object here; the duties of parents, teachers, and children in regard to them; the name and style of the State, names of its governors, etc. ̈-Special Report, 1855, p. 61.

a daily

He prepared and published a School Register, which was intended as and permanent record of the school," and had ready in 1857 a "Manual" or guide for the use of teachers, with extracts from the school laws, etc. He wrote also a monograph on botany called "Catalogue of vegetable productions." It extended to 100 pages. In 1858 he was engaged on a work entitled "The duties of Christian masters."

In 1872 he proposed to A. S. Barnes & Co. to prepare a book on the resources of North Carolina and to issue it in three editions, English, French, and German, of 3,000 copies each. July 4, 1876, he delivered in Greensboro an address on the history of Guilford County, in which he traced the sources of its population. He had also been engaged for many years in the preparation of a work on Revelations, which was left unfinished at his death.

The bibliography of Dr. Wiley given above represents the principal sources for the history of the Common Schools in North Carolina. To this may be added a few others, as follows: Colonial and State Records, Laws, Journals and Documents of the Legislature, North Carolina University Magazine, Reports of the Literary Board, Reports and Writings of A. D. Murphey, Caldwell's Letters, Caruthers's Caldwell, Foote's Sketches.

CHAPTER XXX.

THE TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY IN CERTAIN FOREIGN COUNTRIES.1

REPORT TO THE COUNCIL OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.

By J. SCOTT KELTIE, the Society's Inspector of Geographical Education.

A very remarkable thing in the matter of education is the rise in the importance which within the last twenty-five years has been given to geography; more remarkable still that since that enhanced importance has been made manifest, it did not occur sooner to college faculties and other educated thoughtful minds. The pamphlet mentioned at the head of this article appeared in the year 1885, and contains results of Mr. Keltie's observations throughout Great Britain and several countries in Europe, which he was appointed to make for the Geographical Society of London. The extent of those observations, the author's judicious and painstaking use of the facilities everywhere accorded him, his candid admission of the inferiority of geographical instruction in his own country as compared with several others, especially with the German Empire, all contribute to make his paper very interesting. A brief review with some extracts is given in this article.

The following from the introduction shows the motive of Mr. Keltie's appointment and the scope of his duties:

The object of the council in appointing an inspector of geographical education is to obtain fuller information than they now possess regarding the position and methods of geographical education in this country and abroad.

I. As regards the United Kingdom.

A. The inspector will ascertain, by means of correspondence or by actual inspection (1) the extent to which geography of any kind is taught in our universities and public schools, and what special rewards are offered for proficiency in it; (2) the actual subjects taught under that name and the comparative time allotted to them; (3) the methods and appliances used in teaching these subjects; (4) the attitude of teachers and professors with regard to geography generally; (5) the value allotted to geography in university examinations, and with what subjects it is united.

B. The inspector will consult the reports of the examiners for the Royal Geographical Society public-schools medals.

C. He will ascertain the comparative position of geography in the examinations for the English public services, and will acquaint himself with the experiences of the examiners.

II. As regards the Continent of Europe.

The inspector will be expected to visit Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Holland, and Sweden. In making his inquiries on the Continent the inspector should keep the following points in view:

A. The position allotted to geography, especially in high schools and universities, as shown (1) by the extent to which it is taught, the maps and other appliances provided, and the rewards offered in it; (2) by the time allotted to it as compared with other subjects; (3) its comparative value in examinations; (4) by the

1 For previous article see Teaching of Geography in Central Europe. Report of Commissioner for 1892-93, vol. 1, pp. 279-321.

comparative number, status, and emoluments of professors of geography in universities as compared with those of professors of other subjects; (5) by the attendance of students in the geographical classes.

B. The extent of the field covered by geographical teaching in high schools and universities, and the standpoint from which geography is taught, whether (1) from that of physical science; (2) from that of history and politics; (3) from that of commerce.

C. The methods of instruction adopted at various stages from the primary school upward. Whether the subject ever attains the position of a discipline, as distinguished from a mere exercise of memory; whether it has been found possible to set habitually geographical problems for solution. Also the methods adopted in teaching pupils to read maps.

III. As regards America.

The inspector will ascertain, by correspondence with the proper authorities, the condition of geographical education in the United States of America.

