DISCIPLINARY VALVE OF GEOGRAPHY 225 



an investigation or a journey, forms the natural basis for a presentation 

 of this kind. Such a diary should include the writer's reflections as 

 well as his observations; it should contain due account of such subject- 

 ive matters as personal adventures, with their difficulties and successes, 

 as well as of more objective matters, such as landscapes, climate, people, 

 books, maps and so on. A judicious selection from a diary of this kind 

 will suffice to give a good impression of the physical and mental path 

 followed by an explorer or investigator, and of the varied experiences 

 encountered along it, as well as of the results attained at its end. 

 Appropriate emphasis should be placed upon items of greater impor- 

 tance, so as to prevent too monotonous a recital. The hearers will be 

 aided in understanding the speaker's work, if a clear statement of the 

 object sought is made at the beginning, and a succinct summary of the 

 results gained is presented at the end. 



The narrative method is certainly simpler than any other, as to 

 composition and delivery; it is therefore the one which a student may 

 adopt to advantage, the first time he is to make an oral report in a con- 

 ference. It is also particularly appropriate when entertainment 

 rather than demonstration is intended; hence it is often employed at 

 large popular meetings of geographical societies. In such cases, collo- 

 quial rather than technical terms, and an empirical rather than an ex- 

 planatory style of description are usually employed ; but a technical and 

 explanatory style may be used in narration, without stopping for defini- 

 tions and demonstrations, if the speaker prefers it and if the hearers 

 may be fairly expected to understand it. Under such conditions a 

 general explanatory summary, presented at the beginning without argu- 

 ment or proof, serves well as an introduction. Space for such a sum- 

 mary can often be gained by omitting apologetic introductory remarks. 



The narrative method is appropriate in scientific gatherings when 

 the successive steps of home study or the successive events of a journey 

 are of so exceptional a nature as to be as interesting as the results to 

 which they led. Such, however, will seldom be the case in the work of 

 university students, to whom this supplement is addressed; they will 

 therefore seldom have occasion to employ the narrative method after 

 first practise in it, as above indicated : but it is certainly profitable for 

 every student to make at least one intentional trial in narrative, in 

 order to learn something of its quality and value from his own experi- 

 ence in preparing and presenting it, and from the behavior of his 

 audience in listening to it and commenting upon it. If it costs a 

 speaker some regrets to omit certain items of personal experience, in 

 order to compress his report into the time allotted for it, he may be 

 comforted on realizing that his hearers will not share his regrets, because 

 they will be unaware that anything of interest has been omitted. If, 

 however, his narrative arouses animated questioning at its end, he may 



VOL. LXXVIII. — 16 



