NEWS AND NOTES 153 



or cannot promptly distinguish a silk from a satin, she is worthless 

 as a clerk. Yet these are differences that require keen vision and 

 accurate sense of touch. 



Suppose that you are sick and a physician is called. He comes 

 into your room and sits down beside your bed; feels your pulse, 

 looks at your tongue, taps your chest, listens to your respiration 

 and by ear and eye and finger-tips makes note of your symptoms. 

 Bye and bye he announces it to be a case of scarlet fever and 

 proceeds to write the proper prescription. The last step is a 

 fairly easy one. He must merely remember what his books tell 

 him is a successful prescription for this disease. Now suppose 

 after taking his medicine for a day or two you find that you are 

 not getting well. You begin to lose faith in Dr. Jones. Perhaps 

 Dr. Smith is called. He goes through a similar performance 

 and concludes that it is not scarlet fever at all but measles. Now 

 wherein lies the difference between 'the correct diagnosis of your 

 trouble and the incorrect. Merely a difference of the accuracy 

 of observation. Smith has seen some little character that escaped 

 the eye of Dr. Jones. 



These are just samples of commonplace, every day experiences 

 yet they suggest what you will find true as you examine your 

 daily doings, that in the course of a day's work more depends 

 upon the accuracy of sense of impressions and their correct inter- 

 pretation than upon any other single factor. And yet few teachers 

 and few school boards address themselves to the task of providing 

 adequate sensory training and the correct use of the data so 

 obtained through the senses to reach sane conclusions. This 

 is what good nature study does. Believe me, we shall yet uni- 

 versally recognize its importance. The nature study idea is 

 gaining ground daily. 



News and Notes 



Through the kindness of a scientific friend who is interested in 

 nature study the Comstock Publishing Company can supply 

 specimens illustrating wheat rust in its several stages to any 

 readers of this magazine for 30c, which covers merely the cost 

 of handling, packing and mailing. Send your name and address 

 to the Comstock Publishing Company, Ithaca, N. Y. This is 

 an excellent opportunity to add to your stock of illustrative 

 materials. 