IV. In the prosecution of his inquiries both in the United Kingdom and abroad the inspector will collect specimens of the best text-books, maps, globes, diagrams, models, and other operations used in teaching the various branches of geography. These he will arrange and classify on the society's premises for the information of the council. Where it is impracticable to obtain specimens, the inspector will report upon such contrivances as seem to him effective ends to geographical instruction, or in developing the geographical imagination.

V. On the conclusion of his inquiry the inspector will prepare a report embodying (1) a summary statement of the work done by him; (2) the results of his inquiries in the various directions indicated above; (3) the steps which he would recommend the council to take in order to improve and extend geographical education in the United Kingdom.

This commission is dated July 26, 1884.

Mr. Keltie, in pursuance of these instructions, obtained extensive acquaintance with educational institutions at home and on the Continent, beginning with those which had been invited to compete for the society's medals. Many of these he visited in person and attended class examinations. About eighty in the United Kingdom were dealt with, some of which, being regarded as representative, were described in detail and subjoined in the appendix to his report. It was already known to the council that the attention given to geography in the public schools and even in the universities was far below being adequate to its importance, and the medals bestowed by them for proficiency in the study had been discontinued. Of all the institutions, Dulwich College and Liverpool College alone exhibited proficiency deserving such reward.

The subject has grown in importance since primary instruction came under the charge of the State. The study was made compulsory, and much progress has been made under a system adopted from Germany, known there as Heimatskunde, notably in London and some of the other great cities. These schools are abundantly provided with maps, beginning with those of the district in which the schools are situated, the cities and their suburbs; besides these there are in some large wall maps, geographical pictures, sheet maps, atlases, relief maps, and accompanying those of outlying districts specimens of products, vegetable and mineral, belonging

to them.

In the appendix is a very interesting article on the Heimatskunde,' showing how minutely the Germans have studied the subject and provided for its instruction to the youngest pupils.

The report of the inspector, when discussing the higher and middle class schools of the United Kingdom, grows less and less favorable as it ascends from the primary. In all of these geography is included and receives some degree of attention, in many cases nearly nominal and in none as much as it is entitled to. As a general rule it is compulsory to a certain degree; that is, to the lower half of the school included in the third and part of the fourth forms downward. Herein it received from one hour to two and a half hours a week, while eight to sixteen

1 See Report of the Commissioner for 1892-93, vol. 1, p. 290.

hours were given to classics and four to eight to mathematics. Even in that brief allotment those who taught were only the class masters, who, with very few exceptions, had received only a classical education, and who therefore taught geography reluctantly and inefficiently. This was also only what is known as political geography, confined to learning names and situations of prominent features on the earth's surface. "In one of our greatest public schools," says Mr. Keltie, "it seemed to me that a boy might pass through the complete curriculum and never get a single lesson in geography, and at best the instruction he might get would be fragmentary and meager." There are a few noteworthy exceptions, as Dulwich College and Glasgow Academy. In very many it was shown by interviews with masters that few of them had just conceptions of what geography really is. It is clearly shown that in nearly all of the great schools of Great Britain geography receives only a beggarly share of attention compared with other studies, that it is confined to the lower classes, except where, in the higher, it is regarded ancillary to the study of history. This condition is accounted for in part by the inspector in the following paragraph taken from his report:

On the whole, I am bound to admit that the unsatisfactory position allotted to geography in our public schools is not so much the fault of the teachers as of the conditions upon which they are compelled to regulate their programmes and their methods. A perusal of the statements in the appendix (E), in which many head masters have favored me with their views on the geographical situation, will give the conviction that the present condition of geography in our public schools is almost entirely due to the exigences of examinations. Geography, we are told in so many words, does not pay. It is not recognized at the universities by either professorship or readership; it does not find a real place in any of their examinations; while in the army and navy examinations it is at a discount, and such geography as is given is of very partial character and is left mainly to crammers. The head master of one of our oldest public schools told me he deliberately warns his pupils to keep their eyes steadily fixed upon the examinations they have in view and the careers for which they are destined, and to neglect every subject, including geography, which in that view will not pay.

This at least was the difficulty in the way of geography, the failure of the universities to recognize the fullness of its value. The inspector relates that he was told by one of the most cultured and successful teachers of geography that the head master in the school wherein he taught, and even the assistant masters, used constant endeavors to make the pupils give up the study entirely.

