Sinclair] DEFINITE PROBLEMS IN NATURE-STUDY 25 



favorable places in their own special habitats. There was a prepon- 

 derance of ferns, fungi, and mosses on the northern exposure where 

 there was least evaporation and swamp plants were found in the low- 

 est parts of the Island. An oak growing in a cleft of the hillside 

 attracted attention by its abnormal contour. It was found on meas- 

 urement that its height was only 12 feet while the branches had 

 extended laterally until from tip to tip the tree measured 19 ft. 6 in. 

 It was evident that the tree had not been broken in anyway. A brief 

 investigation revealed the causes of the extreme width. The tree 

 grew on a shelf of rock facing the south, with another rock rising 

 vertically close behind it to the height of about 12 feet. The reflec- 

 tion of the sun's rays from the posterior rock together with the shelter 

 from the north wind had created a condition of average temperature 

 many degrees warmer than that above the 12 feet limit and the tree 

 branches had by the principle of heliotropism followed in the direction 

 best adapted to development. 



Many other interesting phenomena in connection with soil forma- 

 tion, heat and moisture conditions were similarly incidentally noted. 



Further, in such study one is sure to become impressed with the fact 

 that the investigation of sequential life-history is more interesting than 

 the study of a cross section. "What have we here? ' : is seldom as 

 productive a question as " How did it get here?" or " Whither does 

 it tend?" 



While carrying on the foregoing investigation such problems as the 

 following naturally suggest themselves : " How were the seeds 

 brought to the island?" "In what order did the trees appear?" 

 "What other trees will come and how will they come?" " Will the 

 struggle for supremacy leave conditions as at present, e. g. will the 

 poplar continue to rule thepine?" 



At the beginning most nature problems must of necessity involve 

 little more than an inductive-analytic treatment of individual cases, 

 and the study is best conducted first-hand and without the aid of 

 books ; but as the investigation advances and hypotheses are sug- 

 gested, the emphasis is thrown more and more on the deductive side, 

 and the aid of the specialist and the text-book becomes increasingly 

 valuable. 



Professor Chamberlain, head of the geological department in the 

 University of Chicago, used to say that when he went on a 'field ex- 

 cursion there were always many hypotheses in the foreground of his 

 consciousness each struggling for confirmation. The student who is 



