TWENTY-NINTH ANNUAL MEETING. 43 
a thing is stated in a book it must beso. Eyes have they, but they see not; 
minds have they, but they reason not. What we need in this country more than 
anything else, just now, is a system of education that teaches us to examine the 
facts, gather the data, and upon these base a conclusion. This needs to be 
taught to all ages, from the kindergarten on up to the college president. 
Some few schools are doing good work, systematic work, in science. From 
such schools there are destined to go out many active observers of nature, and 
the influence of these schools will be felt in the years to come. And the schools 
doing the best science work, strange to say, are found in the large cities. This 
is owing to the energy and interest the superintendent has in such work. He 
sees the necessities, but is constantly hampered because of the lack of proper 
material for observation. 
There should be an impetus given to this work in our country schools, where 
the boys and girls are surrounded on all sides by an abundance of material. In 
many schools the science work has met with what might be regarded as a failure, 
and there is perhaps no branch of science so poorly taught in our schools (where 
any is attempted ) as zodlogy, and I might add next to this botany. What is the 
reason for this failure? In most cases the teachers placed in charge of these 
branches have had no special training in science. They themselves have never 
learned to observe, and they know nothing of the methods which should be used 
in such work. Too frequently these branches are given to some teacher whose 
chief work is in some other line. It is quite easy to predict the result of any 
work under such conditions. The teacher is forced to treat the subject as he 
would history or grammar, depend upon the text-book, and the work therefore 
becomes a pouring in and a memory process. Too frequently the teacher expects 
too much of the boys and girls, and is constantly forcing them to form conclusions 
before they have sufficient data of their own; and they soon become discouraged 
and go to the books for ready formed conclusions. 
But the experimentation made in elementary science in the last decade by 
superintendents and teachers has resulted in much good. They are gradually 
feeling their way down to the child in this work as in all other subjects. It is 
claimed by many that a course in natural science cannot be successfully carried 
out without special teachers. But how ridiculous that seems. If teachers in 
any public sehools had the same training from childhood in natural science that 
they have had in other subjects, there would attend their efforts the same good 
results. : 
The effort for a number of years in the Boston schools attended by failure was 
due largely to lack of knowledge on the part of teachers, the employment of im- 
proper methods, and the use of improper material. When we shall use the chil- 
dren’s own elements, the things that are simple to them and within their reach, 
and discover upon what they work independently with interest, how they work, 
what methods will best call out their activities and enable them to largely teach 
themselves, and by what means they can best express their ideas, we shall be on 
the sure road to successful work. Then there will go out into nature’s fields 
scores of workers where now there is not more than one. 
The science of teaching demands a full recognition of an adequate presenta- 
tion of the subject to be taught. The normal schools rightly claim that a good 
reproduction naturally follows a good presentation. But unfortunately the re- 
production of a subject is too often a failure, because of the muchness in pres- 
entation. This is especially true in the sciences. The teacher, in making -the 
presentation, sets forth as clearly as possible all the points in the subject. The 
pupil is left with nothing else to do but reproduce from memory what the teacher 
