THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



asked. He compares these questions in 

 order to see what class of questions are most 

 frequently asked. His one object is to pass, 

 and having passed, he has become a botanist 

 competant to teach. His books are now 

 laid aside, sold or given to a friend. What 

 little interest he had in the subject is over; 

 but he has satisfied the Educational Depart- 

 ment, he has passed a certain examination, 

 and though in many cases profoundly 

 ignorant of the subject, is permitted to 

 teach. That a teacher should undergo 

 some kind of examination before he teaches 

 any subject is only right and proper, but a 

 recommendation from a scientific body 

 should, in my opinion carry much more 

 weight than a certificate obtained by an 

 examination of this kind. 



Under these circumstances the look out 

 for Natural History education is somewhat 

 gloomy, but it is a necessity, and as such 

 we must steadily press for it ; we are, if 

 slowly, marching on in the right direction, 

 for the importance of Natural History is 

 being more and more recognised. 



Let us now come to the more practical 

 part of the question, and meet the two 

 difficulties I have just presented. The 

 defect in incompetent teachers might to 

 some extent be remedied by giving preference 

 to those who had some knowledge of these 

 subjects. In many schools the present 

 teachers are being gradually trained in 

 botany, and in the worst of cases the diffi- 

 culty could be got over by employing a 

 demonstrator who, could, when several 

 schools are under one management, take 

 them in rotation one after another, a day or 

 half a day in each week. But Natural 

 History should form a part of the regular 

 course of lessons, and eventually, if not now, 

 every teacher should be required to mix 

 this with the regular lessons. 



Too much importance is given to some 

 subjects, and too little to Natural History. 

 Take, for instance, grammar. Every child 



is instructed in grammar. All the minute 

 technicalities, the words classified in 

 detail, and a minutiae is gone into, which if 

 asked for in the case of insects would be 

 called ridiculous. In the 4th Standard 

 " Empire Reader Home Lesson Book," by 

 Mr. S. B. Tait, which is used by one of my 

 children, out of 76 pages, 22 are devoted to 

 grammar, while n.t a line is said about 

 Natural History. I do not regard this, 

 understand, as any fault of Mr. Tait's. I 

 know that he is as anxious as I am to see 

 Natural History form a part of education, 

 but he had to write to meet a certain code, 

 and not, perhaps, exactly what he thought 

 best. Grammar is very necessary for those 

 who wish to become teachers of it, or 

 writers, or speakers, but for ordinary people 

 the technicalities of grammar are of no 

 use. A child if brought up in proper 

 company, where they speak properly, and 

 who read well written books, will learn to 

 speak grammatically by hearing others do it, 

 and if the persons with whom the child 

 associates do not speak grammatically, 

 however you instruct it in grammar, it will 

 speak as others do. Up to the age of ten 

 or twelve I should do away with all gram- 

 mar lessons, except general principles, and 

 the simplest rules. This would give time 

 for something else, and a part of that time 

 might be occupied with Natural History. 



Then again, many of the ordinary lessons 

 might be converted into Natural History 

 lessons with no extra labour, and no extra 

 tax upon the scholar. Take, for instance, 

 a spelling lesson. My girl comes home 

 with a list of perhaps 30 or 50 words to 

 learn and spell for a home lesson. These 

 words are written at random, without 

 any regard to class or order, not even 

 to grammar. Why not classify them ? 

 Begin at the top of a man's head and name 

 thirty parts of his body ; thirty names of 

 plants ; thirty names of stars : thirty forms 

 of insects ; thirty kinds of birds ; thirty 



