. Rochester, New York : Ball Publishing Co. 1906. 50 cents.

The Frog Book. By Mary C. Dickerson. The great book on the sub-
ject of frogs and their near allies. Pp. 253, illustrated. New York:
Doubleday, Page & Co. 1906.

Half Hours with Fishes, Reptiles, and Birds. By C. F. Holden. A
reader for schools. Pp. 255. New York: American Book Co. 1906.
60 cents.

The Sunshine Primer. By Marion I. Noyes and Kate Louise Guild.
"The child's first book." Pp.128. Boston: Ginn & Co. 1906.

With Pencil and Pen. Language lessons for Primary Schools. By
Sarah Louise Arnold. Pp.127. Boston: Ginn & Co. 1906.

The Reptile Book. By Raymond L. Ditmars. An exceedingly readable
and authoritative account of snakes, lizards, turtles, alligators. Pp. 2.72,
illustrated. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. 1907. $4.00.

Water Wonders Every Child Should Know. By Jean M. Thompson.
Familiar marvels of dew, frost, snow, ice and rain. Pp. -233; splendidly
illustrated. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. 1907. $1.10. &®

How Ferns Grow. By Margaret Slosson. The development of fern
leaves. Pp. 156. Xew York: Holt & Co. 1906. $3.00.

Elementary Botany. By C. E. Bessey. Field work month by month.
Pp. [09. Lincoln, University Publishing Co. 1904. 35 cents.

Practical Physiography. By H. W. Fairbanks. A thoroughly modern
text-book for high schools. Pp. 542, 394 illustrations. Boston: Allyn
and Bacon. 1906. $1.60.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS

Vol. 3 NOVEMBER, 1907 No. 8

TEACHING THE RENEWAL OF LIFE IN NATURE-STUDY

By MARGARET W. MORLEY
Author of "Bee People," "Renewal of Life," etc.

[Editor's Note — The subject of sex-instruction is now arousing much
discussion, probably because a number of societies, notably the American
Society for Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis, have given it attention. It
is admitted by all educators who have followed the recent discussions that
some very difficult and extremely delicate problems are under considera-
tion, and that at present we can not as teachers safely go far in putting
into practice many interesting suggestions derived from the discussions.
Probably many readers of The Review have ideas or note's on experience
which they will gladly add to the following review of the problems in-
volved.]

Nature-study is the latest development in education, or in its
broad sense one might say in civilization. Man has always looked
at the stars and conjured by them, but it is only recently that he
has turned his eye upon the plants, the insects, the animals, large
and small and studied them, not for seasons of superstition, not
for economic purposes, but for purposes of culture. He thinks
he discovers something about himself through questioning the
lower forms of life.

Evolution might be defined as Intelligence struggling for Per-
sonality through progressive physical forms. Nor is there any
sign that the struggle ends with the man of today. Life continues
to go upward. The only difference is that the problem has become
to an extent self-conscious. The man of today asks, what can I
do to hasten the disappearance of the mental and moral appen-
dixes, "survivals" inimical to the welfare of the human being?

Long ago it was stated that what the man became depended
to a marked degree upon how the child was trained. A few com-
prehended this, and everybody said it. More and more the people

2 1 6 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W |3 . 8-nov., .9o7

are coming to believe it and to desire for their children certain
advantages of education which perhaps they themselves did not
have. Not only is the necessity of technical education for money
earning and physical education for bodily development realized,
but also the equal necessity of an education that shall harden the
moral fibre, so to speak. Man sees today with a long eye. He
knows very well that ulcers will destroy unless cured. So he is
restless in the face of the tremenduous. misuse of power taking
place in every direction from the government of the municipality
to the self-government of the individual. What can he do to
escape the threatened destruction? How can he fortify his
children against the ever-increasing dangers? What can he do
towards removing those dangers? These are the questions he is
continually asking himself.

One great problem, among the many problems of social life,
always remains — others change their form and pass on — this
neither changes nor passes. It is the problem, broadly stated, of
the conservation of the creative energy. This energy, which is
the greatest dynamic force of the universe, wrongly applied is the
most destructive agent in society; and because of the sovereign
necessity of its exercise becomes in a necessarily restricted and
artificial social organization like our own. a menace to the physical
and moral health of the community.

How then is this danger to be averted ? This sovereign power
applied to save instead of destroy the higher civilization, upon
the outer rim of which man seems now to stand, looking forward?
Undoubtedly the prevailing idea must be changed. The idea of
the barbarian, the savage, the physical man, must be replaced by
the idea of the new man, the man about to be civilized, the pro-
phet, if you please.

Superstitions die slowly, particularly those that encourage
self-indulgence. Consequently the rising civilization, in order to
rise, has to face and strangle the most deep-seated and deadly of
all superstitions — that of the necessity, or, at least the unavoid-
ability, of perverting the physical creative power, and the new
idea on this subject must be planted in the mind of the child, it
must grow with his growth, sink into his sub-consciousness, as it
were.

Heretofore this subject has, as a rule, been dealt with inade-
quately, if at all, in the home. Too often it has not been dealt

morlevI RENEWAL OF LIFE IN NATURE-STUDY 217

with at all, the youth being allowed to gather his knowledge and
shape his ideal of the conduct of life from chance and generally
harmful teachings. There is another idea slowly gathering force
today. In many homes the parents conscientiously fulfil the
duty of instructing the child as to the nature and control of these
powers. But this is not enough. All homes do not give this
instruction. Moreover, the need for general respect and change
of idea and ideal with regard to it is becoming more and more
apparent, the need that the current of thought which finally
becomes the overwhelming force in social life shall set towards
pure thinking and speaking and living in this matter.

This current of thought must be strengthened in as many
directions as possible, and since there is great value in its being
started in the mind of the child, to grow with his growth, to sink
into his sub-conscious mind, to work automatically as it were,
there is opportunity for the school to do a very important work in
getting the subject accepted, as it has already done in the study
of general physiology and in other directions. It is a task that
must undoubtedly fall upon the school in the future, the only
question being how and where to begin so as to accomplish the
most good and make the fewest mistakes.

One important step is to give the young mind a worthy con-
ception of the facts of the reproductive life ; to make it feel as well
as know that the creative power is the most wonderful as it is in
the abstract the most beautiful fact in nature, to be thought of
and at all times spoken of with respect ; to fasten in the child such
a sense of the dignity and beauty as well as the value of the
"mystery of life" as will influence his attitude to the subject later
when to this teaching may and should be added the new word of
science, as it has always been the word of the philosopher and of
the moralist, that man is superior to his physical cravings; that
he not only can but must for his own moral, mental and
physical best-being, exercise dominion over his appetites. At
least the seed of this conception of duty can be sown in child-
hood, and to an extent in the schools.

The advent of nature-study has suddenly opened a door to this
important work, the approach to which has hitherto seemed so
difficult, enabling the teacher easily to be a hitherto unattempted
work for society. The teacher should have a clear idea of the
end to be accomplished, and then seek the means best suited to

2 1 8 THE NA TURE-STUD Y KE VIE W [3 . 8-nov., 1907

reach that end. The end is two-fold; (1) to give the child a clear
straight forward, utterly clean conception of the origin of living
things, (2) to make him respect and control his own powers.

In the Primary School the teacher has a very limited field, being
able to do no more perhaps than to give in a general way, through
nature-study, some idea of the beauty of the mystery of life and
the fundamental necessity of the procreative power — to cause the
child to respect the subject in short. The best possible field for
this impersonal beginning work is perhaps the botany lessons.
Since the modern method of teaching botany begins with function
instead of structure the plant affords almost as good material as
the animal in this field — in some respects better, through its very
impersonality and beautiful material giving a certain poetic force
to the subject less easily obtainable in animal forms.

The first step should be to make the child love the plant, and
this is easily done by arousing in him a vivid sense that it too is
alive. It breathes, it feeds, it is beautiful, it has ways of accom-
plishing its ends. It has honey for the bees and butterflies, it
wears bright colors for the sake of being beautiful, and to entice
them. It reproduces itself in its seeds. The mystery of its
reproduction through the seed should be dwelt upon but in no
wise separated from its other functions. The renewal of life
should never be set apart as a thing by itself, as something pecu-
liar, different from the other phenomena of life. It should rank
in the child's mind as one of the fundamental, necessary, admira-
ble facts of physical existence, to this end much or little detail
being given according to the age and condition of the pupils.

Beyond the merest beginnings the teacher of the lower grades
can not go with safety, excepting to keep an eye on her flock and
by her attitude wherever the subject may happen in any form to
arise, to establish a standard of thought and of speech ; and by
personal, private help, caution, advice, instruction to needy
individuals, and wherever possible by assisting the parent to
understand and cooperate.

To do even this much the teacher herself needs to be thoroughly
educated in her subject. She must know where the road leads to
and something of its details before she can hope to lead others
successfully over it — or over even the beginning of it. Sound
teaching of the teachers is a very important first step in this mat-
ter.

MOKLEY

RENE U'AL OF L IFF IX X A TURK- S TUD Y 219

The superstition that this subject must be approached secretly
and as it were in the dark like some wrong thing is a superstition
which needs to be speedily laid to rest. The subject whenever
approached at all should be handled openly with a clean frankness
that admits of no wrong interpretation, arouses no unruly
elements and gratifies in a legitimate way the natural curiosity of
the child which otherwise may become morbid, feeding unwhole-
somely upon the imagination or seeking gratification from
unworthy instructors. This phase of the subject can be best
dealt with in the home, the teacher having little opportunity here
excepting through her power of assisting the parent.

While the work in the lower grades is necessarily very limited,
in the higher grades it becomes less so until finally in the upper
grades of the grammar school and particularly in the high school
the limitations are practically abolished, taking for granted
that the teacher is skilful in foreseeing and avoiding pitfalls.
Here is opportunity to do memorable and telling work. Here
preeminently the "biology class" if it exists or if not the botany or
physiology class can be made the medium of conveying most
precious truths. The age of the pupil is of the greatest assistance
not only because he is peculiarly susceptible to this side of life and
eager to understand it, but because he is at that place where the
broad generalizations, speculations, thoughts of the universal,
appeal to him with peculiar force. Now is the time to strengthen
the conceptions of a well-taught childhood, or to give a new and
powerful impression where early ones have been harmful or have
not existed. Now is the time to appeal to the sense of mystery,
poetry, chivalry, desire to know abstract truth which is stronger
in adolescence than at any other period. At this time can be
made impressions so strong that they must color the whole after-
thought of the pupil. But here the teacher needs skill, knowledge
and above all discreet sympathy with this unfolding life of the
man, the woman. He must be master of his subject, able to
handle it with a certainty that shall command respect and instil
into it a powerful sentiment which shall be devoid of sentimen-
tality.

Through nature-study the teacher should come as much as
possible into personal relations with the pupil. Field work is a
great help in this, gives opportunity for informal talks and sug-
gests diversions in one direction and another, so that where the

2 20 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 : 8-nov., 1907

opportunity presents itself naturally, as it surely will, the teacher
can elucidate the most important truths of the reproductive life
and become a valuable factor in inculcating the new ideal.

For instance, through the work in structure and function of
either plant or animal the idea of the reign of law can be strongly
impressed. From beginning to end nature-study should enforce
a consciousness of the reign of law, of the necessity of obedience,
of the immediate or remote consequences of disobedience.
Respect for law should be inculcated in unostentatious teachings
from the lowest primary to the highest high-school grade. A
sense of the beauty of law, of its beneficence, a vivid feeling that it
acts as a friend not as an enemy, should be a part of the treasure
of the heart as well as of the mind that the child takes into life
with him as a result of his school teachings. In this connection
the laws of heredity can be helpfully discussed, the value of this
mysterious force of inheritance and the value and duty of trans-
mitting to posterity strength instead of weakness. A sense of
responsibility to the future can be impressed on many young
minds even to the point of serving as help in time of need. As
the work unfolds and the interest increases the skilful teacher of
the higher grades can introduce ethical and moral problems con-
necting the physiological side of the subject with the social side.
And of course, in physiology as a subject the teacher should not
fail to handle clearly and as exhaustively as circumstances permit
the physiology of the reproductive life, here too connecting the
physical and ethical aspects of the subject.

Such teaching could not fail in time to create a powerful body
of thought in the right direction. In the beginning there might
be difficulties, though were the work conducted cautiously enough
in the lower grades and with wisdom in all, there ought to be little
opposition encountered ; and in the near future the school could
rank among the most efficient assistants in raising the moral tone
of the people on the subject of the reproductive life.

METHODS IN NATURE-STUDY

By ELLIOT R. DOWNING, Ph.D.
Northern State Normal School, Marquette, Mich.

"Enough of science and of art!
Close up those barren leaves.
Come forth and bring with you
A heait that watches and receives."

Nature-studv is not so much a new study in the curriculum as it
is a new method in pedagogy. The child comes to school with
his own interests, generated by the stimulating contact with his
environment, during a series of very impressionable years. He
has been living out of doors and the great busy world has been
crowding varied experiences upon him. He is filled with wonder
and question. All time has been playtime — a fascinating com-
panionship with "Nature the dear old nurse." From these very
real and delightful experiences the child comes to school, and
immediatelv all preconceived notions of values are discredited.
The outside world, so full of delights, is ignored, and the scope of
his development is limited by the covers of books. Nature-study
attempts to obviate this hiatus in methods. It demands that
books shall supplement not supplant experience.

"Books, 'tis a duU and endless strife,
Come, hear the woodland linnet.
How sweet his music! On my life,
There's more of wisdom in it.

"And hark! how blithe the throstle sings.
He, too, is no mere preacher.
Come forth into the light of things.
Let nature be your teacher."

First, then, the teacher must get out with the children into
their normal habitat. She must needs renew her interests and
rejuvenate her dulled senses. Often she must confess her ignor-
ance, for pupils may know more of the objects encountered than
the teacher. This is a consideration that deters many a teacher
from making a beginning, because she fears to endanger her pres-
tige. It will, howeve.-, establish much more intimate relations
between pupil and teacher if the latter will take this opportunity
to let the children instruct her. We have grown so accustomed

2 2 2 THE NA TU RE-STUD Y RE VIE W [3 : 8-nov., ,907

to the notion that teaching consists in imparting a certain definite
amount of knowledge that it is difficult to realize the teacher may-
still teach while ignorant of the facts involved. Information is
not the prime desideratum in nature-study. It is a spirit of
investigation and appreciation. Surely the teacher may lead the
pupils in these.

The field work in nature-study meets objection from the
parents, frequently, who feel that school time should not be
frittered away in running about out-of-doors. This is an objec-
tion that may best be met by avoiding it, until parents realize
that frequent recreation is an imperative need with the easily
fatigued nerve centers of the child, and that the fresh air work is
no loss but a distinct gain. The teacher may well afford to utilize
time after school, or even on Saturday to go out for the nature-
study rambles with her pupils. Nothing can quite take their
place. Nature-study will continue to be a prefunctory per-
formance until the teacher acquires the joy of tramping out-of-
doors.

Merely getting out, however, is not enough. A picnic is not
necessarily nature-study. The teacher needs to see to it that the
pupils accomplish some real work while out. This means careful
planning of the lesson and relating it to the year's course; a pre-
liminary survey of the route insures finding the things wanted.
Then the pupils must be held to the plan. Naturally interesting
things not foreseen will be encountered. The lesson plan may
not be too rigidly adhered to, yet elasticity must not degenerate
into aimlessness.

These ideal out-of-door lessons may not always or everywhere
be feasible. Winter will necessitate utilizing, in part at least,
material that may be kept and reared in the schoolroom. Possi-
bly city conditions may preclude all w< >rk with animals and plants
in their native haunts. Yet the out-door world is still the child's
world. The sky-line may be a silhoutte of buildings instead of
green hills, pavement may replace broad fields, and alleys the
country lanes; yet all this is a very real and interesting environ-
ment. The city child's experiences are quite unlike but just as
absorbing as those of the country-bred lad ; and it is these experi-
ences we are trying to make the stepping stones to education. We
may need to plan the work on a basis of industrial evolution
rather than with organic evolution in mind, yet the aims and

downing] METHODS IN NA TUKE-STUD Y 223

methods of procedure may be nearly identical. The sky, the air,
the surface features, the physical and chemical phenomena pre-
sented at every turn by commercial processes and the industrial
operations, present quite as varied if not quite as poetic an
environment as has the country child.

This out-of-door work with its variety of objects and consequent
multiplicity of stimuli assures complete sensory training — an end
we deem important. The teacher needs to intentionally widen
the scope of the work so that this varied stimulation shall be
achieved rather than pursue some narrow field only, where the
sensory stimuli are necessarily limited both in kind and intensity.
The child delights in handling things and the natural objects are
sure to provide his tactile end organs with all sorts of thrills.
How much of the language of mineralogy is in terms of the muscu-
lar sense. Herbs and fruits, as well as the common chemicals
handled in the simple experiments, provide a host of experiences
for his taste bulbs. The olfactory organs are constantly appealed
to by the delicate odors of flower and field, while bird notes will
tax the accuracy of ear to hear and of vocal organs to reproduce.
The eye acquires skill in measurement, too, as the familiar home
region is mapped or contours are traced. Then what a range
from the tiny particle in hand to the immensely great that is
infinitely distant! And what a wealth of color the rocks and
blossoms supply.

