1 64 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



on' (goad). 'To plunge a weapon into some one, to make a jagged 

 wound' (gored). ' An animal' (goat?). 'A greedy person' (gour- 

 mand). 'A chasm or piece of land that is very much lower than the 

 surrounding land ' (gorge). 



The definitions thus far quoted are by college students, and though 

 most of them are exceptional rather than characteristic of the defini- 

 tions of college students, they are surprising as well as amusing. 



One English teacher was so astonished at the ' depth of ignorance ' 

 displayed by the definitions of his freshman class in English that he 

 had all the papers looked over by his assistants, who all agreed that the 

 results were ' shocking.' They, however, saw no relation between the 

 definitions and the scholarship of individual pupils. (As has already 

 been stated the figures show that those ranking high in scholarship 

 knew on an average about 5 per cent, more words than those ranking 

 low in scholarship.) 



Character of the definitions changed greatly with age. Descrip- 

 tions which are so common in the high school and college papers are 

 rarely or never given by children in the kindergarten and primary 

 grades. The same is true of definitions by synonyms and inclusions 

 under larger terms. The younger children nearly always define by 

 mention of some specific incident, e. g., ' A cliavr is to sit on'; ' Baby 

 stands up by a chair' ; ' A bee goes around a piazza and makes a noise.' 

 What anything can do, or what can be done to it, or with it, is of most 

 importance in early knowledge of all things, hence we find the defini- 

 tions of children expressing action and use more than anything else. 

 Eeference to personal experience of self and friends is also common. 

 These facts are of great significance to pedagogy, strongly endorsing 

 the change now being made from the old descriptive ' object lesson ' 

 to the better forms of nature study in which use is made the center of 

 interest. 



