5 4 THE NA TURE-STUDY REVIEW u :2 _ FEB ., , 9 o8 



does justice to the various efforts at denning, it requires, however, 

 no special skill or insight to see chat in all modern attempts the 

 idea of development, individual and social, is more or less promi- 

 nent. Development in this connection means change from some 

 form or state of activity to some other form or state of activity, 

 presumably more complex. The particular portion of the 

 development theory that has been used to strengthen the plea for 

 the study of plants and animals in the lower grades, to the ex- 

 clusion of all other aspects of nature, is the culture-epoch theory. 

 This theory states, in general, that the stages by which the race 

 has risen from savagery to modern culture are reproduced in 

 their natural order in the life of the individual. If it can be 

 established that primitive peoples take greater interest in plants 

 and animals and only relatively late develop interest in the 

 physical portions of their surroundings, then the teaching of 

 plants and animals to children seems the only portion of the 

 natural realm with which to begin. This is true of primitive 

 people, however, only in a very general way. If one turns to the 

 writings of anthropologists, he finds that the savage's dependence 

 on the physical agencies employed in securing the benefits of 

 plants and animals is only second to his dependency on the plants 

 and animals themselves. The uses he makes of flint, clays, bones 

 and metals and the needless labor spent in decorating them is in- 

 disputable evidence as to where his interest lies. But if we need 

 further evidence to show that the interest of primitive peoples 

 are at least as much centered on the physical as on the biological, 

 we should recall the often very elaborate explanations of the 

 origin and working of the forces of nature as they encountered 

 them. Were, therefore, the culture-epoch theory of unquestionable, 

 educational validity, we should have to declare, if not in favor of 

 the physical realm, then for its equal educational value with the 

 biological. But the culture-epoch theory itself is extremely 

 difficult and uncertain of interpretation; at best it "does not 

 hold in details, but only in a rough and general way." There- 

 fore, in fairness to the theory, we cannot call it in to decide be- 

 tween the claims of closely related topics. 



We have now before us some seven or eight influences that 

 have conspired to elevate the study of plants and animals above 

 their natural settings. And it must be evident that not one of 

 them, or all of them combined, furnishes sufficient foundation 



