210 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 161 



as water-partings indicated by black lines, should 

 never be used in the schoolroom. 



The young German does not leave his geography 

 behind when he leaves the primary school. Far 

 from it, as, in the gymnasia and realschulen, 

 geography is taught for two hours a week through- 

 out the whole course, except that, in some gym- 

 nasia (classical schools), the last two years are 

 devoted to other subjects. What is actually taught 

 may be gathered from the following summary of 

 the programme of the realschvle of the first order 

 at Leipzig : — 



Sexta (.lowest class). — Leading principles of physical geog- 

 raphy, general view of the earth, geography of Sax- 

 ony, exercises in map reading and drawing. 



Quinta. — Advanced instruction in the above branches, 

 Germany taking the place of Saxony as the special 

 subject. 



Quarta. — Revision of the work of the two previous years, 

 extra-European continents. 



Tertia. — Germany, both physical and political, map- 

 drawing. 



Unter secunda. — Foreign European countries and their 

 colonies. 



Ober secunda. — Extra European continents, especially as 



to their physical conditions. 

 Unter prima. — Astronomical geography. 

 Ober prima. — Revision of the whole field, astronomical 



geography. 



As to methods, Mr. Keltie was impressed by the 

 fact that the teaching of geography was a much 

 more lively operation on the continent than in 

 England. In Germany the teacher counts for a 

 great deal ; the text-book, for very little. There 

 is almost no lesson-hearing ; the text-book, when 

 used, simply furnishing a text for the teacher's 

 explanations. No attempt is made to crowd the 

 lessons with minute details — no long lists of names : 

 no tables of statistics, of population of cities, 

 lengths of rivers, or heights of mountains. The 

 memorizing is confined to the leading principles, 

 facts, and features. In fine, when a German boy 

 leaves the higher school for business or the uni- 

 versity, he carries with him a sound working- 

 knowledge of geography. 



Of course, there could not be such good teaching 

 without good teachers ; and it is a fact to be noted, 

 that, at the present moment, the leading universi- 

 ties of Germany set out to train teachers of 

 geography exactly as they do teachers of history, 

 archeology, or botany. A dozen years ago this 

 was not so, as nearly all the twelve professorships 

 of geography have been founded since 1873. Now, 

 however, geography is on an equal footing with 

 other branches in more than half of the German 

 universities. At Goettingen, for example, a man 

 may take his doctorate, with geography as his 

 special subject. Then, too, there are examinations 

 for the right of teaching (facultas docendi) geog- 

 raphy in the higher schools. These examinations 



are of two degrees or stages : 1°, for the right to 

 teach in the lower classes ; and, 2°, for the right to 

 give instruction to the highest classes. The course 

 for this last examination extends over two years. 

 The candidate must attend a systematic series of 

 lectures on the facts and principles of geography. 

 At the ilbungen, or exercises for advanced stu- 

 dents, practice in the best methods of teaching is 

 afforded. Special investigations are encouraged by 

 some professors, as, for instance, by Rein at Bonn, 

 and Richthof en at Leipzig. Mr. Keltie ' assisted ' 

 at one of these practice-courses, and was evidently 

 surprised at the excellence of the work presented. 

 There is no doubt, that, as the supply of well- 

 trained teachers becomes more ample, the teaching 

 of geography will be still further improved. What 

 has already been accomplished is well set forth in 

 the following sentence from the recent ' memorial ' 

 of the Royal geographical society : — 



' ' An impartial comparison of the literary results 

 of English and German travel at the present day 

 seems to show that the educational advantages 

 which we ask for in England, and which are 

 attainable in Germany, have there borne their 

 actual fruit in developing and directing the powers 

 of observation in German travellers." 



METEOROLOGICAL CONFERENCE. 



On invitation of the chief signal officer, U. S. 

 army, representatives of a number of the state 

 weather services met in Washington on Feb. 23 

 and 24, to consider the relation of state services to 

 the signal service, matters of observation, display 

 of local weather- signals, and related topics. The 

 meeting was opened by General Razen, chief sig- 

 nal officer. Prof. T. C. Mendenhall of the signal 

 office was then chosen chairman, and Prof. W. M. 

 Davis was appointed secretary. Four sessions 

 were held in the lecture-room of the national mu- 

 seum, and the following action was taken. 



The conference recommends that the volunteer 

 observers of the state weather services should 

 make their regular thermometric observations at 

 7 a.m., 2 and 9 p.m. When maximum and mini- 

 mum thermometers are used, they should be read 

 at the latest hour of observation in the day, pref- 

 erably at 9 P.M. Observers of rainfall are advised 

 to use the new form of rain-gauge adopted by the 

 signal service, or to follow this pattern as nearly 

 as possible. The gauge should, when practicable, 

 be placed with the collecting-edge one foot above 

 the ground, and should stand at least twice as far 

 from adjacent objects, such as trees, buildings, 

 fences, etc., as the height of these objects. The 

 conference disapproves of placing rain-gauges on 

 the roofs of buildings. 



