WHAT IS NATURE STUDY? 91 



The terms " elementary science " and " nature study " 

 are both widely used. Elementary science is, perhaps, 

 more exact, and therefore more scientific. Nature study 

 has a less formidable sound, and better expresses the 

 spirit in which the work should be undertaken. It 

 seems much the better term, at least for the work in 

 the first four or five years of the school course. 



The former term includes two ideas. First, it is ele- 

 mentary, as distinguished from advanced. In the aim 

 or purpose of the work, in the material selected, in the 

 methods pursued, it is elementary ; planned for and 

 adapted to the needs and capacities of the pupils of 

 elementary schools. In the second place, it is science, 

 classified knowledge. 



" Knowledge " our dictionary defines as " clear and 

 certain perception," " familiarity gained by actual expe- 

 rience." In the very beginning we cannot emphasize 

 too strongly the ideas involved in these definitions of 

 knowledge, " clear and certain perception," " famili- 

 arity gained by actual experience." Let us analyze 

 them. "Clear," not hazy or foggy, but sharp and 

 distinct; "certain," not what we imagine or think 

 we know, but what we are absolutely sure of ; " per- 

 ception," not what has come to us from others alone, 

 from book or teacher, but the mental picture based 

 upon what we have seen, or what we have apprehended 

 with our own senses. Equally significant is the other 

 definition. "Familiarity," "intimate and frequent 

 converse or association," like that among the members 

 of a family; "gained," acquired by effort, not merely 



