Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1903-10-23
NAMES BOY SCIENTISTS.
Young Experts in Various Branches Of
Nature Study Who Have Collected Spec
linens of Great Value.


ford county Maine, where George Robley
Howe. a man of 46, has developed the or
binary village boys. roaming the street
and devoid of a single high thought or
serious ambition, into educated scien
lists. deeply interested in the study of
nature in their own woods, fields pas
lures, streams and hills, from which they
have gathered collections so unique and
| we'll classified as to attract the attention
of our greatest scientists. and having
value of many thousands of dollars.
There is only approximate truth, and
no end of error. in the talk, traditions,
| religions. politics, social ideas of people,
said this thoughtful man. What is
needed is an inspiring view of truth. that
will not have to bc unlearned, and that
will conioin a training process for the
mind with utility ana improvement for
the homes and community in general"
ON this broad basis Mr.. Howe who had
considerable training in the natural sci
ences. following out the theory of Her
bert Spencer determined to build up
among the rising generation of his viii
! lage "A love for truth as ii expresses itself
in the actual and observable facts of To-
cal nature. No one in all the town, save
perhaps his able Coadiutor, George Noyes.
had ever suspected the charms and go-
rics, and seats Of interest, and objects of
utility that lay all around them ready to.
be seized. To awaken in the minds of
idle village boys an appreciation OF all
this. to organize and train them to see,
to hear, to feel, to search, to classify
and at last to construct the science in all
it's departments of all the natural objects
of the COuntN-thiS was Mr., Howe I'M
mediate design.
About five years ago he accordingly be-
gan with nine boys, then about an aV-
erage OF 10 years. Going directly to
nature" said Howe "eschewing all die
tation Of their personal faults and leav-
ing them practically to find their own
way to the higher discipline of character,
| | merely undertook to occupy their
/ thoughts more and more with the unim-
| peachabl, facts of nature.
Gradually they were led to construct,
| without much teaching, classification
/ of all the fauna and fora Of oxford
/ county. through the kingdoms, divisions,
/ classes. groups. sub groups and orders
/ to name them in the terminOloSy Of mod
/ ern science, and to correctly refer their
! specimens, culled from hillside and val
/ ley, from stream and lake and forest, to
/ this scheme.
Behind their work always. a ready ref
/ erencc and a guide who knew the way
| has stood this indefatigable man. He
! taught them as they went along his great
ethical ideals He showed them how their
/ science tends to preservation by
teaching them the art Of health and how
/ to utilize the medical and food supplies
of nature, pointed out it's use in providing
] for parental guidance, showed its relation
/ to civil life. taught them its utility in the
pursuit of art, and the disclipin" it has
for tine moral natuV He set them upon
the aim of collecting every different spe-
1 cics. and upon the recording of every OBJ
servation that could be OF service to sci
/ enCc.
Each Of these nine bows" explained
MIR Howe, was given and has pursued
a special department. investigating line
/ Of facts upon which he may become an
/ expert and an authority. with the idea
that at length he may contribute by lee
7 lures books and articles To this branch
/ Of science. Here are some Of the funda -
/ mental rules. which | attempted to lay
/ down as a working basis: To search after
truths embodied in nature and her laws;
To coordinate and systematic the knowl-
edge thus gained; to disseminate this
! knowledge among the people of the local
itv: to endcaVor to incorporate in all our
acts truthful principles. regardless of pre-
conceived traditions and opinions; to con-
duct some original work directed toward
scientific results or improved methods of
scientific teaching; To make and maintain
collections representing local natural his
tory, resources and beauties to he re-
tanned and exhibited for the good of the
community
win boys follow up this sort of thing!
They are but 10 years old, and only ordi-
nary village hoys. Yet Prof Sidney l.
Smith of Yale declared that when this
remarkable pedagogue has had these boys
alone in the woods for a week they are
transformed into body of more enthu-
siaStic nature students than can be found
in any college. and wished he might be
able to interest his natural history stu
dents To an equal degree. Every one OF
the original nine, after nearly five years
is more engrossed in the revolution thar
when he began.
The combined collections OF these boys
include some specimens hitherto un
known to science, and the total value o
/ these collections is estimated at many
/ thousands Of dollars They include every
form of fauna and flora that persisten
search could reveal. besides the valuable
collections of minerals.
The boys have designed plates of in
Vulnerable natural objects that are L
decorate the soriety building now in con
temptation. These represent actual oh
iects photographed, and include mush
, phoseS, Vertcbratcs other than birds, anat
omical and physiological reproductions
phanerogamic and cryptogamic botany
| hyphomYctes, and scientific instruments
. Each hey has contributed study or the
, sis on his own department, and report
, every special observation for record. Thu
apparatus for scientific use are also most
" provided by these older boys. The
make chystal models, balances spectre
scopes goniometers, blowpipe apparatu
III and accessory parts of their mcroscop
and biological equipments And it is t
be remembered that these boys are jus
, . common village boys, the Oldest not NOR
, than Il.
out Of the little fresh water streams q
| oxford county Mr.. Howe and his boy
= have taken pearls from the imbedde
shells that form a collection woth 5000
, From the mountains of Stoneham am
. from the more famous Mt. Mica they haV
, taken collections of gem stones worth a
! incredible sum- one of these stones
found on Speckled mountain, was includ
. ed in the great Tiffany collection that Wa
exhibited in Paris, and now belongs
Pierpont Morgan. Some of the nature
> history specimens are so rare that grea
= sums would be received from them
, offered to the metropolitan museums c
: to professional collectors.
II From this beginning with nine boy
who We're not selected because of any AZ
G parent superiority, the natural spread
= ing of the movement proceeded until &c
h day the number has increased to 5S, an
II includes certainly more than half the boy
Il OF the village between the ages of 10 an
IS II years From aimess creatures play
d ing futile games in the streets they HAY
y become enthusiastic scientists, peerin
4" into the boys, forests, bowls, rock heap
J. pillow burrows, meadows and gorges of Il
: whole region.
J. They are provided with a kit col
sisting of haversack, blanket, rock han
It mer, knife saw and Ratchet. A reguli
r ton outing coat and a white hat, aidir
E, visibility in the forest, identify them {
trims 4 long trim of "A week