142 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [5:6— Sept., 1909 



trative of most of the features of a natural human environment. 

 These advanced schools are gradually preparing a school environ- 

 ment adapted to exercise the perceptive nerves, the associative 

 fibres and the powers of comparison and judgment. They are 

 leading the way to the true cultivation of the whole nervous sys- 

 tem, and bringing to its aid those muscular activities so necessary 

 to a proper investigation of the field of nature-study. The office 

 of the teacher is to guide the pupil in the examination of these 

 objects. It is not his duty to tell his own knowledge of them, but 

 it is his duty to present the objects in such a manner as to allow 

 the pupil to use its own powers. As all knowledge is obtained 

 through the senses, the child must be trained to use all his senses 

 that may be employed in the analysis of any object. This prac- 

 tice gives an accurate and complex image of an object. The ele- 

 ments of the image may be size, color, odor, hardness, condition 

 of surface, temperature, texture, etc. As these are the component 

 elements of a single picture, any one of them may recall the whole 

 image. 



This sensory analysis is more than a mere exercise of the senses, 

 it involves the whole brain. It engages the powers of comparison 

 judgment, association, relation of cause and effect, and establishes 

 the relation of the object to other things. This rational method 

 of sensory training is the only scientific method of examining 

 objects. In his earliest years, the child's powers of comparison 

 and judgment and reason are quite limited. But as he increases 

 in experience his fund of images being greater he is permitted to 

 exercise greater poAver of comparison and judgment. Thus, year 

 by year the proper training should develop the whole brain, the 

 ' sensory nerves becoming more and more responsive to an increas- 

 ing variety of environmental objects, the associative fibres more 

 responsive to a greater variety of casual and related forces, and 

 conditions. The student can make clearer images of his whole 

 environment, both material and spiritual. By this method, he 

 soon discovers those generalizations used in the common affairs 

 of life and applies them in his daily contact with the world. This 

 is the only practice that can prepare a pupil to use his inherited 

 brain in the interpretation of a modern environment. 



