14 The Nature-Study Exhibition 



out that many of the exhibits to which we have not 

 seen our way to give medals or certificates have par- 

 ticular interest and merit when considered in relation 

 to their individual circumstances — the character and 

 locality of the school, the number and age of the 

 pupils, and so on. 



WORK OF SPECIAL EXCELLENCE 



We shall first endeavour to emphasize the best 

 kinds of work which we have been able to discover 

 in the Exhibition, and thus to turn present experience 

 to account for the benefit of future organizers of 

 Nature-study. 



(I) Studies on Living- Things. — We are inclined to 

 put in the very first rank of merit, successful and in- 

 teresting work on living things. The collecting, pre- 

 servation, mounting, and even study of a dead object, 

 though it may be important when directed by a spirit 

 of scientific inquiry, is in general of much less value 

 than the study of the living. 



The study of the process of nutrition in hVing 

 green plants can, as we see from the exhibit of the 

 James Allen's Girls' School, Dulwich, be carried on 

 with great success under ordinary school conditions. 

 The excellent water-culture experiments and the plan 

 of the school gardens are worthy of special notice. 



The exhibit of the Natural History Society of the 

 Bootham School, York, preserves a record of seventy 

 years of active, wholesome, and successful effort. Much 

 of the work is very good in itself, and it is attended 

 with special interest from the fact that several natural- 

 ists and men of science who occupy, or have occupied, 



