1903] Nature Study — No. i. 47 



are brio^htened to a wonderful dej^ree and the individual becomes 

 more alert, self-reliant, and useful. Nature study, to be success- 

 ful and take its most useful place in education must deal with 

 the beginnings of things It imparts an elementary knowledge of 

 ;ill the commonest things about us, which, from their very common- 

 ness, are of importance to us, because they touch us so frequently 

 and enter so much into our everyday lives. Nature study is par- 

 ticularly suitable for training the young - even the lowest grades of 

 scholars — whose senses are always keen to observe anything new 

 or strange, and whose minds are always in a receptive state ; but, 

 also, it equally commends itself to the observant and thoughtful 

 student whatever his age may be. It is essentially kindergarten 

 work, and kindergarten work is essentially nature study. 



The scope of nature study, as stated, should as much as 

 possible be confined to the simple elements of knowledge. It is 

 simply a means to an end. Its object is not to teach any branch 

 of natural sicence, but to train the mind to acquire knowledge in 

 any direction to which it may be specially directed. It should not 

 be taught by the teacher to the scholar, but studied by the teacher 

 with the scholar — the teacher merely using his superior knowledge 

 and experience in directing and encouraging the scholars to strive 

 fo learn for themselves something about all things whi(.h 

 come before them. In this way they will become self-dependent, 

 and will not trust blindly to what is told them or what they find in 

 books, but they will examine, consider, and confirm everything for 

 themselves. 



Wrong ideas about many things in nature are very wide- 

 spread, and there is an inexplicable lack of knowledge on the part 

 of a large proportion of the community with regard to many things 

 concerning which some easily obtainable information would be of 

 great benefit to them. All the foolish things, and nearly all the 

 wicked things done in the world, are due to people not knowing 

 many simple things which they ought to know. There is, perhaps, 

 no such widespread and unnecessary cause of unhappiness or actual 

 misery as the fear of being in the dark, which is felt by so many 

 children, and even by many grown-up people, and, yet, if one will 

 only think the matter out carefully, he will have to acknowledge 

 that it is an almost unheard-of thing in Canada for any injury to 



