196 



* THE STUDY OF MATURE. 



By J. Archyll Jones, B.Sc. 



On being asked to lecture here this evening on some suljject 

 likely to be of interest to niemliers of our Field Club, I was 

 somewhat puzzled what form that lecture should take in order to 

 be of interest and perchance of service to the various sections. 

 Besides which it is somewhat difficult for anyone in my position 

 to divest himself entirely of that didactic method which has grown 

 up upon him, and to present ideas in such a manner as to show 

 that they are not necessarily facts but conclusions drawn from 

 one's own experiences. " You are always so positive," has l:)een 

 remarked, " you speak as if your statements must be true, must 

 •carry conviction, and must be accepted." Perhaps a good deal of 

 this is a mere mannerism, but at any rate I must ask you here to 

 take the remarks I am about to make as tlie result of an experience 

 peculiarly my own, and therefore not necessarily true for others. 

 Yet I fancy you will find, on analysis, that tliey are by no means 

 peculiarly my own, but such as may result from the study of such 

 ■experiences by any thinking individual. 



I have chosen as the subject for my remarks "Tlie Study of 

 Nature," and I propose to deal with it — 



( 1 ) As a means of Education. 



(2) „ „ Culture. 

 (8) ,, Recreation. 



Taking then the first of these — The Study of Nature as a 

 means of Education. Right here — as our American Cousins say — 

 I must point out that I do not agree with the ordinarily accepted 

 notion of what Education is. The general function of a teacher 

 in a subject is considered usually to be, to give all the facts of the 

 subject, to present these facts in such a manner that they can be 

 easily remembered, and briefly to be a convenient encyclopedia of 

 that subject. This is not njy ideal teacher at all : far from it. 

 The ideal teacher is the teacher who can always show us hoAv to 

 learn for ourselves. The ideal Education is that that enables us 

 to learn for ourselves. I am destined, it seems, to be always 

 arguing this point. It crops up in what subjects should a boy 



'■* Palmer read before the Sooiety on November 9tli, 1901. 



