Vol. 59.] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OP THE PRESIDENT. lxxxix 



safely confined within the logical bounds of induction, deduction, 

 and verification. 



Surely some kind of knowledge and training of this kind is much 

 to be desired for the ordinary man of education and leisure, the 

 literary man, the arts man, the mathematician. Only by some 

 means of this kind does it seem possible to restore the loss of 

 balance due to the self-absorptive and introspective tendency of 

 much of the so-called culture of the present day. Only by some 

 means of this kind can one attain to the needed breadth of outlook 

 and freedom of opinion as respects all that concerns the relation 

 of man and nature. 



Geology and Education. 



We have seen that a knowledge of Geology is indispensable 

 to the complete education of the miner, the prospector, the civil 

 engineer, and the military engineer; and that a first-hand 

 acquaintance with at least its elements is eminently desirable for 

 the agriculturist, the geographer, the traveller, and the biologist. 

 Many may even be willing to admit that the literary man and the 

 man of culture would be the better for knowing something of its 

 principles and its conclusions. But, as geologists, it is our bounden 

 duty to go much farther than this, and urge upon the educationalists 

 of the day the necessity of affording the rising generation such a 

 full opportunity of instruction in that kind of knowledge of which 

 Geology is the keystone as shall enable our youth to understand 

 and appreciate the more important phenomena of the world at large, 

 and the bearing of these upon their own life and surroundings. 



Nothing, however, is further from my intention than to suggest 

 that all the youth of the country shall be instructed in the science 

 of Geology as such, or that Geology shall be introduced as a special 

 subject of education, except into the higher classes of schools, 

 colleges, and universities. But what I have in my mind is that 

 Geology is the centre of that group of knowledges which are some- 

 times collectively referred to as 'Nature-Knowledge,' and their study 

 as * Nature-Study/ The more advanced educationalists have long 

 since suggested and even strongly advocated instruction in Nature- 

 Study for all our youth ; but, alas, they are not yet agreed as to 

 what ' Nature- Study ' shall include, or how it shall be taught. At 

 the one extreme are those who apparently would embrace within 

 it instruction in and explanation of all such concrete facts and 



