302 NATURE STUDY. 



Power is capacity for action, and is only attained by 

 action. Appreciation of the beautiful may be absorbed 

 almost unconsciously, certainly without conscious effort, 

 from surroundings. The development of the ethical 

 and spiritual sense depends to a considerable extent on 

 the environment. Appreciation of beauty, aesthetic, 

 ethical, spiritual, may be imparted by the parent or 

 teacher. But the development of intellectual power 

 depends entirely on the individual. The parent or 

 teacher can make the conditions favorable, but can do 

 no more. The child cannot absorb power. He can 

 only get it by action, by doing for himself. 



Keeping before us this aim of nature study, we see 

 the importance of individual work as distinguished from 

 class work, and the necessity of selecting, when pos- 

 sible, material which can be placed in the hands of 

 every pupil, which every child can study as an individ- 

 ual. Other things being equal, that material is best 

 which is of such a nature, or is so abundant, that each 

 pupil can study it independently; and those experiments 

 are best which can be performed by each pupil indi- 

 vidually. Specimens studied by the whole class to- 

 gether, or experiments performed before a class or by a 

 few members of a class, are of less value in developing 

 the individual. Such work is often necessary, but must 

 be supplemented by work by the individual pupil. 



For such individual work, requiring material in the 

 hands of every pupil, plants and minerals are good. 

 Plant material for each pupil can usually be easily ob- 

 tained when needed, and minerals can be preserved and 



