40 THE NATURE-STUDY IDEA 



broidered napkins are laid away in a drawer. 

 Poor fellow! Mere details have little educative 

 value. An imperfect method that is adapted to 

 one's use is better than a perfect one that cannot 

 be used. Some school laboratories are so perfect 

 that they discourage the pupil in taking up in- 

 vestigations when thrown on his own resources. 

 Imperfect equipment often encourages ingenuity 

 and originality. A good teacher is better than 

 all the laboratories and apparatus. 



I like the man who has had an incomplete 

 course. A partial view, if truthful, is worth more 

 than a complete course, if lifeless. If the man 

 has acquired a power for work, a capability for 

 initiative and investigation, an enthusiasm for the 

 daily life, his incompleteness is his strength. 

 How much there is before him ! How eager his 

 eye ! How enthusiastic his temper ! He is a 

 man with a point of view, not a man with mere 

 facts. This man will see first the large and signi- 

 ficant events; he will grasp relationships; he will 

 correlate; later, he will consider the details. He 

 will study the plant before he studies the leaf or 

 germination or the cell. He will discover the 

 bobolink before he looks for its toes. He will 

 care little for mere " methods." 



The Integument-Man is afraid that this popular 

 nature-study will undermine and discourage the 

 teaching of science. Needless to say, the fear is 

 absurdly groundless. Science-teaching is a part 

 of the very fabric of our civilization. All our 

 goings and our comings are adjusted to it. No 



