In all great inventions, man has taken his cue from nature. In inventing the telescope, his model was the eye; in building his house, his inspiration was the cave. In reality man has accepted nature’s suggestions, and then attempted to improve upon them. In this he has met with success. From the crab apple tree, he has developed the northern spy; from the _wild_ hen which laid 25 eggs a year, he has evolved the modern hen which produces 225 eggs a year. Moreover, man has attained his greatest successes by _enlarging_ upon the thoughts of nature and not by _unmixed substitutions_. Burbank, through a long process of years, has changed the color of a flower, but in accomplishing this did he not use some hidden tendency of nature? Burbank, with all his wisdom, cannot give a flower color unaided by “Dame Nature.” When man commenced to study nature’s mode of education, he saw that fearful sacrifices were entailed, both in time and in energy as well as in life itself; and so he evolved a _more economical way_ of leading the child through the experiences of the race. In consequence, he has developed the present splendid system of education. In the evolution of all great institutions, there are in evidence crucial weaknesses, and in the evolution of man’s educational system it appears that he has erred in adopting nature’s _form of education_ without her _spirit of education_. In his anxiety to have the young acquire as much as possible, man has overshot nature’s true purpose. For example, the big word in man’s educational system is _knowledge_; but the big word in nature’s educational system is _conquest_. Nature gives man knowledge simply to reward him _for his effort_; but man would give to his fellow the reward _without the effort_. According to nature, the strongest men are those who _overcome_ most; according to man, the strongest men are those who _know_ most. The common educational principles, such as, “From the concrete to the abstract and from the known to the related unknown,” etc., are interpreted by man from the viewpoint of _knowledge_; whereas nature would teach that these are a feasible way to develop _power――to grow manhood_. It is seen that nature uses knowledge only as a means to an end, and therefore when man uses knowledge as an end only, he is trying to substitute a plan of his own for nature’s plan. _The best results can be secured only when man co-operates with nature in developing, and at the same time regulating, the spirit of conquest._ =9. MOTIVATION AS RELATED TO THE SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY.=