Mabch 6, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



365 



But can not its influence be enlarged? 

 Are there not problems bearing upon the 

 advance of the biological sciences which 

 require the cooperative action of just such 

 a body as this for their solution ? We have 

 listened to-day to suggestions concerning 

 cooperation in problems of investigation 

 and of these I need not speak further. 

 But there is another field in which, I be- 

 lieve, the society, by its influence, can ac- 

 complish much that will, both directly and 

 indirectly, aid in the advancement of the 

 biological sciences. In the early days of 

 its existence this society took great interest 

 in the question of scientific instruction in 

 our schools and colleges, and I recall espe- 

 cially two reports submitted to the society 

 on this question, one by Professor William 

 North Rice and the other by Professor S. 

 F. Clarke, which contained much that was 

 of value and undoubtedly of influence in 

 shaping the scientific course in many of our 

 schools and colleges. This was many years 

 ago, and now, with the increased interest 

 which obtains in scientific instruction and 

 after the numerous discussions and reports 

 on the place of scientific studies in our 

 secondary schools, it would seem that the 

 time is again propitious for a pronounce- 

 ment upon the subject from such an organ- 

 ization as this. 



Partly from lack of time, but more espe- 

 cially from lack of the necessary informa- 

 tion, I can not venture to discuss all the 

 phases of this question. But do we as a 

 body of working biologists properly under- 

 stand the conditions of science-teaching in 

 the schools, and have we shown sufficient 

 interest in bripging it to that state of effi- 

 ciency which its importance demands ? In 

 later years a wave of nature study has 

 passed over our primary schools, driven by 

 Froebelian breezes. But, unfortunately, in 

 many schools it seems that the Froebelian- 

 ism which should blow as a gentle zephyr 

 has been permitted to increase to a hurri- 



cane and the wave of science study, instead 

 of being an educational blessing, has car- 

 ried devastation on its crest. Two of our 

 members, Professors Hodge and Bigelow, 

 have accomplished much by their endeavors 

 to establish nature study upon a proper 

 basis and their work deserves a greater 

 meed of credit than it has hitherto received. 

 But even yet, so far as my observation and 

 information extend, the teaching of nature 

 study is in many schools in the hands of 

 inefficient instructors, untrained in the 

 methods and purposes of such instruction, 

 and the result is a minute crumb of solid 

 food overlaid by a heavy coating of mawk- 

 ish sentimentality. The principal aim of 

 nature study should be to train the child 

 to the observation of natural objects and 

 phenomena and to awaken in his mind a 

 healthy curiosity as to their meaning and 

 significance. In other words, its purpose 

 should be to develop in the child the scien- 

 tific spirit, which is not inborn but requires 

 development. Its primary object should 

 not be a directly utilitarian one and it 

 should certainly not be used as a means of 

 evoking an unhealthy and unnatural senti- 

 mentalism when no sentimentalism should 

 exist. Surely in a search for the senti- 

 mental nature is the last place to which we 

 should turn. Perhaps the causes of the 

 mistakes in nature study are largely due 

 to conditions which are beyond our control, 

 but have we done our duty in upholding 

 the hands of our fellows who are striving 

 for efficient instruction, in calling the at- 

 tention of those in authority to errors in 

 method, and in endeavoring to set science 

 teaching in the primary schools upon a 

 proper basis ? 



We are accustomed to regard the Ger- 

 man system of scientific instruction as very 

 efficient and yet it is noteworthy that a 

 joint committee for the German Zoological 

 Society and the Gesellschaft fiir Natur- 

 forschenden Freunde und Aertzte is now 



