500 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



minds as an admirable scheme. But boys of fourteen are not logical, 

 and in science they are in too new and untried a field to appreciate 

 the fact that the simple organisms and tissues they study under the 

 microscope are the basis of a more interesting life. A philosophy with 

 coherent, dependent, and interrelated parts, which you remember Mr. 

 Frederic Harrison charged Arnold with lacking, does not make a very 

 far-reaching impression on boys of this age. I believe the important 

 thing is not to attempt to give the children a systematic knowledge 

 of any part of natural history, but rather to arouse in them a keen 

 and affectionate interest in the study of Nature. First impressions 

 count for so much. The boys are just beginning the serious study 

 of science, and it is so important that they should be fired by it, 

 and not for a moment repelled. The cut-and-dried and systematic 

 have their place, but not, I think, in secondary science work. And 

 so I am advocating the seemingly illogical process of beginning at 

 the end instead of at the beginning — of making, in truth, a very 

 open bid for the boyish interest, and starting out with dogs and cats 

 and horses and chickens and pigeons; with trees and flowers and 

 vegetables, in place of lower and, from the childish point of view, les& 

 interesting organisms. In the same way, rocks and minerals and ores 

 have more to teach than the more abstract chemical elements. Later, 

 it may be, the work can lead back to the simple forms, and build up 

 a world logical enough to suit Mill. But at present the boy is inter- 

 ested in the big things that he finds in his world, and would much 

 prefer to investigate them. I believe that he is right, and that our 

 elementary science work wants to be more thoroughly superficial, 

 and less superficially thorough. I am not ashamed to recommend a 

 return to the surface of things. 



The second year's work in science is devoted to physics — to 

 mechanics, heat, light, and sound. The work here is rich in possi- 

 bilities, and is limited only by the ingenuity and skill of the teacher. 

 It is work, too, that can be brought into the closest relation with the 

 manual departments. Any number of projects in the way of physical 

 apparatus can be made in wood and metal. The more of the 

 apparatus is home-made and home-devised, the more truly practical 

 and educational is the work. There is also a danger here that the in- 

 struction will run too much to measurement, and not enough to the 

 experimental and phenomenal. I put in this word of caution because 

 the teachers are mostly college men, as we want them to be, but 

 men who have been so deeply drilled in laboratory methods of work 

 and thought that they may have come to look upon the entire phe- 

 nomenal world as somewhat of a divine concession to the vulgar mind. 

 This attitude, I think, is unfortunate educationally. 



The third year's work in science is particularly strong. From 



