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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    formed by one geological deposit. But, to obtain even an ordinary idea of the nature of the North Downs, it is necessary to walk first, say, from Bedbill to Godstone, along the top of the parallel range of the lower greensand, to see the general features of the horizontal top of the chalk hills and the aspect of the escarpment. It is desirable also to walk at the bottom of the valley which defines the chalk escarpment so that the escarpment may be seen from below; and, as its character varies, it will hardly be understood without taking in the whole extent of country between Box Hill and Dunton Green. The escarpment must also be examined along its summit, and between Merstham and Oxted it presents typical conditions, traversed in part by the old Pilgrim Way. But no one realizes the nature of an escarpment till it has been ascended. If we alight at Nutfield Station on the Weald clay, and climb up to Nutfield on the crest of the lower greensand, and then plunge down into the valley of the gault, and climb White Hill to the top of the chalk, we have the opportunity of comparing an escarpment of sandstone with an escarpment of limestone. This practical geographical work, which the Field Class has carried on year by year, is indispensable for the teacher, but it can only in part be obtained by the pupil. I may be told it requires more labour than the teacher can give, if he is to impart know- ledge of this kind to his pupils. In reply, I say that the authorities who control the subjects taught cannot afford to neglect this method of practical teaching. Many years ago I wandered into a quarry at Pelm, near Gerolstein, in the Eifel district of Germany. The quarry was in the Devonian rock, which we know as the Eifel limestone, very similar to the Plymouth limestone, which is found near Torquay. Asking the first boy if he had any fossils, I was astonished at the reply that he had nothing but a few Trilobites, which all belonged to the genus Phacops ; but that, if I went to the Gastliaus, the landlord had plenty of corals, Cyathophyllum, and other kinds. On inquiry, I found that this lore had been gained in the primary village school ; and that the distinctive feature of German education, beginning with the lowest round of the ladder, has been to train every child in observing, by teaching him to see the things around him, and make them matters of daily thought. We have a country which lends itself more readily to detailed observation than does the surface of Germany, and there is no reason that I can discover why the physical features of Britain should not be the means of creating the scientific instincts and aptitudes, through the medium of geographical training, in every child who comes under a public teacher’s care. And I believe that we cannot afford to neglect this advantage in competition with other peoples. Frequently the larger part of the teaching must be given from maps, with only an occasional glimpse of nature. But maps such as those which I refer to and use are the most perfect pictures of nature that it is possible to devise. Nothing but the geological map can make intelligible the gradual widening out in breadth of the North Downs as-they are followed from Farnham to the east. But the