shufeldt] nature-study AND COMMON ANIMALS 247 



foods warm? Should metal cups be used for drinking very hot 

 beverages? Why are wooden and wire handles used on flat-irons, 

 stove-pokers and lid-lifters ? Is asbestos or zinc better for protect- 

 ing wood against great heat? Materials used in coverings of 

 steam-pipes. Hot- water bottles, vacuum bottles. Hot waterless 

 bottles. Soap-stone foot-warmers and griddle-cake bakers (why 

 is soap-stone better than iron for such purposes ?) Use of the vari- 

 ous kinds of materials for clothing in summer and winter. Experi- 

 ments to illustrate principles involved in practical problems. 



(4) Fourth problem : Heat of the human body — its origin and 

 regulation. Its relation to health. Hygiene of clothing. 



Along such lines in harmony with the spirit of nature-study the 

 study of various large topics in the introduction to science should 

 be developed. Its characteristic should be that it deals with 

 nature as it is related to daily life and independently of the very 

 technical side of organized science. Thus introduction to science 

 will be both of advanced nature-study and a transition to real 

 science. 



In closing this paper I confess my faith in a coming course of 

 introduction to science that is organized as education rather than 

 as science and that prepares the way for, but does not displace, the 

 regular sciences of our schools. Not until we get courses of intro- 

 duction to science that follow the nature-study idea, the nature- 

 study spirit or point of view, will we have a combination of intro- 

 duction to science and the climax of nature-study in a form best 

 adapted for popularization of elementary scientific studies. 



Nature-Study and the Common Forms of Animal Life 



Dr. R. W. Shufeldt 

 Washington, D. C. 



One of the most gratifying features of our American civilization 

 at the present time is the widespread interest taken in the stud>^ 

 of the many forms of life about us. This great group of living 

 beings, or living things, is the subject material of the biological 

 sciences, and commands the researches of the biologist. Grouped 

 in its entirety, it is divisible into two main branches, namely 

 Zoology and Botany, and the simple, primitive investigation of 



