152 . THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [i, 4, july 1905 



show the true way of discovering something of the nature of the 

 world which immediately surrounds us and which is and will 

 continue to be reacting upon us in one manner or another. This 

 knowledge is so much power over nature, from which we have to 

 win our material existence. It is also essential as an element 

 in any true and useful system of philosophy. 



" More stress has been laid here on the natural history of 

 each section than on elementary physics and chemistry. Not be- 

 cause physical phenomena are less important, but because the ele- 

 ments of these sciences are the same all the world over, and there 

 is no end to the cheap and well illustrated guides to practical work 

 in them which will well suit a section in Nova Scotia as well 

 as one in England or in the United States. But there are no such 

 simple guides to the biology of each section, and many of its 

 other scientific characters. The teacher must become a student 

 and master them himself ; for such exercises have special power in 

 developing the habit of accurate observation (which is the sound- 

 est basis for any career ranging from that of the poet and pro- 

 fessional man to the tiller and lord of the soil, the tradesman, the 

 manufacturer, the inventor) and in developing in connection with 

 history and civics an intelligent attachment to both the material 

 and ideal features of our country." 



TEACHING FACTS IN NATURE-STUDY 



Notes from a paper by J. Dearness, of the Normal School, London, Ontario 



A pamphlet on bees recently circulated among nature-study 

 teachers in Canada has been criticised because of a number of in- 

 accurate statements. This has led to the question, " Suppose it is 

 wrong, what harm will it do ? " Professor Dearness comments 

 as follows (in Farmers' Advocate, Jan., 05) : 



" I should say that in those schools where nature-study is supposed 

 to be information about bees and other natural objects, to be learned 

 by the pupil as so much history, the part that is wrong will do very 

 little harm, and the part that is right will do very little good. In 

 ten years, unless learned again in real life, most of it will be for- 

 gotten, and the rest will be too vague for practical use. 



" Take, for example, what is called ' a very wild statement,' that 

 when the honey reaches the hive ninety per cent, of it is water. 