Drawing may well be correlated with the nature-study to culti-
vate appreciation of form and color. It is surprising what admir-
able results may be achieved by the very little people working
with water-colors. They belong to the impressionistic school,
but the adeptness they display in discerning and depicting form
and color is really surprising to an older bungler v ho has not tried
to acquire the art until mature years. It is a tempting digression
to point out that such training has its commercial values. Boys
are four times as apt to be color-blind as girls, thus imperilling our
lives by land and sea until women shall take men's places, too, as
locomotive engineers and pilots. This is not an isolated case but
a familiar one that points to the fact that sensory training has
large commercial values. Instances might readily be multiplied.

In a preceding article it has been suggested that such material
be selected for study as lends itself to problem form. The applica-
tion of the idea needs some discussion in considering methods.

224 THE A'A TU RE-STUD ¥ RE VIEW [3 : 8_NOv , .9o7

Concrete examples may serve our purpose best. Suppose the
work is on the trees of the neighborhood and the lesson for the day
is on the common oaks. The teacher might go with the pupils to
see various kinds of oaks, might point out the distinguishing fea-
tures of each while they take notes, make sketches and collect
leaves and fruits. This is an excellent method of procedure when
the aim is to impart a knowledge of the several species. If, how-
ever, we endeavor to train independent observation, the unknown
may be advantageously introduced. Let the trees be visited,
named, sketched and collections made, as before, but do not give
the distinguishing features. Let the pupils work that out for the
next day. Here, as in all the work, the students need to be forced
into independent observation.

This much is sufficient in the lower grades. Later, however,
in harmony with our changing aims, certain facts need to be
retained and utilized in working out conclusions. Imagine, again
that we are studying the children's pets, during some winter terms
when out-of-door work is largely impracticable. Squirrels,
rabbits, cats, dogs, pigeons, canaries or other vertebrates are
readily kept for weeks" in the schoolroom, or may be brought from
home daily as required. The little people will enjoy watching
how kitty, for example, eats, drinks, sleeps and plays. They will
have much to tell about their own kitties and will make keen
observations on the differences in behavior of the several animals
that are studied. Simple experiments are easily devised for
intermediate grades. Thus a piece of meat may be put in some
rather out of the way place, under the teacher's desk perhaps, and
a cat be admitted that has been kept without food for several
hours. All must keep still now and see how long she requires to
find it and how she behaves. Try the same experiment next day
with a dog and ask the children to state the results and significance
of their observations. In still later grades comparative structures
may be studied. The children have seen, in lower grades, that
both cat and dog gnaw a bone with their back teeth, while the
rabbit and squirrel gnaw the bark with their front teeth. They
will be keen to discover the differences in character and size of the
several sorts of teeth, the correlated differences in food, and to
think out, on the basis of their own observations, some funda-
mental notions of animal relationships.

Recall in the upper grades some additional things the children

downing] ME THODS IN NA TL rRE- STUDY 225

have observed: that kitty loves to sleep in a warm nook, evades
the cold, walks gingerly in the snow, treads softly on padded feet,
stalks her prey, springs upon it with quick leaps, eats deliberately.
Now let the children learn by reading of the habits of the lion,
tiger, puma — the great cat tribe of the tropics — and they will
speedily reach the conclusion that little pussy stands for a whole
family whose habits and structures, eminently fit them for a suc-
cessful struggle for existence. The dog, on the contrary, the
children can tell, loves a frolic in the snow, trails his prey by
scent and chases it down, his joyous bark drawing into the chase
all other dogs within hearing. He eats in gulps with ominous
growls. Next learn the habits of the wolf tribe and the pupils
realize that the dog is a stranger in their midst, a relative of the
wolves, hunting in packs over the dreary wastes of the cold north.
(The thoughtful pupil will some day demand adequate explana-
tion of this difference in geographical distribution.) These results
may be achieved by a succession of questions wrhich will in turn
generate more. Why are the dog's claws dull while kitty's are
sharp ? What is the color of the dog's eye and why? What is
the significance of the cat's slit-shaped pupil? Questions like
these will occur to the alert teacher and wrill serve all along to
arouse independent thinking, for they are not stereotyped problems
with the answers in the back of the book. The successful teacher
must needs be an expert cross-examiner. Questions are the guide
of the willing pupil, the goad of the stupid.

My illustration has sufficed now if it has suggested the method
by which facts are first observed, then remembered and woven
into the solution of problems. The drift of the whole will be
apparent to the person who understands current notions of evolu-
tion. When, in later years of study, the fossil evidence of the
common ancestry of the dog and cat families is encountered, it
will seem like the final chapter of an interesting continued story.

Permit brief illustration in another field. Suppose the nature-
study is elementary physiography. At first the children are
asked to see clearly the action of the common agencies, the rain
and wind, rivers, lakes, et cetera. They are not told it all, but
are led by careful questions to see it for themselves. Disintegra-
tion and construction are watched year by year, as river bank or
shore line gradually wears away or new deposits are made. That
these deposits are stratified occasional cuttings will show the

226 THE NA TURE-S TUD Y RE VIE W \ 3 : 8-nov., 1907

older pupils. Simultaneously the rocks of the neighborhood are
studied. The out-crops are visited, their strata noted and the
texture of the rock, its rounded grains, its component minerals.
Perhaps fossil remains are first collected as curios, then studied
with wonder, and finally their real significance thought out, when,
perhaps at high school, the whole series of contours and agencies,
shore deposits, sand strata, rock ledges, all known intimately by
virtue of early nature work, fall into their proper places and reveal
the story of one's home environment in terms of the world drama.
I have seen adult students fairly gasp in surprise and admiration
when the hills and valleys, rivers, shore lines and rock ledges with
which they had been on terms of intimacy for years, suddenly
arranged themselves into an intelligible whole, and revealed the
significance of the familiar landscape.

All will agree that the development of upright character is the
most important aim in nature-study, as in all education. It is
because of a firm faith in the ennobling influence of an intimacy
with nature that nature-study — the training by doing things
rather than reading of them, the laboratory method — has appealed
so hopefully to many educators. Yet this moral impetus is the
most difficult to impart. One may not gush with the avowed pur-
pose of transmitting some admiration for beauty and marvelous
order to the pupil, nor be ever pointing out the moral. Such
sentimentalism is promptly discounted and excellent intention
dubbed prudishness. The teacher herself must experience what
she would impart, must acquire a contagious enthusiasm. I do
not know how this may be accomplished except by getting in con-
tact with some one in whom the fire has been kindled. Read
William Hamilton Gibson's," Eye Spy" or "My Studio Neighbors,"
as models of accurate observation and artistic appreciation.
Study Mabel Osgood Wright's "Four-Footed Americans" as
illustrating her happy methods of putting facts together to assist
children in working' out conclusions, or get acquainted with
"Uncle John's" charming ways of suggestive instruction. Study
Metcalf's, "Organic Evolution," or Salisbury's "Physiography"
to tax your own more mature powers of inductive reasoning.
Browse through Burrough's or Thoreau's writings until you strike
passages that appeal to you and then study them. Read Van
Dyke's "God of the Open Air," Fiske's "Through Nature to
God," or Drummond's "Ascent of Man," for inspiring vistas into

downing] ME THODS IN NA TURE-S TUD V 227

the significance of the commonplace. Read the great nature
poets. Study the great nature pictures. Good reproductions of
Landseer, Bonheur or others, hung where the eye may study them
will help in the appreciation of the beauty about one. Put your-
self in touch with some one whose eyes have been unsealed, whose
lips have been touched with the coal from the altar. Above all
cultivate a first-hand knowledge of the out-of-doors. Here rear
your shrine and religiously keep tryst with the spirit of nature.
"One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can."

[Editor's Note— The first paper of this series by Dr. Downing was
published in this magazine for September, 1907, pages 162-167 of Vol. 3 ;
the second paper in October, pages 191-195]

THE QUESTION OF METHOD IN NATURE-STUDY

By MICHAEL F. GUYER
Professor of Zoology, University of Cincinnati

[Editor's Note. — The article on "Organization of Nature-Study Facts"
in the preceding (September) issue of this journal referred in a foot-note
on page 170 to the article reprinted below. Owing to the fact that the
editor of The Review had not read Professor Guyer's paper since Decem-
ber, 1905, he failed to recognize that the foot-note did not adequately
credit the outline on pages 170 and 171 as an adaptation and application
of Guyer's general outline reprinted below. In deference to the letters of
readers who have called attention to Guyer's paper and in order to make
that interesting paper available for many nature-study workers who have
not access to the original article, it is here reprinted from the Pedagogical
Seminary, Vol. 12, March, 1905. For permission to reprint, the editor of
The Review is indebted to President G. Stanley Hall, of Clark University.

In connection with this and the preceding paper on organization of
nature-study it will be interesting to re-read the article by Professor F.
M. McMurry, in the Educational Review, Vol. 27, pages 478-493, May,
1904. An abstract of this paper was published in The Nature-Study
Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan., 1905. Perhaps other readers can call atten-
tion to still earlier suggestions for organizing nature-study lessons.]

The practical question of what material to use is the one
which many teachers will say presents the greatest difficulty in
nature-study. The writer is thoroughly convinced, however,
that it is not so much a question of material as it is need of a
practical method. Teachers who have become disheartened in
the matter have done so largely because in first facing the ques-
tion of material, they have overlooked the more fundamental one
of method.

Any method, to be successful, must make the separate quali-
ties of a given object stand out to the perception of the child and
lead him to make his analysis and subsequent reconstruction in
an orderly manner. The problem becomes all the more intricate
if, as in the average city school, the teacher is dealing with large
classes, for then the formula for analysis must be adapted to fit
the weakling as well as the strong ; it must be a method of making
not only a particular pupil, but all, receive the successive empha-
sized impressions.

In the case of animals, for example, the first questions for the
teacher to decide are, just what is there to see about animals?
What can children be led to see ?

giver] THE QUESTION OF METHOD IN NATURE-STUDY 229

What questions do children ask about animals? They would
run about as follows: What does it do? How does it do it?
What's it good for? How does it work? In other words, a child
is interested in structure only as applied to action. He wants to
know the business of animals and how they attend to it.

It is true that an ordinary crawfish, in terms of structure, is an
astacoid macruran decapod, but never mind that. What the
child is interested in is that it eats, and what and how it eats.
He soon learns that it can protect itself, as is evidenced by the
wary way he goes about picking it up after being once nipped by
its pincers. He sees, too, that it is adjusted to its physical sur-
roundings, or in other words, that it is adapted to live largely in
the water. He can perceive all of these things and more without
even suspecting that it is an astacoid macruran decapod, and he
will have made considerable advancement in nature-study too.

The following simple outline is, I think, applicable in teaching,
from the primary school to the university, for it can be followed
out in just as small or as great detail as is desirable. In actual
practice it has worked very satisfactorily in a number of the
Cincinnati public schools. It is based entirely upon what animals
do.

Animals, from their own point of view, have two and only two
occupations in the world. These are, (1) to care for themselves,
and (2) to care for their offspring. Consequently, every import-
ant thing to be seen about an animal has to do with one or the
other of these pursuits. This is as true of internal as of external
structures; in the nature-study work, however, we confine our
attention for the most part to external features.

For taking care of themselves, animals must possess organs
(a) for procuring and transforming food, (b) for protecting them-
selves from enemies, and (c) for adapting themselves to surround-
ing physical conditions.

This outline will be more easily remembered if studied in
tabular form :

The Business of Animals

I . To Care for Themselves.

a. Food: finding, securing and transforming.

b. Self-protection.

c. Adjustment to physical surroundings.

II. To Care for their Offspring.

230 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 : 8-nov., .1907

Thus, the fundamental structures of animals, or plants for that
matter, are simply answers to the demands of their business as
stipulated in this table. Differences in structure and habits,
therefore, are due largely to different methods of meeting these
necessities of life. A given organ, once established, frequently
fulfills more than one of these functions, but the point is that
these and only these occupations concern the animal.

Much of the machinery of any animal is connected with the
prime necessity of obtaining food and drink. Unlike plants,
animals do not have their food at hand in soil or air. They must
seek for it. Thus have arisen the various types of legs, wings and
other organs of locomotion. Organs of locomotion alone would
be of little service to the animal, however, if it had nothing to
direct them; there must be a centre of control and this is pro-
vided ordinarily in the central nervous system. The animal
requires, moreover, some mechanism to give it knowledge of
objects at a distance, hence have arisen such structures as eyes
through which it receives information by means of light, ears for
sound, a nose for odors, etc. These organs may serve more than
one purpose, of course, when once established. They are, for
example, as necessary to herbivorous animals for escape from
being made food of as to aid them in finding their own food.

When an animal once confronts its food, however, it must still
meet the difficulty of getting it into its body. The food is solid,
perhaps, and must be subdivided, or it is alive and must be killed
before the animal can use it. There must be some organ or
organs, therefore, such as mouth, trunk, claws, hands or the like
to serve in this capacity, and still modifications of these organs
or additional organs to grind or cut the food into small bits that
it may be passed on into the body to be digested. Such organs
range from the commonplace to the grotesque and their nature
depends very largely upon the character of the food ; it requires
different machinery for killing and rending flesh from that which
must serve for plucking grass or for grinding grain.

Before leaving the subject of food it should be mentioned that
such structures as those for breathing and for the circulation of
the blood are concerned with nutrition no less certainly than the-
more evident organs of alimentation. The blood distributes
digested food to where it is needed in the different parts of the
body, and oxygen, which is obtained by breathing, must be

guvkr] THE QUESTION OE METHOD IX XATURE-STUDY 231

present before the food can be used by the tissues. With very
young pupils it would not be desirable, of course, to attempt to
lead out the more intricate topics of digestion or of other physio-
logical functions. It should be noted, however, that the whole
question of digestion, circulation, etc., can be brought out in a
very interesting manner for students of physiology by such an
interpretative method. The emphatically important thing,
whether in nature-study or physiology, is that the interpretation
be made by the child, not by the teacher. The latter should
simply guide by means of relevant questions.

It is needless to take the space for a detailed discussion of self-
protection and the remaining subjects of the synopsis, because
the many simple interpretations along these lines which children
may be led to make, are obvious. It may not be amiss, however,
to indicate briefly a few of the more general topics.

In defending themselves, some animals, of course, frequently
make use of the same weapons as serve them in securing their
food. Such structures, on the other hand, as the armor of the
turtle or of the armadillo, or the barbed spines of the porcupine,
are instances of organs more exclusively protective in nature.
Besides the many obvious examples of armor, of fleetness or of
strength which serve to protect various animals, much of the color
observable would come under the heading of protection from
enemies.

Many of the most evident adaptations of animals are concerned
perhaps, with adjustment to physical surroundings such as, for
example, the element in which the animal dwells. Thus, animals
such as fishes, which live in water, must have mechanisms for
breathing or for locomotion necessarily very different from those
which are terrestrial in habit. Again, flying forms require a type
of propelling organs different from that of forms which walk
upon the surface of the earth. It is this necessity for physical
adjustment, furthermore, that gives rise in cold climates, to the
furs, fleeces and downs to be met with in such profusion. Not
only structure, indeed, but habits as well, vary under different
climatic conditions. The hibernation practiced by some animals
is a good example of adjustment to climate by means of habit.
It will be found that man}' structures which may be looked upon
as coming under the heading of adjustment to physical surround-
ings, may also be considered from another aspect under the topic
of food.

232 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE IV {i ■ 8-NOv., iqo7

As examples of adaptations to meet the second business of
animals, viz., caring for offspring, may be mentioned the diverse
types of cocoons, nests or pouches for housing the newborn, the
manifold provisions for feeding the young, and various signals to
attract their attention.

Before leaving the synopsis, I wish to indicate, under each of
the headings, a number of general questions which will be service-
able in bringing out systematically the various phases of animal
life or structure. The questions are comparatively few in num-
ber and so simple that a novice can determine answers with some
degree of satisfaction, and yet, if one learns the complete answers
to them he knows practically all about a given animal that the
trained naturalist can ascertain.

The Business of an Animal

i. to care for self

a. Food.

1 . What does it eat ? Preferences ?

2 . Do its food habits make it a friend or an enemy of man ?

3. How does it get information about its food, i. e., what senses
has it ? How do they serve it ? Are they advantageously located for
the work they have to perform ?

4. How does it get to its food (i. c, how fitted for locomotion) ?

5 . What organs are helpful to it in eating ? How are they adapted
to its particular kind of food?

6. Does it snare or lure its prey? Is its color ever of advantage in
securing food?

7. Does it lay up a store of food, or merely eat what it needs each
day?

8. Does it work during the day or night ?

9 . How does it breathe ?

10. (Digestion, circulation, etc., — to be omitted for young children.)

11. C/., also b, 4.

b. Self -protection.

