64 !*ajr Sjernums, (SJssajjs, anfo gebhfes. [TV. 



children will call to mind their questions, he will find 

 that so far as they can be put into any scientific category, 

 they come under this head of " Erdkunde." The child 

 asks, " What is the moon, and why does it shine '{ " 

 " What is this water, and where does it run ? " " What 

 is the wind?" " What makes the waves in the sea?" 

 " Where does this animal live, and what is the use of 

 that plant ? " And if not snubbed and stunted by being 

 told not to ask foolish questions, there is no limit to the 

 intellectual craving of a young child ; nor any bounds to 

 the slow, but solid, accretion of knowledge and develop- 

 ment of the thinking faculty in this way. To all such 

 questions, answers which are necessarily incomplete, 

 though true as far as they go, may be given by any 

 teacher whose ideas represent real knowledge and not 

 mere book learning ; and a panoramic view of Nature, 

 accompanied by a strong infusion of the scientific habit 

 of mind, may thus be placed within the reach of every 

 child of nine or ten. 



After this preliminary opening of the eyes to the 

 great spectacle of the daily progress of Nature, as the 

 reasoning faculties of the child grow, and he becomes 

 familiar with the use of the tools of knowledge reading, 

 writing, and elementary mathematics he should pass 

 on to what is, in the more strict sense, physical science. 

 Now there are two kinds of physical science : the one 

 regards form and the relation of forms to one another ; 

 the other deals with causes and effects. In many of 

 what we term our -sciences, these two kinds are mixed 

 up together ; but systematic botany is a pure example 

 of the former kind, and physics of the latter kind, of 

 science. Every educational advantage which training 

 in physical science can give is obtainable from the proper 

 study of these two ; and I should be contented, for the 

 present, if they, added to our " Erdkunde." furnished 



