I 62 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W [ S :6— sept., 1909 



crops out in the argument for the study of Latin, one of the 

 standard arguments being the aid a knowledge of Latin gives to 

 the student of the sciences. At the same time, the student of 

 science may be in pursuit of scientific facts and truths for purely 

 scientific reasons with little or no thought of their application. 

 This attitude makes his study of Latin purely utilitarian and his 

 study of science disciplinary or cultural. 



A subject of study should always be considered from two 

 points of view when one tries to determine its right to a place in 

 the curriculum. One point of view looks for the intrinsic worth 

 of the subject-matter. The body of knowledge comprised in it is 

 estimated without reference to its relation to other subjects. 

 Its value is most often determined by the influence upon the mind 

 of the learner which the pursuit of the study will produce. The 

 mental residuum is usually spoken of as an increase in the sum of 

 one's knowledge, or as an increase of the mind's mastering power 

 due to the training obtained in the pursuit. This view of a study 

 is one sided and incomplete. It can never give more than a par- 

 tial answer to the question as to the real value of a subject in a 

 curriculum. 



The other point of view regards the subject more with reference 

 to its bearing upon other subjects than to its content or to its 

 effect upon the mind of the learner. The evaluation of studies 

 from the standpoint of the relations they sustain toward each 

 other affords the most rational basis for the organization of a 

 group of studies into a systematic curriculum. Under this view 

 no one study is considered on its merits as an independent body 

 of knowledge. Its value is determined by what it contributes 

 to some other body of knowledge, or, by what has been contrib- 

 uted to it by other subjects. The application of this principle 

 is unavoidable in the arrangement of such studies as penmanship 

 and composition. It is quite obvious in fixing the relative places 

 of reading and history, also, in locating the several elements in a 

 mathematical course. There is a sequence of parts. This holds 

 true in regard to mathematics as a whole and certain lines cf 

 engineering, agriculture being an applied science in practically all 

 of its aspects is an excellent type of study for consideration under 

 this principle. 



Agriculture is somewhat unique in this regard. As a science it 

 is without even standing room but for the sufferance of other 