1. What are its enemies and how does it escape them (weapons,
armor, flight, etc.) ?

2 . Can its color or general appearance help it to escape in any way ?
Has it any means of signalling to its own kind? If so, does such

ability protect it in any way ?

3 . Has it a home or regular place of resort ?

4. Does it lead a solitary life, live in a community of its own kind,
or live with unrelated forms? If colonial, and if there is division of
labor in the colony, what part does each member perform ? Differ-
ences of the various members in structure and habits?

guyek] THE QUESTION OF METHOD IN NATURE-STUDY 233

5. To what' diseases is it subject? Can it convey these or other
diseases to man ?

c. Adjustment to Physical Surroundings.

1. Where does it live (geographical locality; ground; water;
leaves, roots, or stems of plants; etc.) ?

2 . How is it fitted in general form and in the special conformation
of its organs to its place of abode ? Cf., Locomotion and Sensation, 3
and 4 under 1, a.

3. How is it protected against extremes of temperature, moisture
or drought ? Where does it go in winter ? In foul weather ?

II. TO CARE FOR OFFSPRING

1. Is the animal an egg-laying form or are the young born alive?
If an egg-laying form, where and how does it deposit its eggs?

2. How are the young nourished? What provision is made for
their safety ? To what extent are they taught by their parents ? Cf.,
also 3 and 4 under 1, b.

3. How long does the animal live? What length of time are the
young in maturing ?

4. Do the young undergo a pronounced change in form (metamor-
phosis) while developing into the adult, or do they principally increase
in size?

5. Is there rivalry for mates (battle, song, parade of cleverness or
of color) ?

6. (What changes have come about during the ancestry of the
race ? Were they advantageous ? To be omitted for children) .

Plants
As regards plants, it is evident that the same general synopsis
will answer, for the business of plants is the same as that of animals.
While the same problems confront plants, the solutions of these
problems are largely by different processes.

The Business of Plants
i. to care for themselves

a. Food. Most plants (e. g., tree) get food from the air (hence leaves)
and earih (hence roots); consequently the adaptations of plants must
differ from those of animals.

1. No organs of locomotion ordinarily, because food surrounds
plant.

2. No organs of special sense (eyes, ears, etc.) because it is un-
necessary for plants to get information of objects at a distance.

3. Besides getting food-stuffs, the green plant must make its
own food, hence the presence of special machinery ("leaf-green") and
devices for arrangement of the same.

234 THE XATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 :8-nov., i9o7

4. Remaining topics (respiration, etc.) noted under animals apply-
to plants.

5. Plants, not green, nourished largely by organic foods.

6. Insectivorous plants capture insects, etc., for food, apparently.

b. Self-protection. Not active opposition or flight as in many ani-
mals, but passive defense against,

1. Attacks of animals or other plants. Met by
— Distasteful or poisonous substances.

— Armor (prickles, spines, thorns, hairs, etc.).

— Mimicry, possibly in a few.

— Utilization of allies such as insects, etc.

2 . Too much or too little water.

3 . Too much or too little light.

4. Extremes of temperature.

5 . Breaking by wind, water, etc.

6. Poisons in soil.

7. Competitors for favorable position. (The plant is often aided
in this struggle by the possession of long roots, ability to grow in
shade, etc.)

c. Adjustment to Physical Surroundings.

1. Advantage of greater absorbing surface in vast number of flat-
tened organs (foliage leaves), rather than solid compact top.

2. Similar advantage to plant in having many branched roots in-
stead of a single one for absorption and as a hold-fast.

3. The light relation is especially important, since without sunlight
green plants are unable to construct food from the gases of the
atmosphere and the substances in plant sap. Methods of growth,
therefore, are largely to enable plants to get best position with refer-
ence to light to do life-work.

(a) Plant stems. Two principal methods of development.

(1) Predominant plants of a region avoid too great shading
by elongation of stem = forest as extreme type.

Climbing and twining plants.

(2) Predominant plants, short-stemmed forms which crowd
each other beneath the soil = prairie as extreme type.

( Two "societies" — overgrowth and undergrowth — frequently
inhabit the same region) .

(b) Arrangement of leaves. Mat or carpet habits ; leaf mosaics;
rosettes; shape of leaves as modified by relation to one another on
tracts; size of leaf with reference to illumination, etc.

4. Other adjustments must be to heat, the pull of gravity, me-
chanical forces (as air and water), moisture, soil, electricity, etc.,
other phases of which have been included under the heading of self-
protection.

guykr] THE QUEST/ON OE .METHOD IN NA TOE E- STUDY 235

II. TO CARE FOR OFFSPRING

a. Propagation. Seed, slips, runners, etc.

b. Protection. Burrs, nuts, green fruit, etc.

c. Storage of food.

d. Provisions for distribution of seed or spores.

1 . By animals (fruits, burrs, hooks, nuts, etc.).

2. By wind (floats, wings, tumble-weed, etc.).

3. By water.

4. Other devices (plants which shoot off spores or seed, self-pro-
pelling devices, etc.).

Finally, if the parallel between the business of plants and the
business of animals is pursued still farther, it will be apparent that
almost all of the questions indicated for the study of animal life
are equally applicable to plant life.

ARE CHILDREN NATURALLY NATURALISTS?

By MAURICE A. BIGELOW
Teachers College, Columbia University

[Editor's Note. — It is certain that many readers will decidedly dis-
agree with statements made in this article. 'The writer hopes to get
from readers their frankest answers to the questions raised.]

For years we have heard the argument that nature-study and
high-school science should emphasize the biological, because
"children are naturally interested in living things and very little
in the lifeless." But is it true that the majority of young children
are spontaneously interested in study of living things, that they
are by nature naturalists? Are not their apparent interests
largely reflections or imitations of the interests of their elders?
Some illustrations will show the origin of these questions, which
must seem decidedly heretical to most teachers of nature-study
and biology.

Two children of my acquaintance have long been regarded by
myself and many others as remarkable examples of children's
spontaneous interest in nature-study. Especially have they
seemed to have a never-failing interest in keeping pets, rearing
insects, and carefully observing animals and plants. Recently I
have had an opportunity for getting more closely in touch with
the children themselves, and to my great surprise I have found
convincing evidence that very much of their apparent interest in
living things is not at all spontaneous ; but on the contrary, it is a
direct imitation of the interests of a parent. Many of their
nature-studies which I had taken to be as spontaneous as play
were nothing more or less than definite tasks set by the parent,
and the children showed plainly that they regarded them as tasks
easier but not far different from learning lessons in school.

Another case : I visited many times a fifth-grade class which
was intensely interested in study of birds. I never saw a nature-
study class reach such mountain tops of enthusiasm, and it seemed
certain that it was an interest which would be carried awav from
school. Summer passed, and in September the new teacher, at
my suggestion, instructed the pupils to write me letters describing
any bird studies made during their vacation in the country. Two

bigblow] ARE CHILDREN NATURALISTS 237

or three of the forty pupils had made some observations on birds
which came near them, but the majority confessed that they did
not remember having seen "any birds except robins and black-
birds and crows." Many wrote that "there were so many
interesting things to do that there was no time to study brids."
In general, the result was just what might be expected in any
other school subject; namely, definite interest so long as a
teacher guided and stimulated. There was no evidence that
"nature-study is as natural as play."

Another case: A small boy at a country home manifested
intense interest in my work of collecting specimens, and daily
brought me great quantities of plants, insects, stones, etc. I felt
sure that here was natural interest, but after my departure his
interest vanished; so much so that six months later when I
wrote asking him to collect some grasshoppers, for which I
promised one dollar, it was necessary for his elder sister to set him
the definite task of collecting. One hour of work was necessary.
I am convinced that the boy was not interested naturally in the
animals and plants, but that he was simply interested in me and
in the novel v> ork I was doing.

These, and numerous similar examples which have come to my
attention in recent years have raised in my mind the question
which stands at the heading of this article. They have led me to
think back to my own boyhood and to re-interpret some of my
own experiences, so that I now doubt whether I was naturally
interested in the study of living things more than in hundreds of
lifeless things. Of course, as an active boy, I was interested in
catching butterflies and other animals; but so does my favorite
terrier catch moving animals for the pure joy of action, not be-
cause she has any spontaneous interest in study of living things.
I collected quantities of plant and animal specimens, and why?
As I now see it, not because I was really interested in definite
knowledge concerning the things collected, not because of an
instinctive tendency towards a naturalist's outlook to nature ; but
frankly, I must confers that I now doubt whether my motive was
other than the joy of getting together a bigger and better collec-
tion than the other fellows possessed, and especially I was stimu-
lated by the intense pleasure derived from showing my collections
to older people. Some of my naturalist friends have made to me
the same confessions, and so I must wonder whether the collecting

238 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW f3:8-Nov., 1907

habit means anything in connection with interest in nature-study.
If so, why do boys collect postage stamps? The answer seems to
be that stamps offer for many boys the best opportunity for the
competition so dear to a boy's heart.

Many writers on nature-study have told us of toads and snakes
and lizards found in small boy's pockets, and have thought they
saw natural interest in nature. But how about those lifeless and
unnatural objects found in the same pockets? I fail to see here
anything more than the play characteristic of young animals.
Young dogs are fond of collecting and a puppy's playground with
its miscellaneous assortment of bones, old shoes, sticks, leaves,
tin-cans, and especially pieces of cord is equivalent to the small
boy's pockets.

Aside from the collecting habit, we are often told that most
very young children naturally have a sympathetic relation with
animals. I cannot believe this true. I have known certain small
boys who would not throw a stone to crush a toad; but it was
simply because the old farmer next door had said that "killing a
toad would make the cows give bloody milk." I well remember
that it was legitimate for these boys to kill frogs, because these
animals did not so affect cows. As sehool-boys we had "sympa-
thetic interest" which kept us from stepping on earthworms,
because teacher said that "nice" boys did not do so. We did not
openly "whip out" bumblebee nests, because the owner of the
land next to the school said that "these bees made clover seed,"
and that he would spank any boy who killed bumblebees. But
somehow our "sympathetic interest" was not naturally or peda-
gogically extended to harmless garter-snakes, rabbits, squirrels
and some other animals which we hunted by methods both fair
and foul. Is not this the experience of the typical boy? Where
is the evidence of an innate sympathetic interest which may later
develop into the naturalist's outlook? Certainly not in the
average small boy. It must strike the fair-minded observer that
the characteristic ethical and esthetic attitude of a naturalist is in
most cases a later development of an interpretation of nature
which, like poetry and philosophy, is the product of mature
minds.

And now one point with regard to stimulated interest in nature-
stud}'. Even here there is not a marked tendency in favor of
living materials. It is largely a question of the knowledge and

■nmow] ARE CHIL1>RTLN NATURALISTS 239

attitude of the teacher. A mechanical toy or a physical experi-
ment will attract as strong and lasting attention as will a jumping
insect or a wriggling worm, provided — and here is the heart of
the whole matter — provided that there is action, "something
doing." There are teachers who are extremely successful with
biological materials; but who can get as much enthusiasm
into lessons on magnets and mechanical toys as from beautiful
butterflies, agile grasshoppers, and record-breaking amphibian
jumpers. The child, again like a young puppy, has interest
aroused by action, and it is only in so far as inactivity seems
characteristic of certain things in the lifeless world that the child
distinguishes between the living and the lifeless.

And what is the bearing of all the above on the present-day
problems of nature-study? If children are not as a rule naturally
inclined to be naturalists, is our nature-study on the wrong basis?
Not at all. The problem has nothing to do with the educational
value of stimulated interest in nature ; but whatever part of our
nature-study has been built entirely on the assumption that
children are naturally naturalists must be revised. Especially
must we revise by giving more attention to the physical side of
nature-study, which has practical applications in the every-day
life of the average citizen more important than much of our
biological nature-study. We have long recognized this to be true,
but we have continued to neglect the lifeless nature because we
accepted without question the dictum that most children are
naturally inclined to be naturalists. Is it true ?

INACCURATE NATURE BOOKS

In Everybody's Magazine for June, President Roosevelt, as reported by-
Edward B. Clark, expresses his indignation that, after all that has been
said of their inaccuracies, the books of W. J. Long should continue to be
used in schools for supplemental reading.

After exposing some of Mr. Long's errors, Mr. Roosevelt remarks : "The
preservation of the useful and beautiful animal and bird life of the country
depends largely upon creating in the young an interest in the life of the
woods and fields. If the child mind is fed with stories that are false to
nature, the children will go to the haunts of the animal only to meet with
disappointment. The result will be disbelief, and the death of interest.
The men who misinterpret nature and replace fact with fiction, undo the
work of those who in the love of nature interpret it aright . ' '

Is it the undeniable literary charm of Long's books, or the dearth of
desirable nature stories, or the activity of his publishers which, in spite of
their proved perniciousness, still keeps them on teachers' lists?

In the April [1907] number of The Nature-Study Review, a writer
speaks of the "fascinating tales of the wilderness, as told by Long, and the
delightful life-histories of Wabbles the Song Sparrow and Bismark the red
squirrel as recorded by Waljton the hermit of Gloucester," and couples them
with the "Works of Burroughs and Thoreau," a grouping which we believe
will make truth-loving 'Oom John' envy Thoreau his resting-place in
Concord's churchyard.

Discussion of this subject with one of the leading educators of the coun-
try brought from him the surprising opinion that in the city, at least, it is
of more importance that nature books used in supplemental reading should
be interesting than that they should be accurate; it being argued that the
immediate object of such reading is to arouse the child's curiosity.

Admitting that few children in our city schools have an opportunitv to
test the accuracy of the information they receive in regard to animal life, is
it desirable that they be given as true that which is known to be false
merely because it is interesting ?

Nature-study is designed not only to make the child familiar with the
commoner forms of life, but also so to train his powers of observation that
he will see more widely and more accurately; and no form of nature-study
which has not science, and hence truth, for its foundation can be expected
to endure. [Editorial in June Bird-Lore.]

The paragraph above copied from The Xature-Study Review occurs
in an article on "Xature-Study as an Education," by Mary P. Anderson,
and reads as follows (page 1 03) :

"During the confusion in regard to the real province of nature-study, it
was the privilege of anyone to enter the game and pin a tail on the donkey.
The result was incongrous and ludicrous, for the tails were many and varied
and some did not even hit the donkey. There was the primitive life

INACCURATE X A TURK BOOKS 241

literature including the marvelous "Story of Ab," there were Kipling's
"jungle Stories" and the often beautiful and inspiring stories of Thomp-
son-Seton; there were the fascinating tales of the wilderness as told by
Long, and the delightful life-histories of Wabbles the song-sparrow and
Bismark the red squirrel as recorded by Walton the hermit of Gloucester;
all these were pinned to the curtain together with the works of Burroughs
and Thoreau and the great nature-poems of the ages."

It seem clear that the reviewer failed to read the entire paragraph
criticized. Obviously Miss Anderson did not recommend coupling in
nature-study the books mentioned.

The following extracts from a book-review published in The Independent
for October 24, 1907, give another estimate of two recent books which
emphasize the interpretation of the human side of animal life.

"The Haunters of the Silences," by C. G. D. Roberst, is like its com-
panion volumes, "The Kindred of the Wild" and "Watchers of the Trails,"
except in the selections of animals as subjects of sketches. The stories
are said to be in line with accurate natural history. However, it is not
concerning questions of observed facts so much as the interpretations that
scientific men will have a quarrel with the author of this and with those of
similar books. The fundamental question is whether wild animals think
and reason and have emotions and in still other ways closely resemble the
psychologic life of the human species. The author emphatically reaffirms
his belief that "the actions of animals are governed not only by instinct,
but also, in varying degree, by processes essentially akin to those of human
reason." But something akin to human reason would hardly be sufficient
for many of the situations in this book, for the author's animals do things
which only the human mind does. To take one of numerous examples:
"As soon as she [the old bear] realized that her strength was failing, she
was seized with fear. What would become of the cub if she were killed?"
Here the interpretation involves not only human reason in a highly com-
plicated form, but also knowledge of death and its consequences. We may
be ready to admit the general proposition that some animals show some
similarity to human mental processes, but before we can accept such a
reading as the above we must be ready to admit that animals completely
equal the human mind in some complicated process. We must also have
some proof of how the old bear learned the symptoms of approaching
death and on what basis of previous experience she reasoned out the proba-
ble consequences to her helpless offspring. When an author plunges so
far into the realm of imagination in reading human life into animal life,
can we wonder that reputable psychologists who have critically studied
animals insist that such writings are essentially fiction ? Obviously they
are not contributions to science. True the book contains plenty of well
known facts; but it is primarily a book of interpretations and in making
these the free play of a good imagination has woven the facts into the fic-
tions of the "human side" of animal life.

Another similar book recently published is "Wayeeses, the White Wolf,"
by W. J. Long. It is an extract from "Northern Trails." The accuracy

242 THE A 'A TURE-S Tl 7) Y R t VIE IV [3 : 8_NOv. , .907

of certain statements have been called in question ; but accepting the
statements as they stand, we must recognize that the author in his charac-
teristic style has read human life into his animal heroes. The remarks
above apply here also.

