BARR ON NATURE STUDY. 25 



couceive it, an incitlent, the method the end. These children are not 

 read}- for the study of botany-, but they may Ivuow and love flowers; 

 geology is bey(»nd their ken, but rocks, soils, and water are of their 

 daily lives; zoology i)resents problems that they cannot know, but ani- 

 mals are their playmates, and they should be taught that these are of 

 the same stuff as they and that as they consider them they should 

 themselves be treated. In other words, we may and must em])loy with 

 them the materials of science that they may be taught the method of 

 scientific thought. The teacher must ever be on the guard lest these, 

 the means, become to him the absorbing end. Of course to the child 

 they are the end, but the teacher must ever place before himself the 

 development not of science but. of the child. And much true science 

 may be taught. The foundation of much that he will meet in later 

 years may be made a part of himself that when that day comes, he may 

 still be on sure ground and know whereof he speaks. 



Science embraces all knowledge and the scientific method applies 

 to all. It is characteristic of higher education that scientific method 

 dominates all its fields; not to the extent that it should and will, but 

 the leaven is working and day by day we are nearing the goal. More 

 and more is the value of things lessened in our vision, as educators, 

 and they become but the stepping stones, as it were, that lead across 

 the river of knowledge to the heights where wisdom reigns. Knowl- 

 edge is not power. It may be, it is the means by which power comes, 

 but only as it is. subordinated and the lessons it teaches strike deep 

 in our hearts. 



. The greatest value of the scientific method is that it leads us to 

 use to the full our powers; to weigh, to analyse and to combine; to 

 frame hypotheses and test them by our knowledge, by experiment and 

 experience; to lean upon them only as. they prove themselves strong. 

 And the strife toward finality in knowledge is as the light that shineth 

 more arid more unto the perfect day. As one learns more and more 

 to use his reason, more perfectly to apply it to all problems of school 

 and life as they come before him, to view the world as one great whole, 

 in which we are merely atoms in a cosmos, to govern himself by that 

 which is approved from the all round view, so does he come into that 

 greatest of all possessions, which cannot be taken away, though all 

 else should fail, the true and perfect enjoyment of the cultured, the 

 intellectual life. 



If I may be yjermitted to sa.y a few words about methods I would say, 

 first, study nature in her home. Reading about nature or talking about 

 her never made a naturalist. The method is vicious. We might with 

 equal profit discuss our expected dinner and end with discussion. We 

 demand the substance and the pupil must have a first hand acquaint- 

 ance with nature herself. The easiest way is to bring the materials to 

 the schoolroom, though it should always be the pupil, not the teacher 

 that finds and brings them. The best method, however, is to find things 

 where they grow, in their natural environment for only thus can we 

 answer many of the questions that they suggest and only thus may we 

 avoid eri'or by the instant appeal to fact. 



I realize the dilficulties attendant on field excursions by school chil- 

 dren, and would not minimize them. This work calls for mental alert- 

 4 



