New-York tribune., 1871-06-24
SPHERICAL GEOGRAPHY.

In these DAYS of universal intercommunica-
tionof railway lines and steamship routes, and tele
graphs crossing continents and oeeansevery man who
would keep up with the great facts and enterprises of
the age finds his school knowledge OF Geography utterly
Inadequate and often falaciOus He finds some OF the
most remarkable and important facts to relative loea
ton and distances breaking upon his mind as new revea
tons His ideas Of places and their relations within the
several countries may be correct enough but not so Of
those whose distance measured by on the earh
surface AS to these the ideas given by our study Of
map-geography were full Of errors.
Every schoolboy knew and knows that Abanyis north
Of New-York and that Buffalo is west of Albany but
how many are there who learned in sohooldays that
Newfoundland Is right along the direct rOue from new
York Liverpool and not away north OF IT; or that the
Azores are the direct course TO POrtugal or that
Japan is the due OF the ocean steamers ron
San Francisco to China or the wonderful differences N
with the sOuthernas, for instance that the western
point OF Lake Superior is $50 miles nearer to Pugets
Sound than Chicago is TO San FranciscOi
How many Of us, who have not renewed ana rectlned
geography by the study of the globe realize that the
uf OF Mexico penetrates North America at the lshmus
of Tehuantepec far the western boundary OF Nils
sOur or that much OF the western coaster south Amer
The mere mention of some of these illusions reminds
in the mind it is as say, very hard to get them out
of our heads" NOw the true way Is, 30 TO learn geOgra
1hy as never TO get them in To correct these wrong
impressions received from the attempt TO understand
the surface of sphere from plane, there Is urgent
need of representation of the globe by globes. To meet
Inherent from the costly and heavy globes that adorn
our libraries The real want is light, portable globe
easily placed at the study yable, hung over it, per
fecty manageable in the hand soft and pleasant to the
eve and so cheap be made universal as education
itself ,--.,
The beautiful India rubber globes, recently invented
appear to embrace all these advantages and we gladly
learn that they are TO be offered for general intro
dueton into schools. They will give new charm and
new value to the study Of of the most pleasant and
useful branches of science. They are plainly printed
and agreeaby colOred that the rests upon them
without that glare which always roma vanished
sphere Ocean routes and telegraph and railway lines
NAV be easily traced upon them, which VIII give a
clearer comprehension Of trausoceanc, and
mental lines OF communication than pages OF description
II was favore idea of that eminent educator Horace
Mann, that all the common schoolrooms OF Massachu-
with this view he invented HIMSELF but their manu-
facture was not then advanced enough to enable him TO
carry ont his idea Such globe as Is now offered would
have been beyond his hopes. and would have given him
the power OF making valuable addition to the appL
ances of the schools to which he devoted his hfe We
trust our living teachers will appreciate and avail them
selves of this beautiful acquisition.