isua-isnscatalog-1890-1891-052

Description:	INDIANA STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 51position, form, size and motions. In this part of the work the student is led to see (1) what are the astronomical conditions which primarily determine the distribution of heat over the globe (2) how fixed units of time and space measure are de¬ rived, and (3), how geographical location may be accurately ascertained ayd indicated.In the second phase, the earth is studied as to its four great constituents—the land, the water, the atmosphere, and the living forms. These are studied first in their individual nature, and then in their relation of mutual dependence. Here the special aim is. to impress the student with the fact that these four constituents of the geographical earth are so bound to¬ gether by relations of interdependence as to constitute a whole which may, with eminent propriety, be called an organism. In this connection every effort is made to bring the phenomena studied within the range of the students conscious experience. No indorsement, however, is given to the view* that the experi¬ ence of the individual, however elaborated by reflection, can ever furnish his mind with the knowledge adequate to a true conception of the geographical earth. The observations and experiences of others must, of necessity, supply to the indi¬ vidual by far the greater part of his stock of geographical ideas and since these ideas must be acquired largely through the medium of language, it is of the utmost importance that the student be exercised in the interpretation of the vast mass of geographical literature now so easily accessible to all.The second phase of the work includes the study of man, but only in his character as a member of the animal world. The study of man as a spiritual being, i. e. as a builder of in¬ stitutions—industrial, commercial, political, religious, educa¬ tional and social, belongs to the third and highest phase of geographical study, and to this the name 2>olitical geography may be appropriately applied. In the Normal School, the study of the political geography of a country consists, essentially, in a study of its human institutions, in the two-fold relation which they sustain to the physical conditions of a country. This re¬ lation is conceived to be two-fold in that, (1) physical environ¬ ment determines very largely the nature of human institutions
Source:	http://indstate.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/isuarchive/id/33246
Collection:	Indiana State University Archives

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