AucusT 19, 18S7.] 



SCIENCE. 



91 



of conveying misleading ideas. We had a simple and highly in- 

 structive arrangement devised by Mr. Francis Galton, to whose 

 initiation I may say the whole of this geographical movement is 

 due, to show the relative sizes of sun and earth and moon. We 

 supposed the distance between sun and earth to be reduced to 56 

 feet. On a wall we fixed a disk of cardboard colored yellow, 6 

 inches in diameter, for the sun. On a table 56 feet away we had 

 a pellet of wax, .056 of an inch in diameter, suspended by a hair to 

 the end of a splinter of wood 1 .68 inches in diameter, to represent 

 the earth. At the other end was another pellet, .015 of an inch in 

 diameter, to represent the moon. This arrangement costs nothing, 

 and can be adapted to any building. In fact, there is ample room 

 for a variety of demonstration of the kind in connection with geo- 

 graphical teaching, as well as of experiments to illustrate geographi- 

 cal facts. Thus the crumpling of the earth's crust might be illus- 

 trated by bringing lateral pressure to bear on a plastic material ; 

 and already in a few English schools sand and clay are used to 

 build up the physical features of a country or region. The magic 

 lantern also may be used with great effect to produce large-scale 

 maps on the screen, to exhibit special features, and to bring pic- 

 tures of typical landscapes before the eyes of the pupils. One of 

 the most interesting and novel of our exhibits consisted of several 

 series of geographical pictures from Germany ; that is, pictures 

 whose special object is to show the characteristic features of the 

 various regions of the globe, and the typical forms assumed by the 

 leading classes of phenomena with which geography deals. The 

 best of these pictures is the series of about thirty oleographs pub- 

 lished by Holzel of Vienna, and which are now coming into use in 

 this country. Above all things, such pictures must be accurate, 

 and therefore good large-scale photographs are often to be preferred, 

 — such photographs, for example, as are produced by the United 

 States surveys and by private enterprise, — of some of the most 

 striking features in American scener)'. For teaching purposes, 

 however, it should be remembered that it is not extraordinaiy fea- 

 tures that are desired, but typical aspects of the earth's surface, — 

 ordinarj' mountain forms, a prairie, a delta, a tundra, a steppe re- 

 gion, a coral island, a sandy desert, and so on. 



The text-books and altases which were exhibited were analo- 

 gous to the wall-maps. The English text-books were mostly 

 too large, and too crowded with names and tables, and made no 

 attempt whatever to show the intimate relation between all sections 

 of geography, and the influence which man's geographical sur- 

 roundings has upon his social and political development. The 

 German text-books are comparatively small ; contain mostly heads 

 of subjects, the fiUing-up being left to the teacher, who has gen- 

 erally had a thorough training in geography at the university or 

 the normal school. I am sorry I cannot speak very highly of 

 American text-books. As a rule, the American text-book is com- 

 bined with an atlas and picture-book, — an arrangement which I 

 do not consider a happy one. Neither text, nor maps, nor pic- 

 tures, are any better shown than we have on this side ; and even 

 with Guyot's geographical manuals we were much disappointed. 



Altogether the collection of geographical appliances has proved 

 most suggestive and instructive. Reform has already begun. 

 Many schools are now using Kiepert's wall-maps, and publishers 

 are making haste here to supply the glaring want of good text- 

 books, atlases, and wall-maps. Teachers have been stirred up to 

 recognize existing deficiencies, as well as the undreamt of capa- 

 bilities of geography when treated liberally and intelligently. They 

 see that in geography, as in mathematics, a special training is re- 

 quired if it is to be taught effectually. The society appeals to the 

 elementary teacher by offering a series of prizes on the basis of the 

 examinations of the training-college students, and many of the 

 school boards are instituting radical improvements in their geo- 

 graphical appliances. Out of the collection, which is once more in 

 London, we are forming a small typical collection for exhibition 

 to any who may wish to know what are the best things in any de- 

 partment. This collection is of course very small to begin with ; 

 but we hope, that, as improvements are introduced, we may be able 

 to extend it. 