In conclusion, the criticisms above must not be taken as meaning con-
demnation of such books. The reviewer, who writes from the standpoint
of a critical man of science, believes that such animal fiction has an
important place, not in science, but in literature. The moral value of
such books is great, but they should be read with the spirit and the under-
standing which even children soon learn to apply to ordinary fiction.

THE AMERICAN NATURE-STUDY SOCIETY

The Organization Committee has voted to call a meeting of
all persons interested in the formation of the Nature-Study
Society, to be held at the University of Chicago, on Thursday,
January 2nd. The main purpose of that meeting will be the
discussion of plans for organization and for future work of the
Society. Fuller details will be given in the next issue of The
Review. That issue will also contain the proposed constitu-
tion for the Society and the nominations suggested by the
Organizing Committee. One article of the proposed constitu-
tion provides that nominations shall be made annually by the
Council (consisting of the usual officers and ten or more direct-
ors), and also that any name receiving the nomination of fifty
members shall be added to the list of nominations. This will
insure proper representation for State and local branches of the
Society. The proposed constitution also provides that mem-
bers not able to attend meetings shall have the right to vote by
mail.

The meeting of the American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science will be held at the University of Chicago in
the week beginning December 30th. A circular giving full
information concerning hotels, railroad rates (practically two
cents per mile each way), and meetings of the various scientific
societies may be obtained from Dr. L. O. Howard, Permanent
Secretary of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, Washington, D. C.

M. A. Bigelow,
Secretary of Organizing Committee.

NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE NOTES

[Editor's Xote — This department will be conducted by Chester A.
Mathewson, of the High School of Commerce, New York City. Notes
and suggestions may be sent to him in care of the editor of The Review.]

Nature in Literature. It is proposed that for the year 1908 a page be
reserved for quotations from the best and greatest nature literature.
There are many good things in this line which we forget because we rarely
see them in print. Readers are requested to make suggestions regarding
selections. As far as possible send accurate copy from original editions
and give full references. No quotation may exceed 300 words. We prefer
the short ones. Please make a memorandum of this note so that you will
not forget to send your own selections.

M. A. B.

Cotton Boll Weevil. A circular issued this month by the Government
cites an important step in the control of the cotton boll weevil. Experi-
mental tests have demonstrated that if the cotton plants are uprooted and
burned during the early fall, the weevils fail to appear the following spring.
This destruction stops the development of weevils that would normally
hibernate successfully, and reduces many fold the number of weevils that
would otherwise emerge in the Spring to damage the cotton. Further-
more, the clearing of the field in the fall makes fall plowing possible, thus
reducing still further the number of places for shelter left for the ubiquitous
weevil.

The Rat is characterized in a recent circular from the Department of
Agriculture as the worst mammalian pest in existence. The common
brown or Norway rat reached this country in 1775 and ever since has been
levying heavy tribute for its maintenance, the average cost of the grain
consumed by every rat being about fifty cents per year. They destroy not
only food, but curtains, carpets, silks and woolens, kid gloves and leather
goods of all sorts. They gnaw through lead pipes, eat insulation from
electric wires, and gnaw at the foundations of buildings, thus causing
indirectly many millions of dollars damage.

The chief obstacle to their extermination is their prolificness. A single
pair breeding without check and without losses by death would be repre-
sented in about three years by 20,000,000 individuals. Various sporadic
attempts have been made to check the ravages of these rodents, but so far
no adequate means of effectively combatting them has been devised.
Cooperative effort of an entire community is the only means that has
accomplished much thus far.

"How to Study the Animals at the Zoological Garden" is the title of a use-
ful pamphlet written by Professor M. F. Guyer of the University of Cincin-
nati. It contains definite suggestions designed to show the teacher how he
may get some real results from the visits of classes to a zoological park.
Too often such visits, owing to the lack of a definite aim and method, are

244 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE I 'IE W [3 :8-m,v, ,Qo7

quite profitless to the class which spends its time in an aimless and cursory-
examination of the collections of animals.

Hybrid Mints. The Plant World for June states that a French botanist,
Malvinand, has made a special study of the hybrid mints found in his
country. The results show that these plants hybridize constantly, crosses
being found in great numbers. These hybrids however, are quite incapa-
ble of perpetuating themselves as new races, for the results of any single
cross survive for only a few generations.

Bugs and Bank Panics. In a recent address, President William Dutcher
of the National Association of Audubon Societies made the statement that
"bugs cost more than a panic." Insect pests destroy $800,000,000 of the
nation's agricultural wealth annually. The proper protection of birds
which feed on such pests would save to the country an amount equal to the
entire capitalization of its national banks. Mr. Dutcher called attention
to the fact that if a million or more dollars are lost through the mismanage-
ment of a bank or other fiduciary institution, it creates a wave of protest
throughout the country; yet the enormous loss mentioned above creates
no comment because the public does not realize what is going on.

The rate of decrease in the number of birds in the United States is very
high, not to say alarming. Statistical studies show that at the present
time the number of birds is forty percent, less than it was fifteen years ago.
The highest percentage of slaughter is recorded in Florida where the
decrease has been seventy percent, in fifteen years.

Dwarf Fruit Trees. In the Garden Magazineior October is an account of a
recent and striking advance in horticulture in the production of fruit on
dwarf trees. By the use of these trees fifty may be grown in the space
ordinarily allotted to one. The advantages of the dwarf are (1) they
require much less room than standards, thus enabling one to grow all the
different kinds in a back yard; (2) they come into bearing from two to five
years earlier than standards, often bearing a crop worth considering the
second or third year; (3) one can care for them much more conveniently
and thoroughly, thus avoiding insect pests; (4) if they are not put close
together, they will not shade the ground too much for strawberries and
other vegetables.

Dwarf apples are budded on a small-fruited, wild European apple called
the paradise. Dwarf pears are budded on quince stocks. There are also
dwarf peaches, plums, etc., the best method for producing which has not
as yet been fully worked out .

A New Window Garden. "I have a new sort of window garden in my
office. I am experimenting with common things to see how they will do.
Thus far I have had good results. I have planted the following: Common
asparagus which is now between five and six feet high and in full
bloom. Tiger-lilies that are as vigorous as any I ever saw out of doors.
These are over a foot high. I think they will be in blossom in a month or
less. Blood-root which is about ready to blossom. Jacob's ladder which
is a mass of leaves at present. A strawberry plant and a few ferns. These
have been planted about a month. I dug them up late in the autumn and

NA TURE- S TUD Y A ND SCIENCE NO TES 245

put them in a cool place in the cellar where they kept moist. This is only
a suggestion of the possibilities along this line as to the variety of common
things that could be utilized for a school garden in winter at a small ex-
pense." [From a letter by Supt. L. A. Hatch, DeKalb, 111., Feb. 2, 1907.]

Health Rules for Children. "Responsibility of Teachers for the Health
of their Children," is the title of a recent number of the Hampton Leaflets.
It contains a brief and practical summary of the points which every teacher
should have in mind if she wishes to safeguard the health of young children.
The following are examples of the rules for school children : Do not put
pencils, money, pins or anything into the mouth except food and drink.
Do not swap apple cores, candy, chewing gum, half eaten food, whistles,
bean blowers or anything that is put into the mouth.

Time spent in the care of the body brings quick and great returns. The
instruction in regard to health which a teacher can give her pupils secures
to them that strength and ability to apply their forces, without which all
other teaching falls far short of its aim.

Ether and Strawberries. A French experimenter has shown that straw-
berry plants subjected to ether before flowering will flower earlier and bear
more fruit. It is well known that ether will force certain greenhouse
plants into forming flowers early.

Agricultural Aspect of Primary Education. "Nature-study and elemen-
tarv agriculture are subjects which must be taught in harmonious relation-
ship to systematically encourage the habit of accurate observation — to
vitalize the mental and reasoning powers of the child. All animate nature
appeals to children when directed to it in a sympathetic and attractive
form. By this early awakening we stimulate and bring into existence the
child's love for country life and its avocations. Shakespeare reminds us
there are "tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones,
and good in everything." In your hands lies the power to create a lasting
public sentiment and respect for farming operations, and thus become an
unseen influence in our national prosperity. Professor C. Lloyd Morgan,
the principal of University College, Bristol, stated in a recent paper on
"Xature-study in Elementary Education": — "I am so fully convinced of
the supreme importance of training the faculties of observation and the
habit of sensory alertness in the early plastic and impressionable period of
childhood — I hold so strongly the belief in the desirability of cultivating
the sensory memory and storing the mind with faithful images of natural
objects and scenes — that I am disposed to claim for nature-study a fore-
most place in the early stages of the education of all." What are we to
understand by nature-study ? "A process by which simple natural objects
acquire meaning." We may assuredly assume that nature-study is the
outcome of object teaching, the gradual growth of mental faculty, and the
displacement of the old and detestable, mechanical memory method. It
directs a child's mind towards the importance of the instructive love and
study of nature. The principle of utility is effectually insinuated at this
stage, and lends strength to a subsequent feeling of contentment with out-
door studies and pursuits.

2 46 THE A A TUKE-STUD V RE VIE IV [s . 8-nov., .907

Nature-study should not be associated with the systematic teaching of
agriculture beyond the understanding of basic facts and principles of an
elementary character. These govern and control agriculture. Sub-
jects may be selected for nature-study which have direct bearing on the
everyday life and occupations of a farmer. Fruit trees, vegetables, food
plants, the injurious or beneficial insects and birds, the domestic animals,
the seasons, can all be drawn upon. Bailey, states "Every subject in
which men are interested can be put into pedagogic form, and be a means
of training the mind."

It is not desirable or intended to teach the various operations associated
with agriculture in our public schools. The aim is to interest the child in
subjects intimately connected with daily home and farm life, to direct the
child's mind to them attractively, to lay the foundation of future training
either on the farm or in the agricultural college, to unfold natural science
and demonstrate its usefulness in its later application to the land, to super-
sede the distasteful and wearisome burdens of antiquated methods on the
farm. The affairs of common life are now so intermixed with applied
science that our teachers in country schools should in the best interests of
their pupils be in constant and practical sympathy with this form of teach-
ing." [Notes from an address by H. W. Potts, Principal of the Hawkesbury
Agricultural College, Australia.]

Bumble-Bees for Phillipines. A consignment of these insects has been
sent by the Department of Agriculture. They are needed to pollinate the
red clover which is being introduced.

New Bird Reservations. In August, President Roosevelt ordered a new
reservation for protection of native birds at the mouths of the Mississippi.
[Bird-Lore.]

Starlings. In Bird-Lore for October our new bird citizen, the European
Starling,, receives much attention from bird students, who are noting with
concern its rapid spread from the original point of introduction in Xew
York City. Already the bird is believed to be beyond control, and the
question arises whether we have not here another English-Sparrow problem
on our hands.

Equine and Canine Meat. There were slaughtered and consumed in
Germany during the year 1906, 182,000 horses and 7,000 dogs. In Saxony
alone, which embraces one-thirty-sixth of the area, and one-thirteenth of
the population of the Empire, 12,92 2 horses and 3,736 dogs were butchered.
These numbers represent the animals merely that passed official inspection.
There is an enormous amount of illegal, unregistered slaughtering being
carried on. The traffic is on the increase. The 182,000 horses slaughtered
in 1906, represented an increase over 1905 of 20,000, and over 1904 of
47.000. The increase in the consumption of dogs is correspondingly rapid.
The German press gives full publicity to the traffic. Throughout the
Empire, especially in the large cities, the newspapers advertise horseflesh
delicacies ( ?) as freely as they do the old-fashioned delicatessen. Dog- flesh
is not quite so widely advertised, although it is not wholly neglected by the
clever advertiser's art. [Good Health.]

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS

Vol. 3 DECEMBER, 1907 No. 9

THE NATURE-STUDY POINT OF VIEW IN TEACHING

AGRICULTURE

By L. H. BAILEY
Cornell University

A fundamental necessity to successful living is to be in sym-
pathy with the nature-environment in which one is placed. This
sympathy is born of good knowledge of the objects and phenom-
ena in the environment. The process of acquiring this know-
ledge and of arriving at this sympathy is now popularly called

nature-study.

The nature-study process and point of view should be a part of
the work of all schools, because schools train persons to live. Par-
ticularlv should it be a part of rural schools, because the nature-
environment is the controlling condition for all persons who live
on the land. There is no effective living in the open country
unless the mind is sensitive to the objects and phenomena of the
open country; and no thoroughly good farming is possible with-
out this same knowledge and outlook. Good farmers are good
naturalists.

For many vears it has been one of the purposes of the College of
Agriculture in Xew York to point the way to this nature-sym-
pathy ; and inasmuch as this nature-sympathy is fundamental to all
good farming, it was conceived that the first duty of any move-
ment was to lend the effort to the establishing of an intelligent
interest in the whole environment — to knowledge of fields and
weather, trees, birds, fish, frogs, soils, domestic animals. It
would be incorrect to begin first with the specific agricultural
phases of the environment, for the agricultural phase (as any
other special phase) needs a foundation and a base : it is only one
part of a point of view. Moreover, to begin with a discussion of

248 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE IV [3 . 9_DEC., I9o7

the so-called "useful" or "practical" objects, as many advise,
would be to teach falsely, for, as these objects are only part of the
environment, to single them out and neglect the other subjects
would result in a partial and untrue outlook to nature; in fact, it
is just this partial and prejudiced outlook that we need to correct.

In our own work, we have always had in view the agricultural
aim or application. We should have been glad if there had been
sufficient nature-study sentiment to have enabled us to confine
ourselves to the agricultural aim; but this sentiment had to be
created or quickened, and we have tried to contribute our part
toward accomplishing this result. At first it was impossible to
secure much hearing for the agricultural subjects. Year by year
such hearing has been more readily given, and the work has been
turned in this direction as rapidly as the conditions would admit,
for it is the special mission of an agricultural college to extend the
agricultural applications of nature-study. In later years the con-
tent of the work has had very direct relation to farm-life ques-
tions. The time has now come, we think, when we can devote
practically all our energies to this application; and we therefore
discontinue the Junior Naturalist Monthly and issue the Cornell
Rural School Leaflet. It is the purpose of this Leaflet to aid the
teacher in the rural school to work out the practical daily problem
of teaching agricultural subjects.

In doing this, we merely confine ourselves to our more special
field. The general nature-study outlook is fundamental, and we
shall continue to emphasize it ; but we feel that the appreciation
of this outlook is now so well established as to allow us to special-
ize. The State Education Department has issued syllabi for
agriculture and nature-study ; we desire to be useful in applying
them to the conditions and needs of country life. Schools here
and there are ready for agricultural work : we want to help.

In making these statements we have it in mind that the com-
mon schools do not teach trades and professions. We do not
approach the subject primarily from an occupational point of
view, but from the educational and spiritual; that is, the man
should know his work and his environment. The mere giving of
information about agi'icultural objects and practices can have
very little good result with children. The spirit is worth more
than the letter. Some of the hard and dry tracts on farming
would only add one more task to the teacher and the pupil if they

bailey] POINT OF VIEW IN AGRICULTURE 249

were introduced to the school, making the new subject in time as
distasteful as arithmetic and grammar often are. In this new
agricultural work we need to be exceedingly careful that we do
not go too far, and that we do not lose our sense of relationships
and values. Introducing the word agriculture into the scheme of
studies means very little; what is taught, and particularly how it
is taught, is of the greatest moment. We hope that no country-
life teaching will be so narrow as to put only technical farm sub-
jects before the pupil.

We need also to be careful not to introduce subjects merely
because practical grown-up farmers think that the subjects are
useful and therefore should be taught. Farming is one thing and
teaching is another. What appeals to the man may not appeal
to the child. What is most useful to the man may or may not be
most useful in training the mind of a pupil in school. The
teacher, as well as the farmer, must always be consulted in respect
to the content and the method of teaching agricultural subjects.
We must always be alert to see that the work has living interest
to the pupil, rather than to grown-ups, and to be on guard that it
does not become lifeless. Probably the greatest mistake that any
teacher makes is in supposing that what is interesting to him is
therefore interesting to his pupils.

All agricultural subjects must be taught by the nature-study
method, which is: to see accurately; to reason correctly from 1
what is seen; to establish a bond of sympathy with the object or \
phenomenon that is studied. One cannot see accurately unless
one has the object itself. If the pupil studies corn, he should
have corn in his hands and he should make his own observations
and draw his own conclusions ; if he studies cows, he should make
his observations on cows and not on what some one has said about
cows. So far as possible, all nature-study work should be con-
ducted in the open, where the objects are. If specimens are
needed, let the pupils collect them. See that observations are
made on the crops in the field as well as on the specimens.
Nature-study is an out-door process : the schoolroom should be
merely an adjunct to the out-of-doors, rather than the out-of-
doors an adjunct to the schoolroom, as it is at present.

