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only the general badness of our teaching which saves us from 

 the humiliation of having our errors pointed out by those we are 

 trying to teach. Our elementary experiments ought to be con- 

 ducted in the spirit of rigid control, just as carefully as in any 

 investigation. The motto in the experimenting recommended 

 by our text-books seems to be, " the easiest way that will give 

 a result in agreement with the book," and we seem not to care 

 whether that result is logically or only accidentally correct. In 

 this spirit is the use of make-shift and clumsy appliances instead 

 of accurate and convenient ones, something which is justifiable 

 only when no better can possibly be had. Such slip-shod and 

 inaccurate ways are not only wasteful of time and effort, but are 

 actually pernicious because they inculcate a wrong habit and 

 ideal of scientific work. I do not mean at all, here or anywhere, 

 that young pupils should be made to study advanced scientific 

 matters or to use technical methods, but simply that the treat- 

 ment of their subjects according to their grades should be strictly 

 scientific in spirit as far as it goes. Moreover, any attempt to 

 avoid this spirit is the more unfortunate because needless, for as 

 a matter of fact the great majority of young people respect 

 exactness, and really like to be made to do things well. They 

 do not like the process at first, and will avoid it if they can, but 

 they like the result, and if the process be persisted in they come 

 in time also to like that. 



In a word the first great need of our science teaching is to 

 make it scientific. 



( To be continued^ 



This spring all teachers interested in the preservation of wild 

 flowers ought to read The Passing of the Wild Flowers, a prize 

 essay published by the Journal of the New York Botanical 

 Garden last July. The writer, Miss Mary Perle Anderson, 

 shows by actual tests made in the first five grades with one of 

 the very comprehensive prohibitive signs now in use in Bronx 

 Park that these placards are not easily comprehended by children. 

 The conversations with various lawbreakers of all ages and nation- 

 alities are interesting and indicate clearly the general thought- 



