168 Bureau of I'aumeks' Institutes. 



no, I have not seen him, neither do I know where he is, but as 

 I came this way I noticed birds of the air picking something from 

 the ground which I found to be meal, the footprints showed me 

 a camel had passed this way, and the impression from the left 

 hind foot being indistinct I knew he was lame in that foot. I 

 also saw that the grass on the left side was cropped close, while 

 that on the right was untouched; from this I knew he was blind in 

 his right eye. All these signs the Arab had observed and traced, 

 and though equally plain to the traveler, he had not seen them, 

 and could hardly be convinced the Arab spoke the truth. We 

 thus see the value of natural science, which has been defined as 

 '' consisting of two things, seeing what you look at and drawing 

 proper conclusions from what you see." Not only in country, 

 but in city schools is the need for nature study felt. A recent 

 paper states: 



"At an examination in many of the public schools in Boston, 

 Syracuse, Kansas City, St. Louis and other of the larger cities, 

 a surprising ignorance of natural objects was shown; very many 

 of the children had never seen a bee hive, bee or a hen; did not 

 know what a snake or a toad looked like; could not describe an 

 insect, and had no idea what a butterfly was. It was recom- 

 mended that some of the subjects now taught be dropped and 

 nature study substituted." 



How many children of the age of twelve or under, can tell a 

 bass wood tree from an elm, a cherry tree from a maple with the 

 leaves on or off? What appears first on a fruit tree, the leaves or 

 blossoms? Why can a fly walk on the ceiling? How does the 

 grasshopper sing his song? How many teeth has a cow on it« 

 upper jaw? How many teeth has a hen? You laugh at this, 

 but I doubt if one child out of twenty can answer these ques- 

 tions correctly, yet they are subjects which are met with every 

 day. As our prosperity depends in so large a degree upon the 

 cultivation of the soil and plant life, why should not our boys and 

 girls be educated to a knowledge of nature by bringing them into 

 direct contact with her work. Make nature study real and per- 

 sonal; teach the children to know the plant, its habits, its family, 

 and its enemies by actual observation, so they may be able to tell 



