fruit in action, even though it be the right
kind of knowledge, because it is not the knowledge in this case that
furnishes the incentives. The interest that is awakened in a subject
because of its innate attractiveness, leaves incentives which may ripen
sooner or later into action. The higher kind of interest is direct,
intrinsic, not simply receptive, but active and progressive. In the
knowledge acquired it finds only incentives to further acquisition. It
is life giving and is prompted by the objects themselves, just as the
interest of boys is awakened by deeds of adventure and daring or by a
journey into the woods. The interest in an object that springs from
some other source than the thing itself, is indirect, as the desire to
master a lesson so as to excel others, or gain a prize, or make a money
profit out of it. In speaking of interest in school studies, teachers
quite commonly have only the indirect in mind; _i.e._, the kind that
leads children to take hold of and master their lessons more readily.
Interest is thus chiefly a means of overcoming distasteful tasks. It
is the merit of a direct or genuine interest that it aids in mastering
difficulties and in addition to this gives a permanent pleasure in
studies. One of the high aims of instruction is to implant a strong
permanent interest in studies that will last through school days and
after they are over.

A live interest springs most easily out of _knowledge subjects_ like
history and natural science. Formal studies like grammar and
arithmetic awaken it less easily. Herbart has classified the chief
kinds and sources of interest as follows: Interest in nature apart from
man, and interest in man, society, etc. In _nature_ and natural
objects as illustrated in the natural sciences there are three chief
kinds of interest. _Empirical_, which is stirred by the variety and
novelty of things seen. There is an attractiveness in the many faces
and moods of nature. Between the years of childhood and old age there
is scarcely a person who does not enjoy a walk or a ride in the open
air, where the variety of plant, bird, animal, and landscape makes a
pleasing panorama. _Speculative_ interest goes deeper and inquires
into the relations and causal connections of phenomena. It traces out
similarities and sequences, and detects law and unity in nature. It is
not satisfied with the simple play of variety, but seeks for the cause
and genesis of things. Even a