ON STUDIES SUITABLE FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 355 
Salvation will not come by any syllabus ; and of every syllabus we 
would say :— 
‘This syllabus must be regarded as suggestive only, and not inclusive. 
Every teacher should be free to take part of the syllabus in detail rather 
than the whole superficially, and free also to go outside the syllabus. A 
syllabus may be useful as a humble servant, but it is a very bad 
master.’ 
The danger of a syllabus is lest the general topics prescribed, such as 
types of fruit, inflorescences, shapes of leaves, should be studied in 
advance of the real concrete plant. At the top of a botany syllabus we 
would put : ‘This syllabus is intended to be suggestive only. All the 
work should be done from the actual living specimens. Accurate drawing 
should be an important feature. Even in large classes each pupil can 
have specimens of seeds, seedlings, flowers, &c. The pupil himself, if 
possible, should carry on the experiments. Outdoor work should supple- 
ment the work in the schoolroom. At all times plants should be studied 
as living things and not as dead material.’ The rest of the syllabus may 
be left to the discretion of the teacher ; so too with physiography. ‘This 
syllabus should be illustrated by perpetual reference to the school district 
—indoors by experiments, out of doors by walks and excursions in the 
neighbourhood.’ 
The teacher who is planning his lessons some months beforehand will 
therefore require a calendar indicating what topics are likely to be in 
season. Gardeners’ calendars are given away as advertisements by several 
firms of seedsmen. The current Whitaker, or better still the ‘ Nautical 
Almanac,’ gives warning of impending celestial events. The average 
time of flowering of wild plants has been observed and indexed under 
the heading ‘ Phenology.’ Several naturalists’ calendars have been pub- 
lished. A farmer’s year-book will be useful in the country. From these 
and from his own experience a teacher can compile a calendar of pos- 
sible topics from which to choose his lessons. 
The Seasons. 
Several teachers of repute have recently drawn attention to the cycle 
of the seasons as the best ruling idea for the arrangement of any scheme 
of Nature lessons. And this we heartily endorse ; there can be no better 
guarantee that the teaching will really be based on observation and 
experiment. In summer there is endless material. In winter it is more 
difficult to realise the opportunities of the moment ; but the long nights 
favour astronomy, the bare earth suggests geology, the weather is always 
a source of anxiety, the frost without and fire within suggest lessons on 
heat and cold. As much as possible of the summer botany course should 
be unloaded on to the earliest weeks of spring whilst twigs are bare. 
For younger children the topic for the object-lesson may very well be 
chosen from week to week, and may depend simply on what is most 
available ; for the upper standards teachers will rightly wish to plan 
some more systematic course. But this plan should retain some elasticity 
in order to fit with the season. If the different stages of the opening 
chestnut bud are to be watched, they must be seized almost to a day, and 
yet one year they may open a fortnight before or after their date on the 
previous year. If the natural order Rosacew is being studied, we must 
remember to gather roses while we may. 
AA2 
