GEIKIE ON THE TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY. 87 



very general and the prices are regulated by free competition, the 

 watering of oysters by floating in the shell is, perhaps, less reprehen- 

 sible than at first thought it might seem. This phase of the question, 

 however, it is not the purpose of this article to discuss. 



5. From the standpoint of chemical physiology the most interest- 

 ing outcome of the experiments is the very interesting parallelism they 

 show between the processes by which the salts and other materials pass 

 from within the body to the surrounding medium and those by which 

 the digested materials of the food in man and other animals are con- 

 veyed through the walls of the alimentary canal into the blood and 

 lymph to serve their purposes in nutrition. In each case the pi'ocess 

 seems to be due in part to osmose (dialysis) and in part to a special 

 function of the organs. 



To recapitulate still more briefly : The oysters in " floating " in 

 fresher water, for some hours after they were taken from the beds in 

 salt water, as is commonly done in preparing them for the market, 

 gained from one eighth to one fifth in bulk and weight by taking up 

 water, but at the same time lost about one tenth of their nutritive 

 material. They did this by processes essentially similar to those 

 which go on in our own bodies, and by which the digested food passes 

 from the alimentary canal into the blood, to be used for nourishment. 



GEIKIE OX THE TEACHING OF GEOGEAPHY.* 



By FEEDERIK A, FEENALD. 



aEOGRAPHY has been the last of the sciences which are studied 

 in school to be affected by the modern demand that science 

 shall be taught according to the scientific method. It is extremely 

 important that this method of teaching the description of the earth 

 should speedily become general, for most pupils study geography, and 

 those who leave school at an early age may not otherwise obtain that 

 quickening of the powers of observation and inference which the study 

 of science gives. 



Furthermore, to quote Professor Geikie, " Geography, in the wide 

 and true sense of the word, offers admirable scope for this kind of 

 training. It may be begun on the very threshold of school-life, and 

 may be pursued in ever-increasing fullness of detail and breadth of 

 view up to the end of that time. No other subject can for a moment 

 be compared with it in this respect. It serves as common ground on 

 which the claims of literature, history, and science may be reconciled." 

 In order to aid teachers in leading their pupils into the study of 



* "The Teaching of Geography. Suggestions regarding Principles and Jlethods for 

 the Use of Teachers." By Archibald Geikie, LL. D., F. R. S. London and New York : 

 Macmillan & Co. Pp. 202. Price, 60 cents. 



