TEANSACTIOXS OF SECTION E. 805 



6. A Flea for the Metre. By E. G. Ravenstein, F.B.G.S. 



The author pointed out the great advantages of the metre as a universal inter- 

 national standard of length. There were at present in use three international 

 measures of length, viz., the English foot, in countries covering 18,188,112 

 square miles, with 471 miUions of inhabitants, the metre (12,671,200 square miles, 

 347,091,000 inhabitants), and the Castilian foot (752,901 square miles, 5,905,000 in- 

 habitants). The EngUsh foot, at present in use throughout the British and Russian 

 empires, in the United States, and in some other countries, appeared to gain no 

 new adherents, whilst the metre was still engaged upon a career of conquest. 

 Denmark and Russia were the only countries in Europe which had not as yet 

 adopted it. The metrical system appeared to him to present great advantages" to 

 business men, and in 1885 nearly one-half the commercial transactions of the 

 country were carried on with countries using tlie metre. The time at present 

 expended in our schools upon acquiring a knowledge of an absurdly complicated 

 system of weights and measures might be devoted to more usefid objects. To 

 geographers and statisticians the universal acceptance of the metre would prove an 

 immense boon. Scientific men in other departments had freely adopted the metre, 

 and geographers should follow this laudable example. Owing, however, to the 

 intimate connexion of geography with the common aflairs of life he despaired of 

 the general acceptance of the metre until it should have become the legal standard 

 of length. 



7. Second Report of the Committee for drawing attention to the desiralility 

 of further Besearch in the Antarctic Regions. 



8. Formosa. By A. R. Colquhoun. 



9. On the Study of the Natural Divisions of the Earth, rather than the 

 national ones, as the Scientific Basis of Commercial Geography. By 

 John Teats, LL.D. 



10. 071 a Natural Method of Teaching Geography. By John J. Cakdwell. 



The author proposes to approach his subject from the traveller's standpoint, 

 both as to the order of development, external survey, exploration of the interior, 

 deductions and inferences, and the threefold method of treatment — exploring, 

 mapping out, and describing — as also by giving no information which the pupils 

 may possibly be able to deduce from the map themselves. 



The author thus deals successively with (1) the bearings of the country to be 

 explored, relatively to surrounding centres, and absolutely as regards its position on 

 the globe; (2) the external survey of the country, such as coast-line and land 

 frontiers, which he effects in a sail along the coast and in a balloon voyage ; (3) 

 the exploration of the interior in a series of excursions up the rivers and the 

 mountains ; (4) productions of agriculture, manufacture, and mining, as also means 

 of communication. The information thus imparted is to be appropriated by the 

 pupils (1) by learning off by >eart tlie short notes taken down in class ; (2) by 

 writing out, without notes, descriptions of the scenery, &c., of the difierent parts 

 of the country explored ; (3) by learning to draw from memory a map of the 

 country. 



The author fully explained his method with the aid of diagrams and on the 

 blackboard. 



11. The Teaching of Geography in the Elementary Schools of England. 

 By A. Park. 



