Marker

“ The modern map, well and thoroughly made, records faithfully every fact concerning the surface of the earth now known to man, and there is very little about it that scholarly geographers do not now know. In addition to the modern map’s accuracy, it is as much more attractive than its forebears to the eye as the beautiful color pictures now used in textbooks are seen to be when compared with the muddy wood cuts that appeared in schoolbooks a century or more ago. ”

“ As a work of art, graphically delineating the configuration of a district of surpassing beauty and variety of scenery, it will, perhaps, possess greater interest to the ordinary observer than any scientific value of accuracy and completeness could give it. If a person were called upon to construct an ideal map which should group together specimens of all types of topographical form and the conventional signs known to the draughtsman, he could hardly derive from his imagination a chart more comprehensive than this. ”

“ A map, for instance, is not usually thought of as an aesthetic object, and yet, let the tints of it be a little subtle, let the lines be a little delicate, and the masses of land and sea somewhat balanced, and we really have a beautiful thing, the charm of which consists almost entirely in its meaning. ”

“ The cultural features represented on a map include "the works of man"—not only cities, towns, buildings, bridges, railroads, and other roads, but State, county, and other boundary lines—in short, all that part of a three-color base map which is shown in black, the engraved plate for the black being called the culture plate. ”

“ Each of the three distances of each of the three compartments should be made to show the objects conspicuous to the eye from the summit of the Rigi, and those, too, which though not conspicuous, are yet of sufficient interest to be worthy of notice. With such a map before you, you would almost be able to construct, and put together, the view for yourself. He alone understands a scene, who has in his mind distinct images of all its parts, and of the relation of each to its environment. ”

“ I have always been fond of maps, and can voyage in an atlas with the greatest enjoyment. The names of places are singularly inviting; the contour of coasts and rivers is enthralling to the eye; and to hit, in a map, upon some place you have heard of before, makes history a new possession. ”

“ The habit of locating the events recorded, of tracing upon the map the route of an army, or the line of an important road or canal, and observing the impediments or natural obstructions to be overcome, with the great advantages to be derived therefrom, together with inferences as to the time and labor required, has the effect of making the study of history of living interest, especially if the map used indicates such surface structure. ”

“ She will remember that the mere placing of the maps before the pupil is not enough, that they will be as unmeaning to him as the flat political map, unless he has already in mind the primary concepts acquired through observation of surface forms, and has made his inference as to cause from the effects seen. ”

“ The map is therefore not so much to be looked at for the neatness of its appearance, and the symmetry of its proportions; but as an exercise of the mind comparing the propriety of its own nascent ideas and inventions, with the performances of adult artists, founded on observation and authority. ”

“ In preparing an original geologic map a letter symbol, such as has been just described, or a number should be put in the proper place in the explanation, and the same symbol or number should be repeated at one or more places on the map within the areas to which it refers. Each area that is indicated by a color should be marked with the proper symbol in order to make its identification sure, for light colors especially are likely to fade and mixed colors can not be discriminated with certainty. ”

“ The word map calls to our mind a picture of lines, angles, dots and circles which tell us something about a position of the surface of the earth. It gives us an idea of distance and direction, indicates heights and sometimes tells of interesting land conditions. What we see are but symbols representing a more or less true picture. ”

“ The fundamental ideas of geography and the meaning of a map are subjects well fitted to form an attractive introduction to the study. Some of them should awaken the delightful interest which attaches in a child's mind to that which is wonderful, incomprehensible, while the map lessons should lead to mechanical efforts equally delightful. It is only when presented to the child for the first time in the form of stale knowledge and foregone conclusions that the facts taught in such lessons appear dry and repulsive to him. ”

“ Such maps cannot be read by the inexperienced man, but he can develop the power so that a contour map will seem to be a picture of mountains and valleys and of hills and dales. Experience has taught me that this power is more easily gained and greatly assisted by representing relief in one color and drainage in another, as in blue; for when the knowledge that water is blue is represented in the map as blue, it will carry the streams down and aid in the perception of the relief. ”

“ Geography was learned by painting skeleton maps—an exercise much delighted in by small fingers—and by putting together puzzle maps, in which countries in the map of a continent, or counties in the map of a country, were always cut out in their proper shapes. I liked big empires in those days; there was a solid satisfaction in putting down Russia, and seeing what a large part of the map was filled up thereby.
The only grammar that we ever learned as grammar was the Latin, and that not until composition had made us familiar with the use of the rules therein given. ”

“ Pupils brought into close relations with nature, naturally seek to relate the knowledge gained in this basic study of geography, to the map; as in connection with the field lessons, after actual observation of surface areas, the student is led to model or draw what he has seen. ”

“ The Society’s map is of primary interest as revealing a conception of the earth’s surface typical of the century preceding the discovery of America. In its blending of colors and pleasing general composition it forms a work of art of no slight decorative value. Furthermore, the encircling calendar and many details on the map proper are distinctly unusual. [5] The Society has therefore undertaken the publication of a full-sized colored facsimile, in explanation of which the present book was prepared. Drawn on a piece of parchment measuring 281⁄2 by 233⁄8 inches (72.4 × 59.4 cm.) ”

“ For in the schoolroom, as far as the study of the map went, we began with the symbol and stuck to the symbol. No teacher of geography I ever had, except the master I referred to, took the pains to ascertain whether I had any sense of the facts for which the symbols stood. Outside the study of maps, geography consisted of statistics: tables of population, imports and exports, manufactures, and degrees of temperature; dimensions of rivers, mountains, and political states; with lists of minerals, plants, and plagues native to any given part of the globe. ”

