156 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [1, 4. july 1905 



greater element has yet been named in this paper than that of 

 giving expression to the knowledge attained, or the conclusion 

 drawn. 



The teaching of English composition is the bug-bear of the 

 pedagogue. Make the failure of nature-study as appalling as 

 you may, and it still stands only a close second to the failure in 

 elementary and intermediate English. 



The remedy that I have to offer is to begin, pursue and finish 

 the drill in composition, by telling orally or in writing, the observa- 

 tions we have made for ourselves, instead of reproducing what 

 we have read or have been told. Let us use our five or six 

 senses for the acquirement of knowledge (as I have indicated 

 for nature-study), and after it has been acquired, communicate 

 it to others. As we advance in the grades, pupils should be led 

 to draw conclusions and form judgments from knowledge ac- 

 quired through observation of nature, these conclusions and judg- 

 ments to be formulated into compositions. 



The nature-study, the field work, the laboratory, the experi- 

 ences of life, the rubbing against men and things, should be made 

 the source of knowledge and the source of data from which ideas 

 are drawn. I do not mean to say that reading as a source of 

 knowledge should be tabooed, but it should be left largely until 

 the child has acquired the habit of informing himself through his 

 God-given organs for that purpose — the sense organs. 



I am deeply under the conviction that until we revise our 

 methods of composition, instruction and training, we shall con- 

 tinue to dwarf the intellectuality of the generations, and I believe 

 that the procedure which I have herein endeavored briefly to out- 

 line, if followed, will add no small increment to the intellectual 

 capacity of the manhood and womanhood of the future. [From 

 Colorado School Journal.] 



THE SILK-WORM FOR NATURE-STUDY 



BY ALVIN DAVISON, Ph.D. 

 Professor of Biology in Lafayette College 



The interesting and valuable results furnished by the use of 

 silk-worms in nature-study work encourages me to report some of 

 the information gained for the benefit of those interested in this 



