79 2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



fourth, man's structure. After this order has been observed 

 through an elementary course — just enough to give a hint of the 

 cycle of change from the rock world through the soil, plant, and 

 animal, back to soil and rock again, to show the intimate de- 

 pendence of Nature's kingdoms and processes — these studies may 

 be carried on together, a few weeks of each year being devoted to 

 each one. This may be done until the student has reached the 

 years when he may wisely devote himself to one branch as a 

 specialty. Attention to the whole cycle of Nature is not incon- 

 sistent with thoroughness, since the little that is selected from 

 each part may be thoroughly studied. A little work well done is 

 of more value than to run over the whole field superficially, not 

 only to the contents of the child's mind, but to his growth in 

 character. 



It matters little where one begins, so that the study be honest 

 and thorough. Any beginning will lead everywhere else, for, 

 though there are straight roads for the specialists to follow, the 

 whole field is covered by a most intricate network of roads. A 

 mother may begin where her present knowledge is least liable to 

 blunder. If she had a fondness for physics in her school days, 

 let her take that. Let her teach her child the laws of mechanics 

 as illustrated in his daily life and observations. Let her teach 

 him to drive a nail properly, and she teaches him to avoid the 

 working of the law of the wedge ; teach him how the windows 

 are hung, and she introduces him to weights and pulleys ; show 

 him a man unloading a barrel of flour at the door, and she shows 

 him the inclined plane ; in teaching him to use a pair of scales, 

 a can-opener, a claw-hammer, a nut-cracker, she teaches him the 

 use of levers. The wheel and axle may be taught from the well 

 or the clock. 



The properties of bodies and the laws of expansion and con- 

 traction find abundant illustration in the daily life. Let the child 

 fill an old jug with water, cork it tightly, and set it out of doors 

 some cold night. The break found the next morning will not be 

 forgotten. Then take him to a neighboring ledge of rock, show 

 him its cracks filled with ice, and he will not be slow to draw the 

 lesson of how the strong rocks are broken asunder. Then show 

 the child the tiny snow-flake with its six crystal arms, so delicate 

 that you hold your breath lest they vanish while you look ; and 

 lead him to see that the jug and the mighty ledge of rocks are 

 broken by these fairy creatures. What tale in mythology or 

 folk-lore is more wonderful than this ? In every drop of water 

 is the fairy crystal spirit, but it can not embody itself where 

 heat is. Cold is its good genius ; and when cold comes, the fairy 

 spirit works., throwing out one dainty spar after another and in- 

 terlacing them with threads more delicate than those in our finest 