“ This is to limit and cramp the mind’s action, as the pupil sees only the map and its corresponding concept of map, its size, boundaries and patches of colored paper. It gives no idea of relation or correspondence between the map and the actual world of life, form and color.
Aim of Teacher. In using maps it should be the aim of teachers to create in the mind a complete, harmonious picture; the blending together of the several concepts of structure, climate, drainage, soil, vegetation, animal life, [35] races of men, etc., corresponding to reality, or real life in the real world. ”

“ In your walks with the children through the country take every opportunity to explain the different geographical formations. Find an illustration for an isthmus even if it is only a small puddle, or if you have to make one in the back yard with a shovel and a pail of water. The sand-box method, because it is visual, has always been a successful one for teaching geography.
Visualize the Map
See clearly the outline of the country being studied, and note its peculiarities. Put the map at arm's length and let your imagination transform the contour of the country into the picture of some object. ”

“ In fine, the whole world surface should become a reality to him if the map is rightly taught. This will be an easy matter for a teacher who is alive to the beauty of the world around us and who has a personal knowledge or clearly pictured concepts of the real country. Such an one will readily see the value of the maps as an aid to the pupil in gaining a comprehensive mental picture of the earth’s surface. ”

“ Such is the conception of an accurate map which is an attempt to produce on a plain surface or sheet of paper, a horizontal projection of objects on the ground, which will show the relative positions of every detail on any desired scale with as little distortion as possible, and on which distances may be measured in any direction, and areas computed with a degree of accuracy only limited by the scale. ”

“ We read how the truths have appealed to his own consciousness. It stands where the relief map itself stands, as representing the delineator’s own mental image of such structure.
There are no lines drawn in this map that contradict or confuse the meaning; all is direct, truthful and clear in statement of fact. Each line has its own particular meaning. If represents direction. Applied to land surface, a vertical line means a perpendicular mountain or side wall of plateau, horizontal lines indicate level areas, and oblique lines a sloping surface. ”

“ You have only to take the map, and mark the points to be connected, and then with a single sweep of the pencil to draw the line along which the iron track is to run. In this airy flight of the imagination, distances are nothing. ”

“ You have a map of life which is like your maps of the world—with all the safe known places marked by their familiar names, and outside you have drawn childish pictures of fabulous beasts, and written, "This is a desert." ”

“ Make this background as large as you desire, the larger the better, and make all the figures herein mentioned of the same material and put the rough side of each figure against the background, pressing down the figure and smoothing it out with the hand, and it will stay in its place without the use of pins or tacks. The fact that it stays put develops a great degree of interest in the little folks, and they will watch you with big eyes of curiosity. In building this rag map first cut out a number of strips about one inch wide, and with these make the coast-line. ”

“ There is an immense difference between this and a drawing from a relief map, or from a photograph of one. In this map the delineator expresses at first hand his own concept of the continental structure, as the artist or poet expresses in his work his own original ideas. We feel his thought in the very quality of line used. ”

“ After a little practice in map reading one becomes proficient and he will be able if in unsurveyed territory to make his own map. Get the compass directions from the camp of every prominent landmark with particular attention to streams and the ridges separating them. If one is out exploring it is a good idea to climb to the summit of some bare faced promontory and there study the topography of the country:—the location of the lakes, swamps, whither the streams run, the number and direction of the ridges, etc. ”

“ The correctness or the truth of a map consists in the correspondence between the reality and the diagram, which is an arbitrary sign of it. Throughout the whole of our ordinary life we find that we make use of symbols and signs that are not themselves either parts of or copies of the things for which they stand. ”

“ Man, when in his unfallen estate, bore the image of God, but it must have been a miniature image at best;—the proportion of man’s week to that of his Maker may, for aught that appears, be mathematically just in its proportions, and yet be a miniature image too,—the mere scale of a map, on which inches represent geographical degrees. ”

“ The earth seems to unfold itself to our view like an immense and variegated map, the predominant colour of which is green in all its shades and tints. The irregular division of the country into fields made it resemble a patchwork counterpane. ”

“ The lesson that was enforced in passing from the large parish plan to the county map, and from the county map to the general wall-map of the country, may now again be dwelt upon in advancing from the wall-map to the globe. And thus, by a continuous chain of illustration, the minds of the learners are led upward and outward from their school surroundings to realize the shape and dimensions of the earth. ”

“ Carefully as one may study a map, there is no way of learning geography comparable to the pedestrian method, which, by a thousand associations of pleasure, fatigue and weather, fixes indelibly the minutest topographical facts, and enables the student of history to understand the vicissitudes of warfare. ”

“ Study a good map—a quadrangle of the U. S. Geological Survey, for instance. Note what things are represented, and how representation is made: study the map, until it is thoroughly understood.
There are three factors with which the map-maker deals: direction, distance, and elevation. With the first, he must always reckon, and usually with the second and the third as well.
Direction is fundamental. Suppose there are three dominant points in the area to be mapped, relatively situated as here indicated. ”

“ One may afterwards follow out each recognized lineation into further complexities or joinings, as you might trace out a railway line with its various junctions in a map.
Diagrammatic Analysis of Lineations in a Restricted Section.
A photographic enlargement, meant for forensic use, ought not to be marked or soiled in any way, but dots of coloured chalk or ink might be placed along the margins to denote where imaginary ruled lines might begin or end. One might also use glazed tissue paper, ruled in squares, or with eccentric circles like the mileage lines in a map of London. ”