A laboratory of living things is a necessary part of the best
nature-study work. It is customary to call this laboratory a
school-garden. We need to distinguish three types of school-

250 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE IV [z : 9-DEC., ,9o7

garden: (1) The ornamented or planted grounds; this should
be a part of every school enterprise, for the premises should be
attractive to pupils and they should stand as an example in the
community. (2) The formal plat-garden, in which a variety of
plants is grown and the pupils are taught the usual handicraft;
this is the prevailing kind of school-gardening. (3) The pro-
blem-garden, in which certain specific questions are to be studied,
in much the spirit that problems are studied in the indoor labora-
tories; these are little known at present, but their number will
increase as school work develops in efficiency; in rural districts,
for example, such direct problems as the rust of beans, the blight
of potatoes, the testing of varieties of oats, the study of species of
grasses, the observation of effect of fertilizers, may well be under-
taken when conditions are favorable, and it will matter very little
whether the area has the ordinary "garden" appearance. In
time, ample grounds will be as much a part of a school as the
buildings or seats now are. Some of the school-gardening work
may be done at the homes of the pupils, and in many cases this is
the only kind that is now possible ; but the farther removed the
laboratory the less direct the teaching.

To introduce agriculture into any elementary rural school it is
first necessary to have a willing teacher. The trustees should be
able to settle this point. The second step is to begin to study the
commonest and most available object concerning which the
teacher has any kind of knowledge. The third step is to begin to
connect or organize these observations into a method or system.
This simple beginning made, the work ought to grow. It may or
may not be necessary to organize a special class in agriculture;
the geography, arithmetic, reading, manual training, nature-study
and other work may be modified or re-directed. It is possible to
teach the state elementary syllabus in such a way as to give a good
agricultural training.

In the high school, the teacher should be well trained in some
special line of science; and if he has had a course in a college of
agriculture he should be much better adapted to the work. Here
the teaching may partake somewhat more of the laboratory
method, although it is possible that our insistence on formal
laboratory work in both schools and colleges has been carried too
far. In the high school, a separate and special class in agriculture

bailey] POINT OF VIEW IN AGRICULTURE 251

would better be organized; and the high school syllabus of the
State Education Department provides for this.

In all agricultural work in the schools of the State, the College
of Agriculture of Cornell University desires to render all the aid it
can. Correspondence is invited on the agricultural questions
involved. In special cases an officer of the College may be sent
to give advice on the technical agricultural phases of the teaching.
Considerable literature in the publications of the College is now
available and will be sent on application.

In many districts the sentiment for agricultural work in the
schools will develop very slowly. Usually, however, there is one
person in the community who is alive to the importance of these
new questions. If this person has tact and persistence, he ought
to be able to get something started. Here is an opportunity for
the young farmer to exert influence and to develop leadership.
He should not be impatient if results seem to come slowly. The
work is new; it is best that it grow slowly and quietly and prove
itself as it goes. Through the grange, reading-club, fruit-growers'
society, creamery association, or other organzation the sentiment
may be encouraged and formulated ; a teacher may also be secured
who is in sympathy with making the school a real expression of
the affairs of the community; the school premises may be put in
order and made effective ; now and then the pupils may be taken
to good farms and be given instruction by the farmer himself;
good farmers may be called to the schoolhouse now and then to
explain how they raise potatoes or produce good milk. A very
small start will grow by accretion if the persons who are interested
in it do not lose heart, and in five vears everyone will be astonished
at the progress that has been made. [Prefatory note, Cornell
Rural School Leaflet, Vol. I, No. r, Sept., 1907.]

THE CRITERIA OF SELECTION OF MATERIAL FOR THE
TEACHING OF NATURE-STUDY AND GEOGRAPHY

By OTIS W. CALDWELL

The University of Chicago

[Read at meeting of Northern Illinois Teachers' Association, Nov. 2, 1907 .]

The form of statement of the topic of this discussion may be
presumed to suggest either that the fields of nature-study and geog-
raphy are essentially one and have the same criteria when used
in education, or that between the fields and criteria of these
subjects there should be recognized more sharply defined dis-
tinctions. In approaching this topic, therefore, it becomes
necessary first to consider the question of the unity of nature-
study and geography. It is also necessary that this consideration
be from the point of view of the instrumentality in educational
processes of nature-study and geography, and not from the point
of view of the special sciences that are involved.

I. Unity of Nature-Study and Geography

The nature experiences of the younger children — those below
school age and to the end of the third or even the fourth regular
school year — are those that have to do almost entirely with the
immediate environment. These earlier immediate nature experi-
ences are somewhat isolated and unorganized in the child's
mind. Such relationships as exist are of the position or associa-
tions of things when observed or experienced, not of their position
in any scheme of scientific arrangement. The interest of younger
children in natural phenomena is an interest in things, not an
interest in systems of arrangement of things. They ask many
specific and but few general questions about any one or a number
of the natural phenomena with which they are associated. ' 'What
is it?" "What is it for?" "How does it do it?" and"Isn't it
beautiful?" include the questions almost universally asked by
children when they face a new object. These fundamental
questions are the ones with which the human race doubtless
began its process of a more accurate adaptation to its natural
environment and are the ones with which that process has been

CALDWELL] TH E C R I TE R I A O F NA TU RE- STUD Y 253

continued. It is through answers to these questions in some of
their many forms that we have secured modern adjustments to
nature, an appreciation of nature uninfluenced by man, and of
nature as transformable better to contribute to the needs of man.
They are fundamental questions in education. They appear in
a simple form in early nature-study, but later are differentiated
into those complex questions which lead us to an appreciation
of formal science.

Young children constitute a group of inquirers about whom are
gathered all those myriads of things, the total of which is the
nature environment. They seek first to know individual or
closely grouped phenomena. In a few years they become more
interested in relating these phenomena to themselves and appro-
priating them to their own uses. This first study is distinctly
one of orientation of oneself relative to his nature surroundings,
a study of places and things. Nature, to a voung child, is largely
an unorganized unknown but it is the "unknowness" that the
child first recognizes and attempts to remove, and not the
' 'unorganizedness.

Out of this condition there gradually differentiates a tendency
toward a grouping of the observed nature phenomena. Some of
these phenomena are grouped directly about the earth interests
of man, and in this we have the beginning of geography. Other
phenomena begin to be grouped less directly about man's indust-
rial and social life, but more closely about the interests of things
themselves. The phenomena of hills and valleys begin to be
thought of with reference to the present, past, and future of hills
and valleys, with reference to their influence upon life in general,
and not primarily with reference to use as homes for men. Plants
and animals begin to be thought of as having structures, habits,
and homes as related to their needs and processes as plants and
animals, not primarily as taking from or adding to man's well-
being. With the beginning of this sort of recognition of nature,
we may properly have the branching of geography from the
common stalk of nature-study. The branch, no matter how
extensive or spreading it may become, maintains its connection
with the nature-studv tree. The subdivisions of the branch
must become somewhat interwoven with one another, with other
branches from the tree, and with branches from other trees.

In the earlv period in the child's education nature is a mass of

2 54 THE NA TURE- S TUD Y RE VIE W [3 : 9-1)Ec. , ,907

"more or less interesting materials with which the child is becoming
•acquainted. Acquaintance with particular not general features
•of nature is the child's purpose in so far as he has a purpose.
When the period arises during which nature may be studied
primarily as a home for man, as well as made up of things and
processes of intrinsic interest, the spirit of acquaintance with
nature which characterizes the first period is not lost, but is en-
larged and given a new field for development. Similarly near
the close of the grammar-school period, when whatever was left
of nature-study after geography branched from it divides into
zoology, botany, physiology, physics, chemistry, geology, physio-
graphy and astronomy, there continues to be carried into these
fields the desire for acquaintanceship found in the first period,
the desire for knowledge of relationship to men which is found
in geography, and the desire for knowledge of special nature
problems which is found in nature-study. All of these desires
are present to some extent with the desire for knowledge of the
separate sciences.

It is evident that there can be no closely drawn line between the
periods cited above, since one period gradually develops into the
succeeding one. Any statement as to the age of children or
school grade in which the oneness of nature become differentiated
into geography and other nature studies, must be somewhat
arbitrary. In actual practice it would seem that recognizing
this differentiation at the end of the third regular school, or
possibly at the end of the fourth year, would best meet the aver-
age of conditions. It seems necessary that there be a better
recognition of the unity of nature-study and geography in the
lower grades of school work and of the constant and necessary
overlaping of these subjects in succeeding grades. Failure to
recognize these things must result in much confusion and duplica-
tion of effort. If geography is "The Study of the Earth and its
Inhabitants," it is somewhat difficult to discover a field of nature-
study outside the boundaries of geography, and it would be
better to leave the organization of nature-study to those who are
responsible for the teaching of geography. If geography deals
with those features of nature that have to do directly with the
earth as a home for man, it represents one point of view of nature
and should not determine the arrangement of nature materials
that are undifferentiated as to special sciences. It becomes

cALmveLLi THE CRITERIA OF NATURE- STUDY 255

highly important that sufficient study be given this question in
order that usable limits of these subjects may be found. If there
are not usable limits, a readjustment of our terminology of sub-
jects and reduction of the number of fields of our efforts, will
contribute to economy of time and definiteness of results. The
general inter-relationships of knowledge are such as to make it
possible for an enthusiast in any subject to organize all knowledge
about his subject. In general education, however, we must
recognize boundaries, as natural as may be discovered, but always
more or less arbitrary.

II. Mental Attitude Toward Nature

In discussing the unity of nature-study and geography consider-
able was said regarding the learner's attitude toward nature,
consequently this statement may be brief. Practically all chil-
dren have an attitude of inquiry toward nature. Often, it is true,
this is little more than a slightly intelligent curiosity. It is an
inquiry born of a desire to be acquainted with things that are
about us. Questions as to what things are and what they are for,
are constantly forthcoming from young children. In a few years
there comes to be added to this acquaintanceship 'inquiry, a
notion that structures and habits are of some use to the organisms
possessing them, and also that many of these structures and
habits bear a definite relation to man in that they contribute to
his profit or pleasure, or take from those things. The obvious
approach to nature, therefore, from the point of view of the
younger children's interests is through the inherent spirit of in-
quiry into the natural phenomena of the immediate environment.
This inquiry first relates to what things are, and secondly to their
functions and processes. When notions of function come to be
appreciated, the learner soon discovers that function may relate
to the object itself as observed in nature, or in a distinctly differ-
ent way function may relate to man, and he differentiates a study
of nature interests as related to man. In the study of this field,
therefore, the point of view calls for selection of those materials
that have had to do with man's progress and those that are now
usable by him. At a later period, toward the end of the gram-
mar school or even early in the high school, the attitude may
have become that which appreciates and attempts to make an
orderly arrangement of materials such as is involved in the study

256 THE NA TURE-S TUD Y RE VIE W

13 :9~ DEC, 1907-

of the separate sciences, and hence this new attitude must be
recognized in deciding upon a logical selection and presentation
of materials.

The above statement seems to be essentially true as to the
general attitude toward nature of average children, but it must
be recognized that in any given group of children of the same age
and same grade of advancement, different individuals will hold
in mind quite different values as determining their interest.
Nature-study critics sometimes attempt to determine whether
children's interests are in those phases of nature that are educa-
tional, aesthetic, economic and industrial, or ethical and religious,
and doubtless if we could but find the truth we should find some
of these values more nearly universal with children than are
others. In determining the general attitude toward nature,
however, we find that it is not reducible to any single value.
For example, it has been suggested that in the study of the topic
"water" one pupil, an older daughter of a washer-woman, sees
most prominently its relation to solutions and cleansing power;
another who is interested in machines sees its relation to steam
and propelling force; one who is beginning to be interested in
chemistry thinks of the water's H-2-Oness; the agriculturally
inclined think of its relation to plant and animal life ; to another
the conspicuous thing is its buoyancy by means of which it
carries great vessels from land to land, and by which buoyancy
and movement it sometimes dashes them against the rocks;
another thinks of its power of work in wearing down continents
and in filling the seas ; others think of related pleasures, swimming
boating and skating; others think of the beauty and majesty of
bodies of water. It is obvious that the interests are too diverse
to be gathered under any one of the five headings given above,
and any organization or selection of material and any method of
treatment to be used must be sufficiently plastic to permit
expression of these individualities in attitude.

III. The Educational Purposes of Nature-Study

In so far as the purposes of nature-study and geography are
common the following statement will stand for both, but no
attempt has been made to make a statement particularly for
geography.

The general educational purposes of nature-study seem to me

caldwbll] THE C RITE RIA O F ArA TURE-STUDY 2 ST

to be : i . To stimulate and extend inherent inquiry into nature.
2. So to direct the processes of inquiry that the results may be
definite and trustworthy. 3. To direct inquiry toward those
phenomena which, while serving best to stimulate inquiry and to
develop proper thought processes, will give enjoyment and useful
and interesting knowledge about nature.

1 . The first of these purposes recognizes the nature interests
already enjoyed and calls for new and attractive related interests
which will become new problems. The kind of relation of the
pupil to the new problem is not necessarily a subject-matter
relationship, but a relation to the pupil's previous experience.
To stimulate interest the new material must contain some sort of
appeal to the pupil. If it does not, and if no appeal to him can be
developed, the first purpose of nature-study fails. The inquiring
mind is not fostered, but killed, by having loaded upon it data-
concerning which it has no questions, out of which no problem is
made. Even the simplest form of nature-study question asked
by youngest children, 'what is it?" is a true nature-study problem
to which may easily be added the more intricate problems of
"Why'" and "How"-" The materials to be presented by means
of which we hope to stimulate and develop inquiry must be so
selected and related to surroundings and experience and so
presented that pupils will care to ask "What?" and "Why?" and
"How.-'" Failure to present such material in such a way, or
substitution of materials not legitimate in nature-studv kills
native inquiry.

2. If the processes of inquiry are not so directed that the
results are reasonable trustworthy, the first purpose can be met
but poorly, and indeed is scarcely worth meeting. True inquiry
involves care as to the validity of the results of the inquiry. Not
very much can be done in establishing a spirit of wanting to know
about nature unless there has been some experience in getting at
some really accurate, though possibly general, knowledge of nature.
One of the greatest obstacles to be overcome in establishing a
good system of nature-study teaching is to be found in the failure
to raise to its true importance the necessity of having the results
of inquiry just as accurate as the phenomena observed make
possible. Inquiry has so frequently met fictitious answers that
the inquirer has lost the spirit of inquiry. An unanswered query
still lives. A fictitiously answered query, if alive, is mutilated.

258 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 : 9-dec., 1907

Nature-study offers a most excellent opportunity for develop-
ing safe and economic methods of solving problems. With
materials before him it is possible for the pupil to be held to see
that his conclusions must be securely based upon his data. Great
care should be exercised in seeing that materials at hand are
used fully in establishing those conclusions that are justified,
and further that they are used in a suggestive and imaginative
way to forecast conclusions that cannot be fully determined,
but may serve as problems for future observations. There is a
prominent place for the nature-study imagination, but it is
regulated by the truths of nature and must not be allowed to
distort possibilitv, or lead into guessing contests concerning
things of which we have no trustworthy data.

I realize that there are those who do not believe that this
point of demanding thoroughly accurate observations and fully
justifiable conclusions is well taken. Some believe rather that
children should merely be exposed to nature and allowed to
combine with it or be neutral to it as may be. Surely none of us
would argue for that complete and orderly observation and series
of judgments in any given field such as would enable children to
classify those data and judgments as a science. Such attempts
have often killed the nature-study spirit. If, on the other hand,
the sensitive plates of the child's mind receive exposure only and
no development, how can we hope to secure nature pictures that
have any setting, any relation to one another, or that are any
more indeed than befogged plates exposed several times and now
for this purpose uninteresting and useless ? Somewhere between
these two points of view the truth lies. In younger children
the mere exposure point of view predominates, but at least some
assimilation of materials must be made even here. In older
children exposure is no less used; but development, and quality
and quantity and scope of judgment must be extended.

3. The third general purpose here recognized is to direct
inquiry toward those phenomena which, while best stimulating
inquiry and best serving to develop proper thought processes,
will give enjoyment and useful and interesting knowledge about
nature.

The enjoyment aspect of nature-study must be given prominent
position. It may be no more than the pleasure of being out of
doors or in company with rocks and hills and plants and animals.

caldwell] THE CRITERIA OF NATURE-STUDY 259

It may be the enjoyment of the beauty of the creatures of the
living and lifeless worlds. It may be the enjoyment of a wider
speaking acquaintance with nature and of knowing more, just for
the sake of knowing. It may be enjoyment found in solving the
problems nature presents. It may be the pleasure that comes
through possession of useful knowledge and of a feeling of mastery
over those things that are of utility to men. Much of the nature
material used should be selected primarily because it offers
opportunities for new pleasures, it being known by the teacher
that to truly enjovable work many values other than pleasure
may be added.

