CHAPTER III 



NATURE STUDY, THE TEACHER, AND THE CHILD 



I. Nature Study. The study of Nature is, if rightly interpreted, 

 the gospel of LIFE. Its importance to-day is recognised in both 

 Week-day and Sunday Schools. Its fostering and inculcation 

 will mean a great deal to young England of the moment, and 

 grown-up England of years to come. The leaves of this great 

 outdoor book are always open for inspection by those who care 

 to consult them. 



We ourselves we humans occupy a prominent place in 

 Nature's great and wondrous scheme of existence, in the vast 

 web of life. Never was there greater need than there is to-day 

 for expounding the wonders of Nature, a study which embraces 

 earth, air, and sea, and all pulsating life that is on and in them. 

 Knowledge is especially called for to-day in an age when unreal 

 pleasure is so prevalent, when frivolous amusements invite 

 and often allure us at every street corner, when it is important 

 for us to recognise some of the saner things of life, things that 

 matter. This whole subject of Nature Study, rightly inter- 

 preted, should be treated and received with both reverence and 

 sympathy, and I am one of the growing band of scientific men 

 who firmly believe in the reconciliation of Science and Religion. 



Probing into Nature's secrets has existed from the time when 

 man first set his foot in the primeval forest. The Greeks of old 

 even worshipped trees. They saw a Dryad in every one of them. 

 Perhaps Solomon was the first Naturalist. " He spake of trees, 

 from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that 

 springeth out of the wall ; he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, 

 and of creeping things, and of fishes." 



After Solomon came the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle, 

 who lived in 384-322 B.C., probably the greatest scientific man 

 the world has ever produced. Aristotle had to wrestle with a 

 subject of which the world knew little, for, as far as we know, 

 only Solomon, the wise man, had preceded him in Natural History 

 study. It speaks much for Aristotle that it was not until 1492 



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