Inquiries and Answers '191 



But will not this nature-study be called 

 superficial? (See pp. 60-61, 119.) 



No doubt. A botanist told me that I was 

 doing superficial work. Judged from the view- 

 point of research, perhaps he was right; but I 

 was not teaching science. Judged from the 

 view-point of the child, I hope he was wrong. 

 One is not superficial merely because he does 

 not strike deep into subject-matter. He should 

 try to be accurate as far as he goes. What is 

 superficiality in the specialist may be com- 

 mendable thoroughness in the layman. Even 

 the specialist is satisfied with the most super- 

 ficial knowledge in subjects outside his specialty. 

 His knowledge of men and of business, for 

 example, is likely to be superficial. 



This charge of superficiality is usually only 

 the opinion of a different point of view. This 

 is well illustrated in the critical reviews of ele- 

 mentary text-books of science. Books that 

 have been criticized severely by the scientist 

 have been accepted with enthusiasm by the 

 schoolmaster. The primary merit of a school- 



