240 



Till- CI IDE TO NATURE 



HEAD OF ELEPHANT— "CHIEF.' 



tory are especially attractive and ex- 

 tensive. There arc extensive cases de- 

 voted to birds, to wild flowers from the 

 Berkshire hills, to geological speci- 

 mens with their interesting develop- 

 ments in mineral forms, to collections 

 oJ insects. 



What a wonderful aid it would be to 

 the real knowledge that should be im- 

 parted in the schools, if every town 

 had such a supplement to its library, 

 its public school, and. yes, to its 

 churches. We teach the children 

 about the coral islands and the length 

 of Madagascar; we read of the Yosem- 

 ite and of explorations in Africa; we 

 eulogize the wonderful Works of the 

 Creator, and sing of "the glorious fir- 

 mament," when we are ignorant of 

 the habits of a single plant or a single 

 animal in the neighboring field, or the 

 location and path of a star or a con- 

 stellation in the heavens above. The 

 human race began its knowledge of 

 the natural world in its mythical 

 astrology, and only in the last half cen- 

 tury came down to earth in modern 

 biology. Some day it will realize the 



showing p:xtensive rows of cases. 



