to engage in the exercises with a spirit and energy I have never witnessed under any other circumstances. They go forth and engage in their several schools, imbued with the same spirit, not only better qualified to instruct, but more deeply impressed with the necessity of unremitting efforts in behalf of their own pupils.

LECTURE VII.

ON THE

BEST METHOD

OF

TEACHING GEOGRAPHY.

BY WILLIAM B. FOWLE.

In rising to address you at this time, I feel the embarrassment which always attends any attempt to address a mixed audience upon the details of instruction in any branch of science, for, if the subject is only treated in general terms, there are always some to accuse it of having no practical bearing; and, if it is treated in detail, a larger number, perhaps, will find it dull and uninteresting. I would gladly have avoided the task altogether, but your committee were so polite as to invite me to lecture because I had some score years of experience as a teacher of the branch which they proposed for my subject, and I had done

so little for the Institute that I did not feel at liberty to decline, however serious were my misgivings as to the result.

The subject proposed by your committee was, "The Best Method of Teaching Geography," by which they probably meant my method, taking it for granted that no honest teacher will for a moment use any method but that which he considers the best. But a serious difficulty met me at the outset, for, what did the committee understand by the term Geography? I knew that this term, etymologically considered, meant a description of the earth in all its appearances, permanent and changeable, but the committee must have used the word in a more restricted sense, and how was I to get at it? I applied first to that Leviathan of Lexicographers, Dr. Johnson, and he said, "Geography is the knowledge of the earth." The, we are told by an admired grammarian, is the definite article, although, as in this case, all that is indefinite in the definition seems to proceed from the use of the. But allowing that the doctor meant “A knowledge of the earth," the question naturally arose, What knowledge of it? its origin? its structure? its superficial features? its artificial divisions? its changes? or, what part of the various knowledge that has been collected from age to age? To ascertain the kind or degree of this knowledge, I thought the definition of particular departments of it would aid me, and turning to the word Geology, I found that to mean, "The Doctrine of the Earth." I then, of course, turned to the word doctrine, and found

that to mean, "The principles or positions of any sect or master." Not perceiving that I had made any approximation to the desired point, but more than ever convinced of the absurdity of requiring children to study lessons from the dictionary, I turned to the word Topography, and found this to be "A description of particular places," by which, I suppose, the doctor meant, "A particular description of places;" for, if a description of particular places is topography, then a description of all places is not topography.

I resorted then to the definitions given by our best Geographers, but, instead of repeating these, which, by the way, are often greatly at variance with the contents of their text-books, I prefer to give a paragraph from the Library of Useful Knowledge, which `not only describes what I consider to be the great mistake of all makers of geographical text-books, but which proposes nearly the plan that I have pursued from the beginning, and which I shall endeavor to recommend in this lecture. "Universal Geography," says the author, whoever he may be, "is the science that conveys to us a knowledge of the earth, both as a distinct and independent body in the universe, and as connected with a system of heavenly bodies. The figure, structure and dimensions of the earth; the properties and mutual relations of its parts; the features of its surface; its productions and inhabitants, and the laws which govern or partially affect it as a heavenly body, are all included in the comprehensive term of Universal Geography. This definition," he goes on to say, "or rather, this description of the