THE BELATIONS OF GEOLOGY. 885 



classes, and thence extended to the universities. Speaking theoretic- 

 ally, in its earliest stages it should be as simple as possible and cover 

 the ground which is familiar to daily experience or which is funda- 

 mental to several of the natural sciences. In its higher stages it should 

 become more specialized and include the facts and principles common 

 to the special group of sciences which will become of value to the 

 scholar in his later studies or in his after life. In the universit}^ it might 

 finally be restricted to the perfect knowledge of that one science which 

 the scholar has selected for his specialt}' and as much of the fellow 

 sciences as has an intimate bearing upon the science which he selects 

 as his own. At every stage a broad foundation should be laid for the 

 superstructure to be erected in the next stage of advance. 



But, speaking practically, it is impossible at the present day to lay 

 down any general rules as to the order in which the subjects dealt 

 with under tlie head of geononi}^ should be taken up or as to the way 

 in which those subjects should be individually treated. For while it 

 is quite true that the aim should be to instruct in those generalities 

 wdiich are common to many or all of the sciences, we should luost 

 strictly guard ourselves from falling into the error implied by many 

 of the text-book writers on physiography, who start with an opening 

 chapter on matter, energy, gravity, and the like — generalities in their 

 essence as yet hardly capable of conception even by the highest intel- 

 lects. And while it is quite true that the most vivid and lasting means 

 of education is by experiments and deductions carried out by the pupil 

 himself, we should as carefully avoid the equally fatal error of imag- 

 ining that instruction in a single experimental science, such as chem- 

 istry and physics, ca^n do more for the pupil than give him a glimpse 

 of a corner of nature. 



It is sometimes suggested that instruction in earth knowledge should 

 commence with the simphvst facts and deductions and lead up, stage 

 by stage, to the highest philosophical conceptions and generalizations. 

 But this is not the way in which any branch of knowledge has grown 

 and developed in the past. The human mind is so constituted that it 

 can often appreciate the broadest generalizations in some directions 

 before it can interest itself in the most elementar}' facts and draw the 

 simplest conclusions in others. What must be done is to ascertain 

 from the study of the several branches of knowledge how they have 

 individual!}^ grown during their developmental history- in past ages, 

 note the order of su))jects which were earliest and most easily appre- 

 ciated by the human intellect, and give the successive phases of 

 education as nearl}- as may be in that order. 



Again, it ia sometimes hinted that the only fruitful education is that 

 which is purely experimental, the deductions and generalizations in 

 which shall be worked out by the scholar himself; and also that all 

 knowledge whii-h is imparted by the didactic method is not true 

 knowledge and is comparatively infertile. But 1 firmly hold that 



