yields tea and silk; Burma, timber and rice; India, cotton and indigo; Ceylon, coffee; Mauritius, sugar; Australia, wool and gold; the United States supply cotton, grain, &c. Hence in London a person may purchase nearly as many articles as if he visited the bazars of every country in the world.

A knowledge of geography is especially required in India. Some districts swarm with inhabitants. Belgium, the most densely peopled country in Europe, has 450 inhabitants to the square mile; the district of Hooghly in Bengal has upwards of a thousand. As the population of India increases, it will become more and more difficult to guard against famines; pestilence will become more and more destructive. The best remedy is that followed in Europe. The English, Germans, and others, emigrate to foreign countries. There are millions of European descendants now cultivating the fertile plains of America, enjoying comfort and plenty, who, if they had remained in an over-stocked country, would have endured great hardships. All are benefited by emigration-both those who go and those who remain.

While Hindus should be ready, like Europeans, to go wherever they can better themselves, there is still ample room in many parts of India for increased population. Over the whole country, the number of inhabitants to the square mile is only about 160. It is true that some parts are sandy. wastes, but there are rich tracts very thinly peopled. The Central Provinces have only 110 inhabitants to the square mile; Chota Nagpore has 87; Assam, 47; British Burma, 30. If persons went from over-crowded districts to such provinces, much good would be the result.

One great obstacle to emigration has been ignorance of geography. The people, knowing nothing beyond a little tract around them, and supposing

that they would encounter all manner of evils if they left their own villages, have remained in the same spot. Some acquaintance with geography would dispel such fears, and eventually lead to a great improvement in the condition of the people. Nor would its advantages be confined to the poor. A knowledge of geography would promote foreign com

merce.

One of the chief causes of the failure of Indian students in geography, is the neglect of maps. A mere string of names is often committed to memory, the only aid to their recollection being their place in the text-book. A map is somewhat like a picture, which is far more easily remembered. Formerly maps were expensive; atlases can now be purchased for a few annas.

The student should first endeavour to obtain a clear idea of the position and boundaries of a country. Its outline and size should next be considered. Mountains and the general slope determine the courses of rivers. The position of cities is largely regulated by rivers, as they yield a supply of water, and their banks are usually the most fertile parts of a country. Cities may be recollected by their situations and any remarkable circumstances with which they are associated.

The student should be able from memory to draw maps with tolerable accuracy. This exercise is very valuable both as a test of knowledge and as the best means of impressing upon the mind the features of a country. In drawing maps, first sketch the general outline, next the mountains, the rivers, the political divisions, and the cities. To descend in imagination a large river from its source to its mouth, tracing its affluents, and noting the cities on its banks; to make supposed journeys, &c.; are excellent exercises. Examination papers in geography usually

require map drawing, and it receives a considerable number of marks.

HISTORY.-An old Greek writer defines History as Philosophy teaching by example." As the young may profit by the experience of the old, so nations may derive benefit from a knowledge of history.

Indian literature is as destitute of historical works, strictly so called, as it is of books of travels. Professor Cowell, formerly Principal of the Sanskrit College, Calcutta, says :

"The very word history has no corresponding Indian expression. In the vernaculars derived from the Sanskrit we use the word itihas-a curious compound of three words, iti, ha, ása, which almost correspond in meaning to our old nursery phrase, There was once upon a time.' In Sanskrit authors, the name means simply a legend. . . From the very earliest ages down to our own day, the Hindu mind seems never to have conceived such an idea as an authentic record of past facts based on evidence. It has remained from generation to generation stationary, in that condition which Mr. Grote has described so vividly in the first two volumes of his 'History of Greece.' The idlest legend has passed current as readily as the most authentic fact, nay, more readily, because it is more likely to charm the imagination: and, in this phase of mind, imagination and feeling supply the only proof which is needed to win the belief of the audience."

There is therefore the more need that Hindus should study history.

To render history of real value, it is essential that it should be properly written. "School-history has hitherto been little more than a record of wars and of the genealogy and personal peculiarities of sovercigns.' "The king was everything and the people nothing." History should describe the changes in

the food, clothing, dwellings, and daily life of a nation; the improvements in agriculture and manufactures; the spread of education and the growth of literature. The changes in Government, the progress of liberty, the struggles with other countries, should also be recorded. The religious history of a nation is a feature of great importance. The "object of the study of history is not only to acquire knowledge, but to form the judgment, so that it shall be able to apply the lessons of past times to the present." By degrees, this will be better secured by a superior class of text-books.

On the study of history only a few remarks will be made.

The text-book prescribed must be thoroughly mastered. Every place mentioned, if not already well known, should be found in the map. The best mode of impressing the leading facts upon the mind is to prepare a careful abstract, with the principal dates. This should afterwards be written out from memory, and the process should be repeated till perfect accuracy is secured. Frequent revision is necessary. The text-book should be gone over as well as the analysis, or the student will be unable to give the details required at examinations.

For general history, what is termed the "Stream of Time," representing the different kingdoms as branches of a mighty river, will be found useful. Historical maps should be consulted; chronological tables are valuable. Genealogical trees, showing the descent of royal families, may be prepared with advantage.

As in other subjects, examination questions previously set will afford useful hints to students.

G

IX. PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SCIENCE. PHYSICAL SCIENCE.-One characteristic of modern times is the great advance which has been made in science. In literature, the ancient Greeks surpassed any writers of the present day; but in scientific knowledge, they were greatly inferior. The Hindus enumerate 64 arts and sciences. Many of them, however, are purely imaginary, as those which treat of incantations, the art of walking in the air, the power of leaving one's own body and entering another lifeless body or substance, &c. In physical science, on the whole, Hindus made little progress. Some advance was made in medicine; astronomy was studied for astrological purposes; chemistry for alchemy. The grand defect was the want of careful observation. The Puranas contain descriptions of the earth, with its continents and seas of sugar-cane juice, buttermilk, &c. The authors, however, instead of travelling, like Livingstone, to gain knowledge, framed systems out of their imagination. A Pundit at Benares, a few years ago, wrote an essay to prove that oil, from its supposed constituents, must be heavier than water!

To the progress in science in the west, we are indebted for the steam-engine, the electric telegraph, and many other inventions which have contributed so much to social advancement.

It must be confessed that it is only of late years, even in England, that the claims of Physical Science as a branch of education have begun to be admitted. Even yet, the subject is taught systematically only in a few superior schools. Until recently, it was almost totally overlooked in India. The Bengal Council of Education remarked, "Every thing that strikes the senses, one half of the whole circle of knowledge is, as it were, neglected in our present scheme of education." This reproach, however, is gradually being removed.