6 ' NATURE STUDY REVIEW [8 :1— Jan., 1912 



from this point of view I think you will agree that these civic 

 elements are the most vitalizing, organizing and unifying in the 

 whole round problem of nature-study. We may call this aspect 

 of the science Civic Biology, and under this head we include 

 all the problems to solve which requires co-operation of the mem- 

 bers of a community. 



"We may represent the entire scope of our biological edu- 

 cation as a series of enclosed spheres of interest. In my own 

 mind these are all delimited by the natural mental growth of the 

 child. In the center we have the period of infancy — the three or 

 five years before school life of any sort begins. This is the most 

 vital period of all — ^the years in which the child learns more real 

 things than in the next thirty. Around this central sphere form 

 a series of concentric spheres representing the life of the child 

 in the home and public school. Here are the nature-study years 

 proper and the dominating interests are the vital needs of the 

 child in the home; and home life is the civic heart of all national 

 life. These spheres naturally enlarge, we can put in more mat- 

 ter, as the child develops from grade to grade 'and civic ele- 

 ments increase as the child develops relations with the life^of the 

 community in which he lives. Then as the child grows toward 

 active citizenship , we should make the course in the high school 

 practically pure civic biology. So much for the general scheme 

 now for the civic elements involved. 



" 'Hygiene' — conservation of national health and efficiency, 

 gives us a money saving of from two to four billion annually 

 with all the preventable sickness, with the misery and premature 

 death involved. Here we need intelligent cleanliness, practical 

 knowledge of germ infections, and their prevention, control of 

 mosquitoes and the even much more, imported civic problem, that 

 of the typhoid or filth-disease fly. 



"The 'Forestry' we ought to be co-operating as a nation to 

 conserve the forestal reserves of the country. The roots of this 

 whole problem are down in those nature-study years. 



"Elementary agriculture and gardening are absolutely fun- 

 damental to the development of a sense of property rights. We 

 see this in the typical tenement city, where no one can own a 

 private fruit, flower or vegetable garden without having any- 

 thing destroyed by vandals. We cannot blame the boys and 

 girls for this. The fault lies in this iniquitous tenement-house 

 system. Every human home should be on the earth with a 

 garden. The resources of living nature stand ready to make the 

 land a paradise as soon as we can learn enough to unite in effective 



