56 The Nature-Study Idea 



little we reason from cause to effect in our own 

 habits of eating and drinking and sleeping and 

 exercise, and how much we rely on the phy- 

 sician to advise us in matters on which we our- 

 selves would be much better judges if we 

 observed ourselves as closely as we observe 

 other objects. The simple regulation of the 

 daily habits of life lies at the foundation of all 

 good health. The application of the nature- 

 study spirit of direct and simple observation of 

 ourselves, with less of the physician's physiology, 

 would benefit the pupil and also our civilization 

 immeasurably. 



The great intention of nature-study is to 

 cultivate a sensible interest in the out-of-doors, 

 and to remove all conventional obstacles there- 

 to. Real interest in the out-of-doors does not 

 lie in the physical comfort of being in the open 

 in "good" weather (persons who have this out- 

 look do not know nature), but in spiritual in- 

 sight and sympathy. One sleeps in the woods 

 or fields not because these are the most com- 

 fortable places in which to spend the night, but 

 that he may have communion and freedom. 



