^September 19, 1884.] 



SCIENCE. 



281 



contains reports under the following heads: area of 

 population; movement of population; religious clas- 

 sification ; proportion of sexes and religious divisions; 

 condition of population; condition and age of popu- 

 lation by religion and province ; birthplaces, insanity, 

 deaf-mutes, occupations, languages, education, blind 

 people, lepers, castes. The reports in general are not 

 merely a dry record of figures; but they abound with 

 information of a most interesting character, concern- 

 ing this grand division of the population of the world, 

 which stands second only in number to its still vaster 

 neighbor, the empire of China. It may be useful to 

 add that an abstract of this census may be obtained 

 in three volumes. 



The president of the section, Sir J. Henry Lefroy, 

 spoke of the value of the census, and enlarged upon 

 the fact that it showed that there were nearly two 

 million native Christians in India. In answer to a 

 question, Mr. Saunders said that of this large popu- 

 lation but 89,000 were natives of the United Kingdom. 



The next paper was on Mount Roraima in British 

 Guiana, by Mr. E. F. im Thurn, for some time a magis- 

 trate there, who proposes to examine the mountain 

 as closely as possible on every side, and to make the 

 ascent, should circumstances permit. He intends, 

 moreover, to examine and collect the flora and fauna 

 of the country, and especially to investigate the con- 

 dition of the little-known Arecoona Indians in whose 

 district Roraima lies. 



In conclusion, the recorder of the section, Prof. E. 

 G. Ravenstein, read an exceedingly suggestive paper 

 on the proper method of teaching young children the 

 rudiments of geography, He said that the time when 

 teachers of geography confined themselves to teach- 

 ing their pupils a barren list of localities was fortu- 

 nately past, and the principles first enunciated by 

 Pestalozzi and Frobel might be said to have taken 

 a fair hold. But still the geographical text-books 

 were far too abundant in nomenclature, as distinct 

 from an exposition of facts or an explanation of 

 phenomena. Elementary geography should teach 

 our children to understand the locality in which they 

 live, to observe, and to think for themselves, instead 

 of accepting the definitions presented to them; to 

 describe, further, their experiences in language of 

 their own, instead of paraphrasing the language 

 made use of by their teachers. This method com- 

 pelled us to take our children out of the school- 

 room, and to bring them to the locality which it was 

 desirable to describe. The lesson which followed 

 would be really an object-lesson, which lessons based 

 on a map or a picture or a model could not be. 

 The children should be encouraged to observe the 

 same phenomenon repeatedly until they have ob- 

 tained a clear conception of it. The children would 

 then observe the fact under consideration once more, 

 with such help as would be afforded by the teacher's 

 explanation; and to this would succeed a final con- 

 sideration of the subject, within the schoolroom. 

 The subjects of this elementary]Jstudy ought to in- 

 clude the surface features of our earth, its vegeta- 

 tion and fauna, and its inhabitants. Atmospheric 

 phenomena, as well as the celestial bodies, in as far 



as their movements are visible from our earth, should 

 also be included. He would include the elements of 

 geology and of natural science generally, in so far as 

 they would explain geographical phenomena; and, 

 besides, he would seek an opportunity of expounding 

 the principles of political economy and of statistics. 

 The range was, therefore, a wide one. The subjects 

 would differ according to the locality in which the 

 school was placed, as during the earlier stages the 

 children would be limited to subjects coming within 

 their sphere of observation; and only at a more ad- 

 vanced age, when the power of imagination had been 

 developed, would they carry the young mind from 

 things seen to things unseen. Thus a consideration 

 of the St. Lawrence and its turgid tributary, the 

 Ottawa, would carry them in course of time to the 

 great lakes, and to the magnificent forests, which 

 explain the color of the water of the rivers. The 

 various phenomena would not at first be considered 

 systematically, but as occasion arose. 



This paper was followed by an interesting discus- 

 sion; during which it was remarked, that the main 

 difficulty in introducing such a method into the 

 school boards of England was the examination 

 system there in vogue; as it was necessary for 

 teachers, if they wished to retain their places, to 

 cram their pupils for the examination. May not 

 some such vicious system be the cause of the gross 

 ignorance on geographical subjects which prevails in 

 our own country ? 



Mr. James Glaisher read a report of the com- 

 mittee for promoting the survey of western Pales- 

 tine. He first gave a brief history of the ' Palestine 

 exploration fund,' which was founded in 1865 with 

 the object in general terms of obtaining from the 

 Holy Land itself whatever facts might be gathered 

 for the elucidation of the Bible. The work was class- 

 ified as follows: 1. Archeology — including excava- 

 tions; 2. Manners and customs of the modern 

 inhabitants; 3. Topography; 4. Geology; 5. Natural 

 sciences, botany, zoology, etc. 



The first work undertaken was the excavation at 

 Jerusalem, which occupied the years 1867-1870, and 

 threw a flood of light upon the ancient city. In 1S70- 

 1871 a journey was made through the Desert of the 

 exodus ; and in the autumn of 1871 the survey, on the 

 scale of an inch to a mile, of western Palestine, was 

 begun. The work was carried on until 1875, when 

 the party was attacked by the Arabs. In 1877 it was 

 resumed ; and in 1880 a map in twenty-six sheets was 

 published, followed by a reduction of it on one-third 

 scale in 1882. 



In 1882 the survey was extended to the east of the 

 Jordan, but owing to the opposition of the natives was 

 abandoned after only about five hundred square miles 

 had been surveyed. The society is now waiting for 

 the Sultan's firman, without which Mr. Glaisher stated 

 no alien is allowed to remain more than one month 

 in the country, to go there with a camera, or to take 

 away the smallest specimen. He then gave a short 

 account of the results of the geological survey con- 

 ducted by Professor Hull last winter, a full account 

 of which is now in press. 



