434 Professor W. W. Watts— 



crammed full of such valuable hints as could only fall from an 

 experienced and practical teacher, showing how much could be done 

 if the science were only properly taught. 



And then he concludes by asking for " that kindly and genial 

 criticism with which the brotherhood of the hammer are wont to 

 welcome attempts to strengthen the corner-stones and widen the 

 domain of the science we love so well." 



I think the time has now come to speak with greater confidence, 

 and, although the distant signal stands at danger, to forge ahead 

 slowly but surely, keeping our eyes open for all the risks of the 

 road, with one hand on the brakes and the other on the driving 

 gear, secure at least in the confidence that Nature, unlike man, 

 never switches a down train on to the up track. 



Those of us who have been teaching our science for any consider- 

 able time have come to realise that there are many reasons why 

 geology should be more widely taught than at present ; that there 

 are many types of mind to whom this science appeals as no other 

 one does ; and that there are abundant places and frequent circum- 

 stances which allow of the teaching of it when other sciences are 

 unsuitable. 



To begin with, there is no science in which the materials for 

 elementary teaching are so common, so cheap, and everywhere so 

 accessible. Nor is there any science which touches so quickly the 

 earliest and most elementary interests. It was for this reason that 

 Huxley built his new science of physiography on a geological basis. 

 Hills, plains, valleys, crags, quarries, cuttings, are attractive to 

 every boy and girl, and always rouse intelligent curiosity and 

 frequent inquiry ; and although the questions asked are difficult to 

 answer in full, a keen teacher can soon set his children to hunt for 

 fossils or structures which will give them part of the information 

 they seek. Of course the teaching cannot go very far without 

 simple laboratory and museum accommodation, and without a small 

 expenditure on maps and sections ; but the former of these require- 

 ments can soon be supplied from the chemical laboratory and by 

 the collection of the students themselves, while the latter are every 

 day becoming cheaper and more accessible and useful. The bicycle 

 and the camera, too, are providing new teaching material and 

 methods, while at the same time they are giving new interests. 

 The bicycle has already begun to create a generation to whom 

 relief maps are not an altogether sealed book, and for whom the 

 laws which govern the relief of a country are rapidly finding 

 practical utility ; and the camera, at the same time that it quickens 

 the appreciation of natural beauty, must give new interest to each 

 scrap of knowledge as to the causes, whether botanical or geological, 

 to which that beauty is due. And it is this new knowledge which 

 in turn develops the a3sthetic sense. Mente, manu, et malleo sums 

 up most of what is required in the early stages of learning ; but to 

 round off the motto we still require words to express the camera and 

 bicycle. 



