270 Fifth Conference 



time of an eclipse, or when, if a telescope is avail- 

 able, the moon is at the full, or the satellites of 

 Jupiter are visible, and when planets and constella- 

 tions — the Great Bear and the North Star can be 

 identified. It is by watching for such opportunities, 

 and utilizing them as they occur, that a teacher may 

 kindle an interest in natural phenomena quite as much 

 as by formal school lessons, or by additions to his list 

 of subjects. 



Of course the staple and necessary subjects of all 

 school instruction must not be neglected or en- 

 croached upon. Reading, writing, arithmetic, lan- 

 guage, and history must always hold a first place. 

 But beyond these there is room for a good deal of 

 incidental Nature-study, if we will remember that 

 here is the one region of our work in which inspira- 

 tion, curiosity, and the observant habit of mind are 

 of more true educational value than information in 

 the form of facts or statistics. Man has been de- 

 scribed as a creature with a great deal of curiosity 

 but very bad eyes. It is for the teacher to encourage 

 this curiosity, and then to satisfy it by showing the 

 scholar, at all convenient opportunities, how to acquire 

 that fine art, so often disregarded, the art of seeing. 

 What Herbart calls mental " apperception " presup- 

 poses visual perception. Nihil in intellecUi quod non 

 prius in sensu. And the first business in Nature-study 

 is to make the learner open his eyes, and know how 

 to use them. 



We may not, however, forget, in vindicating the 

 claims of nature-knowledge as contrasted with know- 

 ledge of books, that after all there is much to be 

 gained from our best literature and from the study of 



