THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION. 



H5 



few minutes upon what is going on 

 among the insects on or about the very 

 vines that shade him, in order to become 

 interested and to desire to seek for an 

 explanation of the tilings he sees. 



WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT. 



FROM SUPERINTENDENT HARRY G. HIGBEE, 

 HYDE PARK, MASSACHUSETTS, COR- 

 RESPONDING MEMBER NO. 2034. 



Your prospectus of "The Guide to 

 Nature" received, and I have been look- 

 ing it over with a great deal of interest 

 and pleasure. It seems to me that this 

 magazine exactly fits a long felt want 

 with nature lovers, and that it has before 

 it a large field of usefulness. 



I have been a most ardent lover of na- 

 ture since I can remember and have al- 

 ways strongly worked for and urged the 

 principle "Study nature in the woods and 

 fields and not from books, save only to 

 assist in identification." What we need 

 is a magazine that will help us to do just 

 this thing. 



I am a member of other organizations 

 of a similar nature, but it seems to me 

 that the Agassiz Association comes right 

 down to the Dractical part of nature 

 studw and I want to become a member 

 and do what I can to help along an in- 

 stitution which incorporates the princi- 

 ples in which I so thoroughly believe. 



I have had a field class in bird study 

 for six years past and am now conducting 

 the seventh season. Perhaps through 

 the Association I may learn of other 

 similar classes and thereby add to mine 

 ideas which will give it a larger field of 

 usefulness. 



I can see in many ways how an or- 

 ganization and a magazine which is so 

 thoroughly co-operative with the needs 

 and wants of its members has before it 

 a great field of usefulness and is bound 

 to he a success. 



Thus I shall look forward with a great 

 deal of pleasure to the inspiration which 

 I may receive from this magazine and 

 from my fellow members, to seek with 

 a greater interest and a deeper appre- 

 ciation the wonders and beauties which 

 Mother Xature gladly reveals to all who 

 sit at her feet and learn. 



TOE SATISFACTIONS OF NATURE 

 STUDY. 



BY PROP. THOS. 11. MONTGOMERY, JR., 



UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, AUSTIN, 



TEXAS. 



One may undertake any one of the 

 natural sciences as his profession, and 

 the majority who do so make the choice 

 out of pure enthusiasm and love for the 

 work. Here I refer not to him who 

 is simply seeking a livelihood, nor yet 

 to him who finds his main interest in the 

 teaching, but to the man impelled b\ 

 the motives of discovery and research. 

 Perhaps no one is happier than the 

 investigator in his periods of searching 

 for the truth. Then a natural science 

 may be prosecuted as an auxiliary to tiie 

 profession proper, as one must become 

 acquainted with general biological prin- 

 ciples if he would lay the proper foun- 

 dation for his profession of medicine, or 

 sociology and economics, or agriculture, 

 or psychology. 



But apart from the pursuit of natural 

 history as a profession, or as an aid to 

 one, there are many who find a great 

 interest in it more from the standpoint 

 of a hobby ; and it is especially for such 

 that this magazine has been founded. 

 In the greater number of our towns, 

 with the notable exception of most of 

 those in the southern states, there exist 

 natural history clubs of one kind or an- 

 other composed chiefly of amateurs : bo- 

 tanical, entomological, ornithological so- 

 cieties, societies for the breeding of gold- 

 fish and geological clubs. The majority 

 of their members are physicians or other 

 professional people, and business men, 

 manv of whom would have chosen 

 science as a profession had they only 

 had the opportunity. Then more re- 

 cently this amateur interest has been 

 widened by the teaching of nature study 

 in the schools, by more attractive exhi- 

 bitions in the public museums, and to 

 some extent by the trend of modern 

 literature. 



Now this interest among the people 

 is older than the term "Nature Study," 

 and must rest upon satisfaction given 

 by the subject. This satisfaction is 



manifold in its source. To many the 

 observation of nature appeals rather 

 from the artistic side. What attracts 



