41 



and to make critical comparison. The whole subject of adapta- 

 tions comes in here and appeals strongly to the child. Bills and 

 beaks and teeth and feet and tails take on new interest when one 

 grasps the fact that they are to serve some special need. Nature- 

 study leads to faith in causality, which involves the belief that 

 every phenomenon is linked with preceding factors. The child 

 is freed from superstition ; and bats that cause your hair to fall 



sew up 'your ear if you ever told a lie, lose their terrors and 

 become objects of interest and perhaps companionship. 



Of the cultural instincts which are developed, we may note 

 briefly : 



1. Power of expression ; the child can talk about the thing he 

 is interested in, he can write about it, he can make a picture of 

 it. But let his teacher remember that these are the products of 

 nature-study, and that nature-study can never be the product 

 of talking or writing or drawing. The child's language should 

 be more accurate and logical. He should learn to tell the truth 

 and not exaggerate. Laboratory methods should lead to greater 

 skill and dexterity in the use of the hands. 



2. Knowledge for its own sake and love of knowledge should 

 result from the widened environment of the child. Knc 



■ndings, he 



able 



terpre 



what he 



ing his 



geography takes 



3. The aesthetic values of nature-study are not to be over- 

 looked in a time when utilitarian ideas are as prominent as today. 

 Let the child know that the sky and clouds and sunset coloring 

 and the river and hills beyond are his in the same sense in which 

 the parks are his — to appreciate and enjoy. Whatever one can 

 see that is beautiful is his own as much as though it were his 

 individual property. All that any one can do with a beautiful 

 object is to contemplate it with appreciation and enjoyment. It 

 is possible for the poorest child to be richer than the multi- 



nillionai: 



. The indue 





irious, pests and theii 



