Mr. Major's Address 157 



eyes were the ultimate court of appeal; and memory 

 rather than reason was made the avenue to the temple 

 of learning. 



I felt that the first step to remedy this deficiency 

 would be to fall back upon observation, and this the 

 observation of the cJiild. I began, therefore, by ap- 

 pealing to the world of nature, and specially (in the 

 earlier stages) to the world of life. 



But the teachers of that time were themselves weak 

 in nature-knowledge, even of the limited regions of 

 botany and zoology applicable to instruction in 

 school. I therefore drew up model lessons for the 

 teachers on animals and plants. These finally took 

 the completer form seen in the Leicester School Board 

 syllabuses in elementary science. 



In these model lessons the living or preserved animal 

 or plant forms the illustration as well as the subject 

 of the lesson, and the object, or specimen, is one 

 generally brought by the children themselves for the 

 lesson. 



For instance, the development of the frog from the 

 egg is exemplified in our schools by the hatching out 

 of frog spawn ; and the subsequent stages of tadpole 

 and young frog life are dealt with in the actual and 

 concrete. Similarly the germination of mustard seed, 

 acorns, chestnuts, beans, wheat, &c.; and the growth 

 of stems from crowns of parsnips, carrots, &c., are 

 made illustrative of vegetable processes of life in 

 general. 



In the mineral kingdom the rocks of the school 

 neighbourhood and district give concrete represen- 

 tations of igneous and sedimentary rocks; and the 

 meaning of limestones, sandstones, and clays, and the 



