Nature-Study with Plants 69 



have done credit to a college or university a 

 few years ago. The customary laboratory 

 method is a distinct advance on the preceding 

 methods of teaching in the fact that the pupil 

 actually studies plants; but its motive and point 

 of view are distinctly wrong for the elementary 

 school because it attempts primarily to teach 

 botany rather than to educate the pupil. The 

 field of view is also very narrow, and the pupil's 

 mind is likely to be closed to nature and re- 

 stricted in its range. The stage of the micro- 

 scope and the tables of the laboratory are poor 

 and narrow ranges for the young mind when 

 there are fields and gardens adjacent. The 

 German laboratory method is no doubt quite 

 perfect for the training of investigators and 

 specialists, but it lacks the inspiration and the 

 educative impulse that young minds need. 



The fourth stage is the effort to know the 

 plant as a complete organism living its own life 

 in a natural way. It is marked by a new and 

 vital plant physiology. In the beginning of 

 this epoch we are now living. 



