STUDY OF PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 37 



should accustom his pupils to this by giving lessons in " map- 

 reading," taking the Government ordnance maps of his own 

 district as a basis, and accompanying the students into the 

 country map in hand. In addition to this, contoured and hill- 

 shaded maps of various types of country should be studied, and 

 the significance of the features explained. 



The understanding of maps is a subject of national import- 

 ance, and it is astonishing to find how generally it is neglected 

 in educational establishments, with consequences which at times 

 have proved nothing short of disastrous. 



That part of the subject which cannot be directly observed 

 in the student's district must needs be acquired from books and 

 from study in the museum. 



We have an admirable presentment of the kind of physical 

 geography which Huxley had in mind when he wrote his 

 Physiography in Prof. W. Morris Davis's Elementary Physical 

 Geography, which may well be used as a text-book for schools. 



Every school in which natural science is taught should 

 possess its museum as well as its laboratories, and this museum 

 should be exclusively fitted out for teaching purposes. Such 

 museums are becoming a recognised feature in some schools ; 

 the writer well remembers the pleasure with which he examined 

 the museum of Winchester College, in which provision is made 

 for the teaching of physical geography among other sciences. 



The outlay for furnishing the requisites for teaching physical 

 geography need not be great. The chief instruments for clima- 

 tological study will be in the laboratories. Typical weather 

 charts may readily be collected and displayed, and also photo- 

 graphs of the principal types of clouds. For geomorphological 

 purposes photographic and other illustrations are readily 

 obtainable, and the students should be encouraged to make 

 simple models for themselves. Temporary ones may be formed 

 of plasticene or other material ; indeed, much may be done with 

 ordinary unbaked pastry. Collections of materials which have 

 been modified by wind, water, and ice action, and the products 

 of volcanic and other actions, will be gradually brought together ; 

 these will enable the teacher to give instruction of real value 

 in those cases where illustrations cannot be obtained in the 

 open country. 



It must be remembered that common objects are of the 

 greatest value for teaching purposes. A museum of rarities 



