JOHNSON] THE NATURE-STUDY EXCURSlON^ 149 



habitat in the case of the ancestry of the dog, the peculiar 

 habit of this animal in turning around several times before 

 lying down has been explained only by saying that he turns 

 once and then since one good turn deserves another he con- 

 tinues the action. But scientific observers noticing that the 

 wolf and other relatives of the dog often execute such motions to 

 make a place to lie down in the tall grass which characterizes 

 habitat, explain it as an inherited instinct. When seen in the 

 aquarium the dark color of the tadpole means little or nothing 

 to the child, but when he has observed time after time in nature 

 that the tadpoles can often be seen only with the greatest difficulty 

 then the color becomes the most interesting thing about this 

 animal. 



The first problem which confronts many teachers with regard 

 to the field trip is that of lack of knowledge of the subject. She 

 knows that in the field the pupils will ask many questions which 

 she will be wholly unable to answer and she naturally shrinks 

 from such a humiliation. How shall this problem be met? 

 The teacher must first of all realize that in order to be successful 

 in nature-study and especially in field work with pupils she 

 must possess a knowledge of things apart from books, or at least 

 the aptitude for gaining knowledge from things as well as from 

 books. One of the chief reasons why this subject has fallen 

 into disrepute in many places is that so many teachers had 

 only a book knowledge of the subject and this they sought to 

 pass over to their pupils. We are reminded of Montaigne's 

 words written more than three hundred years ago: "We toil 

 only to stuff the memory. . . and like birds who fly abroad 

 to forage for grain, bring it home in their beaks, without tasting 

 it themselves, to feed their young, so our pedants (he might 

 now say "our nature-study teachers") go picking knowledge 

 here and there out of several authors and hold it at their tongue's 

 end, only to spit it out and distribute it among their pupils. 

 Nature-study must be learned by the teacher and taught to the 

 pupil while in living contact with the things of nature. Any- 

 thing less than this is not nature-study. The teacher who finds 

 herself lacking in this knowledge must remedy the deficiency 

 or give up the idea of trying to teach the subject. If she have a 

 love and appreciation for nature (but is without much knowledge) 

 I believe this difficulty will take care of itself as she seeks to 



