SINGER] NATURE-STUDY AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE 175 



Hodge, Fairbanks, Stevens, and Bigelow in The Review, Vol. I, 

 No. I, Jan., 1905.] 



The fact that physics and chemistry are not generally drawn 

 upon for materials for nature-study work, while botany and 

 zoology are exhausted almost to the condition of a vacuum by 

 some of the text-books, is my apolog}^ for indicating a few practi- 

 cal lessons which I hope may be suggestive and illustrative of 

 'my contention that nature-study is most closely related even to 

 physics and chemistry, the generally considered formal sciences. 

 Is it not a fact that the home environment of every child abounds 

 in physical and chemical facts which will appeal to his interest 

 and curiosity equally at least with any facts he may note con- 

 cerning plants and animals? The motion of the mercury in a 

 thermometer brought from the winter air into the warm room; 

 the motion of the water when the spigot is opened or when the 

 pump handle is lowered ; the movement of the kite or toy balloon 

 are just as interesting to the child, if not more so, than the hop- 

 ping of the toad, waddling of the duck, or snapping of the jewel- 

 weed pod. The fact that "things in motion sooner catch the eye 

 than that which does not stir" is as strong an argument for physi- 

 cal and chemical nature-study as for biological nature-study, as 

 is pointed out in a paper read by Professor Hallock before the 

 New York Science Teachers' Association in 1904. (Bull. 28, Oct. 

 1905, N. Y. State Ed. Dept.) 



In a class in science some years since, I was asked this question 

 while we were discussing center of gravity: "Can you stand an 

 ^%g on end?" Instantly my class was on the qui vive. My 

 reply was that I could not and that I thought no one could unless 

 they played the trick of Columbus. Imagine my surprise when 

 the next recitation the students brought half a dozen eggs to my 

 class-room and stood them on end on a pane of glass which was on 

 my lecture table. Verily, to see is to believe. This I deem a 

 valuable experiment in that it will catch the interest of every boy 

 and girl in the school and very few will be content to give up 

 until they too can balance the ^^;g — an excellent education to the 

 muscular sense, nerve control and patience. The cigarette 

 smoker in the school can hardly succeed, which is a practical 

 lesson in hygiene that will not be soon forgotten. 



It is not the purpose in the nature-study relation of this scien- 

 tific fact to go into the details of center of gravity, unstable 



