27 



their home districts ; but such accounts might be well supplied 

 through the illustrated geographical reports published by the State 

 surveys. 



The special appropriation allotted by the Council of the Univer- 

 sity Library for the purchase of large-scale topographical maps 

 has been increased from $300 for the year 1891-92 to 1350 for 

 the current year, and in this way our collection of modern maps 

 has been most serviceably enlarged. The University Library pre- 

 viously possessed in the Kohl collection a large number of older 

 maps of great historical interest, but of practically no value in 

 teaching physical geography. When the recent purchases began, 

 the only considerable topographical maps in the Library were the 

 Ordnance Survey of Great Britain, the Etat Major and the Public 

 Works maps of France, the Dufour and the plane-table maps of 

 Switzerland. Since then, the topographical maps of the Nether- 

 lands, Belgium, Norway, Germany, Saxony, Austria, Italy, and 

 Spain have been secured. It is hoped that the appropriation for 

 this purpose may be continued for several years to come, as all of 

 the best geographical material of the world can then be placed 

 before our students. 



There has been opportunity of extending the relations of the 

 geographical section of the University with the public schools in 

 several ways. In the summer of 1892, an address was delivered 

 before the American Institute of Instruction at Narragansett 

 Pier, R. L, on Geographical Illustrations, and repeated before the 

 Middlesex Teachers' Association and the Bristol County Teachers' 

 Association in the autumn. The object of the address was to em- 

 phasize the importance of using various means of illustration, 

 such as maps, models, views, diagrams, etc., in teaching geography. 

 It has since then been published by the L^niversity as a reprint 

 from the Proceedings of the Institute. During the year, a course 

 of lectures on Geography was given to teachers ; this being one of 

 three courses of lectures, on Geometry, Physics, and Geography, 

 offered by the University to the teachers of the Cambridge public 

 schools. In this way sixty or seventy of the teachers from the 

 grammar schools met in our large Geological Lecture-Room once 

 a week, from November to April. 



During the Christmas recess the writer attended a conference 

 of ten members, appointed by a special committee of the National 

 Educational Association, and held in Chicago, to consider the 



