THE 



NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS 



Vol. 3 NOVEMBER, 1907 No. 8 



TEACHING THE RENEWAL OF LIFE IN NATURE-STUDY 



By MARGARET W. MORLEY 

 Author of "Bee People," "Renewal of Life," etc. 



[Editor's Note — The subject of sex-instruction is now arousing much 

 discussion, probably because a number of societies, notably the American 

 Society for Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis, have given it attention. It 

 is admitted by all educators who have followed the recent discussions that 

 some very difficult and extremely delicate problems are under considera- 

 tion, and that at present we can not as teachers safely go far in putting 

 into practice many interesting suggestions derived from the discussions. 

 Probably many readers of The Review have ideas or notes on experience 

 which they will gladly add to the following review of the problems in- 

 volved.] 



Nature-study is the latest development in education, or in its 

 broad sense one might say in civilization. Man has always looked 

 at the stars and conjured by them, but it is only recently that he 

 has turned his eye upon the plants, the insects, the animals, large 

 and small and studied them, not for seasons of superstition, not 

 for economic purposes, but for purposes of culture. He thinks 

 he discovers something about himself through questioning the 

 lower forms of life. 



Evolution might be defined as Intelligence struggling for Per- 

 sonality through progressive physical forms. Nor is there any 

 sign that the struggle ends with the man of today. Life continues 

 to go upward. The only difference is that the problem has become 

 to an extent self-conscious. The man of today asks, what can I 

 do to hasten the disappearance of the mental and moral appen- 

 dixes, "survivals" inimical to the welfare of the human being? 



Long ago it was stated that what the man became depended 

 to a marked degree upon how the child was trained. A few com- 

 prehended this, and everybody said it. More and more the people 



