INTRODUCTION 1 5 



III. THE NATURE OF OBSERVATION. 



One of the serious obstacles in the way of securing the best 

 results in nature-study is that few teachers fully understand the 

 nature and function of true observation. The primary reason for 

 having introduced this study, as well as its ancestor, the object- 

 lesson, into the school, was that it offered a direct means of sense- 

 training. It is generally understood that sense-training is peculiarly 

 necessary in nature-study, but it is not so clearly recognized that 

 all education finally rests upon it. 



Education depends upon observation. Whether it is in the 

 domain of natural science, where, obviously, knowledge is gained 

 by presentation of objects and phenomena to the senses, or in the 

 field of history, where the lessons are to be interpreted and applied 

 to life in its present condition, observation is of fundamental 

 importance. 



The most serious mistake made in dealing with the subject of 

 observation is that of treating it as though it were wholly an affair 

 of the senses. Educative observation depends not more upon the 

 senses than it does upon the mental attitude of the observer. It is 

 quite as much a concern of attention as it is of eyesight or hearing. 

 It is the function of observation to furnish data ; these data form the 

 basis for determining relations — ultimately the mutual relations 

 of form and function. The great fault to be avoided therefore, 

 in planning and conducting work in observation, is that of insisting 

 upon presentation of objects or parts of objects that make no 

 appeal through either their function or their form. When this is 

 done, it is inevitable that the interest must be spurred on by 

 factitious means which never come from honest purpose and never 

 lead directly to real knowledge. Through this mistake, chiefly, 

 arise all the difficulties pertaining to the various forms of expression. 



Observation is the mother of inference ; given the former, the 

 latter is inevitable. Nothing points more clearly to the distinct 

 personality of each human being than the fact that no two persons 

 will make exactly the same inference regarding an object which 

 they observe in common. Each observes from a point of view that 

 is slightly different from that occupied by the other, and his infer- 

 ences vary accordingly. This may lead to endless contention ; but 

 discussion respecting the meaning of facts is always healthy until 



