Natural History in the Educational Program 



that the naturalist of to-day has a highly important function 

 as the uniter and interpreter of the isolated threads of special- 

 ized research. He stands at the crossroads of the sciences and 

 points out the large, vital, and significant facts and laws of 

 each. 



In all factories where complicated machines of any kind 

 are made, there is an " Assembling Room." Here the many 

 parts are brought together and properly united, and the ma- 

 chine as a useful whole is finished and tested. So in the realm 

 of the natural sciences the naturalist is the assembly-man. 

 He takes the irregular fragments of research, meaningless 

 and unavailing in themselves, assorts and aligns them, and 

 with them constructs a coordinated chain of facts, an appli- 

 cable law. 



So to-day the term " Natural History " is again coming 

 into general usage, after a long recessive period. It is return- 

 ing with a new content and a fresh and inspiring point of view. 

 Natural history is not biology, not zoology, nor nature-study, 

 nor popularized physical geography, although it comprises ele- 

 ments from all of these. It draws its materials from all the 

 network of the sciences, but remains distinct from, and inde- 

 pendent of, any one of its contributaries. It represents the 

 wide outlook, it comprehends the salient facts, it looks to- 

 wards the realm of nature with the sweeping vision of the 

 generalist, rather than the myopic peering of the specialist. 



Natural history is again evolving its own distinctive litera- 

 ture and records. Significant titles are " The American Nat- 

 ural History," " Nature," " Science," " The American Nat- 

 uralist," " The Nature Library," " The Natural History of 

 the Farm," " The Handbook of Nature-Study." 



In the educational program of the schools, including elemen- 

 tary, secondary, and collective instruction, courses in general 

 natural history are supplanting or supplementing the frag- 

 mentary and specialistic courses of yesterday. The general 

 science courses in the secondary schools are everywhere prov- 

 ing of great value. They afford an excellent introduction tp 



