THE GROWIXG IXTKRHST IX NATURE STUDY. 193 



The Growing Interest in Nature Study. 



BY EDWARD J. BURNHAM. 



There was some reason, a few years ago, to fear that 

 nature study, as introduced in the schools, might proYe to 

 be a mere "fad," to attain a rapid and unhealthy- growth, 

 have its brief da}^ and fall into disrepute as a factor in 

 education. There were those, howcYcr, who maintained 

 from the first that when allowance had been made for ill- 

 directed enthusiasm and the tendency to OYcr-do in any 

 line of effort that has suddenly- become popular, there was 

 still enough of genuine merit and Yalue in the stud}- to 

 enable it to retain a recognized place in school work. 



Time has Ycrified the prediction, and nature study, with 

 much less reaction than was to be expected, is now firmly 

 established as the best possible means of quickening the 

 faculty of obserYation and as a Yaluable aid in the work of 

 dcYcloping the reasoning powers. 



But nature stud}- has also within itself the power of 

 adding to the enjoyment of existence, of increasing the 

 sum of human happiness, and could not, therefore, long 

 be restricted to the schools. There is need of it in the 

 world as affording at least an occasional relief from care, 

 a solace in grief, and a wholesome reaction from the strain 

 and stress of actiYC life. It was certain, sooner or later, 

 to find recognition among actiYe men and women of all 

 sorts and conditions, less for the discipline than for the 

 wholesome relaxation it affords. 



This recognition has come more rapidly than can be 

 realized without unusual means of securing information. 

 Nature Study has the serYice of the United States Press 

 Clipping Bureau of Chicago, and is thus able to follow, 

 from week to week, what is going forward in its special 

 lines throughout the country. 



