TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 789 



time text-books should not be done away with, as is so coustantly advocated ; on 

 the contrary, they should be adhered to most rigidly. There are few teachers who 

 could improve on a good text-book, but these books should be for the teachers, 

 and not for the children. But the teacher should not use the text-book while 

 teaching. 



Children have a remarkable capacity for making pictures for their mind's eye 

 of everything they think of, which is dulled gradually as books are taken into use. 

 This faculty, if made right use of, may be developed, and will greatly assist the 

 study of geography, and will lead to a ' picture memory,' which will be most useful 

 in regard to maps, drawing, and spelling. This faculty can, of course, be over-cul- 

 tivated, but there is not the remotest danger of this occurring at present in any of 

 our schools. When highly developed, we find it employed by novelists, who can 

 bring their characters up before them and picture them enacting their parts, and 

 also by artists, who sometimes lose the power of discriminating between that 

 which they actually see and that which their picture-memories call up. 



Although it seems to me absolutely essential to cultivate and develop the 

 memory, so often called the ' parrot memory,' of young children, this is by no 

 means all that is necessary. At the same time must be taught the proper use of 

 the powers of observation with reference to nature, which in towns is so difficult a 

 matter, placing the bulk of our population at so great a disadvantage. One of the 

 first points neglected by teachers generally is to explain to children what the 

 object or result of the lesson is to be. In most minds it is very difficult to pay 

 real attention unless it is known what is to be the general drift of the conversation, 

 for otherwise the mind will be directed to points quite irrelevant. Children should 

 be first told in a few words the line the lesson is going to take ; this will greatly 

 tend to secure the attention of what are termed dull children, who often, if properly 

 treated, woidd turnout the cleverest, but who cannot grasp a subject until they see 

 it from all sides, and know it thoroughly, while the ' clever children ' are satisfied 

 with a view of one side only. The foundation should be laid slowly, the progress 

 being governed by that of the ' dull children,' who often will most amply repay the 

 teaching. The clever child will not be hurt by having the subject impressed upon 

 his mind over and over again, so long as it is made interesting. 



Great care m\ist be taken in the method of presenting maps at an early age 

 before children, and a distinct idea should be given of the difterence between a 

 map and a picture. 



It must be recollected that from the moment geography is taught, children will 

 make maps or pictures in their mind's eye, whether they are actually presented to 

 them or not. 



For example, if a house or a garden is mentioned, both the teacher and the child 

 must view it from the outside and from a certain distance, for it is impracticable 

 for most minds to look all round and behind at one time. To have a full view of 

 what is mentioned it is necessary to get outside and beyond it. Children will 

 difler among themselves in their method of viewing what is spoken of, but the 

 teacher can readily ascertain what mental pictures they have formed, and can make 

 use of this faculty in the first use of maps. Children should first be instructed in 

 maps of the village or town in which they live. It is remarkable how readily 

 uneducated natives in uncivilised countries can understand plans from their constant 

 observation of nature. Most intelligent Bedouins are able to make a rough plan 

 or diagram in the sand with a stick of the district they know, and will also 

 take care that the orientation is con-ect, Kaffirs can do the same, and can point 

 out the direction of a cattle post fifty or sixty miles distant with unerring 

 sagacity. 



It is of vital importance that children in our island, who cannot imder ordinary 

 circumstances have sufficient opportunities for using, cultivating, and developing 

 their powers of observation to any purpose, should have the use of maps put before 

 them in such a manner that they will not be led into error. Otherwise they will 

 have fixed in their minds factors of discord which the teacher may know nothing 

 of, and which will trouble them through life, and which if they do get rid of with 

 great labour in after-years will constantly return at unseasonable moments. 



