AN INTRODUCTION TO
NATURE STUDY.
MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited
LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO
ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.
TORONTO
AN INTRODUCTION
TO
NATURE-STUDY
BY
ERNEST STENHOUSE, B.Sc. (Lond.)
ASSOCIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE, LONDON; JOINT-AUTHOR
WITH A. T. SIMMONS, B.SC. OF “SCIENCE OF COMMON LIFE”
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
ST. MARTIN’S STREET, LONDON
1910
First Edition 1903.
Reprinted 1904 (twice), 1905, 1906, (with additions) 1908, 1910.
GLASGOW: PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. LTD.
PREFACE.
One of the most encouraging of recent educational movements is theincreasing importance attached, both in this country and abroad,to what is called Nature-Study. It is evident that the instructioncontemplated differs as widely, on the one hand, from the traditionalobject-lessons on polar bears and ironclads, as it differs from formalBiology on the other. This difference is abundantly shown, not onlyby the circulars and syllabuses issued by our own Board of Education,but by the publications of the leading educational authorities ofEurope and America. The aim of Nature-Study, as thus laid down, is notprimarily the acquisition of the facts of natural history: it is rathera training in methods of open-eyed, close, and accurate observation,especially of familiar animals and plants, which shall teach thestudent to see what he looks at, and to think about what he sees.
It is in a spirit of entire agreement with these views that this bookhas been written. No previous knowledge of Biology on the part of thereader is assumed, and technical terms have as far as possible beendispensed with. In drawing up the course, I have had in mind throughoutthe attitude of an intelligent youth of sixteen, and the work will befound to be well within the powers of such a student. Teachers will,[Pg vi]however, find no difficulty in adapting the exercises to the needs ofyounger pupils.
Care has been taken to select, as types for study, animals and plantswhich are at the same time representative and easily obtainable,[1]and I have been further guided in the selection by the Board of EducationSyllabuses of the King’s Scholarship Examination and Section I. ofthe Elementary Stage of General Biology, the subjects of which areincluded in the volume. The book has, however, a considerably widerscope than is indicated in these syllabuses, and will therefore, Ihope, be found useful not only in schools and training-colleges, andto examination candidates, but also to members of field clubs and tostudents of natural histor