324 NATURE STUDY. 



out instruments or apparatus. They must remember 

 that nature study is a study of what the Creator made, 

 as he made it, by means which he has either given the 

 children or given them power to get or make. A few 

 cans or bottles or jelly-tumblers and simple boxes for 

 planting seeds and keeping animals are necessary for 

 plant and animal work. Work in physics requires the 

 most apparatus ; but most of it can be made by teacher 

 and older pupils at a slight expense with lamp-chim- 

 neys, bottles and corks, chalk-boxes, etc. This home- 

 made apparatus is not only as good as the expensive 

 pieces which must be bought or borrowed, but is 

 much better for work with the children. An elaborate 

 or costly equipment of apparatus is a great hindrance. 

 Children think of the apparatus rather than the experi- 

 ment or what it is intended to show, and assume that 

 the complex apparatus is necessary for the experiment. 

 In general, the more closely science work is related to 

 other school- work, the better it is for both the science 

 work and the school-work. A distinct science labora- 

 tory for the grammar grades may be a great help in 

 leading the children to do definite, exact, scientific 

 work. But such a laboratory is not at all essential 

 even in upper grades, and if it makes a break between 

 the science work and other school-work, may be a posi- 

 tive hindrance. 



While the general plan of work must be determined 

 by the aim, the nature and mental development of the 

 children, and other conditions which have been dis- 



