Arnold Guyot (1807-1884) and the Pestalozzian approach to geology education

Autor(en): Wilson, Philip K.

Objekttyp: Article

Zeitschrift: Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae

Band (Jahr): 92 (1999)

Heft 3

PDF erstellt am: 04.10.2021

Persistenter Link: http://doi.org/10.5169/seals-168674

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Arnold GUYOT (1807-1884) and the Pestalozzian approach to geology education

Philip K.Wilson1

(Paper presented at the meeting of the International Commission on the History of the Geological Sciences (INHIGEO). Neuchâtel. Sept. 9-11. 1998)

Ke\ Words: Arnold Guyot. Carl Ritter. Johann Heinrich Pestalo/zi. geology, education

ABSTRACT ZUSAMMENFASSUNG

Swiss-American geologist and geographer. Arnold GUYOT's (1807-1884) Der schweizerisch-amerikanische Geologe und Geograph Arnold GUYOT Princeton University geology lectures employed three Pestalozzian methods: (1807-1884) gründete seine geologischen Vorlesungen an der Universität 1 studying local nature before comparing it with distant regions: 2) observing Princeton auf pestalozzische Methoden: 1 zuerst die Natur der näheren Umgebung nature first hand, then later integrating this perceptual knowledge with more zu untersuchen, ehe man Vergleiche mit entfernten Regionen anstellt. 2) profound analytic and synthetic thinking: and 3) utilizing extensive visuals lo zuerst die Natur selbst zu beobachten und diese Erkenntnisse erst später in ein clarify observations. These pedagogical methods remain crucial in provoking vertieftes analytisches und svnthetisches Gedankengebäude einzubringen: und an understanding of the history of the globe and of mankind's interconnectedness 3) die Beobachtungen durch ausführliche bildliche Darstellung verständlich with the cosmos zu machen. Diese pädagogischen Methoden sind nach wie vor von grundlegender Bedeutung für das Verständnis der Geschichte der Erde und der Verbundenheit der Menschheit mit dem Kosmos.

The United States' mentor. Carl RITTER. RITTER had visited PESTALOZZI National Education in Yverdon - at the southern tip of Lake Neuchâtel - for several Association's 1894 months in 1807. Although he later admitted that Committee of Ten PESTALOZZI "knew less geography than a child in one of ?+> Curricular Report our primary schools", it was through him that RITTER admittedly established physical gained "his chief knowledge of this science" (De Guimps geography as the 1900:264). For it was through his extensive interactions with model general PESTALOZZI that exposed him to the "natural method" of science course for education. By applying this method to university geography secondary education. teaching, he claimed to have reduced the "chaos" of the jumbled Geography's facts of this science to an attainable "order". Using nineteenth-century rise PESTALOZZIS method. RITTER claimed "I hold in my in stature among ihe hand. the clue to such a knowledge of the globe as will satisfy sciences in American both the mind and the heart, reveal the laws of a higher education was wisdom, and contribute not a little to the science of physico-theol- primarily due to the ogy" (De Guimps 1900: 263-264). pedagogical prowess RITTER espoused PESTALOZZIS method of this new of the Neuchâtel- science in his University of Berlin lectures which typically born geographer and geologist. Arnold GUYOT. GUYOT. drew between 300 to 400 students and many fellow academics. through his education in Berlin, was exposed to the teaching One of these students was Arnold GUYOT. GUYOT later doctrine of his fellow Swiss nationalist. Johann Heinrich served as Professor of Physical Geography and Universal PESTALOZZI, under the tutelage of his own natural history History at the Academy of Neuchâtel. When the 1848 Swiss revo-

