SCIENCE. 



FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1886. 



COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 



Mr. J. Scott Keltie's report (Supplementary 

 papers, Royal geographical society, part iv.), as 

 inspector of geographical education, should be read 

 by all who are interested in the cause of sound 

 education. As to England, he says the situation 

 of geographical education is best summed up in 

 the words of an educational authority, whose 

 name is not given : (1) " In universities it is nil ; (2) 

 in public schools, very nearly nil ; and when it is 

 attempted, it is given to the most incompetent 

 master, and he has a wretched set of maps ; (3) it 

 is required for the public services, and taught, I 

 do not know how, by crammers ; (4) the only 

 places where geography is systematically taught 

 in England are the training colleges and the board- 

 schools, with now, and for the last few years, 

 some few good high and middle-class schools." 

 This is due mainly to the fact that the study of 

 geography does not ' pay.' There is no demand 

 for high-grade teachers, as there are no pro- 

 fessors or readers of geography in the universi- 

 ties. It has no real place in the examinations 

 upon which so much depends in England, and 

 therefore the teachers in some of the best schools 

 actually advise their pupils not to study geography. 

 How different in Germany, in France, and even in 

 Spain ! Considering the candid way in which the 

 inspector has spoken of the English schools, it is 

 perhaps fortunate that our worthy ex-commis- 

 sioner of education was unable to furnish him 

 with any information concerning the study of 

 geography in American schools. 



As a part of his duty, Mr. Kelsie made a collec- 

 tion of appliances used in geographical education 

 throughout the world. These were placed on ex- 

 hibition, and a catalogue issued. Here, again, 

 the Germans led, as, indeed, one who has used 

 Stanford's and Reimer's maps side by side in the 

 class-room would have expected. In his explora- 

 tions for such material, the inspector had many 

 strange experiences ; as, for instance, at one of the 

 oldest and most celebrated English public schools he 



No. 159. — 1886. 



found only two maps, — "one a large map of the 

 Dominion of Canada, presented by the high com- 

 missioner, ornamenting one of the passages ; and 

 another wretched school wall- map, exhumed, after 

 much searching, from a remote recess." In con- 

 trast to this, he prints a list of the appliances used 

 in teaching geography in the Frankfort Wohler- 

 schule, and in other German schools. In the 

 above-named school there are in actual use one 

 hundred and seven maps, pictures, models, and 

 atlases. The exhibition was designed to illustrate 

 the actual condition of things ; "and, therefore, in 

 all classes," according to Mr. Keltie, " will be 

 found objects which may be taken as examples of 

 ' how not to do it.' " Most of these were of Eng- 

 lish make. It is a curious commentary on our 

 own methods, and especially on our publishers of 

 educational works, that of the 305 maps, globes, 

 models, relief-maps, etc., not one came from this 

 side of the Atlantic. There were 163 atlases, but 

 not a single atlas bore the imprint of an American 

 publisher. Among the 229 text-books, only three 

 — Miss Hale's 4 Methods of teaching geography,' 

 Hopkins's < Handbook of the earth,' and Swinton's 

 ' Complete course ' — were of American manufac- 

 ture. And on the whole the exhibition was not 

 one of which either Englishmen or Americans 

 should be proud. 



Science and the state is the subject of a 

 recent article by Dr. Shufeldt in Mind in nature, 

 wherein he makes some very pertinent criticisms 

 upon the heterogeneous condition of the national 

 scientific work and the desirability of its greater 

 unification. He proposes a scheme whereby this 

 may be effected ; viz., that a department of sci- 

 ence should be created by congress, the head of 

 which should be a cabinet officer, to be designated 

 as the secretary of science, and to be chosen from 

 the National academy of sciences ; that this de- 

 partment should be divided into eleven bureaus, — 

 agriculture, biology, chemistry, education, eth- 

 nology, geology, geodesy and surveying, meteo- 

 rology, military and civil engineering, sanitary 

 science, and industry ; and that all appointments 

 should be made by the National academy of 

 sciences, and approved by the president of 

 the United States. For the accommodation of 



