Sept. 15, 1887] 



NATURE 



469 



iucing the world as round, a blackboard globe should be used, 

 ibout 3 feet in diameter, on which the continents are outlined 

 boldly in red, witli some meridians and parallels of latitude in 

 >J;ite. It would be well if a portion of this globe could be 

 takvn to pieces to show how a horizontal sun-dial for the particu- 

 lar latitude is constructed, and for other matters of interest. It 

 is material to show that the earth revolves on a fixed axis from 

 day to day, and in one direction. All the great difficulties in 

 learning geography are at the threshold of the science for those 

 who have not observed Nature ; the more abstruse subjects are 

 comparatively easy to teach. 



The first difficulty common to all is that with reference to lati- 

 tude and longitude, regarding which there are so many elements of 

 error. It is so difficult for the child to recollect which term means 

 length and which breadth, and then to get the restive imagina- 

 tion to grasp the fact that the length is sideways and not up and 

 down, as it apparently should be ; for even if the earth is shown 

 to be an oblate spheroid, there is nothing to lead a child to see 

 that there is a greater circumference round the equator than 

 round the poles, and the time has not arrived to perplex the 

 child with the views of the ancients on the subject. Then, 

 again, if the child does recollect that the meridians of longitude 

 run from north to south, and the parallels of latitude from east 

 to west, it is jirobable that he may measure the longitude in 

 degrees along the meridian and the latitude along the parallels ; 

 a very common and recurring error, difficult to deal with. The 

 only practicable method is to put the facts of the case into 

 amusing verse and commit it to the memory by song. At this 

 stage, also, some easy standards of measurement put into verse 

 and to music should be learnt by rote, to enable the child readily 

 to recollect the relative measurements of the earth, sun, and 

 moon, and the radii of their orbits and times of progression. 



I lay great stress upon these matters at the beginning, because 

 they are really ail in all to those who wish to succeed in the 

 science in after-life, and I have viewed the matter from the 

 stand-point of what will be required at the age of eighteen to 

 twenty, when the mind ought to be capable of taking up any 

 subject, instead of considering what show of learning the child 

 should be able to produce in an examination at an early age. 

 The stock-in-trade of knowledge for each young person need be 

 very slender, but it must be of the right sort and best quality. 

 No doubt there are many children badly trained who can gradu- 

 ally work out matters correctly for themselves, but these are the 

 few with originality of mind, and even they would be benefited 

 by not having to spend a portion of their lives in unlearning. 



Once the preliminary difficulties are over and the power 

 of observation and reflection is acquired, even in a small 

 degree, the study of geography becomes but a simple matter, 

 for it is the learning of common things, matters of every- day life, 

 which we may, if in the country, acquire to a partial extent of 

 our own experience ; but though so simple it requires continuous 

 application and attention. 



In each calling or trade a man may become an experienced 

 geographer to a limited degree. The pilot, for example, is an 

 expert in the geography of the seas he works on, for he not only 

 knows the ports, the coast lines, and the sunken rocks and sand- 

 banks, but he also knows the tides, the winds, he studies the 

 clouds and the currents, and has an intimate knowledge of the 

 contours of the shallows ; moreover, he knows the shipping of 

 various countries, the merchandise they carry, and the produce 

 shipped from each port. In the same manner, by hunting, 

 shooting, fishing, bicycling, birdsnesting, &c. , we acquire a 

 knowledge of natural history and topography which aid us most 

 materially in the study of geography, and which in a limited 

 degree is the study of geography. 



Even in large towns it is practicable to learn lessons in 

 geography from actual experience and observation, for if the 

 markets and railway produce are examined, it can soon be 

 ascertained from whence the articles come and from what ports, 

 and with careful attention most valuable lessons in political 

 economy can be gained. 



The bulk, however, of our children are cooped up in towns 

 and walled playgrounds, and even when in the country are too 

 often confined to one field ; they have few opportunities of in- 

 sensibly studying the wonders of Nature, and therefore, in order 

 to develop their powers of observation and to understand geo- 

 graphy, artificial means must be made use of. Great effiarts are 

 now being made under the new Code to produce these artificial 

 means, by raised models and water and other devices, and it is 

 to be trusted that, if these schemes can be carried out, the 



habit of observation will be induced ; but the memory also must 

 be at the same time actively exercised and stored with fresh facts 

 day by day. 



