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Abundant and varied plant life i? a marked characteristic 
of these verdant mid-Pacific isles. . In the vicinity of every 
schoolhouse, in country or in city, there is an unlimited sup- 
ply of plant material. The green hedge, starred with bright 
hibiscus blossoms, the waving cocoa-palms, leaning seaward, 
the curious pond weeds in the taro patches and in the rice 
patches, the taro plants and the rice plants themselves, the 
rocky hillside, panini covered ; the velvet manienie lawn, the 
flowers about the doorstep — all these, throughout the school 
year, afford an unusual w^ealth of plant material for nature- 
study lessons. 
It is the purpose of this series of papers to point out some- 
what in detail the usefulness of this plant material, and to 
suggest some methods whereby teachers may profitably em- 
ploy it in their work. 
The Purpose of Nature-Study. — It is advisable at this point to 
consider briefly the fundamental objects of nature-study, in 
order to properly orient our study therewith. The gist of the 
matter is well expressed in these two quotations : 
''Nature-study is learning those things in nature that are best 
worth knowing, to the end of doing those things that make life 
most worth living." — Hodge. 
"By nature-study a good teacher means such a study of the 
natural world as leads to sympathy with it." — MacBride. 
The distinctions between nature-study proper and such pseudo- 
forms as the so-called "elementary science'' and "object-lesson" 
teaching must be clearly understood; failure to do so results in- 
evitably in serious pedagogic errors. The aims of science teach- 
ing are not the aims of nature-study; the latter is not belittled 
science. Science is, in many ways, a drill study, which true na- 
ture-study is never. The taxonomic phases of all biologic science 
are irrelevant to nature-study work, which deals not with sys- 
tems nor codes, but with the simple and child-interesting phases 
of nature. Science leans heavily upon textbooks, nomenclature, 
and minute analysis ; nature-study sees the world from, the fresh 
and unsophisticated eyes of childhood. Science finishes the sub- 
ject, nature-study begins it; one has the seal of finality, the 
other has the outreaching attitude. 
The investigative mind, the concrete experience and first-hand 
problem-solving, the larger and more constant enjoyment of na- 
ture, the proper understanding of nature as related to man's own 
problems — these are the aims of nature-study. (See Nature- 
Study Methods, Syllabus of Lectures, by Anna Botsford Com- 
stock, Cornell, 1905.) 
Nature-Study as a Part of Publie Education. — There have 
been so many written and spoken discussions of this topic in re- 
cent years, that little is necessary here. The salient facts of the 
