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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



was turned out of three schools hefore 

 he was seven years old, in consequence 

 of his irrepressible passion for collect- 

 ing the curious natural objects which 

 fell in his boyish way. But the feeling 

 which led to the treatment of little 

 Tom Edward is far enough from heing 

 confined to his brutal and besotted 

 teachers. We have seen cultivated, 

 high-school instructors, and parents 

 claiming to be liberal and intelligent, 

 who would cry out with horror to see 

 their children touch such repulsive 

 things as worms and frogs, and threat- 

 en them with a thrashing if they 

 brought them in or around the house. 

 It is this vulgar and absurd prejudice 

 that stands in the way of anything like 

 rational biological study in our schools. 

 Undoubtedly, it is very nice and pleas- 

 ant to learn natural history out of text- 

 books full of pictures, and abounding 

 in pretty anecdotes about animals ; but 

 we can only get the study, in place of 

 this, of actual living creatures by bat- 

 tling with and conquering the foolish 

 infatuation of people in regard to the 

 repulsiveness of the inferior forms of 

 life. Unperverted children are fond 

 of them, and this feeling should be 

 cherished and encouraged, and made 

 available as an impulse in early study. 

 Prof. Huxley knows how to deal tell- 

 ing blows at the various pestilent big- 

 otries of society that stand in the way 

 of its intellectual progress ; and we 

 should have been better pleased if he 

 had denounced this prejudice as it de- 

 serves, rather than make tacit terms 

 with it, as a " difficulty," because prog- 

 ress is only made as difficulties are over- 

 come and got out of the way. 



As to human physiology, we doubt 

 if it is the proper door to biology, 

 either for young or old it is putting 

 the complex before the simple ; and, 

 although viscera may be had at the 

 butcher-shops, we fail to see what is 

 gained on the score of "messiness" by 

 substituting them for "slugs or snails," 

 or the simpler forms of life that can be 



procured anywhere. Prof. Huxley says 

 that " plants do not make a mess at 

 least, they do not make an unpleasant 

 mess," but the quality of the mess is 

 not the important thing. The study of 

 plants is resisted in schools, and, when 

 attempted, is often abandoned, simply 

 because of this circumstance ; and, when 

 the principle has been once conceded, 

 as in the case of plants, the difficulty 

 practically disappears in regard to ani- 

 mate things. If there is the slight- 

 est interest in the subject, there need 

 be no trouble. Classes of children a 

 dozen years old can go through Prof. 

 Morse's admirable " First Book of Zo- 

 ology," collecting numerous specimens 

 of insects, shells, and creatures found 

 in ponds and puddles, and, if his direc- 

 tions are followed, which may be easily 

 done, there will actually be less litter 

 and inconvenience than is usual with 

 the study of plants. The " difficulty," 

 in fact, is not real or intrinsic in the 

 conditions of the case, but, as Ave have 

 had occasion to notice again and again, 

 it comes from the stupid ignorance and 

 fussy meddlesomeness of parents, who 

 bully the teachers at every deviation 

 from the "horrid demnition grind" of 

 book-lessons and recitations in the 

 schools. The fact is, if we ever get 

 the study of Nature into the schools, it 

 can only be by breaking down the su- 

 perstitions by which they are domi- 

 nated ; the deadly order, by which Na- 

 ture is kept out ; and by a larger recog- 

 nition of individual aptitudes, and much 

 freer opportunity for the observation 

 and study of natural objects. 



SOME QUESTIONS A XS WE RED. 



A public appeal was made, through 

 the Tribune, by Rev. Dr. Deems, to the 

 editor of The Popular Science Month- 

 ly, to make good certain statements 

 contained in the criticism of Dr. Tay- 

 lor's letter. Dr. Deems avows that 

 his " questions are submitted for infor- 

 mation," but we suspect he is not half 



