FAMILY STERNINE. Sterna Regia. Royal Tern. Sterna Wilsonii. Wilson's Tern. Sterna Frenata. Least Tern. Hydrochelidon Plumbea. Short-tailed Tern. FAMILY COLYMBIDE. Colymbus Torquatus. The Loon. Colymbus Septentrionalis. Red-throated Diver. Podiceps Cornutus. Horned Grebe. Podilymbus Podiceps. Pied-bill Grebe. NATURAL HISTORY IN SCHOOLS. Read before the Illinois State Teachers' Association, at Quincy, Dec. 25, 186, Mr. President and Fellow-Teachers: It not unfrequently happens that the presentation of a claim upon the attention of educators for any particular branch of science is accompanied by the demand that it shall be introduced, at once, into our schools as a subject of general school training. Each enthusiast in any department of knowledge, feeling the exhilarating influence of his study upon his own mind, may be somewhat excusable when he presents a claim upon the attention of those engaged in the work of forming the popular mind, and insists that his darling pursuit may be made prominent in their systems of instruction. It is difficult sometimes, in the multiplicity of the subjects of science, to determine which shall be deemed most worthy of a place in the necessarily limited course of study in a large portion of the schools, and to arrange the branches selected in that order which will best serve the purposes of a real education. The essentially material teacher is best pleased with those studies which point ultimately to practical employment and the acquisition of wealth, while he of more refined taste seeks those which have for their object the cultivation of the nobler parts of our nature. The happy mean in the process of education lies between these extremes, and he is most fortunate who can properly discriminate between that which may be made immediately and practically productive, and that which develops the mind by quickening the perceptions, strengthening the power of reason, stimulating the moral faculties, by proper culture, and giving to the judgment that force which the well educated alone possess. Remarks Horace Mann, in his admirable lectures: "I hardly need to say that by the word education I mean much more than ability to read, write and keep common accounts; I comprehend under this noble word such a training of the body as shall build it up with robustness and vigor— at once protecting it from disease and enabling it to act, formatively, upon the crude substances of nature-to turn a wilderness into cultivated fields, forests into ships, or quarries and clay pits into villages and cities; I mean, also to include such a cultivation of the intellect as shall enable it to discover those permanent and mighty laws which pervade all parts of the created universe, whether material or spiritual. This is necessary, because, if we act in obeaience to these laws, all the resistless forces of Nature become our auxiliaries and cheer us on to certain prosperity and triumph; but if we act in contravention or defiance of these laws, then Nature resists, thwarts, baffles us, and in the end, it is just as certain that she will overwhelm us with ruin as it is that God is stronger than man. And, finally, I mean such a culture of our moral affections and religious susceptibilities as, in the course of Nature and Providence, shall lead to a subjection or conformity of all our appetites, propensities and sentiments to the will of Heaven." We accept the definition of Education given us by this one of its most devoted friends and promoters, and in presenting the claims of Natural History, we do not wish to be considered as intruding our hobby on your attention or as desiring to ride it to the disadvantage of any other of the branches of science. Nor need the timid fear that we would add another text book or series to those already in our schools, or make any demand upon teachers they are not fully capable of meeting The perceptive powers of children are kept in constant exercise by their innate desire to learn. Every sense is alert to seize upon surrounding objects. Nothing escapes their attention, and each new object of observation serves as a stimulant to further inquiry and acquirement. Nature teaches wonderfully, and the elements for instruction are all around and about us, needing only to be appropriated and enjoyed. Children, actuated only by this craving curiosity, are constantly acquiring facts for future use. Ask a mother how it is that her child learns so much during the first few years of its existence, and she may reply that she has been its only teacher; but some reflection may convince her that she had little to do directly, in imparting the instruction it has received. Her teachings, for the greater part, were not intended as instruction, but the child did not the less acquire knowledge from her by every act and word. All his faculties were keenly alive to what was passing around. The mother, for the most part, was no more the intentional instructor than the chairs, the table, or the cat upon the hearth. By observing the operations of nature, we may ascertain that the true development of children is hastened by simply furnishing the objects for the exercise of their continually expanding powers. The normal system of instruction claims to be the natural system, since the effort is made to imitate nature, in presenting natural objects to the minds of children, thereby stimulating the desire to learn, quickening the perceptions, cultivating habits of observation, of comparing and classifying, and thereby of reasoning well and judging accurately. "A child must not only be exercised into correctness of observation, comparison and judgment," says Mr. Mann, "but into accuracy in the narration or description of what he has seen, heard, thought or felt, so that whatever thoughts, emotions, memories are within him, he can present them all to others in exact and luminous words." Clearness of conception and accuracy in description are essentially important in correct education, as he is only half trained who sees imperfectly or describes inaccurately. An anecdote is related of the poet Coleridge, illustrating the value of a knowledge of common things. On one occasion, traveling with a brother poet, he arrived at a country inn. Stopping to dine, they entered the house, while the host busied himself in taking care of the horse. Before the guests were ready to depart, the host was obliged to go to the field to his labor. When they concluded to go, they repaired to the stable, and commenced the operation of harnessing the horse, when an embarrassing dilemma was presented in the difficulty of adjusting the collar to their horse's neck. They examined the collar and they scrutinized the animal's head, but, with all their observation, the difficulty of accommodating the one to the other seemed insurmountable. After much consultation and many unsuccessful efforts, made both to the discomfort of the poor animal and themselves, they were forced to ask advice from the servant maid, who was enjoying their ignorance and confusion. She willingly responded, and taking the collar, broad end up, slipped it easily over the animal's eyes, turned it narrow end up on the neck, and fitted it to the shonldeas, much to their surprise and relief. The moral of our story is, that a knowledge of common things is not to be despised, and that, other things being equal, he is the best educated who has made the most use of his powers in the acquisition of the facts and principles involved in every-day life. Children "have an innate love for whatever is beautiful. Portions of the external world have been exquisitely adapted to this inborn love of the beautiful, by Him who has so clothed the lilies of the field that they outshine Solomon in all his glory." Happy is that child who is free to roam in unrestrained and unconventional liberty, to enjoy what nature so liberally and so freely bestows. Happy is that man whose early desires have not been repressed, but have been permitted to strengthen to the improvement of his tastes and the cultivation of his fancy. Taking the definition of education as given by Mr. Mann to be correct, and the principles of instruction we have alluded to as judicious and safe, it may be assumed that there is no better subject for training the intellect, developing the bodily powers, and awakening the moral faculties, than that contained in the several divisions of Natural History, embracing Zoology, Botany and Ge |