1 84 The Ohio Naturalist. [Vol. IV, No. 8, 



of nature, and the plan has come forward as a new method of 

 education at intervals ever since ; only, however, to lapse again 

 and again into dependence upon the indirect one of reference to 

 printed authorit}' or the mere dictum of the teacher. Nature 

 stud}' is certainlv old, but it needs constant rehabilitation or it 

 reverts to the methods of repetition. 



But while Agassiz died and the Penikese station was aban- 

 doned, the spirit of the enterprise has blossomed out in hosts, of 

 schools and research stations where the fundamental purpose is 

 identical with his. First and foremost of these is the famous 

 zoological station at Naples, and our own Woods Holl stands, 

 doubtless, next to it in length of life and scientific product. 



Mere mention of the stations at Bayonne, Plymouth. Plon, 

 Beaufort, Cold Spring Harbor, Casco Bay, Plat Head Lake, 

 Illinois River, Madison, Vl^inona Lake, Bermuda, Kingston, 

 Jamaica and Vancouver's, shows the extent to which it has 

 grown. They have contributed not only to the body of knowl- 

 edge concerning plant and animal life but, more, they have 

 taught the methods of original research and given inspiration to 

 hosts of teachers throughout the country who have carried the 

 research method into high schools and colleges to the profound 

 improvement of methods of instruction. 



This is not merely a process of teaching how to investigate ; it 

 is using the method of investigation as a process in education. 

 Its purpose is to give the student both the impulse and the train- 

 ing by which he may gain new facts properly and correlate them 

 with previous knowledge that is presented to him from the past. 

 In short, to acquire and prove for himself that which he is asked 

 to accept as the results of previous work by his predecessors. 



It will be seen that we have a two-fold purpose though at bot- 

 tom a single end— instruction and investigation. In our instruc- 

 tion we aim to .show the methods of research used in investiga- 

 tions and to instruct or furnish information in the essential 

 processes connected with the growth and perfection of science. 



But we may go further and recognize that the acquisition of 

 knowledge has wider purpose than the mere gratification of 

 mental curiosity or the building up of an educational structure. 

 Knowledge has its ultimate service in contributing to human 

 needs, material as well as intellectual, in the promotion of human 

 life and activity-. I believe that we may, with perfect pro]^riety, 

 insist on the educational value of a method which in\-olves. 

 includes in its scope, the determining of facts that will be of 

 practical service in the conununit}- and state. 



The elaborate study of mosquito conditions on Long Island by 

 the members of the laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor lose none 

 of their scientific value and interest from the fact that they fur- 

 nish a ba.sis for most important service in prevention of disease- 



