On the study of natural history as a branch of general education in schools and colleges : being a paper read before the Natural History Society of Belfast on the evening of Thursday the 26th Nov. 1840 / By Robert Patterson.

  • Patterson, Robert, 1802-1872.
Date:
1840
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the study of natural history as a branch of general education in schools and colleges : being a paper read before the Natural History Society of Belfast on the evening of Thursday the 26th Nov. 1840 / By Robert Patterson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    teacher—be speaking on the subject to the same children some weeks afterwards, he will find, as I have often done, that the facts of which he knew they had been cognisant, were, in truth, but a small portion of those actually observed, and that a whole host of concomitant circumstances, and vivid, though sometimes fantastic, associations had been connected, by the children, with the visible objects to which he had supposed their entire attention had been directed. From such facts it may be fairly inferred, that Natural History is a study pecu¬ liarly well adapted for early youth. By thus directing the attention to various external objects which are regarded with interest, we learn the very useful habit of “ having our eyes about us.” We have all read in our school-boy days the story of “ eyes and no eyes;” and we all know the difference which exists among educated people, as to the power of observing what is actually before their view. One sees a part only, and that imperfectly; another, at a glance, takes in every thing peculiar to the scene, almost by intuition. That prompt perceptive powers are desirable, and that they, to a great extent, are dependent on cultivation, every one will admit. The objects which Natural History embraces are well adapted to call these powers into action, and train them to promptitude and vigour. Hence, I rank among its intellectual effects, the beneficial influence it exerts on the observant faculties. But this influence is not limited to quickness in using our eyes. As we advance a little beyond childhood, it takes in a wider sphere of usefulness. It teaches us to note resemblan¬ ces among objects; thus enabling us, in some degree, to group them together by their apparent affinities; and it accustoms us also to mark the differences among those which, in many particulars, are alike. On this all classification among external objects must depend: on this must rest the divisions of classes, families, genera, and species, so indispensable to the Naturalist. To discover resemblances, to detect differences, are processes totally distinct from the mere power of observing. They are not acts of the perceptive, but of the reflective, faculties. They require not merely the exercise of our eyes, but of our powers