NATURE STUDY IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



719 



lengthened time limits, it should be carried, by trained 

 and competent teachers, through all the grades to include 

 the eighth. 



There is no profession or calling in man's activity 

 wRerein a complete course in nature study will not be 

 highly beneficial throughout life, in one way or an- 

 other that is, taken up as now given by the best 

 teachers in our schools and the knowledge imparted 

 in the proper way. Moreover, it links in with all the 

 other studies set forth in the school curriculum as 

 literature, art, geography, arithmetic, manual train- 

 ing, language and civics. Through nature study man 

 comes to comprehend his own position in the system. 



might lie dormant throughout a lifetime. This for the 

 reason that making pictures of natural objects is part 

 and parcel of a course in nature study at least it 

 should be. 



Every public school where nature study is taught 

 ought to establish and cultivate a school museum of 

 natural objects, and both teachers and pupils should 

 be instructed in the matter of sustaining it and have 

 it grow ; its proper uses should also be constantly in- 

 stilled into the minds of the scholars. 



There is no single one of the regular professions 

 wherein nature study does not enter sooner or later, 

 and in a great many cases it comes to be a daily hap- 



FIG. 4. GROUNDS OF THE UNITED STATES BOTANIC GARDENS 



An admirable place to explore for a class in Nature Study, especially to study the rare trees. Here we may note the Cedrus 

 libani on the left, and on the right a wonderful specimen of the European hornbeam (Carpinus betutus). Mr. George W. Hess, 

 the present superintendent, is seen in the foreground. 



in nature, and in his environment. It makes for health 

 in the field work ; it trains the mind in the matter of 

 correct observation in all things ; it cultivates the 

 aesthetic taste, and leads one to read many books of 

 many kinds. Further, it inspires the student to ac- 

 quire knowledge and to use it after its acquisition ; it 

 ennobles the best qualities in our nature, and puts to 

 shame the baser ones ; moreover, it cultivates an appre- 

 ciation of art, and brings out artistic qualities that 



pening depending upon the calling. It stands to rea- 

 son that a biologist, an explorer, a zoological artist, 

 and a forester, would each and all would more fre- 

 quently be called upon to use knowledge of this class 

 than would a lawyer, a physician, or a priest. 



The range of nature study is enormous, as it covers 

 a consideration of all contained in nature on the face 

 of the globe; this quite apart from the artificial struc- 



