learning about _flowers_. The teacher can draw their attention to the fact
that flowers are only a part of the plant, and that Botany is also the
study of the leaves, the stem, and the root. Botany is the science of
_plants_. Ask them what the Geranium is. Tell them to name some other
plants. The teacher should keep a few growing plants in the schoolroom for
purposes of illustration.

Ask them what else there is in the world besides plants. By this question
the three kingdoms, animal, vegetable, and mineral, are brought up. It
will give occasion for a discussion of the earth and what it contains, the
mountains, formed of rocks and soil, the plants growing on the earth,
and the animals that inhabit it, including man. Let them name the three
kingdoms with some example of each. Which of these kingdoms contain living
things? The words _organic_ and _inorganic_ can be brought in here. An
_organ_ ([Greek: Ergon], meaning work) is any part that does a special
work, as the leaves, the stem of a plant, and the eye, the ear of animals.
An _organism_ is a living being made up of such organs. The inorganic
world contains the mineral kingdom; the organic world includes the
vegetable and animal kingdoms.

One's aim in these lessons should always be to tell the pupils as little
as possible. Try to lead them to think out these things for themselves.

Ask them how plants differ from animals. They will say that plants are
fixed to one place, while animals can move about; that plants have no will
or consciousness, and that animals have. These answers are true when we
compare the higher animals with plants, but the differences become lost as
we descend in the scale and approach the border land where botanist and
zoologist meet on a common ground. Sea-anemones are fixed to the rock on
which they grow, while some of the lower plants are able to move from