INDIVIDUAL AND COMMUNITY EFFORT 287 
ber of our citizens who nowadays find their recreation in 
field and forest has naturally led to a desire for information 
regarding all the forms of wild life that constitute one of 
the great attractions of our countryside. Advantage should 
therefore be taken of these favourable circumstances. 
In our schools instruction in natural history is advisedly 
receiving greater attention. The subject is so fundamental 
to a proper conception of the world wherein we live, and is 
so valuable as a means of conveying information on biological 
problems, particularly in relation to health, that it should 
be given a prominent place in every educational curriculum. 
If it were given, as it should be given, a place in a child’s 
instruction equal in importance to what are now considered 
the primary essentials in education, a broader, more humane, 
and more sympathetic mental attitude would ensue. What 
knowledge can be of greater interest and value than a knowl- 
edge of the world around us and of our fellow creatures? 
At the end of an heroic journey, awaiting death, that 
most gallant and brave of British explorers, Captain R. F. 
Scott, in his last letter to his wife, wrote these memorable 
words regarding the education of his little son Peter: ‘‘ Make 
the boy interested in natural history if you can; it is better 
than games; they encourage it at some schools. I know you 
will keep him in the open air.””’ What greater testimony 
could we have? 
If natural history were taught in all our schools, and chil- 
dren were thus trained to understand and appreciate the 
meaning of our wild life, its conservation would be insured. 
A great responsibility, therefore, rests upon the shoulders 
of our educational authorities, and we fervently hope that 
they will not be negligent in their attention to the needs of 
the situation. 
One of the most potent organizations that, properly di- 
rected, may be utilized in our educational propaganda, is 
the Boy Scouts. The far-sighted organizer of this world- 