Altogether I hope it may be seen from these notes that the Geo- 

 graphical Society has at last succeeded in raising geography from 

 the slough in which it has lain so long in this country ; has not 



only initiated great improvements in the teaching of the subject, 

 and obtained its recognition at our great universities, but has shown 

 that it is eminently capable of becoming a fruitful and instructive 

 medium of research, worthy of taking its place alongside of other 

 departments of scientific investigation. J. Scott Keltie. 



THE STUDY OF GEOGRAPHY. 

 The Ausland of May 9 contains an extract of A. Stauber's 

 essay on the promotion of the study of geography, which carried 

 the prize offered by the King of Belgium. The author discusses 

 the methods which ought to be applied in primary teaching, in high- 

 schools, and in colleges. In the primary grade, the method is that 

 of object-teaching. First, the geography of the child's own c 3un- 

 try is taught, beginning with the nearest surroundings, the school- 

 house or home, the village or city, the county, and so on. The 

 close connection between natural histoiy and geography must be 

 kept in mind b)' the teacher, who is warned against overburdening 

 the children's brains with names and dates. The drawing of maps 

 and the use of charts are recommended ; but Stauber remarks 

 justly that not too much weight should be laid on the drawing of 

 maps, which must only be practised as a means to impress the con- 

 figuration of the earth's surface more effectively on the child's mind. 

 In the upper classes, an atlas ought to be used, but it is important 

 to select maps which contain the proper amount of material and 

 show the geographical features of the country clearly and simply. 

 After the native country has been thoroughly studied, the geography 

 of the native continent, and later on that of the other continents, is 

 taught. 



In high-schools and colleges the analytic method gradually takes 

 the place of the synthetic. The reading of travels is recommended 

 as a means of making the study more attractive and of preventing 

 its becoming a mere memorizing. The connection between natural 

 histor)- and geography must always be emphasized, and character- 

 istic objects ought always to be shown. But, in order to be able 

 to do this kind of work, teachers ought to be thoroughly conversant 

 with the problems of geography. This can only be accompHshed by 

 the study of geography at a university. Therefore the establishment 

 of professorships of geography is demanded. At the present time 

 there are seventy-five such professorships at European universities. 

 In Prussia, every university has its professor of geography ; at 

 other German universities there are lecturers. In England, geog- 

 raphy will be taught in Oxford and Cambridge, as lecturers were 

 appointed a short time ago. In Belgium, Greece, Portugal, Sweden, 

 and in the United States, the science of geography is not taught by 

 specialists, but, when it is taught at all, only incidentally. 



Among the manuscripts which received honorable mention is an 

 American one by Prof. Richard Owen of New Harmony, Ind. We 

 are indebted to the author for a statement of his proposals. 



The first principles of his method of teaching are, that he only 

 makes one step at a time from the known to the unknown, and that 

 the eye instructs more than the ear, and that consequently, when- 

 ever practicable, the object that is being described, or a good repre- 

 sentation of it, should be shown. As a consequence of his first 

 principle, he presents only one thing at a time. For instance, he 

 uses a separate outline map, ist, for the general outlines of the con- 

 tinents ; 2d, for the same with mountains only ; 3d, for the same 

 with rivers added ; 4th, for all these with political divisions. He 

 depends chiefly upon numerous plastic relief- maps as a system of 

 instruction, and shows that these can be made very economically, 

 and that children of from ten to twelve years of age take great in- 

 terest in their construction. He begins his course in the same way 

 as Stauber, by ha\'ing the student study the geography of his home, 

 and by having him make the plan and model of the school-house, or 

 of his own house and garden, by measurement and according to a 

 definite scale. Then he proceeds to teaching the topography of his 

 town, county, state, and finally of the United States. 



Using the globe, he begins to give his pupils an idea of the earth 

 being nearly a sphere, by various demonstrations, and by calling in 

 a traveller who testifies that he returned to the place of beginning 

 of his travels by steadily travelling west, and thus teaches the ele- 

 ments of mathematical geography. In teaching, he uses numerous 

 maps and diagrams, showing the phenomena of physical geography, 

 and models to explain the forms of the earth's surface. 