"There is," says the inspector, "no professor of geography in any university or university college in this country. The London University examiners profess to examine in geography for matriculation, but the questions are bracketed with the history paper, and, as an authority informs me, in 90 per cent or more cases are shirked or imperfectly answered." Although there is at Oxford a lecturer on geography attached to the school of modern history, still he holds quite a subordinate place compared with the rest, who regard with derision the idea that anything scientific can be ascribed to that study, and who profess to be not able to see how it can ever be raised to a separate independent subject in the university. In Cambridge the subject is regarded as more respectable, and some efforts have been made to assign to it a distinct place on the programme. In a report of the special board for biology and geology, dated February 6, 1883, among other suggestions was this:

"University teachers should be eventually appointed in the following subjects: Agriculture, anthropology, geography, metallurgy, and mining." The inspector ascribes the failures of the appointments recommended mainly to the want of funds. At the time of the report of Mr. Keltie the subject was receiving much consideration from many of the Cambridge men. Most earnest appeals have been made by thoughtful men outside. They are telling words of Professor Mosely, one of the society's members, which Mr. Keltie quotes: "The more I gain in experience by an examination in physical geography, the more I am convinced of its

value as a subject of general education and the more I regret that it is not represented in British as in German universities. It is almost useless to expect that schools will do it justice until it is recognized at the universities, and scholarships and other inducements are open to those proficient in it."

This portion of the report closes with some extended and very apt observations upon geography in the public services. The following extract seems very striking. It is from an address of Sir Charles Wilson, R. E., at the Dublin meeting of the British Association. Speaking of the essential need of a knowledge of geography to a military man, he said:

"A commander entering upon a military campaign without such knowledge may be likened to a man groping in the dark. With it he may act with a boldness and decision that will often insure success. It was this class of knowledge, possessed in the highest degree by all great commanders, that enabled Jomini to foretell the collision of the French and Prussian armies at Jena in 1807, and in later years enabled a Prussian officer, when told that McMahon had marched northward from Chalsus, to point unerringly to Sedan as the place where a decisive battle would be fought. Chief Justice Daly, in his address to the American Geographical Society, draws attention to the Franco-German war as a 'war fought as much by maps as by weapons,' and attributes the results to skillful military movements, performed by an army thoroughly acquainted with all the geographical features of the country over which it was moved." And he adds, "It teaches that if the fate of a nation may depend upon a battle, a battle may depend on a knowledge of geography."

The report as to Great Britain ends with the following:

Except, then, in our elementary schools, in the high schools for girls, and in isolated middle-class schools, Professor Mosely's statement still holds good; geography in this country is almost entirely neglected as a matter of education. An educational authority, in writing to me, puts the situation very tersely, thus: (1) In universities it is nil. (2) In public schools very nearly nil, as the society's examinations for their medals have proved. And when it is attempted, it is given to the most incompetent master, and he has a wretched set of maps. (3) It is required for the public services and taught, I do not know how, by crammers. (4) The only places where geography is systematically taught in England are the training colleges, male and female, and the national board schools; within the last few years some few good high and middle class schools.

"Even with the time now allotted to it in our higher grade schools," adds the inspector, "much more could be made of the subject if the teachers themselves had any real knowledge of it; had some training in the best methods of teaching it, and worked on a common programme intelligently constructed, so as to cover the whole field systematically, and had at their disposal such text-books, maps, and other apparatus as are almost universal on the Continent."

The progress made in the improvement of geographical instruction since this report was offered has been slight and it still describes substantially the condition of that study in England. At the Sixth International Geographical Congress held in London, August, 1895,' it was frequently reiterated "That the treatment of geography as an educational subject in England was not as advanced as in some other countries." At the same time it was recognized that the British geographical societies were making great efforts to put it upon a better footing, and the appreciation of those efforts was voiced in the following resolution:

The attention of this International Congress having been drawn by the British members to the educational efforts being made by the British geographical societies, the Congress desires to express its hearty sympathy with such efforts, and to

1 An interesting accompaniment of this Congress, which was held in the Imperial Institute, was the exhibit of geographical appliances. This was arranged under five heads as follows: (1) Pictures, photographs and lantern slides; (2) historical collection; (3) various instruments and apparatus; (4) exhibits from various countries; (5) commercial exhibits. The next Congress will convene at Berlin, 1899.