402 NA T URE-STUD Y RE VIE W [11 :9— Dec. , 19 15 



under consideration. Then method is taken up under the two 

 headings of what to teach and how to teach. In considering what 

 to teach a general outline is prepared of the facts that are adapted 

 to be taught to children. In considering how to teach, definite 

 topics for certain grades and seasons are selected and lesson plans 

 are worked out on how to teach a single lesson on some particular 

 topic. These plans form the basis for class discussion. Other 

 large subjects are in turn taken up in the sane way. 



Human Intereslfand Nature-Study 



By^C.[F.[HoDGE^Ph.D. 

 Professor of Social Biology, \ 

 University fc of fc Oregon, Eugene, Oregon. 



"Life is response to the order of Nature." — W. K. Brooks. 



"And why (are these men revered)? Because they humanized knowledge; 

 because they broadened the basis of life and intelligence. "— Mathew Arnold. 



"I doubt not but ye shall have more ado to drive our dullest and laziest 

 youth, our stocks and stubs from the infinite desire of such a happy nurture, 

 than we have now to hale and drag our choicest and hopefullest wits to that 

 asinine feast of sow thistles and brambles which is commonly set before them 

 as all the food and entertainment of their tenderest age." — John Milton 

 Tractate on Education, p. 8. 



There is a suggestive analogy between eating and learning. 

 In the one process food is built into the bodily life, in the other 

 truth is assimilated into the mental life. Both functions are 

 equipped with a complicated set of organs and both require a cer- 

 tain amount of effort or work. ' ' Dc gustibus non est disputandum ;" 

 and still it is interesting to inquire why it is that eating or learning 

 some things is pleasurable and wholesome, while learning or eating 

 something else may be distasteful and injurious. In general, if 

 the physical appetite is keen enough, the taking of food, however 

 plain, is agreeable; and, if food is not to be had, A Digger Indian 

 may derive some satisfaction from eating clay. In general, too, 

 it is hard to induce children to eat anything that is distinctly dis- 

 tasteful to them, and under conditions of normal health and 

 appetite this is not necessary, their natural tastes and desires being 

 our safest guide. Some bulk and roughage is desirable but we do 

 not hear much about feeding "water worn pebbles" to babies for 

 the sake of "strengthening" their stomachs; although the experi- 

 ment has been tried on a frog's stomach of feeding a piece of indi- 



