NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY 365 



Natural Elementary Geography. By Jacques W. Redway, F. R. G. S. Pp. 

 144, with maps and illustrations. New York, Cincinnati, Chicago: 

 American Book Company. 1897. 60 cents. 



For many years teachers have realized that geographical text-books 

 were unsatisfactory, and that the teaching of geograi)hy was as a conse- 

 quence equally so, but without being able to better them. 



Geography, as it has been heretofore tauglit in the schools, is not a 

 science. It is little more than a mere mass of unconnected facts relating 

 to the earth's surface. Teachers and pupils are but beginning to under- 

 stand that geography is in the truest sense a science, in that all phenom- 

 ena of the earth proceed from cause to effect, and that geography is the 

 fundamental science upon whose broad back rest nearly all other sciences. 



The birth of the new science of physiography, the study of the relief of 

 the earth, gave a decided direction to geography teaching. The "Com- 

 mittee of Ten," appointed by the National Educational Association in 

 1892, in its report made this the leading feature of geography. It was a 

 step in the right direction, but at the same time it limited the scope of 

 geography to a study of the surface features of the earth. Later, the 

 " Committee of Fifteen " took a great step in advance, presenting the sci- 

 ence of geography in its full breadth and scope, not only as embracing 

 the surface features of the earth, but their influence upon man and his 

 industries, which is the ultimate end of all geography. 



The above book is the first of a series of school geographies now being 

 issued by the American Book Company. In scope it is fully in accord 

 with the Report of the Committee of Fifteen, as it teaches not only the 

 origin of the surface features of the earth, but their relations to man, his 

 life, and his activities. It also embodies the most approved pedagogical 

 methods, leading the child from the known to the unknown, from those 

 things which lie can see and appreciate through his senses to those which 

 he must realize by the aid of his imagination. It is admirably illustrated, 

 both as to cuts and maps, and the illustrations are used for the purpose 

 of assisting the text, not merely to make a pretty book. 



Without disparaging other recent text-books on geography, it is safe 

 to say that in scope and method of treatment this book is far the most 

 successful that has yet appeared. H. G. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 

 SOCIETY, SESSION iSgy-'gS 



Excursion and Field Meeting, October 2, 1897. — Saturday afternoon ex- 

 cursion to Cabin John bridge by electric cars. Field meeting in the 

 pavilion. Attendance about 250. After introductory remarks by Presi- 

 dent Hubbard, short addresses were delivered by MrAV J McGee on the 

 Development of the Geography of the Region and by Mr Arthur P. Davis 

 on the Pollution of Potomac Water. A paper prepared by Capt. D. D. 

 Gaillard, U. S. Corps of Engineers, on Cabin John Bridge and the Wash- 



