22 The Nature-Study Idea 



the plan already begun, as above outlined. 

 The features which perhaps most distinguished 

 this scheme of nature-study were : ( i ) That it 

 adopted the apparently irregular plan of using 

 all the material which the "Rolling Year," 

 season by season, brought into the lives of the 

 children; (2) that it rejected the idea of close 

 and specialized study of inert or dead form and 

 sought to place the children in the fields and 

 woods that they might study all nature at work; 

 and (3) that, instead of looking upon nature- 

 study as being supplementary to reading, writ- 

 ing and other forms of expression, nature-study 

 in itself became a demand that these subjects 

 should be taught. In the fall of 1890 he pub- 

 lished bi-monthly pamphlets averaging about 

 seventy-five pages each, which were called "Out- 

 lines in Elementary Science." In the spring of 

 1 89 1, upon the completion of the series, Henry 

 Holt & Company asked the privilege of reprint- 

 ing and issuing them in book form. This was 

 accomplished. There was considerable corre- 

 spondence concerning the name, which resulted 

 finally in the adoption of the term "Nature-Study 