Nature-study materials should also make possible a large body
of knowledge that is useful in the broadest sense of that term;
knowledge of the domesticated animals, their ways of living,
their use by man, their histories, the selection and care of the
best breeds, the regions where different ones thrive best; know-
ledge of house pets; of wild animals, their relation to one another
and to man; of helpful and injurious insects; knowledge of
domesticated plants, house plants, vegetables and flowering
plants and the gardens in which they grow, agricultural plants,
orchard plants, nut and fruit trees of the wood, lumber and its
sources and uses, poisonous, medicinal and fibre plants; plants
and animals and climatic conditions as soil makers; building
stone, brick, lime, sand; minerals, coal gas, oil; knowledge of
factors having to do with public and private health; knowledge
of physical forces, of simple machines, of the applications of
electricity; of the transformations of chemistry and their uses in
industrial and household processes.

These and many other possible topics suggest the array of use-
ful nature knowledge. Such nature material is quite as adaptable
as any other in developing the three general purposes mentioned
above, and is of much importance in making pupils potent factors
in the intellectual and social life in which they may find them-
selves. It is not to be inferred, however, that interest in even a
broadly utilitarian aspect of nature is to supplant interest in
things themselves. Interest in physical and chemical forces as
such, in what plants and animals are and how they meet their
own life needs, in how earth contours came to be and in what
they are going to be are more enduringly fascinating to one truly
engaged in nature-study than are the uses man may make of
these things.

"BOOMING" NATURE-STUDY

By M. A. BIGELOW

Teachers College, Columbia University

Several recent letters have expressed the opinion that the
organization of the Nature-Study Society will "boom" nature-
study. Let us hope that it will not. "Booms" in the business
world are due to purely artificial stimulation and not to natural
growth. They are mushrooms both in rapid development and
in ephemeral existence. No, we want no "booms" in the nature-
study movement. In fact we have had too many already — so
many that in certain quarters there is a decided prejudice against
nature-study. And we have had other "booms" in school work,
e. g., vertical penmanship and "physiology." The advocates
of nature-study should not try to repeat such history.

The proposed constitution of the American Nature-Study
Society reads as follows in Article i : "The objects of the Ameri-
can Nature-Study Society are, by publications and by national
and by local meetings, (i) to promote critical investigation of all
phases of nature-study (including all studies of nature for element-
ary schools) ; and (2) to work for the establishment in schools of
such nature-study as has been demonstrated valuable for element-
ary education." This does not suggest "booming" nature-study.
On the contrary, it suggests that the Society is dominated^by a
group of conservative students of education who recognize that
nature-study still has problems — very serious ones — which must
be settled before sure progress can be made; and also it definitely
disclaims any intention of pushing any phase of nature-study
before its educational values and practicability are on a sure
basis.

The new society should not adopt the methods of the "nature-
study enthusiasts" who sometimes forget to take a well-balanced
view of things. We who are naturalists in vocation or avocation
must remember that, after all, naturalists represent compara-
tively a rare variety of the human genus, and our own outlook
on the world may be quite unintelligible to a large majority of
our intelligent fellow men. We must, therefore, move carefully
-and not attempt to force our own views of things upon those not

bigblow] "BOOMING" NATURE-STUDY 261

prepared to understand. There must be a foundation, a pre-
paration. Here is the work for the Nature-Study Society.

And even after preparation let there be no forcing of the nature-
-study movement. Let us hope that the Nature-Study Society
will never attempt to establish nature-study in any of its phases
by legislation making the study compulsory. Laws may be
short cuts to quick results in some things; but we all know the
deplorable results in the case of physiology, we are beginning to
feel doubtful about the ultimate results in certain States requir-
ing "humane education" (another name for the ethical side of
nature-study), and there are signs that the recent legal enact-
ments concerning "elementary agriculture" are forcing a too
sudden expansion of the agricultural teaching, rather than stimu-
lating a natural, healthy growth.

Such considerations as the foregoing should make nature-
study advocates cautious about "booming" nature-study; and
should lead to careful, solid work at the bottom. These are
the days when the firm foundations of nature-study may be laid;
but a really stable superstructure must be the outcome of work
which certainly the present generation of teachers and pupils
can not complete. And this is so because the only hope that the
masses of even intelligent citizens will come to appreciate the
naturalist's outlook lies in surely influencing the successively
rising generations.

Then let us cease to speak of nature-study workers as "enthus-
iasts," a term which too often suggests narrow, imaginative,
radical, visionary, not to say fanatical persons. The "glory-
halleluiah brass-band" methods of "enthusiasts" in other lines
might "boom" nature-study for a short time; but the future of
the movement depends upon steady, conservative work giving
unquestionable results and solid growth.

SOME PRINCIPLES THAT DETERMINE THE SCOPE OF

NATURE-STUDY

By EDWIN A. TURNER
Superintendent of Schools, Connersville, Ind.

We have heard much of nature-study in the last few years.
Those who have advocated its educational importance most
strongly have not always had the clearest conception of the
growth that it should stimulate or a conclusive knowledge of the
material that it should include. Intense enthusiasm has often
been more prominent than reflection and the result is that there
is a general belief that nature-study as a subject exists, yet there
is no definite knowledge of its scope or even a tentative agreement
as to the material that shall be used. Perhaps every distinct
branch of study has had its inception in this vague way, but it
was not worthy the name of a subject until the basic principles
that are fundamental to its existence were determined and the
scope which they establish was defined. It follows just as log-
ically that if we are to make any claim for nature-study as a
science the principles that define the scope of the subject must
be determined before an intelligent selection of material can be
made, or before the subject can have the dignity of some of our
older and more closely organized subjects. The nature of the
subject implies that these principles must be determined by the
science of education rather than by the science of nature ; that
thev must emanate from psychic laws and social needs rather
than from natural laws.

It is interesting to note that our present nature-study is the
outgrowth of two very diverse educational movements. The one
had its rise in Rousseau and Pestalozzi, the other has grown out
of the purely scientific spirit that has dominated our social life in
the last half century. The former based its creed on nature and
therebv attempted to teach the child to love nature by observing
her varied and diverse forms. This movement gave an impetus
to our present formal and largely sentimental nature-study. The
latter has been responsible for much of our structural and life-
history work. The one entered the elementary school from the
kindergarten, the other came from the university down through

turner] SCOPE OF NA TURE- S TUB Y 263

the high school. Neither has defined the scope by establishing
principles for the selection of material. The one has laid stress
upon faculty development, the other on the value of a disposition
for scientific research.

More recently there has been an earnest effort to break away
from former influences in an attempt to discover principles that
are in touch with the educational advance of our time. The
Nature -Study Review has been doing an admirable work in its
effort to- draw out and organize the best that has been felt in
nature-study. It has set for its task to discover the scope of
nature-study and thus distinguish it from elementary science.
Many of its contributors in attempting to define the scope of
nature-study are unable to get away from the influences of the
original sources of the subject. Others use sound educational
principles, but, as it seems to us, do not use all that are involved.

Professor John Coulter in setting forth the aim of nature-study
states that it is to keep functional the "tentacles of inquiry "in the
child. In the same number of The Review, Professor Bigelow
says that "nature-study deals with the simple facts of nature as
they are related to man's general interest in them."

These views considered together seem adequate to define the
aim of nature-study. Either by itself is but half the truth. This
must seem dogmatic, yet if it is the business of education to fit one
to function as a social being, it means that not only the "ten-
tacles of inquiry" be kept functional, but that the material
selected shall prepare him to meet his obligations as a member of
society. It is these phases that affect the intellectual and social
life of the child's nature that must determine the scope of nature-
study. The material chosen must answer these two questions:
1. Does it awaken a natural interest in the child ? 2. Is it the
most valuable in fitting the child for the social and industrial
life that he is to live? These two questions lead us into vital
problems of psychology and sociology.

We must resort to the nature of the child if we select material
in harmony with this first principle. He is implusive — propul-
sive. He can not long hold his attention. It is constantly
changing. If he is long to attend an object it must be changing.
He responds to live things and active processes. The more active
the things and processes the closer he will attend to them. This
all means that the child's nature selects that which it would attend.

2 64 THE ATA TURE-STUD Y RE VIEW |3 : g-UEc., i9o7

In the realm of classified knowledge this principle will select
biology before chemistry or physics, either of these before the
facts of geology or of astronomy. It means that animals shall
precede plants ; that physical elements shall come before chemical
elements, and community life before that of the individual.
This plan eliminates our formal and sentimental study. It deals
with life processes, causes and adaptations, as well as mere
physical activity.

But this principle will allow an abundance of material — more
than we can ever use. Let us now apply our second principle
(that which holds that nature-study shall fit the child to function
efficiently as a member of society) to help us in a closer assort-
ment. These principles in conjunction with each other will
select material that either by itself might reject. The former
would select the frog instead of the toad (because it is the more
active,) while the two combined would choose the latter (because
it more closely affects man's social and industrial life.) The
former would select the squirrel in preference to the cat ; combined
they would choose the cat. By their combination the growth of
seeds and buds would be chosen instead of the color and forms
of leaves. All plant study would center about life processes
and adaptations that are essential for the plant life that best
meets man's physical, social, and intellectual needs. This would
involve the study and cultivation of vegetables and house plants
rather than a study of the names of wild flowers; the budding
and grafting of fruit trees rather than the pressing of leaves or
the collecting of woods. It would suggest an elementary study
of electricity rather than an analysis of potassium chlorate; a
study of fishes rather than the fresh water mussel; a study of
vthe bumblebee in preference to the butterfly; a swarm of bees
rather than a colony of ants; flies and mosquitoes rather than
beetles and snails; roses, carnations and lilies instead of hepatica,
marsh-marigold or chickweed the problem of cross-fertilization
or the moving of sap rather than nature of bark or the form of
twigs and leaves. These principles would not prevent one from
using the most available material, but they would guide in the
selection of the small portion of it that can be used.

Courses in nature-study, now generally in use, differ very
widely from this view in their principles of selection. Availability
seems to be the main criterion for selecting material, and even

turner] SCOPE OF XATURE-STUDY 265

this is disregarded by those intent on correlating it with geog-
raphy and other subjects. Here space presents no obstacles. The
ostrich of South Africa or the tiger of India are as readily used
for subject matter as the robin or the toad. In general, as
already stated, there are two types of nature students. The
extreme of one is represented by the scientific degenerate; the
extreme of the other by the sentimental enthusiast. Scientific
degeneracy can best be illustrated by the following lesson plan
taken from a course in nature-study in one of our larger Western
cities:

"Plants — roots, stems, branches, buds, leaves, flowers, seeds.
Cat — paws, claws, eyes, tongue, teeth, motion of jaw. Pig —
hair, bristles, shape of head, snout; cloven foot, number of toes,
tusk of wild boar."

Here are all the details of the scientist without any scientific
attempt at correlation — without any thought of arriving induc-
tively at some life principle, or acquiring a better knowledge of
some improved methods of perfecting the usefulness of the organ-
ism.

The other type is nicely illustrated by a partial course taken
from one of our larger Eastern cities: "Falling and color of
leaves. Collect leaves and compare form and color. Observe
habits of the cricket, grasshopper, squirrel, rabbit. Collect
caterpillars and cocoons."

Other courses treat of the twigs of the elm, maple, pussy willow.
They provide for the observation of the habits of birds, fishes and
frogs ; for collecting and mounting of the most interesting forms
in the metamorphosis of some common animals. They provide
for the keeping of bird calendars and weather charts. Here the
emphasis is placed upon the marvelous and wonderful in nature,
while ethical and esthetical inductions are lavishly made. This
practice of arousing the emotions without affording an opportun-
ity for definite motivation is a questionable practice. A
modified form of the same practice is observed by those who
learn the names of birds and flowers that they may talk about
them. We have seen a well-known nature-study man make
daily trips into the woods with a large class of elementary teachers.
Each was ready with pencil and paper to jot down the names of
this or that bird or butterfly as its name was glibly announced
by the instructor. The entire party would become wild with

266 THE NA TURE-S TUD V RE VIE IV [3 . 9_DEc, .907

enthusiasm at the sight of a woodcock, cardinal or chewink in the
brush. Doubtless this work has some value, but it will be hard
to convince the wideawake public that it should be considered
seriously. The trips in themselves are good, but they should
throw light on real life problems. Educator -Journal.

OBSERVATIONS ON BARN-SWALLOWS

By BINA SEYMOUR
Wadleigh High School, New York City

The barn-swallows' nest observed was in the woodshed of a
deserted farm-house at South Hadley, Mass. On August 7, when
the observations were made, the nest contained only two young.
At this time the birdlings were so large that they could easily
have been mistaken for the parents. On the next and every
succeeding morning they flew away from the nest, returning for
the night. This day they chirped and twittered like the parents,
frequently balanced themselves on the edge of the nest and
fluttered their wings vigorously, picked at insects on the boards
over their heads, and several times watched a wasp with keen
interest as he crawled toward them.

Observations began at 4:30 a.m., thirteen minutes before
sunrise, and closed at 7:30 p.m., thirteen minutes past sunset.
At 4:30 other birds about the farm were awake and calling, but
no sound was heard from the swallows until 5:03, when the
stronger of the two birdlings stretched its wings and moved
slightly in the nest. Again at 5:14, 5:20 and 5:25 this birdling
fluttered its wings vigorously, chirped, perched upon the edge
of the nest, then returned to its sleep in an altered position, as a
child might turn in bed to finish its nap. The parents had not
spent the night in the shed, nor did they return to it after the last
feeding.

Feeding began at 6:03 a.m. and ended at 6:51 p.m. — making
nearly a thirteen-hour day for the parents. During this time
there were in all 332 feedings, distributed in time as shown by the
table. The most rapid feeding was four times in one minute,
at 11 150 a.m., the longest interval between feedings twenty-two
minutes, 3:5-5 — 4:17 p.m., the next longest sixteen minutes, at
three different times. The average timewas once in 2.31
minutes, and the average number of insects per birdling 166 for

skvmour] OBSERVATIONS ON BARN-SWALLOWS 267

the day. Almost without exception the birdlings were fed
alternately, although we poor human beings were unable to
discover how the parents knew whose turn came next. They
even strenuously refused food to the stronger, who clamored
most loudly and persistently "out of turn." Both parents
shared the feeding and also the flying lessons which were given
occasionally from 6:18 a.m. — 2:43 p.m. By flying lesson I mean
the following pretty little drama: one or both parents flew
into the shed with the grace, swiftness and sound peculiar to
swallows' flight, fed the young and circled about under the nest,
then one perched on a beam and chirped coaxingly to the young,
sometimes flying up to the nest and perching upon its edge while
scolding and coaxing. The stronger of the nestlings invariably
chirped and fluttered its wings during the process, but did not
venture away from the nest.

During the hot, quiet hours of the afternoon, when the inter-
vals between feeding were longest, the birdlings sometimes
appeared to pant, keeping the bill slightly open; at other times
they appeared to sleep, but sleeping or waking they imme-
diately opened their bills wide and clamored for food upon the
approach of the parent.

The swallows' nest had been an object of great interest to the
temporary residents of the deserted farm-house from the day
the wood-shed was chosen as a building site by the pair of swallows,
but for the idea of a whole day's careful note taking I am in-
debted to the report by pupils of Dr. C. F. Hodge in the Decem-
ber, 1906, number of The Nature Study Review. In noting
observations I was assisted by Marjorie S. Watts of Spring-
field, Massachusetts.

Hr.

Time.

No. of

Longest interval.

Greatest number

feedings

per minute.

I

6:03— 7:03

»3

6 min. at

6:32

I

2

7:03— 8:03

32

7 min. at

7:04

2

(4 times)

3

8:03— 9:03

28

10 min. at

8:25

2

(4 times)

4

9:03—10:03

28

16 mm. at

8:59

3

(twice)

5

10:03—11:03

30

7 min. at

10: 4

3

6

11:03—12:03

33

9 min. at

1 1:02

4

7

12:03— 1:03

27

12 min. at

12:25

-1

8

1:03— 2:03

28

8 min. at

1:04

3

9

2:03— 3:03

34

10 min. at

2:49

3

10

3:03— 4:03

22

16 min. at

3:22

2

(4 times)

1 1

4:03— 5:03

18

22 min. at

3:55

2

(twice )

12

5:03— 6:03

20

16 min. at

5=43

2

!3

6:03— 6:51

'9

6 min. at

6:39 andb

:45 1

Total

12 hr. 48 min.

332

AMERICAN NATURE-STUDY SOCIETY

The first meeting of the Society will be held in Room 159,
Manual Training Building, 5820 Monroe Avenue, Chicago, Thurs-
day, January 2, 1908, at 2 p. m. A series of short papers will dis-
cuss some fundamental problems of nature-study and the future
work of the Society.

The meetings of the Association for the Advancement of Science
and of the affiliated scientific societies begin on Monday, Decem-
ber 30, at the University of Chicago. Full information concern-
ing these meetings may be obtained from Dr. L. O. Howard,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. These meetings
bring together many who are interested in science teaching and
therefore it has seemed advisable to hold the Nature-Study
Society meeting at this time.

