a species; using the local facts, because I find better results fromt 
624 .— Methods of Instruction in General Geology. [July ; 
often aioi arising from the array of a multitude of 
statistics in regard to many examples is avoided. 5 
At first sight this method may appear like a mere populariz- 4 
ing of a science, and—the aspect which might be so called, — | 
the attempt to make comprehensible and therefore interest 3 
what is generally not so, is worth seeking after. : 4 
Is it not this very element of exciting interest, of BE ie the 
hearers or readers, that made the writings of Lyell and the lec- _ | 
tures of Louis Agassiz so attractive and also so instructive? 
The boys in college learn the principles of geology in the same — 
way that we learn new laws and principles in our deeper investi- ; | 
gations. Itis facts and phenomena first, afterwards their inter- 
pretation ; and unless they gain a vivid impression of the former, - 
they will come short of grasping the latter. The other method 
of memorizing the statements of the laws and principles of the — 
science, without any clear conception of the facts to which they — 
apply, is only a knowledge of words; it is not science; and sucha 
knowledge has no scientific value. 
_ In feld and laboratory work the main point is to teach the 
student to observe, to record, and properly to interpret facts as 
they occur in nature. This is not accomplished by simply walk- 
ing over the ground and pointing out the phenomena to the 
class. In one way and another they must be led to see for them- 
selves ; they must gather the facts, study and arrange them. 
The ache may show them how to make sections, and how to 4 
gather facts and specimens. Section after section may be made | 
through similar series; geographical localities, altitude, thick 
ness, dip, lithological esau and fossils should be observed, — 
and notes and materials brought in for study. After numerous 
sections are thus in hand, my plan is to call fora report upon ~ 
the region or formations examined, asking for detailed answers 
to t the questions, What are the faunas? What are the differences 4 
to perfect himself in paleontology, I set him at work on the 
local palzontology and stratigraphy, causing him to make com: 
parison of sections, of association of species and individual vari 
ations, as well as drilling him in the identifying of genera and 
+a 
