Excerpt from Elements of Physical and Political Geography The department of Natural or Physical Geography has hitherto received but little attention in our schools. The time of the learner has been chiefly spent upon the accidental or artificial divisions of the earth; in learning estimates of population and extent, which, if true to-day, may be false to-morrow; in committing to memory a dry catalogue of names and definitions without any intelligible ideas associated with them - a collection of unmeaning facts, to be forgotten more easily than learned. It is of comparatively little use for a child to be told that " the earth is one of the planets," if he does not know what a planet is; or to learn the location and extent of certain mountains, seas, and rivers, if he does not perceive their influence upon climate, vegetation, and the condition of man. The study of geography should not be limited to a mere description of the earth's surface, and of the organized existences which inhabit it. We should trace the general phenomena of the globe to the causes from which they originate; we should endeavor to perceive that nice adaptation of means to ends in the relative position, proportion, and configuration of the land and water of the globe, which is so obvious in any single specimen of organic life. "In teaching geography," says Dr. Wayland, "I would treat it as I would any other branch of physical knowledge. I would look upon the earth as a grand specimen in physical science, presented for our examination. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.