This series of geographies has been written with the conviction that it is the special function of geography to describe and explain the relationships existing between man and his natural environment. The material throughout the series has been selected and presented with a view to giving the pupils an understanding of such relationships, and to providing for purposeful activity on their part.

In keeping with a widespread demand among educators for the elimination of waste in the work in geography in the grades, most of the regions of the world are treated but once, and those of little import to the young citizens of America are subordinated appropriately. As a result, much space has been gained, and this has permitted a treatment of regions of large significance which is more extended and richer than otherwise would have been possible.

The first book of the series, - "Journeys in Distant Lands," deals with the life of representative peoples in selected environments throughout the world. The United States and Canada are considered in the second book, with emphasis on the United States. Eurasia is treated in the third book, while Latin America, Africa, and Australia are handled in the fourth and last book. The fourth book closes with a "world view" which stresses the commercial and political relations of the United States. This series of geographies will also appear in a twovolume edition.

The text is graded carefully with reference to difficulty of language and of ideas. The facts presented have been chosen with a view especially to developing and illustrating principles, and the pupil is led to apply the principles mastered in the earlier studies to the solution of later problems. Geographical terms are introduced only when needed and only after the underlying concepts have been made clear. No single method of presenting material has been followed, various methods having been employed as seemed most effective in particular cases. Whatever the method, the text systematically provides for supervised study. By means of varied exercises, definite goals are set up for the pupil to reach through the study of text, maps, and pictures, used singly or in some combination. Explicit directions for procedure in such studies are given, and means are provided by which the pupil can check his own conclusions. Review frequently is accomplished by the application of familiar principles to new situations, and, especially in the earlier units, liberal use is made of drill devices on the play level. Since from beginning to end the text deals with the relations of specific groups of people to their natural environments, the treatment throughout is regional in character.

The colored maps (except those in the appendices) are characterized especially by their simplicity; they are not intended to serve as general reference maps, and few or no names appear on them that do not function in the text discussion. Like the reading matter to which they are closely tied, the maps are progressive in character; the simpler ideas are developed very early, while such difficult matters as latitude and longitude are introduced only when needed at comparatively late stages. The novel treatment of the earlier maps, especially of the series of unlettered maps superimposed on the globe, was designed to develop, at the outset, correct habits of map reading and a real understanding of the size and form of the earth.

The pictures are restricted to views of real geographic quality and are an integral and vitally important part of the text rather than merely illustrative of it. Definite and varied provision is made for their use as a source of information, and captions are omitted in order that picture study really may accomplish the ends of field study, in so far as the nature of the case permits.

The materials of the first book are arranged and treated with a view to leading the child to develop a concept of the world as a whole, and to sense the relationships between distance from the equator and man’s activities. At the outset, the child is more interested in remote lands than in his home surroundings; moreover, it is only after he views the life of other people in unfamiliar environments that he can consider effectively the relationship of his home life to the familiar local environment. The last section of the book is designed particularly to test the pupil’s knowledge of basic principles developed in earlier sections, by requiring the application of these principles to lands not visited on the "journeys," and to give the pupil a glimpse of the opportunities awaiting him in the later books of the series.

Many of the methods and nearly all of the materials in the books have been developed and tested during several years by the junior author, in the Laboratory Schools of the University of Chicago.