April 19, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



309 



any purpose, and that, as the scale of the original surveys is re- 

 duced, their value becomes less. In England the large scales have 

 superseded the small scales, and even in India there is no scale for 

 the surveys smaller than one inch to the mile. In France, as re- 

 cently as 1878, surveys of the whole country, to be published on 

 I : loooo, were recommended by a commission specially organized 

 to consider the subject. In nearly all these countries it will be ob- 

 served that surveys are plotted on scales about three inches to the 

 mile, and some on scales much greater. 



A map is understandingly designated by the purpose for which 

 it was compiled, as each purpose may require the representation of 

 different features and greater emphasis on special features ; and if 

 referring to the land, they are topographical maps, as they repre- 

 sent topographic features, though perhaps not all of them. 



I believe Mr. Baker is also in error in designating hydrographic 

 and physical surveys under the head of nautical surveys. The 

 latter class of work has its own meaning, is understood as being 

 less rigorous than measurements upon the land, as, indeed, must 

 be the case from the nature of the operations and the methods 

 necessarily employed in their execution. It is more nearly a branch 

 of hydrographic surveying, and is usually classed there or as ex- 

 ploration, although it may embrace a margin of land in the survey. 

 The maps produced by this method are generally intended for 

 nautical purposes, and its use is confined almost exclusively to the 

 ocean and definition of the coast-lines. 



Physical hydrography develops forces as well as forms : it seeks 

 a cause for an effect, and thus perfects a hydrographic survey. In 

 the same sense a geological survey would be the perfection of the 

 topographic. But while similar in conclusion, they are different in 

 method ; for in the hydrography we measure the forces now at 

 work, while in geology we must deduce them, and can but esti- 

 mate their power. I would therefore reverse Mr. Baker's classi- 

 fication, and designate nautical surveys and physical hydrography 

 as subdivisions of hydrography. 



The preceding discussion relates to the determination of facts 

 as they now exist. But surveying as generally understood em- 

 braces also the opposite of this, or the marking on the ground of 

 lines previously agreed upon ; which marks may in turn become 

 facts in future surveys. This class of work is generally connected 

 with engineering operations ; but it is also the character of bound- 

 ary work, and the usual operations in mining surveys. In the 

 case of a railroad or canal, it consists in locating upon the ground 

 the line that has been determined upon, with its cuts, embank- 

 ments, etc., as marked upon the drawings made from the topo- 

 graphical survey ; in the case of a boundary, to locate a point or 

 line on a given meridian or parallel, or to run a line in a certain 

 direction from a given point, or both ; and in mining, the location 

 of a new shaft or heading, or any of the many operations connected 

 with the engineering work of a mine. Mr. Baker has grouped this 

 class of work into two divisions, — "boundary" and "construc- 

 tion " surveys. But, it will be observed, the work is all of the 

 same character, and might therefore with perfect propriety be 

 grouped in one class, under the term already well understood by 

 surveyors and engineers, — " location." 



We thus have three divisions — mensuration, exploration, and 

 location — in which may be grouped different classes of work ac- 

 cording to the nature of the operation, and which would usually be 

 subdivided by the purpose for which the survey was made, or the 

 method upon which it was conducted, and sometimes a combina- 

 tion of both. These subdivisions will readily suggest themselves, 

 but would make too long a list for insertion. 



In conclusion, permit me to add a few words on what Mr. Baker 

 declares " a well-recognized principle, especially among engineers, 

 that of two maps, or works of any kind, made for the same pur- 

 pose, and serving that purpose equally well, that one is best which 

 is cheapest." This impUes, that, of two things exactly alike, the 

 one that costs the least is the best. If they are alike, the price can- 

 not affect their utility for the purpose for which they were designed, 

 though one cost ten times the other. The cheapest would prob- 

 ably be most satisfactory to those who had to pay the bills ; but, if 

 both were the same price, there could be no choice for any reason. 

 We may readily conceive, however, that if bids were offered to 

 make two maps or works of any kind, that should serve a speci- 



fied purpose equally well, the cheapest would be most favorably 

 considered in the majority of cases ; but, if the work was to be 

 executed by two bodies of men of like skill and experience, we 

 should have to conclude that one party was seeking an unusual 

 profit, or that the other did not intend to live up to the contract, 

 for it is inconceivable that two bodies of intelligent men, honest 

 and experienced in their trade or profession, would execute a sim- 

 ilar work with any great variation in the cost. 



Herbert G. Ogden. 



Washington, D.C., April 9. 



English Examinations. 



A SHORT time since, the public was greatly amused at a book 

 containing a collection of ludicrous mistakes made by children in 

 their examination-papers. Much merriment was excited by these 

 poor little attempts at wisdom, and doubtless not a few persons 

 laughed at the blunders of their own children, not perhaps under- 

 standing that some of this stupidity might have been inherited. 

 Nor did the teachers who culled these blighted flowers seem to 

 realize that many a thoughtful reader might be in doubt as to 

 whether such evidence was intended to prove the incapacity of the 

 children to learn, or the inability of the teachers to teach. Then 

 human nature asserted itself in a cry of derision at the whole sys- 

 tem of school education, and this was as manifestly uncalled for as 

 the first outburst of cachinnation. 



The method of examining college and university students is an- 

 other serious matter that demands our attention. At the moment, 

 the main agitation is in England. The recent expressions of opin- 

 ion by eminent Englishmen as to the results and tendencies of the 

 examination system there in vogue are appalling. There can be 

 no doubt that the matter is one of grave importance. The ex- 

 amination system of England compels men to cram, — to become 

 mere memorizers of facts, to substitute a hasty and temporary 

 knowledge of these for reasoning, and to become learners of other 

 men's ideas and discoveries to the exclusion of the ability to dis- 

 cover facts and create ideas for themselves. The result of this 

 form of education is to make absorbers and not producers of 

 knowledge, — as Shakspeare says, 



" Small honor continual plodders ever won. 

 Save bare authority from others' books." 

 Such a condition is one of intellectual serfdom. The individual 

 becomes dependent on others for advance in knowledge. His power 

 to originate is not developed. He becomes a mere book, except 

 that he costs more than a book, and is worth far less, less con- 

 venient to handle, less complete, and generally of far less use, — a 

 kind of an old edition, lacking many pages, index, and author's 

 name, badly bound, and full of omissions and errors. 



The effects of the English examination system are readily seen 

 in the many " cram " books that are published in that country, and 

 which lack system and didactic worth. Most of them are pro- 

 fessedly helps in preparing for examinations. The virus is also at 

 work in this country, and earnest educators should lose no time in 

 resisting its inroads. The result of this agitation is an outcry of 

 the thoughtless against examinations of any kind. This, I think, 

 is wrong. That bad effects are produced by certain kinds of ex- 

 aminations is very true ; but that all examinations have therefore 

 an evil tendency, I emphatically deny. So far, the consideration 

 has not extended as thoroughly as it should to the nature of the 

 examination from a didactic standpoint. That a certain class of 

 examinations yield bad results, proves, not that all kinds of exam- 

 inations are worthless, but that that particular kind of examination 

 does not give satisfactory results. That may be because the ex- 

 amination is wrong in principle, because it is not the one called for 

 by the work done, because it is imperfect, because it does not 

 really show that the student knows any thing about the subject, nor 

 because the examiner does not know how to examine. I venture 

 to say that a considerable number of the teachers in colleges and 

 universities, although men of undoubted learning and ability, and 

 in many instances investigators of acknowledged reputation, do not 

 pay much attention to the pedagogical side of their subjects, and, 

 least of all, do not attempt to make a study of the principles and 

 methods of examining. The science and art of examining are 



