242 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W [2 . 7 _ OC t., .906 



nature "notes," made by high-school pupils, that were truly a sight 

 to behold. 



The present methods of teaching geography have been grafted 

 bodily upon the teaching of nature-study. No less a man than Pro- 

 fessor D. Lange gives this definition: " Nature- study means getting 

 acquainted with life about our homes." There are scores — possibly 

 hundreds — of teachers who are attempting to live up to that principle; 

 and a more inadequate foundation for zoological work could hardly 

 be devised. It means a limitation that is pitiful. Forty years ago 

 geography was taught wholly from text-books and maps, and it was 

 learned— as I have reason to believe— far more thoroughly and suc- 

 cessfully than it is to-day. Nature-studies can be taught to-day 

 from text-books and pictures, just as well as geography was taught 

 in the '6o's. There are millions of children who have no "life about 

 their homes!" 



The fiist need of the hour is a proper nature text-book, which sets 

 forth the facts about animal life that every young person needs to know, 

 both for actual use, and in order to not be grossly ignorant. These 

 facts should be set forth according to the system of nature, not by 

 mixing up all living things — birds, bugs, flowers, mushrooms, shells. 

 crabs and trees— in a chaotic mass. 



The pupil should be required to memorize facts and definitions 

 from his own book, not from the lips of a tired and over-burdened 

 teacher. The available objects of natural history should supplement 

 this work; but the mice and beetles and sparrows and dog-fennel that 

 surround the "little red school-house" should not be set before the 

 pupil as the leading representatives and exponents of the great living 

 world. 



The more the nature-study teachers of America strive to ignore 

 the system of nature — the key to all successful zoological work, great 

 or small— the more will they grope in darkness, the more will their 

 work end in child's play. Any sensible child ten years of age can 

 learn, and remember for use. a certain number of the grand divis- 

 ions — the continents, as it were — 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. 



But the pupil must be made to do the work. Have done with the 

 everlasting coddling that compels the teacher to do everything that 

 savors of work! Young naturalists can not be made by the oral fun- 



