992 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 390. 



suits. Gushing sentimentalism or mere 

 rambling tallcs will be as barren in results as 

 undigested statistics. To avoid this, the 

 teacher should always have a definite plan 

 before her when the lesson begins." — D. 

 l.ange, Supervisor of Nature Study, St. Paul, 

 Minn. 



"Nature Study is seeing the things which 

 one looks at, and the drawing of proper con- 

 clusions from what one sees. Nature study is 

 not the study of a science, as of botany, en- 

 tomology, geology and the like. It is wholly 

 informal and unsystematic, the same as the 

 objects are which one sees. It is entirely di- 

 vorced from definitions, or from explanations 

 in books. * * * To-day it is a stone; to-mor- 

 row it is a twig, a bird, an insect, a leaf, a 

 flower. * * * The problems of chemistry and 

 of physics are for the most part unsuited to 

 early lessons in nature study. 



"If nature study were made a stated part 

 of a curriculum, its purpose would be defeat- 

 ed."— L. H. Bailey, Cornell University, N. Y. 



I have observed the different methods of 

 teaching botany and zoology for many years 

 past. So far as this country is concerned, I 

 think what is now correctly termed nature 

 study started with Louis Agassiz at Harvard, 

 where he invariably set his special students 

 in zoology to work on a starfish, a lobster, a 

 clam or some other animal; not one specimen 

 of one of these, but many of them, not alone 

 those that were full grown, but those of all 

 ages; not only dead specimens, but those that 

 were alive, always with numerous compari- 

 sons. For months, the use of books was posi- 

 tively forbidden; and all that was told the 

 student, excepting a few names of parts, was, 

 'You are right,' or 'You are wrong,' and if 

 wrong, the student was kept at the work until 

 he saw the thing right. 



Agassiz was overflowing with enthusiasm. 

 He would throw up both arms with exclama- 

 tions of delight on seeing a specimen of a com- 

 mon shell-fish that was overgrown. This 

 earnestness and enthusiasm helped secure 

 faithful work from his students. Since work- 

 ing under Agassiz I have not had the slight- 

 est doubt that his method of studying nature or 

 nature study was unsurpassed for advanced 



students. This method made a lasting im- 

 pression on Harvard, on her presidents, her 

 professors, and all the students who took his 

 kind of work. Through these students of 

 Agassiz and their students down to the third 

 generation, this spirit of independent work 

 has come filtering along for fifty years or 

 more, till it has finally become widespread and 

 deeply seated, and has recently burst forth 

 into a great flame. 



After the manner of Agassiz with his post- 

 graduates, so the teacher of the grades below 

 the high school will treat her young students, 

 of course giving easier problems requiring but 

 a little time each day. The teacher will show 

 her interest, tact and .enthusiasm to draw out 

 the best work from her pupils. By all de- 

 vices, she will seek to get the results of the 

 combined observations of all members of the 

 class before she lets them know her own 

 views on the subject, and even then parts of 

 the work may be left with pupils for further 

 investigation. 



With much that is good in nature study 

 comes much that is positively injurious, and 

 unfortunately large numbers are unable to dis- 

 tinguish between the true and the false. One 

 writes a little book giving it some fancy title, 

 distorts the drawings of some seeds and seed- 

 lings, inserting outlines of children's faces 

 thereon; she writes some marvelous stories, 

 and all these to help arouse and retain the 

 interest of the child. 



I have in my possession a neat drawing 

 made by a student. He made two drawings 

 to represent two honey bees just about to 

 visit apple blossoms. The bees are not alike; 

 each has two wings only; the heads and legs 

 are unlike anything ever attached to bees. 

 The apple blossoms are five-lobed (gamopet- 

 alous), with three stamens growing from the 

 base of each lobe of the corolla. He has made 

 drawings of imaginary insects seeking imagin- 

 ary nectar from imaginary flowers. This stu- 

 dent was trained in a state normal school. 

 Such caricatures are absolutely worthless, in 

 fact injurious, to any young person who makes 

 them or even looks at them. 



W. J. Beal. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



