TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. ^63 



information — useful or otherwise— as to create 'and foster an active and inde- 

 pendent habit of mind ; individual contact with facte, and the critical study of 

 evidence, are thus encouraged instead of the passive absorption of statements 

 made by a teacher or a text-book. 



By the introduction of practical exercises both in school and out, geography 

 is being brought into line with other subjects taught by truly educational 

 methods. It is being recognised slowly that the scientific aspects of geogi-aphy 

 should be matters of personal observation rather than of description. Nothing 

 should be told a pupil which he can find out for himself by suitable exercises. 

 The construction of a plan from actual measurements gives a knowledge of scales; 

 and with this mental equipment the transition is easy to a simple map of the 

 district, upon which exercises can be set. "When such a map is understood, work 

 may be done upon maps of the British Isles, either physical, political, or showing 

 roads and other ways of communication. After the natural physical divi-sions of 

 our islands have been studied by exercises based upon orographical maps, the 

 characteristics of British climate may be investigated. For this purpose familiarity 

 with meteorological instruments is necessary. 



It is an educational axiom that no number.s or other symbols should be used 

 until their meanings are understood. No study should be made, therefore, of 

 records of temperature, rainfall, or other meteorological phenomena unless the 

 numbers convey definite ideas to the pupils. In all cases pupils should be en- 

 couraged to arrive at a principle or generalisation from the material put before 

 them, whether in the form of results of observation or of maps. It will then be 

 understood that every point upon a map represents results of investigation, and 

 that every geographical generalisation has been obtained by the study of facts 

 recorded by various explorers and observe) s. This method of approach may be 

 extended to the whole world at any convenient stage of the course, the intention 

 throughout being to use geographical material to stimulate intelligent inquiry, and 

 be a means of mental discipline, rather than as information to be remembered 

 merely. The practical exercises in the class-room as well as in the field should 

 thus be regarded as illustrations of the methods by which geographical science 

 has been built up, and to provide a vocabulary by means of which geographical 

 facts may he interpreted. 



It must not be supposed that the neglect of the human and imaginative side 

 of geography is suggested ; all that is here advocated is that whenever possible 

 pupils should be brought face to face with evidence and trained to study it. The 

 bast way to obtain evidence is by direct observation ; but as it is not practicable 

 for a single investigator to compass the world by personal inquiry, the results of 

 observations made by others may be used as material to be sorted, grouped, com- 

 pared, and generalised, provided that its nature is understood. Combined with this 

 collection and consideration of concrete facts there should be a course of reading 

 or descriptive lessons intended to inspire interest in the earth and its inhabitants, 

 and to cultivate appreciation of what may be termed the intangible influences and 

 factors of geographical character. Taught in this way, geography may be made 

 one of the most valuable subjects in a school curriculum, for it provides not only 

 the intellectual discipline of a science rightly studied, but also the human interest 

 and sympathy of the most inspiring literature. 



2. The Geographical Study of Mediterranean Man, considered as an Element 

 in a ' Classical Education.' By Professor John L. Myres, M.A. 



Some years' experience in teaching classical subjects, and particularly ancient 

 history, to university students, mainly derived from the principal public schools, 

 shows that one of the principal defects in the equipment which these students 

 bring is that both their special historical knowledge and their general conception 

 of the social life and surroundings of the Greek and Roman world have been 

 formed without regard for the geographical conditions in which Mediterranean 

 societies were formed and developed. Geography in the public schools seems to 



