216 Fourth Conference 



attempt to deal with them as they ought to be dealt 

 with, or without condensing the description of them 

 in a very small compass. 



Properly taught, Nature-study inculcates humanity 

 to all things living to the animal, the bird, the insect, 

 the flower, and the plant; it teaches our children that 

 the marvellous structure of all of these is not a thing 

 to be lightly considered, or to be rudely injured by 

 the hand of man, at any rate without sufficient cause. 



We may distinguish between those creatures that 

 are beneficial or harmless, and those which are destruc- 

 tive or harmful. I always have my doubts whether 

 there are any creatures that are not, in some sense or 

 other, beneficial, or that do not in some sense fill an 

 useful place in the great plan of the creation. But 

 man has to look to self-preservation, and he must 

 necessarily, from that point of view, regard those 

 creatures as baneful which destroy or injure himself, 

 or his dwellings, or his food, or interfere with his 

 comfort. 



Then, again, the study of Nature induces refinement 

 and improves our civilization. It brings with it an 

 appreciation of the delicacy of Nature's workmanship, 

 of her beauty of form, and of her magnificent colour- 

 ing. There is nothing in art which has not its proto- 

 type in Nature. 



Nature, again, is the very root and basis of science; 

 the student of science is a student of natural products, 

 of their energy, their properties, their power, and 

 their combination. The study of Nature brings to 

 the child scientific habits of thought, of enquiry, of 

 reasoning, deduction, generalization, and verification. 



The wealth of Nature, the scope of study, is 



