40 NATURE STUDY AND AGRICULTURE 



the attempt to make it engulf nature study which has a very 

 distinct mission of its own. The advice is, therefore, to 

 change the atmosphere in passing from such literature to 

 nature study, like the physician when passing from the 

 joys of social life to the study of some difficult case. The 

 former gives the emotions play, the latter demands mental 

 poise. This does not mean coldness, for it involves en- 

 thusiasm; but it does mean a totally different attitude of 

 mind. It is the cultivation of both of these sides of life 

 that is sought. Each needs the other as its complement, 

 and neither alone makes the most effective life. Let litera- 

 ture continue to do what it has been doing most effectively, 

 but let nature study also show what it is able to do. 



Book Dependence. — Under this title I mean to include 

 all dependence upon authority, whether it is literally a 

 book or some teacher. Respect for the opinions of those 

 who are in a better position to know should be enforced 

 strongly at every stage of education, but this does not mean 

 the suppression of all initiative, the possession of only 

 second-hand opinions. It is not difficult to perceive that 

 ordinary school methods enforce intellectual dependence 

 upon many teachers as well as pupils. Leaning upon 

 authority is a deadly habit, easily acquired and broken 

 with great difficulty. If an offset for it can be discovered, 

 it is certainly desirable. 



Such an offset may be provided by nature study, unless 

 it is used to enforce still more the habit of dependence. 

 Does it not furnish the main opportunity in early education 

 to break the shackles of the book ? When observations 

 are being made, the things seen are to be recorded and not 

 the things that ought to be seen as stated by book or teacher. 



