140 NATURE STUDY. 



made more prominent ; in the later years, man becomes 

 more important, and should be given more prominence. 



Theoretically, perhaps, it may be difficult to tell just 

 when the child's intellect is so well developed that he 

 can pursue to the best advantage such studies as history 

 and literature. As a practical question, however, these 

 must be taken up not later than the fourth to the sixth 

 year of school-life, or in the case of the average Ameri- 

 can child they will never be studied. Probably ninety 

 per cent of our school-children never get beyond the 

 eighth or ninth grade. Forty or fifty per cent end 

 their school-life at the close of the fifth or sixth school- 

 year. 



The recognition of these two centres of education 

 must largely determine the character of the work in 

 nature study throughout the school course. At first 

 the children must study nature just as they see it, put- 

 ting all emphasis on personal observation, and on in- 

 ference based on personal observation. Later, nature 

 should be studied in its relation to man, the discov- 

 eries man has made ; the way in which he has grouped 

 natural objects and phenomena, leading to systematic 

 science ; the use man has made and is making of nature, 

 bringing out the practical side, mining, manufacturing, 

 commerce, and correlating the work with geography 

 and history ; the thoughts which nature has inspired in 

 other minds, leading to literature and art. 



The work in the distinctively "man studies," such 

 as history and literature, is similarly influenced by the 

 recognition of these two centres. The earlier work in 



