palmer] ARE CHILDREN NATURALLY NATURALISTS? 29 



brought near, they almost invariably frighten, at first, and a 

 further acquaintance is forced by teaching the child to like the 

 "nice doggie" or "pretty kitty." 



It would appear that it is exceedingly difficult to arrive at 

 anything like a safe conclusion as to what a child would naturally 

 do in these and many other cases. The human animal is trained 

 continually from the day of its birth. Is it not another case of, 

 "How much is hereditary, and how much is due to environment?" 



My Own experience as a boy coincides pretty well with that 

 related by Professor Bigelow, and I believe he has shown us the 

 average, active, healthy boy — the "typical" boy — but there are 

 some puzzling things about this boy nature. Most of us, as boys, 

 probably went through that stage, which may be characterized 

 for the average boy by warfare against the harmless and de- 

 fenseless "critters" of the earth, air, and water. And I would 

 say that little of it could be classed as intentional cruelty; at 

 least, the sufferings of our "enemies" were not long drawn out 

 according to the nature of the high art practiced by "Tabby" 

 with her unfortunate mouse. 



But how can one explain such an outcropping of the savage 

 nature in a boy? Cruelty cannot answer for all this, for as we 

 well know, many just such boys have their pets for whose com- 

 fort and care they are very solicitous. It seems to me that most 

 of it is due to the innate tendency in mankind to subdue and sub- 

 jugate all things possible; for, is he not to have "dominion, 

 over every living thing that moveth upon the earth?" Most of 

 these boyhood "sports" are the result of misdirected "dominion;" 

 the boy loves and cares for the useful, and dispatches the use- 

 less, according to his understanding. To correct such pernic- 

 ious "sport" as killing toads and robbing bird's nests, it will be 

 found that the average boy will usually respond to wise effort 

 directed towards showing him his true relation to his environ- 

 ment. Moreover, this should be one of the leading objects in 

 teaching the zoological side of nature-study. 



[Editor's Note. — Other letters in this series will appear in later issues.] 



