1 8 
Nature Portraits 
tamed and conventionalized. Does not every 
J 
boy and girl like to go in the fields and to 
“get” things? She was not thinking of the 
subject-matter ; or if she did think of it, she 
knew that it can take care of itself. All she 
was thinking of — poor soul ! — was to inter- 
est and educate the children. And she knew 
that if she set a subject and followed it day 
by day, the seats would soon be vacant. 
The man was thinking of his college stu- 
dents; perhaps he had not considered that 
these students already liked the subject and 
needed only instruction. He forgot that you 
cannot force a person to choose a thing, although 
you may force him to take it. His were picked 
students, one from this town and another from that; hers were all the pupils 
in her little community. His pupils had seen and had chosen; to hers the 
world was all unseen and untried. His were the one in a hundred ; hers were 
the entire hundred. His students had chosen the subject ; for this subject they 
were to live; they would increase the boundaries of knowledge; they would 
be scientists. He did not consider that all pupils should not be scientists. 
Sometimes it seems as if scientists think that they have the right of 
way in the subjects which they espouse; but there is more than one way 
of interpreting nature. Their view is necessary in all matters of fact and 
truth, but not when points of view are concerned. This is well illustrated 
in the usurpation of common words. The word “ organic ” relates to 
organisms and their products. But when the chemist studies the composi- 
tion of organic compounds, he defines the word in terms of chemistry. To 
him an organic compound may be a carbon compound or a carbohydrate 
derivative, and he can make an organic compound without any relation to 
an organism ! Organic is originally a biological, not a chemical idea. 
Again, our forefathers used the word “ bug ” for any kind of a bug ; but 
scientists have taken this word “ bug ” and have made it mean only a particu- 
lar kind of bug. This were all well enough amongst themselves, but when 
they attempt to make all the rest of the world use “ bug ” as they do, they go 
too far. Our forefathers have prior claims. It would be better if newly 
made words could be used for new ideas. Science needs a technical language 
of its own. 
By A. Radclyffe Dugiuore. 
BEAVER. 
