PAPERS ON GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY 359 



A COLLEGE COUBSE IX GEOGRAPHY OF 

 ILLINOIS 



William C. Gould. State Teachers College. DeKalb 



Having lived in Illinois only a few months and having 

 seen only a very limited part of the State, it may seem 

 like presumption, on my part, for me to give instructions 

 as to how a course in Illinois Geography should Vie 

 taught. On the other hand the newcomer has some ad- 

 vantages in such a study for he does not have to unlearn 

 so many things, overcome so many prejudices <»r feel so 

 much responsibility as does the native. 



_ aphy treats of the relation of a social groir 

 the area in which it is. It is not simply facts, nor a mass 

 of hypothes s, r a mere collection of parallels. It 

 must be objective rather than subjective, or. as Dr. ( 

 Saner says, "It must be theme and not a viewpoint: sci- 

 entific and not temperamental. It is concerned with the 

 utilization of an area rather than with the influence of an 

 area on man." To quote further from the same author- 

 ity, we note that this investigation involves three factors : 

 — (1) Extent of Us . _ Kind of Use and (3) Effective- 

 ness of Use. Such topics as trend of population and 

 wealth, stability, conservation, regional economy, etc. 

 are special themes. 



The modern trend of Geography seems to be rather 

 away from the physiographic and geological and towards 

 the economic and sociological. Bryce says, "'■ _ aphy 

 gathers up the results which the geologist, the botanist 

 and the meteorologist have obtained and presents them 

 to the historian, the economist and the politician" but 

 Ripley, in his "Races of Europe." says "The study of 

 physical environment must, at the outset, clearly r g 

 nize its own limitations arising from th r of histori- 



cal elements, of personality, of religious enthusiasm and 

 of patriotism." 



Some of the French Geographers have rather over- 

 estimated the importance of the historical approach to 

 Geography of some regions. Incidentally. I notice that 

 the courses offered in a leading French University com- 

 prise some half dozen Geography courses based on 



