Studies for Students. 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY.^ 



The logical method in geography. — Success in the study of 

 geography, as in 'other subjects, depends largely on the share of 

 mental light with which the facts are illuminated. For example, 

 during the two weeks in which my class in physical geography 

 has recently been occupied with the tides, a long roll of trac- 

 ing linen has been hanging on the laboratory wall, containing 

 copies of a half month of tidal curves at Honolulu, Boston, 

 Philadelphia, Port Townsend (Oregon), and Point Clear, on the 

 Gulf of Mexico. The essential facts of tidal oscillation are thus 

 exhibited with great clearness, thanks to the kindness of Mr, 

 Christie, of the U. S. Coast Survey, by whom the original records 

 were selected, and under whose direction the copies were made 

 for me. While these curves were illuminated only by the 

 light that came in through the laboratory windows, the facts 

 were but imperfectly perceived. The more peculiar variations of 

 the curves involved in the diurnal inequality of tidal amplitude 

 and interval could not be discovered by eyesight alone, at least 



^ Note. — Although it was the author's intention to prepare this essay for publica- 

 tion as one of the " Studies for Students" of this Journal, it has been unconsciously 

 addressed as much to teachers as to scholars. This is perhaps excusable because of 

 the little attention generally paid to physical geography in our colleges. The chief 

 object of the essay is to present the plan of the author's course in this subject, with the 

 hope that it may be tried by others, and modified or extended as experience shall 

 advise. It may be added that a selected list of our governmental maps of use in 

 teaching has been prepared by a sub-committee of the Conference on Geography of 

 the National Educational Association, and that its publication may be expected at an 

 early date ; that a list of grouped sheets of foreign topographical surveys, with descrip- 

 tive notes, is in preparation by the author, and that a list of selected photographs and 

 lantern slides is in contemplation. With these aids it will be easier than it now is to 

 experiment on systematic geography in the universities. W. M. D. 



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