described. In this I begin with some very simple lessons in mathematical geography, especially respecting the sphericity of the earth, the ideas of axis, pole, equator, parallel, latitude, longitude, tropics, polar circles, and zones. Then I briefly discuss maps, and show how these either represent the whole earth or parts of it; and how the degrees are marked upon them. I have found it very useful here to compare some maps with a globe. I ask such questions as, for example, What country is that, which extends from the 9th to the 21st degree of longitude, and from the 36th almost to the 44th degree of latitude? Or, In what country do the meridian of 40° and the parallel of 37° north intersect? And the pupils can put similar

questions to each other.

When I have proceeded from the city-plan of Erlangen as far as to the globe, and have connected with it the instruction above mentioned in mathematical geography, I take up my "Description," together with the well-known and excellent maps of Sydow. In this work of mine I endeavored, as far as possible, only to deal with general subjects, and to consider together only things properly related. What I mean by this is sufficiently indicated by its opposite, as shown in the list of German mountains from Stein. I will, however, add an illustration. The description of seas* mentions five principal ones; and all others are given as dependents of these five. I consider in a similar manner the mountains, which are usually treated as if entirely isolated, and having no connection with each other. Such, for in stance, is the case with the mountains surrounding the Bohemian Elbe valley; and the chain of mountains which, under various names, runs from Calabria to the Peloponnesus, and sends out a branch from Macedonia to the Black Sea.

This principle, however, appears most clearly in the case of the rivers. Under the old arrangement, when the political divisions of the earth's surface were also used in classifying the descriptions of mountains, rivers, &c., the Rhine, for example, had to be mentioned in the descriptions of no less than twenty-two countries and small states; and the student was left to put together for himself, as well as he could, a single picture of the river, out of these twenty-two scattered notices. And, again, if we are to consider as one, and in one description, not merely the whole Rhine, from its sources to the North Sea, but also all its tributaries-the Neckar, Main, and Moselle, and the smaller streams again which run into these, as the Kocher, Jaxt, Regnitz, &c., we should, in this case, mention the extent of the domains of kings and princes, but only the great domain of old King

*Not including inland lakes.

Rhine himself. My description names the most important towns on each bank of each river: there are comparatively few important places which do not stand on a river.

This book is as brief as it could be made without making it unintelligible; with the intention of not depriving teachers who should use it of the most attractive portions of what they might themselves add to its information, such as fuller details in the character of rivers, mountains, &c.

The book, so far as it is to serve the purpose of instruction, is a description of maps; and it was necessary that these should agree with it. But, as it appeared, this was not the case, as the maps usually employed in the schools adhered to political divisions, while my "Description" neglected these and proceeded chiefly by mountains and rivers. It was very inconvenient, for instance, to follow out the Alps on the separate maps of Italy, Switzerland, Germany, &c., and the more so as these maps were mostly drawn to different scales. This difficulty is avoided by Sydow's maps. When the pupil has obtained, by means of these, a general view of the waters, mountains, and levels of the whole earth, he may then, for the first time, begin to use maps with political divisions. With the aid of this they may first give the boundaries of some particular country; and then mention which of the mountains, rivers, &c., which they have been studying about, belong in whole or in part to that country. Thus, to France belong the whole of the Cevennes, the northern side of the Pyrennees, and the western of the Ardennes; of rivers, the Seine, Loire, &c., entirely, but the Rhone, Moselle, Maas, &c., only in part. Of the French cities which are important enough to be taken notice of by a beginner, most have already been mentioned in the previous study of the rivers; as Paris, Rouen, Bordeaux, Lyons, in following the course of the Seine, Garonne, and Rhone.‡

Oceans, mountains, and rivers are elements of geography which go back to a period quite beyond human history. Cities are the most ancient monuments of men. Abraham saw Damascus, and lived near Hebron; Jerusalem existed a hundred years before David; Rome is in the third thousand of its years. Whatever revolutions happen, in the course of time, to nations-their abodes, and boundaries, and dominions-cities outlive almost all changes; only a comparatively small number of large ones-such as Babylon, Persepolis, Palmyra,

* Schenkendorf calls the Rhine

"An ancient monarch, nobly born."

†They should also give its length and breadth in degrees, using at the same time the globe, which has been used, as I mentioned, in the first beginning of mathematical geography. The few other important cities, such as Marseilles, Toulon, &c., may be added at this time.

and Carthage-being quite given over to desolation. Our own country exemplifies, within a smaller space and time, the same relation of cities to history. Mentz-first Roman, then the seat of archbishops. and electors, then under the French dominion, and now Bavarian ; Treves and Cologne-earlier Roman towns than Mentz, afterward the seats of archbishops and spiritual electors, and now Prussian; &c.

These ancient cities, then, which have survived the changes of time, and the seas, mountains, and rivers, which existed before inan, are the permanent monuments with which it is of inestimable importance that pupils should become acquainted, for the sake of all their subsequent historical studies. They will thus readily understand the geography of the ancient historians. When they see the maps of ancient Gaul, Spain, &c., they will at once recognize the Arar as the Saone, the Matrona as the Marne, the Bætis as the Guadalquivir, &c.; Rotomagus as Rouen, Lugdunum as Lyons, Cæsarea Augusta as Saragossa; Abnoba Mons as the Black Forest; &c.

