f §a TEANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 



associated the Appalacbian plateau, of horizontal structure, next further north- 

 west. Each belt varies somewhat when followed along its length. The crystalline 

 belt is low, narrow, and interrupted in a middle section ; it is higher and broader 

 in the north-east and in the soulh-west. The stratified belt is most character- 

 istically developed in a middle section, where alternations of resistant and weak 

 strata result in alternations of ridges and valleys ; in the north-east the ridge- 

 maliing strata are absent ; in the south-west they are of less strength than in the 

 middle section. The plateau belt continues in full strength along the greater part 

 of the stratified belt in the United States, but it terminates in eastern New York ; 

 further north it may be said to be replaced by the Adirondack Mountains, 

 separated from the plateau by the Mohawk Valley. The relation of these 

 various features to geological structures and to processes of erosion, and their 

 effects upon settlement and history, were briefly sketched in this paper. 



2. Ireland : her Coasts and Rivers. 

 By Eev. W. Spottswood Green, C.B. 



The more intimately we know a country the greater is the interest in investi- 

 gating its condition in the ages long gone by, and tracing the connection between 

 the past and the present. This is true, whether we look on the question from a 

 geographical or from au historical point of view. The present has been evolved out 

 of the past, and geographical and social conditions are so bound together that they 

 may almost be looked at as aspects of the one problem. To make this clear it is 

 only necessary to take an imaginary illustration. If, for instance, the geography 

 of the British Islands could be so altered that Ireland lay to the east of England 

 instead of to the west of it, how profoundly would her history have been 

 affected ! 



It is impossible, in the brief space available, to follow up the geographical 

 history of the past. AU I can hope to do is to touch on some salient points, and, 

 with some photographic illustrations of the coasts and rivers of Ireland, treat the 

 succession of events from the time that the river valleys were being sculptured 

 and the present configuration of the country determined through the great 

 Arctic and Forest periods to the coming of man into the island, the evolution 

 and admixture of races, and the scenes of beauty which Ave hope that many who 

 come to the British Association may go on and see for themselves. It is 

 impossible, also for lack of time, to name all the authorities upon whose writings 

 my outline sketcli may be based ; but it is well to notice that as all writers of 

 note have now adopted the modern historical methods, and place truth before 

 sentiment, the conclusions arrived at about Ireland's past are based on as wide an 

 induction as tlie materials for European history permit. 



FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4. 

 The following Papers were read: — • 

 1 . School Geography as a Mental Discipline. By Professor R .A. Gregory. 



No teaching of science in schools is satisfactory unless the scientific method 

 of study is followed. There are many science subjects, but only one scientific 

 method; and it consists in the collection and arrangement of facts — obtained 

 so far as possible by personal observation and experience — with the view of 

 discovering relationships and arriving at correct conclusions. A literary subject 

 taught in this spirit is of greater educational value than a science subject in 

 which the instruction is chietly of a didactic character. What is most important 

 is not the subject, but the method, of study. 



In the modern teaching of physics, chemistry, nature-study, and similar 

 subjects in schools, the <iim is not so much to accumulate a large amount of 



