EXTINCT ANIMALS 



able to tell what kind of animals they were, 

 where they lived, what they fed upon, how they 

 moved, and, in fact, their whole general appear- 

 ance. 



It is urged by some educationists — I myself 

 do not agree with them — that we should present 

 knowledge to young people in a logical order ; 

 and that before talking to young or uninstructed 

 people about extinct animals you ought to ad- 

 minister to them a complete course of instruc- 

 tion concerning living animals ; that beginners 

 must learn the nature of the structure of 

 living animals, and must study the geography 

 and history of the crust of the ground in which 

 the remains of extinct animals are found, before 

 they can look with any intelligence on extinct 

 animals. That is an opinion Avhich exists. But 

 I do not believe in such a method. The logical 

 method of instruction or study is in my judg- 

 ment a mistaken one. The whole art of educa- 

 tion consists in exciting the desire to know. By 

 showing something wonderful, mysterious, as- 

 tonishing and marvellous, dug from the earth 

 beneath our feet we may awaken the desire to 

 understand and learn more about that thing. 

 The strangeness of the bones and teeth of 



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