408 REPORT— 1897. 



Manchester (1891) ; renewed for three years 1894. (6) 501. a year for 

 prizes to Training College Students. (7) 100/. a year for three years for 

 lectures in London by Mr. Mackinder, and 50/. for a fourth year in con- 

 nection with the London University Extension. (8) A memorial to the 

 Gresham University Commissioners, urging the claims of geography in 

 connection with the proposed Teaching University in London ; the result 

 being a statement in the Commissioners' Report that Geography should 

 have a place in the first rank in the new University. 



' The total sum spent by the Society in the last eleven years in the 

 endeavour to improve geographical education in this country amounts to 

 over 6,000/. 



' The Council have in 1897 agreed to contribute largely to the support 

 of the London School of Geography proposed by Mr. Mackinder.' 



Royal Scottish. Geographical Society. 



'One of the objects for which the Royal Scottish Geographical Society 

 was founded is stated as follows : — " To press for the recognition of geo- 

 graphy as a branch of higher education, and to encourage its study in the 

 Schools and Universities of Scotland by offering prizes or by other means." 



' In pursuance of this object the Council, in June 1886, sanctioned a 

 scheme for the encouragement and improvement of the teaching of geo- 

 graphy in elementary Scottish schools by means of examinations and 

 prizes ; and through the courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society 

 they obtained the loan of its collection of appliances used in geographical 

 education, and exhibited them in the Museum of Science and Art, Edin- 

 burgh ; they also arranged for a series of lectures on the teaching of geo- 

 graphy, which were delivered at the same time in the Museum. The 

 scheme of examinations and prizes was abandoned in 1891 in favour of 

 courses of educational lectures for the benefit of teachers and others ; and 

 such courses have, with the exception of the year 1895-96, been delivered 

 annually since January 1891. 



'In October 1890 the Council, through its President, the Duke of 

 Argyll, petitioned the Universities Commissioners to recognise the claims 

 of geography as a department of higher education, urging that the subject 

 should be included in every University preliminary or entrance examina- 

 tion, and that it should be accepted as one of the optional pass subjects 

 qualifying for a degree in arts and in science ; also that provision should 

 be made for the systematic teaching of geography within the Universities, 

 or within one or more of them, by the foundation either of professorships 

 or of lectureships fully equipped with the necessary apparatus in maps, 

 charts, globes, and models. 



' The Council enumerated the beneficial results that would follow on 

 the adoption of their recommendations, and gave an account of what was 

 being done for the systematic study of geography in the Universities of 

 other countries. 



' In reply to the above petition the Council was informed, in January 

 1893, that by Ordinance No. 11 ("Regulations for Degrees in Arts") a 

 knowledge of geography was required of every candidate for the pre- 

 liminary examinations, and that a similar regulation affecting the 

 preliminary examinations in science had been issued ; it was also inti- 

 mated that no lectureship had yet been founded, but that the University 

 Courts had the power to institute them, though it seemed probable that 

 the necessary funds would have to be raised by private benefaction.' 