In order to get the suggestions of members, the proposed con-
stitution is printed below. It will be discussed at the Chicago
meeting. Send your suggestions to the Secretary of the Organiz-
ing Committee, who may be addressed at Teachers College, New
York, until December 23, and after that in care of Prof. O. W.
Caldwell, Dept. of Botany, The University of Chicago.

It has seemed to the Organizing Committee advisable to post-
pone making nominations for offices until after the proposed con-
stitution is discussed at Chicago. Nominations and other mat-
ters to be submitted for general vote will probably be published in
the January issue of The Review.

PROPOSED CONSTITUTION OF THE AMERICAN NATURE-STUDY

SOCIETY

ARTICLE I— NAME AND OBJECTS
The objects of the American Nature-Study Society are, by
publications and by national and local meetings : (1) to promote
critical investigation of all phases of nature-study (including all
studies of nature in elementary schools) ; and (2) to work for the
establishment in schools of such nature-study as has been demon-
strated valuable and practicable for elementary education.

[ARTICLE II— MEMBERSHIP
The Society shall consist of members, fellows, and honorary
fellows. Any person interested in any phase of nature-study or
elementary science may become a member upon election by the

AMERICAN NA TURE-STUD Y SOCIETY 269

Council. A school or library may be enrolled as a member, and
be represented at meetings by one of its officers. Fellows shall
be elected by the Council from such of the members as have by
publications, by teaching, or by administrative work made valu-
able contributions to the nature-study movement. Honorary
fellows, not exceeding ten, may be elected by the Council.

ARTICLE III— FEES

There shall be no admission fee. The annual dues shall be one
dollar, payable before February first. The official publications
of the Society shall be sent without charge to members not in
arrears for dues. Members residing outside of the United States
shall pay the necessary foreign postage on publications mailed.
Honorary fellows shall be exempt from all dues to the Society.
The name of any member two years in arrears for annual dues
shall be omitted from the list of members, but may be restored by
payment of arrearages or by re-election.

ARTICLE IV — OFFICERS

1. The officers shall be a President, five Vice-Presidents, a
Secretary-Treasurer, Editor, ten Directors elected by general
vote of the Society, and additional Directors elected by branch
organizations as provided for in Article VI. The President, Vice-
Presidents and Secretary-Treasurer shall constitute an Executive
Committee for the transaction of routine business authorized by
the Council. All the officers together shall constitute a Council
with the following duties : Consider and report to the Society all
business proposed for a general vote and manage the business of
the Society according to the constitution and by-laws. The term
of office for the President and Vice-Presidents shall be one year,
for the Secretary-Treasurer and Editor two (or three ?) years and
for the Directors two years (five of the first Directors shall be
elected for one year, and five for two years).

2. Elections of officers. The Council shall make nominations
for all offices and publish them in the official journal before Nove-
ber fifteenth of each year. Members and fellows shall have the
right to suggest nominations by mail, and any name thus receiv-
ing at least fifty votes before October fifteenth shall be published
with the nominations by the Council. The annual election shall
be held in the last week of December, at a stated meeting if such

270 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [3 :9-dec., 1907

is ordered by the Council to be held at that time; otherwise by
"ballots mailed to the Secretary. Members unable to attend
;any meeting of the Society shall have the right to mail their ballots
to the Secretary. All ballots mailed must reach the Secretary
before December twentieth, in order to be counted at the annual
election. A majority of the ballots voted by mail and in person
shall be sufficient for election.

Any state, city or provincial section of the Society consisting of
more than one hundred members may elect a delegate to serve
two years as a Director in the Council of the Society.

In case of vacancies the Council shall appoint officers for unex-
pired terms.

ARTICLE V— OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS

All official communications approved for publication by the
Council shall be published in The Nature-Study Review,
which shall be sent free of charge (except foreign postage) to all
members whose annual dues have been paid. This journal shall
continue to be published privately and on the personal responsi-
bility, financial and editorial of its editor or editors, unless in time
the annual income of the Society justifies the Council in assuming
the management and publication as the official organ of the
Society. The Secretary-Treasurer of the Society shall, before
February first of each year, pay to the editor and publisher the
cost (not to exceed eighty cents and foreign postage) of annual
subscription for each member whose dues have been paid.

The members of the Council shall serve as an advisory Editorial
Committee for The Nature-Study Review.

ARTICLE VI— BRANCHES OF THE SOCIETY

Members of the Society in any city, state, group of states, or
province may, with the approval of the Council, organize branches.
Any branch with more than one hundred members may elect a
delegate to serve as a Director of the Society for two years.

ARTICLE VII— AMENDMENTS

Amendments to this Constitution recommended by the Council
and published in the official journal before June first of any year
may be adopted by a two-thirds vote of members voting in person
or by mail at the annual election in December.

A CHILD'S REPORT ON A FIELD TRIP

To the Editor of The Nature-Study Review:

I enclose with this an article written by a little eleven-year old girl in
one of the ward schools here, after a field trip. It was not done under
my directions, but came into my hands because I am interested in the
teaching of the subject. Miss Anna Wylie.of Turner St. School, was the
teacher who directed the work. It seemed to me a very good illustration
of what can be accomplished by field work in the grades, and as you will
see it has not been corrected or altered by the teacher.

Central High School

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grace F. Ellis.

FOURTH STREET CREEK

By Minnie Oele, Grade 5

Yesterday we went to Fourth St. creek to have an out of doors Geo-
graphy lesson. We walked over to the creek and I was very tried. Then
our teacher told us to sit down and draw the river basin. There were
hills on almost every side.

There was one hill that had never been plowed and great sods kept
the land forn being washed away after rains. Another hill that had been
plowed was filled with gullies. All the hills that send water to the creek
and the gullies form a river basin. This little creek and all its branches
form a river system.

Right before us was a flood plain which was formed many years ago by
floods. One place there were very many springs and some of us got our
feet wet. At the place where we were many streams feed the brook.

Over some of the springs the owner had a little house, which we call a
spring house, and from these were pipes to the owner's house.

This little creek is carrying the farmer's peach orchard away, day by
day. In one place the stream has cut right under a peach tree and it
has fallen down.

In a hollow there is a lake and some gullies have been going back farther
and farther, and one has backed right into the lake.

In another place where there is a water fall the farmer has put a pipe
so that the water will not wash all his land away.

The creek has worn away much soil to quite a depth. There are very
many boulders there, too, which the glacier brought here and the creek
has uncovered.

In some places there are four or five different layers of soil. There is
the black soil, glacial till, clav, and some times another laver of glacial
till.

Glacial till is the soil that the glacier brought to us not less than ten
thousand years ago. We sometimes call it gravel.

We measured how many cubic ft of water fell over the falls. We found
out that i623 or 17 cubic ft of water fell over the falls in one minute.
We had a string which was fifty ft. long and straightened it out along the
creek. Then some of the boys dropped a chip in to the water and it took
just one minute to float fifty feet.

Then we found the average width which was 2 ft., and the average depth
which was l/e ft. Then we multiplied the length, average depth and
average width which gave us the cubic feet of water, 14, it x 2 ft x 50 ft=
16% cubic feet of water.

In on place there was a fall and beneath it the iron had almost painted
the creek's walls. Some times when the stream has to turn, it turns with
such force that it takes land from one side and throws it to the other side
and in this way forms a bay. We saw many terraces. These were made
by the water being to different heights.

BOOK REVIEWS

Mosses and Lichens. By Nina L. Marshall. Pp. 315, illustrated.
New York, Doubleday, Page & Company, 1907. $4.00.

This book is designed for popular use. However, it is unfortunate thatr
unlike some of its companion volumes in the same series, it is not valuable
for scientific, as well as for popular use. For the scientific purpose the
book need not be seriously considered, especially because its author is
merely a compiler and not a special student of the difficult groups of plants
treated.

A book designed for popular use should be reviewed from the stand-
point of the people for whom it is intended. The full-page illustrations
are unusually attractive, and constitute the most valuable part of the
book. Two different genera of mosses on colored plates IV and XV
bear the same name. The numbering of the colored and the black-and-
white plates is very confusing and they are scattered through the book
with more attention to spacing than to the subject-matter. This would
be less annoying if the plates could be found from the index, which is
sometimes impossible (e.g., Climacium, Plates IV and XV.) The index
itself is very difficult to use : some mosses are arranged alphabetically in
the general index only, as Catherinea; others appear only under the index
heading of mosses, as Ditrichum; and others, like Bryum, are mentioned
in two different parts of the index. The lack of any key or of any group-
characterizations makes it necessary to read every genus until the right
one is reached. Any unfortunate royal-path hunter finding a Hypnum
would be forced to read from page 109 to page 298 before striking the
genus; if the plant were Hypnum triquetrum twelve more pages would be
necessary to find its specific name. That any present-day writer should
compile a 315-page book on plants without keys to make its contents-
available is — to put it mildly — somewhat surprising.

Had Dr. A. C. Grout never published his two books on mosses one-
could understand Miss Marshall's cry for an "easy path to knowledge."
His "Mosses with a Hand-Lens" has*the following good points that should
recommend it as an "easy path:" clear text, simple keys, distinct and
characteristic pictures, convenient form and moderate price.

Teachers College Jean Broadhurst.

Columbia University.

Evolution and Animal Life. By David Starr Jordan and Vernon L.
Kellogg. New York: Appleton. 1907. Pp. 489, illustrated. $2.50.

This new volume is an elementary discussion of the facts, processes,
laws and theories relating to the life and evolution of animals. In short,
it is an introduction to most of the interesting and important problems
in the philosophical biology of the present day. It ought to be widely
used by general readers and especially by teachers and students of biology.

The Spirit of Nature-Study. Bv Edward F. Bigelow. New York:
Barnes. 1907.

This is a series of readable talks in the style already well known through
the author's "How Nature-Study Should be Taught," in many magazine
articles, and in the editorial touches given to "Nature and Science for
Young Folks, "in St. Nicholas. Most chapters of the book have no particular
bearing on school nature-study, except as contact with nature in the great
out-of-doors gives inspiration and suggestion which is needed by every
teacher in the schoolroom.

NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE NOTES 273

Gray Lady and the Birds. By Mable Osgood Wright. New York:
Macmillan. 1907. Pp. 435, 36 full-page illustrations, 12 in color. $175.

This new book of bird stories strikes the reader as likely to be interesting
to children; but, of course, only time can determine what the children
will think of it. In brief this is the story: "Gray Lady," happening into>
a hillside country school one day in the early fall, makes an alliance with
a band of youngsters, to whom each week thereafter she tells a story of the
bird year, following their life in migration and their return in the spring.

NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE NOTES

[Editor's Xote. This department will be conducted by Chester A.
Mathewson, of the High School of Commerce, New York City. Notes
and suggestions maybe sent to him in care ot the editor of The Review.]

Plants that Seldom Fruit. The knowledge that the common white
potato seldom produces fruit, is so widely diffused that the barrenness of
the plant causes no comment. Indeed, since the tubers in a measure
function as seeds we have partially transferred the name to them. It is
usual to speak of potatoes intended for planting as "seed potatoes." Real
potato seeds may be found, however, if one searches the potato-fields long
enough, and from such seeds new strains of potatoes may be raised. The
potato is not alone in its strange ways. Many other plants, of which the
ground-nut and lily-of-the- valley are good examples, rarely produce seeds.
It is noticeable that all such plants have other excellent and efficient means
of propagation and it may be assumed that finding one method requiring
less effort than the other they have gradually adopted it. When plants
have more than one means of multiplying, as for instance, seeds above
ground and tubers or runners below ground, they usually subserve two
distinct uses : those below ground serving to multiply the plant in its
own locality, and those above giving it a chance of gaining a foot-hold in
distant lands. {American Botanist.]

Animals Frozen to Ice. Ernest Thompson-Seton thus comments in the
Ottawa Naturalist concerning a ruffled grouse, apparently in sound health,
found with its tail feathers frozen into the ice crust, under a bush. "In the
winter they commonly sleep on the ground, entering snowdrifts only in the
coldest weather. It is absolutely certain that its tail could not have been
frozen down, had there not been at the place some liquid. This may have
been produced by a certain condition of the bird's bowels, or the sun's heat
in such a sheltered spot may have melted the snow, so that it was wet when
the bird went in, or finally, the bird's tail may have been wet when it went
to bed, and a frosty night completed the dilemma.

"This you will remember is an accident of a class which happen every year
to the foxes in Alaska. They sit down on the wet ice, thereby casting a
shadow over it. In fifteen or twenty minutes the wet in the shadow has
congealed, and the fox would be made prisoner but that he tears himself
violently away, leaving much of his fur in the ice. The consequence is
that in the spring of the year all the blue foxes have their buttocks more or
less denuded of fur."

274 THE NA TUNE-STUD Y RE VIE IV [3 . 9_DBC ., IW

School-Gardens in the District of Columbia. At the last session of Con-
gress an appropriation of $1,000 was made for the purpose of continuing
I and extending the school-garden work which has been carried on for a num-
Iber of years in a cooperative way by the public schools and this Depart -
|ment. Beginning four years ago with a few gardens on the Department
^grounds and a little improvement work around a single school, the move-
ment has grown until this year 700 children have gardens on the Depart-
ment grounds, 124 school buildings in the District have gardens, and
1 1 60,000 packets of seeds have been sold for home gardens. [Experiment
Station Record.]

Forest Policy in France. France has under way a far-sighted forest
policy which will require two centuries before the work reaches its greatest
efficiency. The plan covers the reforestation of vast tracts of denuded land
and the work is in the hands of 4,000 trained foresters in the pay of the
Republic and a large number of men employed by the communal govern-
ments.

Nearly a century ago the forests of France were vanishing as are those in
the United States today, but the depletion had gone even farther than it
has yet gone in America. The French people commenced protecting and
restoring the wooded areas and have stuck to the task ever since. The
work is slow, but in 200 years the existing damaged forests will be recon-
stituted, and all the waste spaces will be replanted to the point of proper
proportion to insure the conservation of the water supply, and to furnish
the timber and wood required by the population.

The area of the National Forests of the United States exceeds twenty-fold
the National and communal forests of France, but the problems are the
same. France has been longer at the work and when it began its forests
were in a worse condition than ours are now, but not worse than our pri-
vately owned forests will be if present methods continue. [Notes from a
Press Bulletin, U. S. Forest Service.]

Effects of radium on plants. C. S. Gager, of the New York Botanical
Gardens, has shown that the rays of radium and other radioactive sub-
stances act as a stimulus to germination and growth, and further experi-
ments by the author warrant a similar conclusion with respect to other
plant activities, such as respiration, starch making, geotropic response, etc.
The growth of plants watered with radioactive water may be accelerated
or retarded, the results varying not only with the degree of radioactivity
but also with the species of plant employed. When pollen or ovules were
exposed before pollination, or when exposure was made after fertilization
of the egg, plants growing from the resulting seeds were found to vary pro-
foundly from the parent plants. Whether these variations are capable of
transmission is yet to be determined. [Science.]

Science and Poetry — a Protest. The advisability of correlating litera-
ture and science in the schools was at one time a much-debated educa-
tional question. The writer has heard seriously advocated before a
state science teachers' association the advantage of always having the
zoology class read 'The Chambered Nautilus' when studying the Mollusca,

NA TL TRE-S TUD Y AND SCIENCE NO TES 275

though assent was withheld by the same speaker from the proposition to
have the members of every English literature class dissect a nautilus when
studying Holmes's poem. That there is nothing poetical in the bare
facts of nature, and that nothing is really interesting unless invested with
poetry or fancy, are two ideas that can never, it seems, appear erroneous,.
except to one who has studied nature at first hand.

Sugar-coating the supposed pills of scientific fact in nature-study
literature and teaching has been baneful enough, but when articles in
reputable magazines, intended for mature minds, poeticize science to the
verge of misrepresentation, it is difficult to know whether to blame the
author the more, or regretfully to decide that, after all, the general public
is still unable to appreciate natural facts as nature presents them.

A series of three articles in Harper's Monthly Magazine for December,
1906, and February and March, 1907, entitled "The Intelligence of the
Flowers," by Maurice Maeterlinck, have been the inspiration of this
protest.

To say that no flower is "whollv devoid of wisdom;" that, in order to
deprive a flower of reason and will, "we must needs resort to very obscure
hypotheses;" that it is in the vegetable world that "impatience, the
revolt against destiny, are the most vehement and stubborn;" and that
the pollination of the eel-grass is "a tragic episode," may be most excellent
poetry, and enhance the literary value of an article; may, indeed, for
aught we know, be the necessary conclusions of a poet, but to read such
statements in cold print congeals the blood of any botanist.

Still we might shiver in charity if interpretations only, and not facts,
were open to question. We are told, for example, that the tip of the
young stem of a seeding laurel tree, because the seed germinated on a
])eq3endicular rock-wall, "instead of rising towards the sky, bent down
over the gulf," notwithstanding its geotropism.

We learn that dodder "voluntarily abandons its roots," and that it will
avoid other species and "go some distance, if necessary, in search of the
stem of hemp, hop, lucerne or flax."

