Septembek 30, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



447 



plants and animals, brief notes on stones and 

 the constellations, and an appendix giving illus- 

 trations of pupils' work in drawing and com- 

 position. The introduction deals somewhat 

 with pedagogy, and touches upon the program, 

 methods, materials, excursions and related 

 work. 



The book has a freshness that springs from the 

 rich experience of a teacher who has enlisted 

 heart and brain in the work of introducing chil- 

 dren to the vast domain of nature. The choice 

 of material shows a wise selection, and the 

 presentation is, as it generally should be, from 

 the standpoint of function. Since the nature 

 experience of children is acquired from the 

 landscape as a whole, it is a question whether 

 the author does not descend too rapidly to de- 

 tails. It is important to treat the great nature 

 image of the children in its wholeness by the con- 

 stant presentation and re-presentation of the 

 entire landscape from the varying standpoints 

 afforded by its different aspects, caused by its 

 daily, seasonal and other and more gradual 

 changes. It is only by such broad presentation 

 that the natural setting of the various elements 

 in the landscape — the soil, the sunshine, the 

 water, the plants, the animals, etc. — will be 

 preserved in the child's mind. The suggestions 

 concerning the study of the weather are the 

 best illustrations of the evils of piecemeal 

 presentation. To place the child 'in loving 

 touch ' with nature is the aim as expressed in 

 the introduction ; but the advantages of a study 

 of the weather are later stated to be cheapness 

 of material, cultivation of observation and 

 reason, a basis for geography and the establish- 

 ment of habits of neatness and accuracy — none 

 of which have any tendency to increase the 

 child's appreciation of what these forces have 

 to do in making up his great nature picture. 

 The subject is still further isolated ; it is, in fact, 

 completely side-tracked through the method 

 proposed by the author to approach it 'through 

 the myths.' There-is no more natural or sci- 

 entific reason why the child should approach 

 the study of the weather through the myths 

 than there is that he should approach the study 

 of a horse through the story of that celebrated 

 equine of ancient Troy. The myths are simply 

 fantastic nonsense, except so far as the children 



are able to interpret them in terms of what they 

 themselves already have observed. The author 

 of Cook's Myths, to which reference is made, 

 by no means intends that her stories shall be 

 used as an ' approach ' to nature ; on the con- 

 trary, in every case the study of nature has 

 been made an approach to the myths. We must 

 utterly despair of ever getting honest observa- 

 tion and direct, simple expression on the part 

 of children as long as the teacher who guides 

 them allows herself to be dominated or even 

 inflenced by the infatuation that she must pro- 

 vide a ' basis ' for language, literature or any 

 other related subject. 



The material chosen for study has generally 

 been selected with due regard to the season, 

 but the author has disturbed this natural ar- 

 rangement by suggesting the study of germina- 

 tion in January and the indoor observation of 

 unfolding buds in March. It is scarcely neces- 

 sary to^undertake the uphill task of teaching 

 germination in mid-winter in the face of every 

 boisterous protest that nature can utter, when 

 by biding her time for a few weeks the teacher 

 may receive the voluntary and cheerful assist- 

 ance from the whole of sprouting creation. 

 Buds are studied indoors that the eyes may be 

 opened ready for the later developments out- 

 doors. But, be it remembered, the real eye- 

 opener is to see how the buds on the trees, en- 

 vironed by all the hazards of spring, gradually 

 and safely unfurl the tender and delicate young 

 leaves to the sunshine. With the proper 

 presentation of outdoor nature in its season 

 with children there is but little need of the usual 

 devices for indoor study— certainly none what- 

 ever, unless called for to explain further some- 

 thing already observed under normal conditions. 



The author is to be commended for her judg- 

 ment and courage in the stand which she has 

 taken regarding written expression, maintain- 

 ing that but little is needed and that usually 

 too much is demanded of children. She does 

 not, however, give due weight to color work as 

 a means of expression. For children, and for 

 grown people too, the world exists mainly as a 

 thing of color. The natural and easy mode of 

 expression for this rich experience is by means 

 of the brush. This form of expression is sec- 

 ond to no other in scientific value. Excepting 



