362 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



and Sam. "Whew ! Tell nie eight names 

 all at once. Aly, but you must know a big 

 lot to know so many people. It makes my 

 head ache just to think of it." 



If you believe this statement is over- 

 drawn, come in the Sound Beach Obser- 

 vatory and listen to the difficulty in teach- 

 ing a lesson on the four very conspicuous 

 satellites of Jupiter: lo, Europa, Ganny- 

 mede and Callisto. I wish they had been 

 named Jane, Sue, Sally and Phoebe ! 



It is astonishin,g how many people are 

 prevented from having a "speaking ac- 

 quaintance" with all the constellations and 

 most of the principal stars, because the 

 mental effort is regarded as a great bur- 

 den instead of a simple little pleasure. 



You meet two red-headed girls and are 

 told that one is Dolly, the other, Dorothy. 

 Do you then look frightened and say : 

 "They both have red hair, and their 

 names are so much alike. How can I 

 distinguish the one from the other?" 



Shining almost due south are the two 

 dog stars, one the big* dog, Sirius, and the 

 other, the little dog, Procyon, and yet you 

 say, "You must know a big lot if you 

 know those stars apart. They are both 

 dogs aren't they? How can you remem- 

 ber which is which?" 



Suppose you meet two boys. One is 

 John, the other is James ; both have 

 freckled faces and are of about the same 

 size and height. Would any person of 

 common sense say, "You must know a big 

 lot to be able to distinguish one boy from 

 the other?" Then why do you say, 

 "There is Cepheus, and there is Perseus, 

 both kings, are they not? How do you 

 know which is which — no, I mean they 

 are not very far apart in the sky." 



It is a common impression that a study 

 of nature is uncanny, and deals with the 

 supernatural, with things not in touch 

 with our everyday life. Recently our 

 stenographer, sitting- near an open win- 

 dow in the office, overheard this conver- 

 sation : "That is ArcAdiA. I want to go 

 in there sometime." 



The reply in awe-stricken tones was, 

 "Don't you dare do it. I wouldn't go in 

 for anything in all the world. They have 

 a lot of dead things in there." 



After all, what is natural science ? Is it 

 not, as Huxley said, merely organized 

 common sense? What we want among 

 the students of nature everywhere is not 

 only a few friends but many; not only a 

 few speaking acquaintances with whom 

 these friends are on friendly terms, but 



"lots" of them. So read widely and atten- 

 tively. Cultivate an acquaintance, in a 

 common sense manner, with the friendly 

 constellations, the single stars, the planets, 

 the trees, the birds, the butterflies ; with 

 moths, minerals, frogs and grasshoppers, 

 but do not, Oh, I beg of you, spend a 

 whole evening and laboriously work over 

 evolving four lines of hieroglyphics and 

 then pass that on to an admiring friend 

 who will say, "Oh, my, what a lot of na- 

 ture study you have ! Why you really 

 have a tadpole and a butterfly, one con- 

 stellation, and Polaris, also." 



"J-O, Joe ; how interesting reading is." 



A Plea for the Scientific Study of the 

 Sciences. 



At a meeting of the Pennsylvania 

 State Science Teachers' Association, at 

 Harrisburg, Prof. H. A. Surface, State 

 Zoologist, made a strong and logical 

 plea for scientific study of the sciences. 

 He spoke extemporaneously and prac- 

 tically as follows : 



I have in mind to call the attention of 

 the science teachers of this State to the 

 real status and importance of the 

 sciences versus nature study, agricul- 

 ture, or any of the arts based upon the 

 sciences. A decided movement is now 

 on foot to introduce agriculture into 

 the schools. This leads us to analyze 

 the situation and ask "What is agricul- 

 ture?" It is not "a science," but is the 

 practical application of the teachings of 

 several sciences. Therefore, it is an 

 art. The study of the sciences upon 

 which agriculture is based should be 

 preliminary to the study of agriculture, 

 and while we hope to see the time when 

 agriculture will be taught in the 

 schools, 3^et we trust that will not be 

 until arrangements are made to have 

 the pupils first study the fundamental 

 sciences of physics, chemistry, geology 

 and biology. 



There is not one fact in the entire 

 realm of agriculture that is not founded 

 upon the principles of some of the 

 sciences, and the rational teaching of 

 the sciences would not only fit the 

 learner for an agricultural pursuit, but 

 also for other professions in which a 

 knowledge of the sciences is needed. 

 To study agriculture means to study 

 the application of those fragments of 

 sciences which converge in the art of 

 agriculture, or the application of those 

 principals of the sciences which per- 



