174 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [i, 5, sept. 1905 



It is the object of the present paper to inquire briefly into the 

 existing differences in school practice, determine if there is not 

 ground for a more uniform and rational treatment of geography 

 and nature-study, and express the conclusions reached in an out- 

 line course of study. The work involved in the preparation of the 

 paper was under the direction of Prof. E. E. Brown in the Semi- 

 nary of Education, University of California. All the general liter- 

 ature accessible was consulted, and in addition the courses of study 

 of more than twenty leading cities and practice schools in the 

 United States. 



Development and Scope of Geography 



Before we can analyze our subject properly and determine the 

 relation which should exist between geography and nature-study 

 we must first inquire into the development and present significance 

 of each. 



We may define geography as the science of the earth as an 

 organic whole whose parts are continually reacting upon each 

 other. The materials of geography, drawn from all the sciences, 

 are not combined as in a mosaic, but are interwoven in a new 

 synthesis of a higher order. The study of the phenomena of the 

 air, of the ocean, and the origin and meaning of land forms, is 

 not undertaken for the purpose of furthering the sciences of 

 meteorology, oceanography, and geology; but rather, that we 

 may understand the part which each of these subjects plays in the 

 complicated inter-actions between physical forces and life. When 

 plants and animals are studied with the object in view of dis- 

 covering their nature and affinities the work is properly biology, 

 but when we seek to find out their part in the general economy 

 of the world it becomes geography. Any fact which is looked 

 at from the standpoint of its earth relationships may be properly 

 included in a discussion of geography. 



Geography has been called a composite of many unrelated sci- 

 ences, a dumping ground for vagrant facts, a relic of medievalism, 

 but from the standpoint given above its individuality seems as 

 real as that of any other subject. 



Geography, as the name signifies, was originally descriptive. 

 The earth and its inhabitants were supposed to be parts of a 

 fixed system and order of things, and no other method but that 

 of description was possible. Now we know that perpetual change 

 and adjustment is the law of the world. No branch of learning 



