shufeldtj NATURE-STUDY AND COMMON ANIMALS 249 



botanical — that live upon it. It is to the latter that the nature 

 student usually devotes his or her attention, though at the same 

 time we not infrequently meet with young students who find it 

 more to their taste to confine themselves to the simpler studies in 

 the various departments of geology, being often particularly inter- 

 ested in "fossils." 



With respect to the study of plant and animal life, our juvenile 

 scholars are encouraged to collect material for their studies; to 

 make inquiry as to the habitats or ranges of such specimens as they 

 may find; to gain, in the case of animal forms, some idea of the 

 differences distinguishing the male from the female ; to investigate 

 habits and behavior as far as possible; reproduction or how the 

 species is perpetuated in nature; its external form and internal 

 structure ; what all the parts are for or what they do for any partic- 

 ular creature, — that is, the laws of elementary physiology should 

 be an important subject for the consideration of the young nature 

 student. 



Such studies have one great thing to recommend them: they 

 train the mind and eye in that chief requisite to a successful life — 

 the power of correct observation, and the consideration of cause 

 and effect in the very material that goes to make up the world. 

 There is no one thing so fatal to success as mal-observation. 



If a boy or a girl is keen in the matter of being able to state 

 correctly off-hand that such and such an animal is found here or 

 there in nature and nowhere else, except through accident; that it 

 has this or that habit, and behaves so and so under peculiar condi- 

 tions ; and can make correct statements upon all the other points 

 set forth above — you may be very sure that such a youth will 

 meet with success in almost any other line to which his or her mind 

 and hands are directed and employed. 



The study of nature and natural objects is no more mysterious 

 and difficult of comprehension than it is to study and understand 

 the mechanism of a watch, or the principles which govern the 

 movements and action of the simple steam engine. In other 

 words, as Professor Huxley long ago said: "Science is simply 

 common sense at its best." That great mind of the Victorian 

 Era further expressed himself in the following words which are 

 dear to every nature lover, and fitly lead up to what I have to 

 bring forward in this article: "When simple curiosity passes into 

 the love of knowledge as such, and the gratification of the aesthetic 



