viii PREFACE. 



and in his senior year he is taught, necessarily in a 

 very hurried manner, in Chemistry, Mineralogy, and 

 Geology. Yale College by no means stands alone in 

 this respect, for very nearly the same is true of most 

 of the colleges in this country, showing how little im- 

 portance is attached to the study of the natural sci- 

 ences as a part of the system of education. 



All this is radically wrong. The natural sciences 

 ought to have a place on an equality with the other 

 studies, and from the outset. The child, when he be^ 

 gins to attend school, is interested in any thing that 

 calls forth suitably that joint employment of his per- 

 ceptive and reasoning powers which we call observa- 

 tion; and, therefore, with his first learning to read, 

 natural objects should be made the subjects of instruc- 

 tion. All teachers who have used my " Child's Book 

 of Common Things," and who, in connection with its 

 use, have brought natural objects into the school-room 

 for " object lessons," as they are termed, know by ex- 

 perience that the plan recommended is a feasible one. 

 This is teaching science ; in a small way, it is true, 

 but yet teaching it, and laying a good foundation for 

 farther instruction, not merely in the facts learned, 

 but in the habits of observation which are formed. 

 There are numberless facts about air, water, light, 

 plants, animals, etc., which the youngest pupils can 

 understand, if they are presented in the right manner. 

 And the busy inquiries which they make after the 

 reasons of the phenomena, and their appreciation of 

 them, if stated simply and without technical terms, 

 show that such teaching is not profitless. Children 

 are better philosophers than is commonly supposed. 



Beginning thus, the natural sciences should be made 