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Arnold Guyot's Pestalozzian geology lectures 321 lution aganst Prussian rule closed the Academy. GUYOT. cussed GUYOT's contributions towards a better understanding following his colleague and sometimes roommate. Louis AGASSIZ. of Neuchâtel's natural history (Schaer 1988). Geographers fled t the United States. GUYOT was initially employed Sidney ROSEN and Robert ANSTEY described how the by the Massachusetts State Board of Education to conduct Guyot Geographical Series of grammar and secondary school teacher's institutes" (i.e., workshops) devoted to improving textbooks which GUYOT collaboratively produced with Mary the methids of geography teaching. His local and national Howe SMITH from 1866 to 1882 "revolutionized" geography popularity in the states escalated as he spoke to over 1500 instruction in the United States (Rosen 1957. Anstev 1958). teachers a year between 1849 and 1855 at various normal This paper focuses upon the methods GUYOT employed in schools and at teacher's institutes held at the Anderson School leaching geology in New Jersey. I have analyzed GUYOT's of Natural History on Penikese Island. Nantucket. Massachusetts Princeton University lecture notes, the notebooks of his (Libbey 1884:25). In 1855. he began what resulted in a students, and material from the university's archives to uncover thirty-year professorship in Physical Geography and Geology the extent to which his own pedagogy of geology was tied to at the Col ege of New Jersey (now. Princeton University). His Pestalo/zian principles. As GUYOT frequently lectured professorship initiated the academic study of these two extemporaneously, using only scant notes, the historical importance disciplines in the United States, and his influence through students of his students' formally prepared lecture notebooks including he geologist and paleontologist. William Berryman remains paramount. SCOTT, tie physical geographer. William LIBBEY. and the From the outset. I fully appreciate that for GUYOT and comparative anatomist. Henry Fairfield OSBORN. secured many of his contemporaries (especially those trained in the Geology's academic and professional position in the United German tradition), geology and physical geography were States. intimately intertwined. Indeed, he specifically incorporated geology GUYOT had previously gained geological renown in into his geography teaching as well as into his Biblical Switzerland for his studies on the morphology and temperatures cosmogony lectures to the Princeton Theological Seminary. Thus, of the lakes of Neuchâtel and Morat. and for uncovering for GUYOT. it would have made little sense to focus on geology the causes or laws of glacial motion as evidenced, in part, by alone. However, as it was his framework of geological thinking the positions of extant erratic boulders - the latter resulting that was most directly challenged by the evolutionary from his extensive glacial studies with AGASSIZ (Guyot 1838. discourse beginning in the lSmithsonian Institution. GUYOT. it also incorporated an understanding of the interactions GUYOT established fifty weather stations in New York state - between the earth and all previous living "lower stage" modeled Lpon the earlier design of stations he designed in organisms as one ascended the scale of creation towards man. Switzerland - from which he gathered standardized climato- It was a "difficult task". GUYOT argued, to "trace out the logical data. These stations eventually expanded into the history" of the globe before man without using "our imagination Government Sgnal Service, now known as the U.S. Weather in saying what might have been". But the "method of geology" Bureau (Flemming 1990:117-122). His geological contributions in 1859 was not what it once was. According to GUYOT. geology were comnemorated by Harry H. HESS's designation of the was no longer a "fanciful stringing together of facts". flat-topped undersea mountains, or seamounts. as guyots Rather, it had become a more sophisticated interpreation of (Hess 194f). More recently, a lunar crater has been named in facts based upon a "regular system" (Huger 1859:5-6). Specifically. his honor. Interestingly, one of GUYOT's first professional GUYOT's new science of geology required a particular tasks, wording under the direction of Alexander von affinity with the facts. If we have only "simple facts in our HUMBOLDT, lad been to "translate and prepare a notice of memory, we have nothing unless they have some reality to us" BAER anJ MAELDER's large map of the moon" (Libbey (Huger 1859:20). 1884:16). Little did he know that future selenographers would To understand what he meant by "particular affinity". I commemo-ate his own renown with a crater on their lunar turn to an analogy, a rhetorical device to which GUYOT often cartography. resorted. GUYOT claimed that facts must "enter [the mind] as All of GUYOT's professional pursuits are central to my stone and brick" enter "a building". One can never have a stable larger proect. a scientific biography of this notable Swiss- or beautiful building of knowledge with "mere facts alone". American. Geologist Jean-Paul SCHAER has previously dis¬ Rather, the "idea" of a building is only complete when we

