I40 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [i, 3, may 1905 



4. PHYSICAL NATURE-STUDY 



Walter, S. J. Simple experiments in physics : water. Hampton Nature 

 Study Leaflets, no. 17. 1904. Pp. 7. Heat. Hampton Leaflets, n. s. 1, 

 no. I. Ja. '05. Pp. 8. 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 



[This department will be devoted to the many little practical prob- 

 lems which are of interest to teachers of nature-study ; and all readers 

 are invited to use this column freely. Questions should be sent to 

 the office of the managing editor. Some will be answered by members 

 of the editorial board, while others must be referred to readers for 

 answers in later issues. But in all cases the answers published are 

 subject to discussion, correction, or addition by readers. We hope 

 to have such supplementary answers within a month after the ap- 

 pearance of the first answer.] 



Nature Study or nature-study. In reply to several questions re- 

 gard the form " nature-study " which is used in this journal, except 

 where in quotations the form " Nature Study " may occur, it should 

 be said that it was adopted as the preferred form after consulting 

 many authorities on similar compounds. The word nature-study is 

 too young for the common dictionaries, but similar compounds, such 

 as nature-worship and nature-print are in the leading dictionaries 

 hyphenated. Aside from the authority of lexicographers, there is a 

 special argument for the hyphenated form in that we now have 

 reason to speak of biological and physical nature-study, and the 

 hyphen makes it clear that the adjective modifies the combined words. 



With regard to the capital letters, the old custom of writing Nature, 

 meaning the material universe, is rapidly passing; and especially in 

 the case of nature-study as a school subject there is no more reason 

 why capitals should be used than in the case of arithmetic, geography, 

 chemistry, etc. 



Classification of Birds. In reply to a question referred to readers 

 in No. I of this journal, it seems to be the general opinion of the 

 best teachers that the scientific classification of ornithologists has no 

 proper place in elementary schools. Instead it is better to group 

 birds as scratchers, swimmers, waders, birds of prey, climbers, 

 perchers, naming the groups according to the most obvious adapta- 

 tions in external structure. This classification from the old natural 

 history does not agree with the modern system which takes account 

 of the comparative structure of internal organs, but for nature-study 

 purposes the old grouping is certainly best because it is based on 

 what pupils can actually see and understand. 



