e practical uses which ought to be made of them.
The only legitimate use of history is to direct us how we ought to
conduct ourselves as citizens, and how rulers and governors can most
safely and successfully manage the affairs of the public, in all the
varying events of political change. The teacher therefore is to
communicate the facts, for the purpose of turning them to use, by
drawing, and teaching his pupils how to draw lessons of prudence,
energy, or caution, as regards the nation;--in the same way that
Biography is taught for the sake of drawing lessons of a more personal
kind, as regards a family or a neighbourhood. Both were practically
exhibited in the experiment in Aberdeen; by which it was made obvious,
that children, as well as adults, were capable of studying it. Where the
circumstances of a seminary will admit, it ought not to be neglected.
The mere inconveniences which may for some time attend the introduction
of such a mode of teaching history is no good reason for its neglect;
and the want of practical elementary books drawn up upon this plan, in
the form of successive "Steps," is the chief desideratum, which we hope
soon to see supplied.

_Geography_ is another branch of education pointed out to us by Nature
for the benefit of man. We speak here, however, of physical geography,
and not of the historical and political departments of it. These belong
more properly to history. The chief object in teaching this science, is
to convey to the mind of the pupil a correct idea of this world as a
sphere, on the top of which he stands, and of the relative positions of
all the kingdoms and countries on its surface. This will be, and it
ought to be, a work of time. The more correctly and familiarly the pupil
can form the idea of this sphere as a whole, the sooner and the better
will he become acquainted with its parts. Acting upon the principles of
reiteration and analysis, formerly described, the pupil ought to
sketch, however rudely, the great outlines of the four divisions of the
earth, upon a blank, or slate globe, till he can do so with some degree
of correctness. The separated divisions may then be sketched on a common
slate, without caring as yet for the details; and when this can be
accomplished readily, the same thing may be done with the different
kingdoms of which they are severally composed. The child ought never to
be harassed by the minute details, till he comes to sketch the
countries, or the counti