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. 



