2." 



OF NATURE STUDY. 



The discipline is not always so obviously rigid ; it is 

 gentler, but none the less real. There can be no doubt as 

 to the training of hand and eye, nor sometimes also of 

 hearing, taste, and smell. And the knowledge gained is 

 always mind-enriching, i.e. it constitutes culture, and is not 

 infrequently practical as well. But beyond discipline and 

 beyond the storing of the mind with facts, we aim in our 

 school studies at developing a cultured appreciation of 

 nature, a sympathetic recognition of her aesthetic aspects 

 that is a love of the open enriched and enlightened by 

 knowledge. 



In what particular way, let us ask, is this special value 

 applicable to the child ? Why should we seek these things 

 during school age ? First of all, it is well to recognise 

 that mankind may be said to possess a functional apprecia- 

 tion of nature.* It is our common experience that nature 

 in most of her moods affects us pleasurably. We feel 

 the exhilaration of the mountain top, the physiological 

 appreciation of the extended view of the widened horizon ; 

 the fascination of the river, endless in its flow ; the interest 

 and mystery of the sea. We delight in the glory of the 

 sunset, or of the star-lit sky; in the autumn tints upon 

 the trees, and in the summer flowers ; in the grace of 

 movement of the birds and beasts of the field. These are 

 but the powers of life which are born within us. 



All these, and such as these, are part of our common 

 experience, and their significance in the present connection 

 is that they are not simply the possession of men and 

 women of matured intellect. Specially cultivated and 

 enriched with knowledge they make of some men artists 

 and of others poets; but undeveloped these powers in 

 varying measure are unmistakably present in the child. 

 We see this functional appreciation in the child's love of 

 pretty things flowers, leaves, butterflies, birds. When 

 we enquire into it we find that children love nature for the 



* Put more generally, we may say that there is in man a func- 

 tional response to nature. The response is not always pleasurable, 

 though it may be hazarded that with increase of knowledge there 

 is in general increased appreciation of nature's moods and phases. 



