INTRODUCTION IX 



The child, or even the high school pupil, is first inter- 

 ested in things which do not need to be analyzed or 

 changed into unusual forms or problems. Therefore, 

 problems of chemistry and of physics are for the most 

 part unsuited to early lessons in nature -study. Moving 

 things, as birds, insects and mammals, interest children 

 most, and seem to be the proper subjects for nature- 

 study ; but it is often difficult to secure specimens 

 when wanted, especially in liberal quantity, and still 

 more dif&cult to see the objects in perfectly natural 

 conditions. Plants are more easily had, and are there- 

 fore more practicable for the purpose, although animals 

 and minerals should by no means be excluded. 



"If the objects to be studied are informal, the meth- 

 ods of teaching should be the same. If nature -study 

 were made a stated part of a curriculum, its purpose 

 might be defeated. The chief difftculty with our 

 present school methods is the necessary formality of 

 the courses and the hours. Tasks are set, and tasks 

 are always hard. The best way to teach nature -study 

 is, with no course laid out, to bring in whatever ob- 

 ject may be at hand and to set the pupils at work. 

 They see the thing, and explain its structure and its 

 meaning. The exercise should not be long, not to ex- 

 ceed fifteen minutes at any time, and, above all things, 

 the pupil should not look upon it as a recitation, and 

 there should not be an examination. It should come 

 as a rest exercise, whenever the pupils become list- 



