as they sometimes are, to begin a course with Chaucer, their attention is so much directed to worrying some meaning out of the text that they fail to see the poetry, the humour, the largehearted humanity of the 'Canterbury Tales.' There might be something to say for a chronological course beginning with contemporary authors and going backwards. 197 Is Geography worth teaching? GEOGRAPHY To the question whether any time should be given to the teaching of Geography no answer is possible without a knowledge of what is meant by 'Geography' and what is meant by 'teaching.' If by Geography' is meant long strings of names,-capes, bays, mountains, rivers, natural products, imports, exports, manufactures, towns, &c.-and if by 'teaching' is meant compelling the class to repeat these names, or to learn them from a book, the answer should be an emphatic negative. Such 'Geography' is as useless to the learners as a directory of Timbuctoo would be; such 'teaching' is worse than useless, because it creates disgust. Rather than inflict it upon unoffending children turn them out into the playground, where at any rate they will enjoy themselves, and get some good for their bodies. If, however, the teacher has a true comprehension of Geography and of his own function in relation thereto, the subject is one of the most important that can be included in any curriculum, possessing, as it does, a high practical, educative, and even ethical value. Rightly conceived, Geography is a science dealing with every aspect of the earth considered as the home of man,What is with the distribution of sea and land; with tides meant by and currents; with the structure and indentations Geography of the coast; with the height and direction of mountains; with the length, depth, and speed of rivers; with the rocks that give the soil its character; with the plants that grow in that soil; with all the creatures that live on earth, in air or water; with winds and clouds, rain, hail, snow and frost ; with heat and cold; with the regular procession of the seasons; with the 'two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night'; and with the globe itself as a small factor in the vast universe of God. Of Geography so considered a knowledge is profitable to every one engaged in trade or commerce,1 is interesting to every Value of one who reads a newspaper, and is necessary to Geography every one who desires to understand the full significance of History. The study of it tends to foster habits of observation; combining the results of observation into inferences exercises and, by exercising, strengthens the reason; the imagination is perpetually called upon to construct pictures of unfamiliar men, animals, places and things out of familiar elements; the memory is stored with vivid and vivifying facts instead of with dead names; perception of the order and beauty of the world awakens the highest impressions of admiration and veneration : He prayeth best who loveth best All things both great and small; and he loveth best who knoweth best. Geography is a very comprehensive subject, closely allied to History, and having Geology, Botany, Zoology, Ethnology, 1 'You shall not learn one single thing of all those you will most want to know directly you leave school and enter upon the practical business of life. You will in all probability go into business, but you shall not know where or how any article of commerce is produced, or the difference between an export and an import. . . You will very likely settle in a colony, but you shall not know whether Tasmania is part of New South Wales or vice versâ.'-Huxley, Science and Education, p. 95. The disasters of the year 1870 led to a great revival of the study of Geography in France. 'Il nous est resté de nos désastres, outre la douleur, un certain sentiment d'humiliation : l'étranger était géographiquement mieux préparé à envahir notre sol que nous à le défendre.'-Buisson, Dictionnaire de la Pédagogie, vol. i. p. 1151. tions and Astronomy for auxiliaries. The attainments of a teacher who hopes to be successful must therefore be wide and varied. The teacher's He must have a fairly intimate knowledge of qualifica- several of the natural sciences, and he must have done some practical work in one or more of them so as to acquire the scientific habit. He must have read enough books of travel or topography to give him a clear conception of the places and things about which he has to speak ; and he must have a power of graphic description so as to make those conceptions clear to his pupils also. Geography lessons fail more often from lack of knowledge than from lack of skill on the part of the teacher. Assuming that the teacher possesses both the knowledge and the skill for his task, when does that task begin? PsychoTime for be- logy indicates the answer. Geography is a difficult ginning science, demanding for its strict and definite study experience of the world sufficiently large to furnish materials for mental pictures of sea and land, of towns and places; demanding also faculties sufficiently developed to be capable of making broad generalisations and comprehending the grand scale on which the forces of nature operate. Such strict and definite study must therefore be reserved for the upper classes, though much preparatory work can and should be done in the lower classes, 2 and some even in the Kindergarten. Psychology also indicates the kind of preparation which is possible or desirable. In the Kindergarten the drawing of simple 6 In ancient times Geography was viewed as the root-science from which all others branched; now we prefer to view it as the focus at which all the physical and historical sciences converge to throw light on the earth as an organic whole.'-Dr. Mill, Hints to Teachers and Students on the Choice of Geographical Books, p. 8. 2 In Germany Geography is divided into three parts: (1) Anschauung (intuition, i.e. instruction to develop the intuitive powers) assigned to the lowest class in the primary schools; (2) Heimatskunde (home knowledge) assigned to the next four classes; (3) Erdkunde (earth knowledge, or Geography proper) assigned to the upper classes. work outlines and the modelling of simple forms may lay the foundation for the subsequent drawing of maps and modelling Preparatory of slopes and contours. After leaving the Kindergarten children must store materials for the imagination to employ at a future date. The pictures of a great mountain, a great river, a great plain, which they will see with the mental eye will be only an extension and adaptation of their ideas of the hill, the stream, and the level ground which they have seen with the bodily eye; and if the latter are vague the former will be much vaguer. Hence careful observation of the district surrounding the school is an essential preparation for the definite study of the geography of a wider area. So also is careful observation of such common phenomena as mist, rain, snow, wind, sunshine and moonshine. The teacher cannot command the mighty forces of nature and bring them into his school-room for examination, but he can generally show their operation in little. The world globes itself in a drop of dew '1 l ; That very law which moulds a tear That law preserves the earth a sphere The effect of the sun upon the ocean is the same in kind as the effect of the fire upon the kettle; the power which causes the smoke to rise, causes the wind to blow, and the power which causes the 'breath' to run down the windows on a cold day causes the rain to fall. For teaching purposes the school is the centre of the universe; and the child's knowledge should extend from it in The school the centre ever widening circles. Unless he is to spend his whole life in travelling, his knowledge of the outer circles must be obtained mediately or immediately through books, and it is all the more necessary that his |