The knowledge of geography thus, even in its restricted sense, 

 embraces the life of an Englishman of every class and oc- 

 cupation, and its study is of the greatest importance to every 

 man who has an occupation ; it is singular that so little com- 

 paratively is thought of cultivating the science, and how small 

 interest the State has hitherto taken in fostering this class of 

 education. 



But while the Board and other schools for the people are 

 gradually taking up the work, and endeavouring to work out a 

 good system of education, it is mortifying to find how little 

 progress has been made in the higher-class schools where such 

 heavy fees are charged ; and the question arises whether in these 

 schools the teachers of geography really understand the subject 

 they teach, and would pass an examination before a Government 

 inspector. 



The boys of the wealthy classes are put to the greatest dis- 

 advantage with regard to the study of geography. The son of a 

 labourer will hear the price of provisions and clothing constantly 

 discussed, so also with the son of a mechanic and tradesman, 

 and will learn much about geography on the subjects with which 

 the parents are connected, and wUl also in some measure learn 

 to exercise his observation ; but the son of wealthy parents is 

 too often carefully kept from hearing all that might teach him 

 geography, and he is seldom obliged to exert himself to use his 

 observations in any essential matters of daily life ; this is reserved 

 for the playground, where nothing of real importance is at stake, 

 and must have the most deleterious and detrimental effisct on 

 many young minds, and naturally results in so large a proportion 

 becoming useless for any occupation. 



It is apparent thnt, as education throughout the country pro- 

 gresses, the sons of the wealthy classes, if they are to compete 

 successfully with others, must have some better mental training 

 than they obtain at present, otherwise they will in a few years 

 be distanced by the sons of the labourers, artisans, and shop- 

 keepers. What an Englishman asks for is a fair field and no 

 favour, and it seems hard upon a parent who struggles through 

 life to make money to be enabled to give his children the best 

 and most expensive education the country affords, that with it 

 he must risk a training of the mind which is inferior to that in 

 the less expensive schools of the people. As we are behind 

 the Continental States and our colonies in so many of our insti- 

 tutions and land laws, so we are behind them in our training of 

 the mind in our upper-class schools ; by neglecting by artificial 

 means to develop the power of observation among boys, who 

 until they are put out in the world are never accustomed to do 

 anything that will tend directly to any practical and useful result, 

 we are putting them to the greatest disadvantage, and handi- 

 capping them in the race of life. 



We omit to train the memory in early years, to lay a founda- 

 tion of facts in the mind, and to develop any power of observa- 

 tion ; we carefully prevent their doing anything useful, and bring 

 them up in a moral atmosphere in which the idea of anything 

 but amusement is practically excluded, and then in later years 

 we attempt to adjust all our errors by cramming, when the 

 memoiy is incapable of being crammed, and the mind has ceased 

 to desire to acquire information ; the result is that many young 

 men are deliberately rendered unfit for work in life, and those 

 who have sufficient courage and energy to look their prospects 

 in the face find the enormous disadvantages to which their 

 teaching has subjected them, and lose precious years in unlearn- 

 ing and learning again. 



More unfortunately still, the best and choicest of our minds 

 cannot be crammed ; and thus drop out at our examinations 

 many minds of the class that for practical purposes would be 

 most useful to the State. I allude more particularly to 

 the minds endowed with reflective faculties, which tend to 

 originality and research ; these minds cannot be successfully 

 trained unless combined with the teaching there is something 

 useful to do. It is often observable that an indolent, inert, and 

 lazy boy suddenly becomes filled with enthusiasm and emulation, 

 both at studies and in the playground, when subjected to a 

 change of training. I venture to assert that every year at our 

 public examinations many men are rejected who are of the most 

 superior class of mind for all practical purposes, who are physic- 

 ally most capable, who are so constituted that they cannot cram, 

 and who, though retarded by want of proper training, are begin- 

 ning to train their minds for themselves, and who if brought up 



