vi PREFACE 



"In teaching, every efficient teacher will do best, probably, to 

 follow his own method, if he has one in which he has faith. But 

 the author suggests that one method now much used, of talking 

 over with the pupils the subjects as they come up, before assign- 

 ments are made in the text, is, on the whole, one of several good 

 methods. The work of the class-room, so far as it is given to the 

 text, should be directed toward seeing that the pupil has trans- 

 lated it into terms of reality; or, to put it in another way, into terms 

 of outdoors. On the other hand, it is a mistake to assume that any 

 one plan should be followed always. Variations of method are 

 to be encouraged. 



" Directions for laboratory work do not appear in the text, nor is 

 laboratory material suggested. This omission is intentional, not 

 because laboratory work is regarded as unimportant, but because 

 in the author's judgment, the effect upon the pupil is best when the 

 laboratory work is suggested by the teacher. In this case it may 

 be adapted to each class, and developed along the lines and to 

 the extent which the apparatus, the field, and the time available 

 permit." 





