788 REPOET— 1887. 



The faults, however, of the system hitherto in use are now fully recognised, 

 and objections are general that the study has been made too painful a grind and 

 that the whole process has been of too severe a character. If this were the only 

 fault to be found in the old method, I for one would be inclined to adhere to it, 

 assured, as I am, that no training of the mind can take place without great denial 

 and sacrifice in learning self-control. But the real question is as to the practical 

 results of the old system. Are they of such a character with all or the majority of 

 minds (of all classes and conditions) that they have become stored with useful 

 knowledge and at the same time trained to take a pleasure in increasing it in 

 the future ? If the results are short of this we cannot but pronounce the old 

 system to be a failure, as the knowledge of geography is the knowledge of common 

 things inseparably connected with the life of each one of us, and there is no better 

 medium through which the mind can be trained to be always in a condition for 

 acquiring knowledge without making too great an effort. 



Unfortunately for the prospects of introducing a complete and perfect system ot 

 teaching geogi-aphy (suitable to most minds), the reaction that has set in recently 

 is likely to lead to evil results if not carefully curbed. It seems now to be desired 

 to promote the acquirement of knowledge at the earliest age without effort and 

 without hard work ; but this appears to be directed towards alleviating the toils of 

 the instructor as much as the instructed, and we have now, as a result, children 

 taught common things without any effort to strengthen their memories, and then a 

 system of cramming introduced at a later period, when the memory has ceased to be 

 capable of responding to the efforts made, and consequently all the information 

 crammed in is dropped again in a few months. 



The memory of youth is like a cup swinging freely on a pin thrust horizontally 

 through its sides. If the pin is below a certain line, the cup will tilt over and lose 

 its contents when filled up beyond a given level ; but if the pin is near the upper 

 edge the cup can be filled with more and more security. By careful training in 

 the earliest years the cup may be constantly kept full in later years ; but by the 

 training at present in use the cup tilts over far too soon. 



It seems to me that the remedy recently adopted is worse than the disease it 

 was to eradicate, and that however injurious it was to attempt to store the mind 

 with mere names, yet the memory was trained thereby to retain something definite ; 

 and it is still worse to attempt to store the mind with mere ideas without the con- 

 nection of names, and leave the memory to rust. 



There is obviously a middle com'se which may rid us of the errors of the past 

 without leading us into still greater diflaculties. And if we keep the object to be 

 gained always in view, we cannot fail to take a direct line. "We want first to lead 

 the memory to constant exertion of such a nature that it grows stronger day by 

 day, but is not overstrained or wearied ; at the same time it must be stored with 

 useful facts, which may be quite above the capacity of the mind to comprehend at 

 the time, but which will be required all through life : this can readily be done by 

 means of verses or rhymes set to simple airs and committed to memory by song. 

 There are facts of the greatest importance which can be learnt in this manner with 

 A'ery little effort, and which, if not fixed in the mind at a very early age, the want 

 of them may be felt throughout life ; as, for example, the directions in which 

 latitude and longitude are reckoned, in which the sun rises and sets, the relations 

 of the east and west respectively to the north and south, and many other matters 

 which appear to be of a trivial character, but which require to be as rigidly 

 committed to memory by rote as does the multiplication table. 



These very small matters are the foundations of everything we require to know, 

 and if we do not have these foundations firmly and securely fixed, we shall be the 

 sufferers aU our lives. Too much attention cannot be paid to them, as it is the early 

 lessons which remain most clearly fixed in our minds. 



A point connected with this subject, which admits of much discussion, is as to 

 how such verses should be learnt, whether with the assistance of books, pictures, or 

 metaphor. Should they come to the memory through the eye, or the ear, or 

 through both ? As a beginning, I think that geography should not be learnt from 

 books, but from the teacher, who may use diagrams and pictures, but at the same 



