320 N. S. SHALER — RELATIONS OF GEOLOGIC SCIENCE TO EDUCATION. 



those conceptions which may enter into the spirit of our society relates 

 to the position of man ; the abstract learning, that which is in and for 

 itself, is for those who have the professional interest. These public 

 values of the science are of tAVO diverse kinds — on the one hand those 

 which pertain to intellectual enlargement ; on the other, to economic 

 development. Therefore in considering our duty by the educational 

 side of our work we should see what the contributions can be to these two 

 modes of endeavor and how they should be presented. First, I shall 

 consider the limitations of that work which may be regarded as distinctly 

 pedagogic. 



DIVISIONS OF THE SCIENCE. 



It seems to me necessary distinctly to separate the body of the instruc- 

 tion which is to be given in geology into two parts — that which is appro- 

 priate to the general public and that which, though "caviare to the 

 general^" fits the appetite of tbe professional-minded. We are indebted 

 to the philosophical pedagogue Herbert for a statement of the self-evident 

 proposition that interest in a matter must exist before information con- 

 cerning it can be profitably communicated ; therefore in our teaching 

 we must take no end of care to provide tliis foundation for the attention. 

 This care is particularly necessary in the matters of geology, for, as be- 

 fore remarked, the facts cannot often be exhibited in the experimental 

 way as in the laboratories of chemistr}^ and phj^sics, where the touch of 

 hand or the sight of controlled actions establishes a personal relation 

 with the problems. The teacher of our science has to avail himself of 

 certain antecedent motives which he can presume to exist in any normal 

 youth which may provide the required foundation of interest. What I 

 have to say on this j^oint is the result of nearly a third of a century of 

 experience in teaching geology, and is based on work which has been 

 done with more than 4.000 students. The basis for the induction is 

 sufiiciently great to make the conclusions of value. These are in brief 

 as follows: That instruction in geology, which is meant for those who 

 have not acquired the professional motive, must find its basis of interest 

 on either of two foundations — on the element of sympathy with all which 

 relates to the fate of man which is native in all of us, or on the love of 

 the open fields which every youth who is not utterly supercivilized has 

 as a birthright. Each of those interests is in a way primal, both may be 

 separately reckoned on as strong in nearly all youths who are fitted for 

 the higher education. 



CLASS-ROOM INSTRUCTION. 



To make use of the motives which may interest the beginner in geol- 

 ogy my experience has shown that the first thing to do is to give by means 



