Liberal Education. 276 



hear the fact disputed, they would be incredu- 

 lous ; they would no longer bow to authority. In 

 the next place, they are gaining ideas before they 

 are dosed with words. They are not wasting 

 their energies in conning half -understood formu- 

 las about sepals, petals, stamens, and pistils ; but 

 they take note of the green leaves, the pink leaves, 

 the stems with dust-bags, and the column with 

 seeds in it ; and by and by they find it conven- 

 ient to describe these things by one word for 

 each, thus avoiding circumlocution and waste of 

 breath. In this way the terms calyx, corolla, etc., 

 come to have a definite meaning ; and are in no 

 danger of being used emptily, without reference 

 to the ideas which they ought to convey. The 

 besetting sin of human reasoning is the employ- 

 ment of words without regard to their full con- 

 notation and exact meaning; and for this our 

 systems of early education are in part responsible. 

 It should be recognized as an inflexible rule that 

 the student is not to be taught to use a word until 

 he feels the need of it in order to express his ideas 

 more readily. 



Next, Mr. Wilson would let his pupils guess 

 about the uses of the parts of the flower, what 

 the green leaves are for, what the central column 

 is for, what the dust-bags are for ; and would tell 