322 P. K. W Ison understand the "connection and relationship]" of the component earth must be viewed as a whole, dynamic, developing parts. "We are to look at the prominent facts and trace organism comprising nature, man. and moral and intellectual life their relations", he argued. "We may know every little part of all interconnected or "hanging together". a thing, but without knowing [its inter]connection[s]. we know In addition to reinforcing these theological and philosophical nothing [of] what we want." If we "don't see the relations- convictions. GUYOT's presentation of geology also [ships], we are merely animal[s] of keen sharp sight and reflects his strong conviction towards Pestalozzian pedagogy. hearing: looking at these things and hearing them without Three of PESTALOZZI's methods are particularly prominent understanding" (Smith 1873:57-58). HUMBOLDT studied the in GUYOT's lectures: 1 The importance placed upon students globe exclusive of man. and he tried to give us a "Cosmos", but gaining a preliminary understanding of local nature before "he failed". GUYOT decreed. Man "cannot be known studying and comparing that of far away regions; 2) The thoroughly without [relative knowledge of] the lower forms". Man importance of observing nature first hand, then progressing from "is dependent upon the climate, animal and vegetable life, and this preparatory "perceptive" stage through later "analytic" upon the whole arrangements of the globe. The higher [forms and more profound "synthetic" stages through which the of life] use the lower for instruments". Geology, therefore, perceptual knowledge became interrelated: and 3) The importance must incorporate a study of the mutual dependence of how of using visual arts to clarify and express students" "one [life form] exists and furnishes subsistence for the other" observations. (Smith 1873:65). As early as 1774. PESTALOZZI argued that schools This "'new" science incorporated a regular, systematic were, through an unwavering tradition, institutions that actually interpretation of the facts of geology. For GUYOT. "three great destroyed students' originality and imagination. Students facts" existed: 1) The stratification of the Earth: 2) The had become enslaved to a hopeless "bookish" catechism of dynamic forces which gave the globe its shape: and 3) The fossil education (Downs 1975:16). Through a series of writings, most evidence of a history of life forms (Huger 1859:20). As a history notably. Wie Gertrud ihre Kinder lehrt, written while at student of Jules MICHELET, and a former professor of Burgdorf in the canton of Bern. PESTALOZZI elaborated Universal History and Geography himself, GUYOT upon a novel method of education. Teaching, he argued, envisioned that history implied succession and processes which should proceed from the concrete to the abstract. For naturally take time. The historical changes of our globe, for example, PESTALOZZI's students (actually children), this process had he argued, occurred over millennia. involved intensely observ ing Ihe 1 oca 1 country, drawing maps of For the geologist, particularly a theistic. Christian geologist the familiar neighborhoods and landscapes, then revisiting the like GUYOT (who had initially pursued an education in theology), lands to allow students to refine the accuracy of their drawings. the dynamic forces and movements associated with Only after formulating a more concrete knowledge of the recent structural changes of the earth must be considered in relation local surrounds were his students permitted to expand their to the "processes which have been employed by the study towards distant lands. The ordinary, immediate creator since the creation of the globe". GUYOT envisioned a surrounds were deemed to be particularly useful in cultivating a "permanence" in what he termed the creative "laws of God" student's powers of observation. Through this power, they (Huger 1859:79-80). And God's laws were purposeful. For began to understand what was real in the world around them example, the marine fossils and bedrock that GUYOT found on and to connect the natural relationships before extending mountaintops which many alleged to be mere "sports of their gaze more globally. nature" were actually there for a purpose: they provided GUYOT. in his lectures, argued that it was only through evidence of dynamic geological forces. God does not sport with direct observation of the solid earth, the water surrounding it. nature. Rather. GUYOT argued, a teleological pattern exists and the plants and animals in and on the earth that they would m nature which, when interpreted as part of a world view, learn the facts of geology. From these facts, he argued, you reveals not only geology's realistic past history, but also "the can then inductively determine truths - truths such as the beauty & intelligence of [God's entire] creation" (Huger answer to whether the earth was "always as it now is" (Maclean 1859:6). 1857:1). To begin answering such critical questions. GUYOT These glimpses of GUYOT as conveyed through his first turned students' attention to their own Princeton campus student's notes reinforce science historian Ronald NUMBER'S and then to the Allegheny Mountains in nearby Pennsylvania. analysis of GUYOT's harmonic vision between the nebular For instance, he claimed that an abundance of sandstone hypothesis of cosmogony and the Mosaic creation narrative existed in both places. A "simple glance at another rock", he (Numbers 1992:9-11). GUYOT. as a memorial epitaph signified, continued, was "sufficient to prove that it is made of slate was ever the "devout student of Nature who loved to [but] not an original [slate]". Rather, it is "sand coagulated trace the Wisdom and Goodness of God in the works of with broken pieces of other rocks adhering to it" (Maclean Creation" (Memorial Tablet 1890). However, the university notes 1857:1). Only after understanding the solid granite composition also reveal GUYOT's unflagging support of his mentor. Carl ofthe local Pennsylvania mountains should students compare RITTER's expressed belief in "Zusammenhang" - or a literal and contrast it with that found further from home, such "hanging togetherness" of all things. In organicist terms, the as in the Swiss Alps.

