54 



THE OREGON NATURALIST. 



them to investigate and find things out 

 for themselves. I was sure from my 

 conversation with them that the boys and 

 girls had done remarkably well, consider- 

 ing their circumstances, and 1 appreciated 

 the knowledge and tact that had been 

 exercised in training them to think and 

 observe. 



Where schoolrooms are over-crowded, 

 and teachers over-worked, it is not easy 

 to see how any school could do much 

 better than this one, yet I venture a few 

 suggestions regarding primary school 

 "museums " 



Pupils giving specimens, should mount 

 them, or furnish little boxes to display 

 them in, and all specimens should be 

 labelled. This would dignify the specimen, 

 and add to its importance. 



A catalog should be kept of all speci- 

 mens, and after each entry, any interest- 

 ing facts should be written down by the 

 discoverer and preserved. 



Children value their rights just as "old 

 folks" do, and all gifts should be credited 

 to the donor either on the label, or in the 

 catalog. 



Boys and girls often have collections of 

 their own which they cannot give away, 

 but which they would be glad to lend if 

 such loans were appreciated. 



Any form of collecting, or experiment- 

 ing — which inflicts suffering or death 

 upon any animal, should not be tolerated. 



An herbarium would be a good addition 

 to the ordinary school cabinet. Some 

 large heavy book of no value for anything 

 else, could be used for this purpose. Con- 

 tributors should bring in their offerings 

 every day pressed and dried, and the 

 "Curator of the Herbarium," chosen from 

 among the pupils, could secure the speci- 

 mens to the leaves with slips of gummed 

 paper. 



Any boy or girl could learn, with a 

 little showing, how to make plaster casts 

 of suitable objects for the school. 



1 believe that the plan of work I have 

 suggested would lighten the teachers' 

 labor, instead of adding to them. 



ANGUS GAINES, 

 Vincennes, Ind. 



SCHOOL MUSEUMS. 



Ten years ago the Editor of the NaturaH.sts' 

 Journal, speaking to a conference of teachers, 

 ventured to predict that before long Natural 

 History would be brought forwartl in schools 

 as a class subject, and some things then rigidly 

 insisted upon would have to give way; but the 

 conference laughed. The progress of events, 

 however has shown that he was right, and now 

 we find learning from tilings, in preference to 

 an exclusive book-learning, more and more 

 insisted upon. The reason is not far to seek, be- 

 cause the evidence is so plain . The study of leaf 

 nature is m itself an erlucation, and a natural- 

 ist, although perhaps an unlettered man, is 

 nevertheless an educated man. We know 

 naturalists who can neither read nor write (few 

 of this sort certainly) who for exercise of 

 mental capacity, are far ahead of others who 

 have had a college education, not that we de- 

 precate a good schoohng — it is a desirable 

 thing, and we wish it had been our lot. But 

 what we ao insist on is that the study of Nature 

 shall have its proper place — which is no mean 

 place — along with other subjects. The 

 progress during the last ten years has been 

 very gratifying indeed. To be^bnef: a^teacher 

 may take his or her class to a-public museum, 

 give lessons there to the pupils, and mark their 

 attendance as if they were at school. The 

 Education Department, has issued an order 

 that Natural History Object Lessons are to be 

 more frequently given, and the children en- 

 couraged to bring objects to the school, for the 

 purpose of eliciang information upon them; 

 there is in consequence, a growing desire to 

 form School Museums. In this special matter 

 there is however, one thing more that needs to 

 be done, and that is the a]ipointmeut of In- 