The geographical instruction thus far described is either immediately concerned with actual intuition by the senses or is closely connected with it. In this way the pupils have gained a knowledge of the seas, mountains, plains, rivers, and lakes, and the most important countries, and their boundaries, mountains, rivers, and cities. It is now time to give them a brief and clear description of the various races of men, languages, religions, and forms of government.

After all this, there remains but little to say of the description of particular countries—that is, of what particularly characterizes each individual country and nation, and distinguishes it from others. Here is the first place where more detailed descriptions of the principal cities can properly be given; pictures of them being used where practicable. But nothing should be protracted too far.

In this manner, according to my view, should the foundation be laid for future geographical and historical studies. These, again, may be carried further and relieved, by the reading of good travels, newspapers, missionary reports, &c. The pupil will now find his own. knowledge so confirmed that he can proceed with no further aid, if he has good maps. He will also find himself sufficiently at home in any part of the earth to understand its ancient geography.

But all this fixation and extension of geographical knowledge is chiefly gained by means of books and maps. It is only in the first commencement of it that we make use of any immediate knowledge of a very small part of the earth's surface-namely, of the pupil's place of abode, and the vicinity of it.

It may be asked whether then I have wholly given up my earlier views, above described, on the method of instructing in geography? By no means. I only convinced myself, as I have shown, that the practice of draughting the neighborhood of home, with which that method begins, was not proper for beginners. Older scholars, who have gained a knowledge of drawing, may, however, practice it with advantage. But this prosaic method, as I may call it, of observing and delineating, should always have a poetic side; it should be made useful in instructing the pupil to draw landscape from nature, and especially to gain facility in sketching. If travels in Germany and in such other countries as are most beloved by and interesting to us Germans are the best preparatory school for understanding all the countries and people of the earth, the young must be made ready for these travels by the acquisition of such knowledge and accomplishments as will be of most service in them. But landscape drawing and architectural drawing occupy an important place among these.t

*

An adult person, desiring to know what further knowledge and accomplishments are useful to those who travel, would ascertain to the best advantage from reading the travels of distinguished writers, like Goethe, Humboldt, &c. The acquirements of these men are shown by what they accomplished.

Here I pause. Having thus endeavored to trace the course of geographical study from its very first rudiments, I refer, for the ultimate aims of geographical study, to what I have extracted from my dialogue on geography, already given.

*I have given my views more at large on the relation between landscape painting and map drawing in the first part of my Miscellaneous Writings, p. 29.

† Unfortunately I am no draughtsman. In order in some measure to supply this deficiency, I used, while among the Silesian mountains, to make out from elevated points a sort of panoramas, on which I entered, with the aid of a compass, the names of mountains, towns, &c., in their proper directions, putting the furthest further and the nearest nearer from my own position in the center of the paper. These panoramas frequently proved each other's correctness. If, for instance, I had laid down Mount B. south-east from Mount A., then, in drawing from Mount B., Mount A. would be north-west of it.

UNIVERSITY

CALIFORNI

VII. INSTRUCTION IN NATURAL SCIENCE.

[Translated from Raumer's "History of Pedagogy," for the American Journal of Education.]

INTRODUCTION.

I PRESENT here materials both new and old. I printed some essays on instruction in natural science as early as 1819 and 1822, in the first and second volumes of my "Miscellaneous Works,” (Vermischten Schriften ;) and in 1823 I wrote a programme "On Instruction in Natural Science in Schools."

Although, during an uninterrupted course of teaching since 1823, I have made new experiments, and have had occasion here and there to seek out and to open new paths, yet my original views on the subject have not substantially changed.

Even during the period of my own studies, I felt a repugnance to the usual course of this instruction. From 1805 to 1808, I heard lectures on mineralogy in Freiberg, from my never-to-be-forgotten teacher, Werner. His school has scarcely its parallel; pupils came to Freiberg from all parts of Europe, and even from Asia and America. And from that school what men have proceeded—Alexander von Humboldt, Steffens, Novalis, Schubert, Weiss, Mohs, and how many more!* Werner's oral delivery was a model of lucidity and order; and his descriptions of mineralogical species left nothing to be desired. But when he had described perhaps ten species, and had scarcely a quarter of an hour left, he would have the cases which contained these ten groups opened on the table before us. It was a very torture of Tantalus, to gaze with straining eyes at these, endeavoring in so short a time to obtain a distinct impression of the appearance of so many different species. To do this, indeed, was impossible, even for the most ardent and attentive learner; and they would have gained, not an actual knowledge of minerals, but only fragments of it, had Freiberg afforded no other means of acquiring it. But traders in minerals came there from the most distant countries, and of them the students, amongst whom some were usually quite rich, purchased. Every one had a larger or smaller collection of minerals; and they showed their treasures to each other, and talked about them, and

⚫ While I was in Freiberg I ate at a boarding-club, which consisted, besides us Germans, of a Swiss, a Frenchman, a Roman, a Spaniard, and three Russians, one from Nertchinsk, which is near the Chinese boundary-line.