450 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 458. 



THE FUNCTIONS OF GEOLOGY IN EDUCATION 

 AND IN PRACTICAL LIFE. 



At the meeting in 1890, at Leeds, my old 

 friend Professor A. H. Green delivered an 

 address to the section which has generally 

 been regarded as expressing an opinion ad- 

 verse to the use of the science of geology 

 as an educational agent. Some of the ex- 

 pressions used by him, if taken alone, cer- 

 tainly seem to bear out this interpretation. 

 For instance, he says: 'Geologists are in 

 danger of becoming loose reasoners ' ; fur- 

 ther he says : ' I can not shut my eyes to the 

 fact that when geology is to be used as a 

 means of education there are certain at- 

 tendant risks that need to be carefully and 

 watchfully guarded against.' Then he 

 adds : ' Inferences based on such incomplete 

 and shaky foundations must necessarily be 

 largely hypothetical. ' 



Such expressions, falling from an ac- 

 complished mathematician and one who 

 was such an eminent field geologist as Pro- 

 fessor Green, the author of some of the most 

 trustworthy and most useful of the Geolog- 

 ical Survey 'Memoirs,' and above all one 

 of the clearest of our teachers and the 

 writer of the best and most eminently prac- 

 tical text-book on physical geology in this 

 or any other language, naturally exercised 

 great influence on contemporary thought. 

 And I should be as unwise as I am certainly 

 rash in endeavoring to controvert them but 

 for the fact that I think he only half be- 

 lieved his own words. He remarks that 

 "to be forewarned is a proverbial safe- 

 guard, and those who are alive to a danger 

 will cast about for a means of guarding 

 against it. And there are many ways of 

 neutralizing whatever there may be po- 

 tentially harmful in the use of geology 

 for educational ends. ' ' 



After thus himself answering what is in 

 reality his main indictment. Professor 

 Green proceeds with the rest of an address 



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 

 distance 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 con- 

 fidence 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 considerable time have come 

 to realize 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 circumstances which 

 allow of the teaching of it when other sci- 

 ences are unsuitable. 



To begin with, there is no science in 

 which the materials for elementary teaching 

 are so common, so cheap and eveiywhere 

 so accessible. Nor is there anj- 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, cut- 

 tings, are attractive to every boy and girl, 

 and always rouse intelligent curiosity and 

 frequent inquiry; and although the ques- 

 tions asked are difficult to answer in full, 

 a keen teacher can soon set his children to 

 hunt for fossils or structures which will 



