FOREWORD. THE author was, for eight years, the editor of "The Observer," a magazine for naturalists; for three years editor of "Popular Science," and for the past five years he has been the editor of the department of Nature and Science in "St. Nicholas," a magazine for young folks, and as a lecturer and teacher he is not without experience in the department of study which this book aims to treat. For these reasons, and for others which we will allow the reader to discover, he has prepared the book, hoping, like the author of every similar work, to help, instruct, and perhaps inspire, the earnest teacher, whose lot is always a laborious one, whose leisure is always scanty, but whose final reward is certain and great. Many of the chapters that compose this book were originally published in "The Popular Educator," Boston, Mass. ; others are reproduced from "The Journal of Education," Boston; "The School Journal," New York: "School Science," Chicago; "The Ohio Teacher," Athens, Ohio. |