CHAPTER III 

 THE ESTHETIC AND ETHICAL VALUE OF NATURE-STUDY 



KNOWLEDGE is power. It is also pleasure or affords 

 pleasure. Many students learn for the mere pleasure of 

 learning. This is the case of the scientist who discovers the 

 laws of nature or proves a theory, without a thought of their 

 practical application. Even a child in the satisfaction of 

 his curiosity has a similar feeling. 



But we can get sweet and helpful pleasure also from 

 the sensuous enjoyment of the beauty of nature's forms and 

 colors, the songs of birds and the sound of running waters, 

 the fragrance of the flowers and the smell of the earth and 

 sea, the delicious flavor of fruit, the warmth of the genial 

 sunshine, the touch of our feet on the ground, or the feel of 

 the earth as we lie upon it. These pleasures of the senses, 

 though not the higher kind, should not be neglected. With- 

 out them life would be much more matter-of-fact and un- 

 interesting. Just as it is right to enjoy sensuously good 

 music or the lines and coloring of a beautiful work of art, 

 and as it is right to train the ear for music and the eye to 

 discriminate beauty in art, just so is it right for us to enjoy 

 nature through the senses, and to cultivate them so that we 

 may enjoy more fully and intelligently. These animal sensa- 

 tions of the charms of nature add immensely to the pleasure 

 of living, and, directly or indirectly, affect our views of life. 



14 