In the second article we learn, for the first time, that the flowers of
Drosera and Xepenthes are carnivorous, and that the problem of cross-
fertilization is "normally insoluble." Here, also, obsolete terminology
is perpetuated in the expression "fertilization of the stigma," and obsolete
interpretation in referring to the stigma as the "female organ," and to
the stamens as the "male organs" of the flower.

"All that we observe within ourselves," says Maeterlinck, "is rightly
open to suspicion; and we are too greatly interested in peopling our world
with magnificent illusions and hopes." Perhaps this explains the im-
possible botany of the articles, but it can not excuse it.

[C. Stuart Gager in Science.]

Turpentine Cups. The old plan of cutting deep boxes in the trees, in
which turpentine collected after running down the scarified trunks, was
universal until a few years ago. It was wasteful and destructive. Trees
so mutilated survived only about four years. They might continue to
live, and they usually did not fall for years, but their value as turpentine

2. 7 6 THE NA TURE-S TUD V RE VIE W [3 : 9-OTC., igo7

producers was at an end and their value for lumber was seriously lessened.

Now twenty million turpentine cups are used in the pine forests of the
South to catch the flow of resin from the trees, and seven or eight million
are added each year. These simple-looking cups, which are not unlike
flower pots in size and shape, indicate a rapid and highly important change
in the American method of gathering turpentine, due to the need of
economy in using all forest products and to the application of science in
an old-fashioned industry. [Press Bulletin of Forest Service.]

Bird Groups at the American Museum. Bird Lore for July — August
describes the new bird groups at the American Museum of Natural History,
New York. Each group is designed to embody a definite idea. The
more novel feature of this idea is to be found in the painted backgrounds
which form a part of each group. Painted back-grounds for small groups
or panels of mounted birds have long been employed by the taxidermist,
but this, it is believed, is the first attempt to introduce backgrounds
painted from nature and intended to reproduce a given scene as accurately
as the groups they supplement do a limited portion of it. Such back-
grounds have, therefore, not only a biologic or ecologic value, as they
portray the nesting habit of a species or illustrate colonial nesting habits
on a scale which mere taxidermy alone would prohibit, but they have
also a botanic, geographic and physiographic value. It is believed, there-
fore, that when the thirty-odd groups which have been planned for this
series are completed, the Museum will have not alone adequate reproduc-
tions of the nesting habits and haunts of many American birds, but will
have also a series of paintings representing in a novel and attractive manner
•characteristic American scenery. This series might indeed be called
America and its Bird Life.

The Disappearance of the Passenger Pigeon in Ontario dates back at
least forty years, though as late as 1870 some of the old roosts were still
frequented, but the incredible flocks, of which so much has been said, had
gone long before that date, and by 1880 the pigeon was practically exter-
minated, not only in Ontario, but over the greater part of its old range.
There are, however, occasional records of birds taken for some years
later. I was in New York in the latter part of Noyember 1892 and was then
assured by Mr. Rowland, a well known taxidermist, that he had recently
seen several barrels of pigeons that had been condemned as unfit for food.
They had come to New York from the Indian Territory. Mr. Wm.
Brewster has recorded the sending of several hundred dozens of pigeons
to the Boston market in December of the same year, and in January, 1893 ;
these were also from Indian Territory. These are the last records we
have of the passenger pigeon as any thing more than a casual migrant.
The records ceased after this till 1898 when three birds were taken at
points widely apart, an adult male at Lake Winnipegosis, Man., an im-
mature male at Owensboro, Kentucky, now in the Smithsonian Institution
and another immature bird taken at Detroit, Michigan, is in my collection.
These are the last records that can be based on specimens.

The birds were seen wild as late as 1900; but for all practical purposes

NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE NOTES 277

the close of the nineteenth century saw the final extinction of the passen-
ger pigeon in a wild state and there remained only the small flock, number-
ing in 1903 not more than a dozen, that had been bred in captivity by
Professor C. 0. Whitman of Chicago. These birds the descendants of a
single pair, had long before that ceased to breed and it was in an effort to
obtain fresh blood for this flock that I started a newspaper enquiry that
brought many replies none of which could be substantiated as records of
the passenger pigeon and many referred to the mourning dove. I am
aware that there has been lately widely spread and persistent rumors of
the return of the pigeons, but no rumor has borne investigation, and I
feel that Professor Whitman's small flock now reduced in 1906 to five birds
are the last representatives of a species around whose disappearance
mystery and fable will always gather.

[J. H. Fleming in Ottawa Naturalist, March, 1907.]
Pollination in Evening Primrose. The common evening primrose
(Oenothera biennis) has an elaborate arrangement for cross-pollination,
including odor, nectar, color and the ripening of stamen and stigma at
different times as well as a difference in position of stamen and carpel,
and yet De Vries finds in some specimens that the stamens pollinate the
stigmas in the bud and the corollas may even fall off without expanding.
All the odor, color, nectar, etc., of such flowers is superfluous and goes to
waste. Just as we have figured out how the flower acts, it acts differently!

[American Botanist.}

Edible Ferns. An evergreen tree-fern in the Pacific Isles is a common
article of food with the natives. The roots and the lower parts of the
stem are soft and pulpy and have a pleasant smell and taste, so that the
medulla of this fern, which abounds in a reddish glutinous juice, is nearly
as good as sago. The silver tree-fern, a beautiful species from New
Zealand, is said to be eaten in the same way. [American Bota)iist.]

Optimism in Study of Nature. That the study of nature may help us
in our pursuit of happiness is suggested by the first line of the preface in
Weismann's latest and probably last book on evolution theories. It
reads in the translation: "When a lifetime of pleasant labor is drawing
to a close — ."

Nature-Study in South Africa. The African Monthly for May, J9°7»
■contains a strong plea for the introduction of nature-study into the South
African schools. The author, Professor Duerden, gives as his aim the
investigation of how animals do things and how they come to be
what they are; further, a training in how to collect the facts methodically,
and then to utilize and interpret them on biological principles. To us in
this country these aims seem rather ponderous. As subjects of study
Professor Duerden cites the habits and instincts of monkeys, smaller
antelopes, moles, native rats, mice, birds, lizards, tortoises, frogs and
toads, fresh-water fishes, insects, crabs, spiders, centipedes, millipedes,
snails, slugs and worms.

Qualifications necessary for teaching Agriculture in Common Schools.
•C. A. McXabb in an address before the Teachers' Countv Institute at

278 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE IV [s . y_DEC., I9o7

Oklahoma City, took the position that while the teachers will not be ex-
pected to teach the practice of agriculture, they should be familiar with
this side of the question and should also inform themselves on the work
of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, the experiment stations, and
the agricultural colleges. They should be up to date in their ideas of
farm methods, improved implements, etc. To secure this training he
recommends that they read farm journals and the publications of this
Department and the experiment stations. {Experiment Station Record]

LIST OF NEW BOOKS RECEIVED

Evolution and Animal Life. By David Starr Jordan & Vernon
Lyman Kellogg. "An elementary discussion of facts, processes, laws
and theories relating to the life and evolution of animals." Pp. 489,
illustrated. Xew York: Appleton & Co. 1907. $2.50.

Elements of Biology. By George William Hunter. A practical
text-book for high schools, correlating botany, zoology, and human phy-
siology. Pp. 445, illustrated. Xew York: American Book Co. 1907.
$1.50.

Darwinism To-Day. By Vernon L. Kellogg. "A discussion of
present-day scientific criticism of the Darwinian Selection Theories,
together with a brief account of the principal other proposed auxiliary
and alternative theories of species-forming." Pp. 403. New York:
Holt & Co. 1007.

Walking: a Fine Art. By Edward F. Bigelow. "As practiced by
naturalists and explained by original contributions to this volume and by
quotations from the published works of those who love to dally along
country lanes." Pp. 164, illustrated. Salem, Mass.: Cassino & Son. 1907.

The Spirit of Nature-Study. By Edward F. Bigelow. "A book of
social suggestion and sympathy for all who love or teach nature." Pp.
222, illustrated. New York: Barnes & Co. 1907.

Mosses and Lichens. By Nina L. Marshall. A popular guide to the
identification and study of our commoner mosses and lichens, their uses,
and methods of preserving. Pp. 327, illustrated. New York: Double-
day, Page & Co. 1907. $4.00.

Stories Retold from St. Nicholas. Six new volumes: Sea Stories, Island
Stories, Stories of the Great Lakes, Strange Sights, Southern Stories,
Western Frontier Stories. New York: Century Co. 11)07. Each 200
pages, illustrated. 65 cents.

Gray Lady and the Birds. By Mable Osgood Wright. Stories of
the birds for home and school. New York: Macmillan Co. 1907. Pp.
435, 48 full-page illustrations. $1.75.

INDEX

279

Index to Vol. Ill, 1907

[Names of contributors are printed in small capitals. Abbreviated titles of books
reviewed are in quotation marks. The abbreviation n.-s. for nature-study is used.]

Agassiz Association, 118

Agriculture, 43, 120, 180, 189, 245;
soils, 211; in n.-s., 247; teachers
of, 277; , see school-gardens and
forestry

Aigrettes, 124

American Nature-Study Society, 68
1 12, 159, 242, 260, 268

Anderson, M. P., n.-s. as an edu-
cation, 102; note, 190

Animals, frozen, 273 ; study of, 243

Ants, 136

Aster, 124

Audubon Societies, 93

Bag-worm, 125

Bailey, L. H., Cornell schoolhouse,
113; n.-s. in agriculture, 247;
referred to, 3, 28, 65, 180

Barn-Swallows, 266

Beebe, C. W., "The Bird," 32;
"Log of Sun," 122

Bees, 63, 246

Bessey, C. E., field work, 9; dis-
cussion, 25

Bigelow, E. F., discussion, 28;
bee-hives, 63 ; Agassiz Association
118; "Spirit of n.-s.," 272

Bigelow, M. A., principles of n.-s.,
1; n.-s. in high schools, note on
9; W. S. Jackman, 65; Nature-
Study Society, 68; 112, 159, 242,
268; children as naturalists;
236, "booming" n.-s., 260; book
reviews, 60, 61, 122, 123, 208,
209, 272, 273; notes, 62—64, 93>
94, 123-126, 187-190; editorials,
156; all editorial notes

Birds, 32, 62, 123, 124, 210, 246,
266, 273, 276

Books, special n.-s., 59, 120, 180,
190, 207, 209, 272; inaccurate,
240

Botany, 9, 126

Brittain, J., chemistry in n.-s.,

19. 99
Broadhurst, J., book review, 32,

208, 272

Brown, W. E., note, 62

Buell, L. C, Cleveland gardens, 38
Bumble-bees, 246
Burbank, 94, 186

Caldwell, O. W., criteria for n.-s.

and geography, 252
Canadian department, 17, 86, 95
Cattle, from India, 188
Cecropia, 213
Cedar- wood, 187

Charles, F. L., discussion, 26, 50
Chemistry, in n.-s., 19, 99
Child study, and n.-s., 6
Children, attitude towards nature,

255; as naturalists, 236
Cicada, 210
Cockle-bur, 62
Constitution, proposed for N. S.

Society, 268
Cornell, n.-s. movement, 247 ; school

house, 113
Cotton-boll weevil, 243
Coulter, quoted, 263

Dana, J. C, forestry exhibition, 154

Dearess, J., n.-s. with insects, 17

Deer, 188

Dickerson, M. C, "Frog Book," 59

Disney, C. E., book review, 58

Dodge, R. E., geography, 116

Dogs, for meat, 246

Dogfish, 210

Downing, E. R., aims of n.-s., 162;

n.-s. course, 191 ; methods, 221
Dublin, L. I., ants, 136

Eliot, C. W., discussion, 52
Ellis, G. F.. field trip, 271
Ether, effect on plants, 245
Excursions to field, 9, 126, 148
Experiments, 19, 99, 200

Farnham, A. W., school-gardens

and geography, 76.
Ferguson, A. M., n.-s. in Texas, 74
Ferns, edible, 277
Ferrets, 62

Field work, 9, 126, 148, 271
Folsom, J. T., "Entomology," 208-

28o

7 'HE XA11 TR /■:- S TUD Y RE VIE W

Forbes, W. T . "Tables of Lepidi >pt

era." 6 1
Forestry, 62, [25, [54, 187, t88,

210, 211, 274, 275
Fruits, 273
Fungi, 1 2^

Gager, C S., radium on plants, 274;

poetry in science, 274
Gardens, see school-gardens
Geography, and school-gardens, 7(1;

and n.-s , i)2, 1 16, 252
Germination, 200
Gipsy moth, 64
Goodrich, C. L., "First Book of

Farming," 1S4
Graham, A. B., n.-s. in rural schools

89
Grout, A. J., discussion, 50
Guyer, M. F., method in n.-s., 228;

how to study animals. 243

Hadley, A. T., discussion, 24

Hatch, L. A., book review, 120;
gardens, 196, 244

Hawks, 2 1 o

Hodge, C. F., principles of n.-s.,
7; mosquitoes, 33 ; bookreviews
61 ; 122, referred to, 2, 1 7, 40

Holder, ('. F„ ".Mammals," 208

Hornaday, W. T., discussion, 22,

24. 52
Horses, for meat, 246
Hudson, G. H , discussion, 56;

field of n.-s., 127
1 1 ygiene, 245

Industries and n.-s., 70
Insects in n.-s., 17, 33, 64, 125, 208,
209, 244, 246; see also bees, ants
Intelligence, of flowers, 275

Tackman, W. S., obituary note, 65

Jackson and Daugherty, "Agri-
culture," 120, 182

Jordan and Kellogg, "Evolution,"
272

foHNSON, R. 0., n.-s. excursion,
148

Kellogg, V. L., discussion, 30;

see Jordan
Kern, (). J., "Among Country
Schools," 60

Latta, W. C, agriculture, 43
Latter, L R . "School Gardening,"

1 20, 207
Lichens, 1 25

LlNVlLLE, II R , discussion, 24
Literature and n.-s., 00, 103, 226

Lochhead, W., editor Canadian
Dept., 17. 86, 95; gardening for

schools, 86; discussion, 54
Long. W. J., books. 241
Loom is. II. X., n.-s. and social need,

39; germination, 200
Lottridge, S. A., "Familiar Wild

Animals," 60

McCready, S, B., referred to, 86
Madden, J., "Forest Friends," 209
Marshall, -X. L., "Mosses and

Lichens," 272
Mathewson, ('. A., notes 186, 209,

243. 273
Mice, 126

Miller, O. T., bird books, 1 23
Morlev, M. W., renewal of life in

n.-s.. 215; book, 60
Mosquitoes, n.
Mulberry, 210

Names, unstable, 124, 188; com-
mon, 206

Nature-Study, principles, i, 7;
definitions, 2; and child study,
6; selection of materials, 7, iqi ;
methods, 5, 22, 24, 221, 228;
chemical, u>, 99; "weakness,"
24; relation to high school, note
on 9; types of best, n\ social
need, 39; and leisure, 108; in
Texas, 74; in rural schools, 89; in
Ontario, 05; in education, 102;
field of , 127; aims of, 162; physi-
cal n.-s., K), 99, 174; course, 191;
leaflets,, 212, 243; sentimental,
213 ; primary, 212; organiza-
tion, 168, 221, 22S; agricultural,
246; in Africa, 277; point of
view, 247; educational purposes,
256; and children, 254; n.-s.
criteria, 252: n.-s. "booms,"
260; selecting materials, 263;
scope of, 262; see also agri-
culture, and school-gardens

Ontario, n.-s. in, 95
Optimism, in n.-s., 277
Oranges, seedless, 125
Organization, of n.-s., 108, ^21.

228
Owls, 210

Pigeon, disappearance, 276

Poetry, in science, 274
Pollination, 277
Primrose, 277

Protection birds and game, 93, 124,
188, 210, 212

INDEX

281

Radium, on plants, 274
Rat, 243

Robison, C. H., books for agri-
culture, 180
Rubber, 186

School-gardens, 37, 38, 76, 86, 1 17,
120, 126, 186, 196, 207, 209, 274

Schoolhouse, Cornell, 113

Science, and n.-s., 4, 174

Seals, 123

Seeds, 62, 64, 125; germination, 200

Sex instruction, 215

Seymour, B., barn-swallows, 266

Silcox, S., n.-s. in Ontario, 95

Sixger, G. P., physical n.-s., 174

Snakes, 62, 93; myths, 126, 187

Society for n.-s., see under Ameri-
can

Soils, 211

Soloax, D., methods in n.-s., 22

Starlings, 246

Stebbins, F. A., discussion, 58

Swallows, 211

Taylor, J. S., organization of n.-s.
facts, 168

Teachers of n.-s., preparation, 250,
277

Texas, n.-s. in, 74

Thayer, E. R., referred to, 23

Thompson, J., "Water Wonders,"
209

Trafton, G. H., gardens, 37; dis-
cussion, 56

Trees, see forestry; dwarf, 244

Turner, E. A., scope of n.-s., 262

Turpentine cup, 275

Window-garden, 244
Wright, M. O., "Gray Lady and
Birds," 273

MBL WHOI 1.1BRAKY

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