Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 52.djvu/463

Rh mind he must never "lose his head" save in the rest of normal sleep.

No great work was ever accomplished under the influence of drugs or stimulants. The great thoughts and great works which have moved the world came from men who have lived pure, sober lives. These were men whose nervous systems were truthful as the stars, and the great truths of the universe they could carry over into action.

What is true of man is true of animals, and true of nations as well; for a nation is an aggregation of many men as a man is a coalition of many cells. In the life of a nation, Lowell tells us, "three roots bear up Dominion—Knowledge, Will, the third Obedience, the great tap-root of all." This corresponds to the nervous sequence in the individual. And as in general the ills of humanity are due to untruthfulness in thought and action, so are the collective ills of nations due to national folly, vacillation, and disobedience. The laws of national greatness are extensions of the laws which govern the growth of the single cell.



N cities where Nature study has been introduced, it has become evident that the required number of plants suitable for the purpose of instruction in the elements of botany is obtained often with considerable difficulty. A school in the suburbs, with woods and fields near, and a free range for its pupils, in a few years finds the open places occupied with houses and notices to trespassers, and the sources of material for observation work cut off. In the public parks are posted notices forbidding the plucking of a leaf or the breaking of a twig. There is plant material enough for study everywhere, even in a city, but it is not available for schools.

School grounds are generally given up to play or gymnastic exercises. Only a few educators in this country have thought of them as sources for obtaining plant material for observation work. In many places in Europe school grounds are very much better managed than in this country. Not only do school authorities there aim to supply materials for study in the schoolroom, but they mean to impart clear ideas of horticulture and related occupations by various uses of land connected with the schools. They appreciate the training which results from pruning, budding, and grafting trees, plowing, hoeing, and fertilizing land, hiving bees, and raising silkworms.