The Nature-Study Idea 



WHAT IS NATURE-STUDY? 



A CONTRIBUTOR to a recent issue of a leading 

 technical journal has endeavored to find a satis- 

 factory answer to the question, "What is nature- 

 study?" by appealing to "eminent scientific men/' 

 The answers of these men are printed there in 

 full. Now, the nature-study movement is a 

 product of the common schools, not of scientific 

 investigation. Eminent scientific attainment, as 

 such, is not to be expected to enable persons to 

 give satisfactory answer to the question, for the 

 subject is not in its realm. Happily, many 

 scientific men are also closely in touch with 

 elementary education, and therefore are fully com- 

 petent to discuss the nature-study movement; but 

 it is this very touch with the common schools, 

 not their eminent scientific achievements, that 

 gives them this competency. Some of the answers 

 referred to above are ideal definitions from the 

 child-teacher's point of view. 



To be sure, the term nature-study etymologi- 

 cally implies only the study of nature; and 

 ** nature" is, by conventionality, understood to 