Arnold Guyol's Pestalozzian geology lectures 323 However, merely reading and reciting such details about the summer of 1877 was organized and led by William B. these rock formations was. to GUYOT, a waste of time. "Geology Bill" SCOTT and Henry Fairfield OSBORN. This venture PESTALOZZI had argued that "words apart from the ideas exposed and retrieved many paleontological specimens they represent have no value". He had envisioned that teachers from the Bridger Basin area of Wyoming's Bad Lands which should provide students with "fruitful and salutary impressions" were subsequently added to GUYOT's teaching museum. which followed each other in a "natural" but "carefully PESTALOZZI had argued that ideas became solidified graduated order" (De Guimps 1900:412-413). through "graphic exercises" and through drawing. For geology PESTALOZZI's educational psychology was based upon what he - as was also true for geography - learning to design and read termed Anschauung - a perception or observation that maps was viewed as essential for enhancing one's enabled one to identify his or her interconnectedness with the sense-impressions. That is. the words of geology became more universe. Such perception, he argued, was founded more upon meaningful, more useful, when reinforced through visual representation. first-hand observation than upon anything one ever read in books (Downs 1975:83). Like PESTALOZZI. GUYOT adopted the medium of Like PESTALOZZI, GUYOT began his course with a multi-colored pictorial maps as part of his pedagogy. With the direct study of nature - not books. According to his student. assistance of his nephew. Ernest SANDOZ. GUYOT designed William B. SCOTT, the professor "threw aside the old routine at least 46 large wall hangings to illustrate central points of his methods and brought the student face to face with nature, lectures. Relevant to his geology course, six wall hangings fo- showing the bearing of the earth's physical features upon every cussed on '"geologic processes" such as the formation of department of human interest" (Scott 1884:263). Although earthquakes, volcanoes, and glaciers, eleven presented pre-Pleistocene GUYOT regularly imparted key findings of geological geology, and four were devoted to Pleistocene (Glacial) discoverers and debates from natural philosophers including geology. One of the wall hangings was a 2.4 x 3.4-meter map of CUVIER. WERNER, von BUCH. LYELL. PLAYFAIR. the distribution of glacially transported erratic boulders ARAGO. AGASSIZ. and DANA, he based his lectures - or throughout Switzerland. The path of transport of each different rather demonstrations - upon the "reading" of natural specimens. rock type was depicted in a different color. When GUYOT assumed the chair at Princeton, no natural According to his student. William LIBBEY. GUYOT history collection existed at the school. He immediately "aimed to teach the mind through the eye as well as by oral gathered a small group of fossils and later purchased specimens instruction". His "diagrams and maps were a good example of from Europe of various geological ages. In 1874, the the way in which he met the demand for facts systematically trustees at Princeton offered GUYOT the large room in Old arranged. they always contained just the facts needed, no Nassau Hall that had previously been used as the university more, or no less, they were clearly expressed and printed so library (and for five months in 17

