[FLETCHER] NATURE STUDY IN EDUCATION 155 
checking inquiry ! Many children, however, are not so fortunately 
surrounded in their early associations as the first named class and 
have much to learn in after life. 
There is so much, indeed, in the extensive wonderland of nature, 
which is new and strange and beautiful, that it gives many more 
opportunities for a teacher to catch the attention of an active and 
therefore observant pupil, than any other subject included in the course 
sf ordinary school study. The attention once caught and rightly 
directed, nature herself does the rest ; a constantly changing panorama 
of endless interest is presented. Beauty undreamt of is seen in the 
commonest objects, which before may have been deemed without 
interest or even repellant. What wonders can everywhere be found 
with a magnifying glass, that magic mirror which brings to light 
innumerable treasures in places least expected ! The perfection of 
structure and endless variety almost overwhelm us, and these exist in 
every part of the kingdom of nature. Very soon the restless spirit 
finds more than enough to occupy it ; the fact that knowledge is a 
common possession is borne in on him, and a mutual fellowship and 
sympathy springs up between him and the good friend who has shown 
bim the way and led, not driven, him into this paradise. The desire for 
knowledge, once created, soon spreads to all other branches of study, 
and the habit of concentration of thought will be of use in every 
transaction of after life. 
Not only is Nature Study useful in training and strengthening 
the mind to act for itself, but, more than any other part of the frame- 
work which supports the educational edifice, it becomes a permanent 
support of the completed structure. The uses of this knowledge are 
so manifest that Nature Study must take its place as the common sense 
method of education; and it is at the same time the common sense 
basis of the two great and most important occupations of the masses — 
Agriculture and Horticulture ; these pursuits, having to deal with the 
care and nutrition of plants and animals are founded on subjects all 
of which come within the limits of natural science, a preliminary 
knowledge of which is Nature Study. A farmer possessed of an ele- 
mentary knowledge of geology knows by it the composition of his 
soil and its suitability for the cultivation of various crops. From 
zoology he learns much which will help him in the rearing, develop- 
ment and care of his stock ; this also teaches him which of the com- 
mon birds, mammals, insects and fishes are his friends and which his 
enemies. Who can deny that as a rule he has much to learn in this 
direction ? Botany teaches him the nature of the plants he grows, 
and indicates how varieties may be preserved. and improved. Chemis- 
