4 THE IDEALS OF NATURE STUDY. 



know that something else follows. Buskin has laid it 

 down as " a quite general law " that " in the degree in 

 which you delight in the life of any creature, you can see 

 it, no otherwise." By seeing, in this sense, we know and 

 understand. 



The child whose appreciation of natural objects is fos- 

 tered does not as a rule remain content with unintelligent 

 admiration. Out of a state of pleasant intellectual alert- 

 ness, which it is possible by suitable methods to induce in 

 the child, the teacher may guide along the paths of delibe- 

 rate, conscious, directed, observation of nature to profitable 

 intellectual studies. Enquiries arising out of observa- 

 tional studies, whether out of doors or in connection with 

 lessons in school, afford admirable intellectual discipline, 

 giving excellent scope for the exercise of the logical faculty. 

 Nature studies are disciplinary, training the mind to act 

 in a logical manner. 



The knowledge acquired by the pupils in the study of 

 nature is of two kinds. Firstly, much of it is of practical 

 value. Whether it be the study of the weather, or of the 

 life histories of insects, or of the functions of plants, the 

 immediate bearing of the facts discovered upon agricultural 

 life in particular is not difficult to see, nor in many cases 

 to apply. And so in other cases. 



But well guided nature studies must also yield knowledge 

 which enriches the mind with great ideas. Pupils cannot 

 fail to get glimpses of fundamental principles of nature, 

 e.g. the adaptedness of living things to the conditions of 

 their life, or to receive impressions which later in life will 

 enable them to grasp those principles more easily. Some- 

 thing will be gained when the average man or woman 

 realises, for example, an evolutionary development, not of 

 life only, but of the universe. Nature studies will prepare 

 the way. It will always be good if when they look at the 

 rocks they are able to realise that the world is old, or when 

 they see the flowers of the field, they remember a little of 

 what they have learned with regard to the mystery of how 

 they grow. 



The nature studies, in dealing with concrete objects, are 

 not only valuable as a relief from those of a literary or 