324 P.K.Wilson specialists today argue that the most successful teaching methods 1842: Nouvelles observations sur la dissémination du lerrain erratique dans le grand bassin de la Suisse-Basse et les flancs du Jura. Verh. build a student's "comfort zone" of knowledge. sur upon Schweiz. Natf. Ges. 27. 132-145. Rather than students to lists of initially subjecting long 1846: Notice sur la carte du fond des lacs de Neuchâlel el Moral. - Bull. "foreign" scientific terminology, perhaps we would all benefit from Soc. Sci. Nat. Neuchâlel. 1. 113-115.413. allowing them to experience GUYOT's expressed belief that 1849: The Earth and Man: Lectures on Comparative Physical Geography. m its Relation to Ihe of Mankind. Gould. Kendall, and Lincoln. terms and concepts are only of lasting value if they are first History - Boston engrained the familiar and then reinforced through visual, upon 1861: On the Appalachian Mountain System. - Amer J Sci Aris 31. sense-impressions. 157-187. Perhaps we. as academicians, should consider how these 1880: On ihe Physical Structure and Hypsometrj of Ihe Catskill Mountain J. Sci. 19. 429-150. methods might be further incorporated into our own classroom Region. - Amer. Ht SS. H.H. 1946: Drowned Ancient Islands of the Pacific Basin. Amer J. Sci. instruction and remain crucial - today. Geology geography 244.772-791. which students subjects through can gain an understanding of Hi GER. T.P. 1859: Geology Lecture Notes. Guyot. - Seeley G. Mudd Manu¬ the history of the globe and their own interconnectedness with script Library. Princeton University. Lecture Notes Collection (AC#052), the cosmos. Perhaps by reinforcing some of GUYOT's beliefs Box 17. Jones. LC. 1930: Arnold L'nion Bull. 23. 31-65. about the interrelationship between earth and man. our Henry Guyot. - College Libbey. W. 1884: Memoir of Arnold Guyot. - Third Annual Report from the students will a about what it develop deeper understanding means E.M. Museum of Geologv & Archeology. - Princeton Press. Princeton. to be human. Maclean. J. 1857: Geology Lecture Notes. Guyot. - Seely G. Mudd Manu¬ script Library, Princeton University. Lecture Notes Collection (AC #052). Box 17. Memorial Tablet. 1890: Exercises at the unveiling of a Memorial Tablet to REFERENCES Arnold Guyot, Ph.D.. LL.D. in Marquand Chapel. Princeton. N.J. - C.S. Robinson. Princeton. Ansii v. R. L. 1958: Arnold Guyot. Teacher of Geography. - J. Geogr. 57. Ni MBERS. R.L. 1992: The Creationists: The Evolution of Scientific Creation- 441-449. ism. - University of California Press. Berkeley BUTTIMI r. A. 1993: Geography and the Human Spirit. - Johns Hopkins Uni¬ Rosin. S. 1957: A Short Hisiory of High School Geography (to 1936). - J. versity Press. Baltimore. Geog. 56. 405-413 Downs. R. 1975: Heinrich Pestalozzi, Father of Modern Pedagogy. - Twayne. Schaer. J.-P. 1988: Arnold Guyot (1807-1884). Histoire de l'Université de Boston. Neuchâlel. vol. 1. pp. 199-220. Université de Neuchâtel. Dl fil ivips. R trans) by J Ri ssi i 1900: Pestalozzi. His Life and His Work. - Si nn. W.B 1884: Arnold Henry Guyot. - Popular Sci. Monthly 25. 261-265. Swan Sonnenschein. London. Smith. F.S. 1873: Geology Lecture Notes. Guyot. - Seeley G. Mudd Manu¬ Il 1 vimini.. J.R. 191)0: Meteorology in America. 1800-1870. - Johns Hopkins script Library. Princeton University. Lecture Notes Collection (AC#052). University Press. Baltimore. Box 17. Guyot. A. 1838: Observations sur les glaciers. - Bull. Soc. géol. France. 9.407. A more complete version of this account appeared in the 1883 Bull. Soc. Manuscript received December 23. 1998 Sci. Nat. Neuchâlel. 13. 156-169. Revision accepted August 16. 1999

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