50 



scmNCJE. 



[Vol. IX., No. 207 



As one of the most important aims of the real 

 teacher of history is to instruct his pupils in the 

 use and making of historical works, so in geog- 

 raphy one of the most important things is the 

 teaching of the use and construction of maps. 

 And it may be said, that to the student of history 

 or- of geography, to the traveller or military com- 

 mander, the ability to read a map is next in im- 

 portance to the ability to read a book. And it is 

 something not easily acquired. It may be said 

 that there can be no difficulty in distinguishing a 

 river from a mountain. And very likely there is 

 none; but such knowledge is no more map-reading 

 than the distinguishing a from x, is book-reading. 

 Nor is map-making cartography. To some minds 

 the two seem inseparable ; and the student is re- 

 quired to draw a map with the nicety of a prac- 

 tised cartographer, under the pretence that he is 

 learning geography. He is doing nothing of the 

 kind. The ability to go out of doors and make a 

 good working sketch of the surroundings of one's 

 own school-house is of more value, geographi- 

 cally speaking, than the ability to construct, from 

 sketches and details of survey, a map of Cape 

 Cod with all the accuracy of a Swiss cartographer. 

 No one confounds the art of writing and that of 

 printing. Then why should he confound the de- 

 scribing geographical features with geographical 

 symbols and reproducing the same with the great- 

 est accuracy for permanent use ? Geography is 

 not cartography, nor is it topography, although 

 both these elements combine in geography. Prop- 

 erly taught, map-drawing is the best guide to 

 map-reading. 



To sum up the aims of geographical education, 

 or perhaps I should say its only aim, is to make 

 men understand what is going on around them, — 

 to converse intelligently upon the present crisis 

 in Bulgaria, or the economic changes which will 

 be wrought by the Panama canal, if it is ever 

 opened ; to travel abroad with some degree of 

 satisfaction to one's self, and to one's readers if one 

 vsrrites a book ; to read with interest and apprecia- 

 tion articles on campaigns, like those now appear- 

 ing in the Century. For what information can a 

 map, accurately drawn with contour-lines or 

 hachures, convey to a man who does not know 

 what those symbols mean? And, finally, the stu- 

 dent of modern history who is not familiar with the 

 geographical features of western Europe can gain 

 only a very dim idea of what the everlasting 

 changes of boundary really mean. The marked 

 difference between the books now being produced 

 by French, English, and American travellers, on 

 the one hand, and German explorers, on the other, 

 is too great to escape attention. That difference 

 is due entirely to the fact that in school and uni- 



versity the German is taught, in the first place, to 

 see, and, in the second place, to understand what 

 he does see. This power (for such knowledge is 

 power) is fast pushing the German to the foremost 

 place in war, in commerce, and in exploration. If 

 he could also be taught to relate in clear and simple 

 language what he thus has learned, it would be a 

 positive gain to mankind, 



Edward Channing. 



AMERICAN SOCIETY FOB PSYCHICAL 

 RESEARCH. 



The society held its annual meeting at the 

 rooms of the Boston society of natural history on 

 Jan. 11. The auditorium was crowded, it having 

 been announced that there would be shown some 

 ' apparent thought-transferrence ' and some 

 muscle-reading. 



The thought-transferrence was performed by 

 Dr. Minot, with the assistance of Mr. C. B. Cory, 

 and was designed to show the character of the 

 dangers arising from fraud introduced into ex- 

 periments on mind-reading, similar to some of 

 the experiments made by the committees of the 

 English society for psychical research. The audi- 

 ence were at first not informed of the ultimate 

 purpose of the experiments, and were for the 

 most part entirely deceived, although many were 

 suspicious. Several persons took a card, and, 

 having fastened their attention upon the card, 

 they approached Dr. Minot, who proceeded to 

 draw it upon the blackboard without having seen 

 the card. There were two failures, one of which 

 was partial only, and two successes. Later in the 

 evening Dr. Minot explained that the experiments 

 were fraudulent, and had depended upon Mr, 

 Cory's skill in card-forcing, so that the persons 

 had not really chosen their cards, but had taken 

 them from Mr. Cory. It had been arranged in 

 what order the cards should be given, so that 

 every one was known to the mind-reader, and his 

 failure-drawings were intentional bUnds. The 

 signals used to indicate what pei'son was coming 

 were also described. Dr. Minot then added a few 

 words, which made clear the lesson intended : 

 namely, that inmany of the English experiments, 

 which offer the only evidence worth heeding, of 

 thought-transferrence, there existed evident op- 

 portunities for fraud, and that therefore the experi- 

 ments in question are inconclusive. He expressed 

 his unwillingness to believe in thought-transfer- 

 rence in consequence of the evidence yet pre- 

 sented, and his hope that the amusing demonstra- 

 tion made by Mr. Cory and himself would serve 

 the serious and grateful purpose of emphasizing 

 the dangers of credulity in these matters. 



