THE STUDY OF THE RABBIT. 41 



way, the ideas presented to him, to insure clear, definite 

 ideas, and to develop the power of conveying ideas to 

 others. These underlying psychological principles and 

 their application are discussed in Chapters VII, VIII, 

 IX, and X. 



Third. Upon such conditions as the age and capacity 

 of the children, the material obtainable for study, and 

 particularly for comparison, and the importance of cor- 

 relating the rabbit study with and making it helpful in 

 other school-work. These are discussed in Chapters 

 XI, XII, and XIII. 



On account of the dependence of the child on his 

 senses, we avoid mere talking or reading about the rab- 

 bit, the first and greatest fault in much nature work, 

 and make every effort to have him see as much as pos- 

 sible ; we emphasize and begin with and build upon that 

 which he can see, and omit or merely touch upon and 

 leave till later that which cannot be seen. Because of 

 the necessity of relating the rabbit study to what is 

 already in the child's mind, we begin with that in the 

 rabbit which is most closely related to the life of the 

 child and most appeals to him, and dwell on its home 

 and home-life, its need of protection and the care of its 

 young, and other characteristics which show " how akin 

 they are to human things." To meet the demand of 

 the mind for continuity of thought, each lesson has a 

 central thought, but is related to the lessons preceding 

 and following ; each lesson is divided into two or more 

 somewhat distinct steps, and the steps and lessons are 

 carefully summarized, thus clarifying and clinching the 



