84 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMHERST MEETING 



6. It is recommended, first, that a vertebrate paleontologist be ap- 

 pointed by the Society to bring together a full set of the best restorations 

 of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes ; second, that an invertebrate 

 paleontologist be appointed to bring together a set of the best restorations 

 of invertebrates; third, that a paleobotanist be appointed to collect the 

 best restorations of plants; and, fourth, that a committee consisting of 

 these three arrange with some dealer in lantern slides to offer sets of 

 lantern slides of these lists of selected restorations of the life of the past. 



7. Xo better way of securing specimens than by collection, exchange, 

 and purchase has been found. 



It is fully realized that the above recommendations, if adopted, will 

 not solve all problems in the teaching of geology, because, after all is said, 

 the teacher and his personality are more important than physical equip- 

 ment ; but it is believed that if these recommendations are followed much 

 good will be accomplished, whether the teacher be good or poor. 



Bead from manuscript ; illustrated by lantern slides. 

 Discussed by W. M. Davis. 



Discussion 



Professor Davis : Models and other geological apparatus are, without ques- 

 tion, helpful in teaching, especially if they are used not simply to illustrate 

 expository and explanatory statements by the lecturer, but also to serve as 

 the basis of laboratory work by the students. For the latter purpose each 

 model or piece of apparatus should embody a definite problem, the solution 

 of which should involve, first, a study of the model : second, more or less 

 mental exercise on the facts discovered by such observational study ; and, 

 third, a written report on the facts and the results reached by mental exer- 

 cise. Problems may be graded as elementary or advanced. For example, the 

 beautiful model made under the direction of Alexander Agassiz for the Har- 

 vard University Museum by G. C. Curtis, representing Borabora, a dissected 

 and embayed volcanic island encircled by a barrier reef in the Society group 

 of the South Pacific, on a horizontal and vertical scale of 1 : 3,600, is so admi- 

 rably accurate that it may well serve as a basis for attentive observation and 

 written description by undergraduate students, and as a basis for serious 

 theoretical discussion by graduate students. For the latter, the problem may 

 be stated as follows: 



Given, a general knowledge of volcanic processes, subaerial erosion, marine 

 abrasion, movements of elevation and depression, changes of ocean level dur- 

 ing the Glacial period, and the limiting depths of coral growth ; draw and 

 explain a series of sections or block diagrams (preferably sections of a cone) 

 illustrating the changes that have occurred from the completion of Borabora 

 as a symmetrical cone of eruptive growth to its present form, with due regard 

 to various coral-reef theories ; and state your reasons for preferring any one 

 of those theories over its competitors. 



