212 The Ottawa Naturalist. | [February 



and examine them at home, as illustrated in the specimen class 

 lesson. Without much expenditure of time the teacher can note 

 that this work has been honestly attempted to be done by each 

 pupil. The lessons must be direct from Nature itself, but under 

 the g-uidance of the teacher, who can save time in bringing the 

 pupils to the point desired by his more matured experience. They 

 are intended to train the observing and inductive faculties, to 

 show the true way of discovering- something of the nature of the 

 world which immediately surrounds us and which is and will con- 

 tinue to be reacting upon us in one manner or another. This 

 knowledg-e is so much power over Nature, from which we have 

 to win our material existence. It is also essential as an element 

 in any true and useful system of philosophy. 



"More stress has been laid here on the natural history of 

 each section than on elementary physics and chemistry. Not be- 

 cause physical phenomena are less important ; but because tne 

 the elements of these sciences are the same all the world over, 

 and there is no end to the cheap and well illustrated gfuides to 

 practical work in them which will well suit a section in Nova 

 Scotia as well as one in England or in the United States. But 

 there are no such simple guides in the biology of each section, 

 nor in many others of its scientific characters. The teacher, then, 

 must become a student and master himself ; for such exercises 

 have special power in developing the habit of accurate observation 

 (which is the soundest basis for any career, ranging from that of 

 the poet and professional man to the tiller and lord of the soil, 

 the tradesman, the manufacturer, the inventor) and in developing 

 in connection with history and civics an intelligent attachment to 

 both the material and ideal features of our country." 



These quotations are from the official instructions published 

 annually for a number of years. They will in future be still fur- 

 ther modified, it may be assumed, so as to utilize the ideas and 

 principles now being developed in so many countries, many of 

 which have been so effectively set forth in The Ottawa Natur- 

 alist series of articles. 



