The use of maps in teaching geography : a lecture delivered before the College of Preceptors, May 13, 1896 / by Professor Seeley.

  • Seeley, H. G. (Harry Govier), 1839-1909.
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The use of maps in teaching geography : a lecture delivered before the College of Preceptors, May 13, 1896 / by Professor Seeley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    THE USE OF MAPS IN TEACHING GEOGRAPHY. .-1 LECTURE DELIVERED BEFORE THE COLLEGE OF PRECEPTORS, MAY 13, 1896. By Professor SEELEY, F.R.S., F.G.S., F.R.G.S. {Reprinted from the “Educational Times,” June, 1896.} It has long been disputed whether geography, when classified as a branch of knowledge, should be regarded as literature or as science. It grew out of observation, being the result of practical skill in using instruments and scientific training in recording the form and characteristics of the earth’s surface. But, in modern times, it has grown so as to annex results which the historian discovers who concerns himself with man’s influence upon the earth, and the changes brought about on its sui'faee by peoples who migrate or found colonies. There are possibly some teachers who do not look beyond this ample field of historical geography. To them geography is literature. The maps in which the territorial changes and events are re- corded, which constitute the stages of evolution of nationalities, are the things best worth knowing. It may be conceded that there is a training for the critical faculties in following the steps by which the Roman map of Europe has become transformed into the familiar map of the present time. The classical student however, who stops his inquiries with the decline of the Roman Empire, obtains no such geographical training. The student of mediaeval history, who neither considers the causes of the territorial circumstances before him, nor the ends towards which they are moving, escapes geographical training in a similar way. It may be frankly admitted that to exhibit maps of the present state of Russia, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, or France, is to present the dry husk of literary knowledge, without the inspiring information by which it may be explained. Nothing demonstrates the dependence of human affairs upon law more certainly than the facts of historical geography when they are considered in unbroken sequence. And it is quite possible to teach this subject with the aid of maps, so that the best and most complete knowledge shall be available for the student. The teacher must fail, however, who attempts to cover the entire field. School-life is too short for any pupil to work thoroughly through so vast a subject. And historical