868 3  Bilttors. Table. _ [October, 
EDITORS’ TABLE. 
EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD AND E. D. COPE, 
Nearly every one knows that the natural process of learn- 
ing nature is the reverse in its order of the system on which 
nature has been built up. The primitive stages of creation are 
difficult of observation, and in many cases belong to past time. 
It is the completed results which first obtrude themselves on our 
observation, and which attract our attention by their beauty and 
other remarkable characteristics. It is the desire to possess in 
its storehouses these varied objects, the wish to classify them in 
some manageable form, which generally actuates the mind in its 
first excursions into the field of natural history. Even when the 
young naturalist has the ulterior object of seeking the origin or 
modus vivendi of visible nature, he feels the necessity of becoming 
acquainted with the species themselves before he can satisfactorily 
_ determine their deeper or more concealed qualities. Hence the 
natural order of acquisition of a knowledge of nature begins with 
_ species, and some rational classification-of them, before it enters 
on the ultimate elements, organic or chemical, which compose — 
€ 
These remarks are apropos to the method of teaching the nat- ; 
eS ~ ural sciences. We venture the assertion that the number of on! 
_ _ dents of nature which have approached it from the side of his- 
- tology, or even of organology, is small. Interest in the subject 
= is progressive, beginning with the superficial, which is the most 
simple, and ending with the more profound, which while simplest 
from the point of view of creation, is more complex in its men- — 
= tal implications. Few minds in their early stages can remen a 
analysis% i 
and of insects are especially adapted (with some exceptions) t9 
is stage. They are concise, easily observed and clearly ge 
erial is abundant. Many systems of genera are equally goo" 
ose of fresh-water shells and of ferns. The eye-tests for ane 
¢ the natural introduction to mineralogy. We condem® 
