152 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
movement, the object of which is to educate in its true meaning—i.e., 
draw forth and cultivate the faculties of youth—by means of the in- 
numerable common objects of nature which surround us on every side 
and are always at hand to teach their own lessons. 
During the last half decade there has been a most decided awaken- 
ing on this subject ; years ago many of the public schools of England 
had their natural history societies ; the universities in the Old World 
and here all have their professors of various branches of biology, all of 
whom have done and are doing grand work; but that is not Nature 
Study. 
Nature Study, to be successful and to take its most useful place in 
education, must deal with the beginnings of things and is for young 
people, they cannot be too young. It is particularly suitable for the 
lowest grades of scholars but commends itself equally to the most ad- 
vanced. It is essentially kindergarten work, and kindergarten work is 
essentially Nature Study. The imaginary objection to the wider adoption 
of this study has sometimes been raised that there are neither text books 
prepared nor a staff of trained teachers sufficiently equipped with special 
knowledge to undertake its direction. In reply, I claim that no written 
text books are necessary and no special advanced training is required in 
the teacher. An elementary knowledge coupled with a love for nature 
and an appreciation of general principles will at first suffice. Frequent 
opportunities for increasing this knowledge will be provided while 
directing the students. These latter must be made to feel the humility 
of the teacher when investigating the vast field of nature ; above all, to 
inspire confidence and call forth original mental effort, the superior 
knowledge of the teacher must be kept in the background ; freest and 
fullest discussion must be allowed and encouraged. No dogmatic 
dictum must be uttered, which cannot be proved by demonstration. A 
modest acknowledgment that the teacher does not know, coupled with an 
invitation to a student to investigate a matter together with the teacher, 
will, I feel sure, do more to stimulate effort than any help in the shape 
of unearned information which the student should have been able to 
work out for himself from the objects examined. 
Objects for study abound without stint in all places and at all 
seasons of the year—spring, summer, autumn or winter, it is all the 
same—for Nature itself is the book and every commonest object inside 
the school and out is a text for a sermon—the very wood of the school- 
room floor, of the desks or the furniture, the chalk used on the black- 
board, even the speck of dust floating in the sunbeam, the light itself ; 
outside, the drop of rain, the flake of snow, a stick, a straw, a stone, a 
fallen leaf, a twig of any tree, a winter bud or a piece of bark, a bird, 

