PRACTICAL EXERCISES IX GEOGRAPHY 73 



ridians. The north magnetic pole, in the neighborhood of Hudson 

 Bay, may be thus discovered. Tlie meaning of magnetic charts can 

 hardly be made clear without performing exercises of this kind. 



The point that deserves special emphasis with regard to all the 

 exercises thus far described is not so much their importance, although 

 all are important, but rather their practicabilit3^ If the shape and 

 size of the earth, latitude and longitude, and terrestrial magnetism 

 are taught at all, practical exercises should replace recited definitions 

 as far as possible. In all stages of the work excellent practice in 

 English composition is afforded by calling for written description of 

 observations and for careful formulation of results. 



The Atmosphere. — The study of the atmosphere suggests a great 

 variety of practical exercises, many of which are now familiarl}' in- 

 troduced in our schools. Local observations, without and with instru- 

 ments, are made and discussed systematically. They are correlated 

 with the larger phenomena of the weather maps, but the work in this 

 direction often falls far short of its possible measure. In this connec- 

 tion I may refer to a recent book by my colleague, R. De C. Ward, 

 entitled '' Practical Exercises in Elementary Meteorology," in which 

 the teacher and the pupil will find precise directions for the solution 

 of a large number of problems that I am sure will be of great value 

 in giving fuller appreciation of the treasures stored up in, but not 

 always taken from, the dail3^ weather maps. This guide book being 

 now accessiljle, I need here refer only to certain problems that are 

 associated with the seasons. Here, as under the earth as a globe, it 

 is too commonly the practice to learn definitions, instead of develop- 

 ing a real knowledge of the subject b}^ the study of gradually accumu- 

 lated observations. The need of plent}' of time, only to be secured 

 by carrying on oljservations during one or two years, is nowhere l^etter 

 illustrated than in this chapter of the subject. It is im[)ossible to 

 compress the necessary observations into the short time during which 

 a high-school course would be concerned with the atmosphere. Ade- 

 quate attention to the subject can be obtained only when the work is 

 distributed over a long i)eriod in the grammar school, associated either 

 with geography or with nature study. 



The Seasons. — The procession of phenomena observable in the 

 annual succession of the seasons is observable in early school 3'ears, 

 The observations here descril)ed are intended to connect tlie simplest 

 seasonal phenomena with their causes, which are to be found in the 

 revolution of the earth around the sun, and in the resultant northing 



