THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
OF A PEBBLE
STRANGE ADVENTURES IN NATURE'S WONDERLANDS
THE
STRANGE ADVENTURES
OF A PEBBLE
BY
HALLAM HAWKSWORTH
AUTHOR OF "THE ADVENTURES OF A GRAIN OF DUST"
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
NEW YORK CHICAGO BOSTON
Copyright, 1921, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
A
THE SCRIBNER PRESS
PREFACE
The purpose of this little book is to present the chieffeatures in the strange story of the pebbles; and so of thelarger pebble we call the earth. It is hoped that readersof various ages will be entertained, without suspectingthat they are being taught.
Several things led the author to believe that such a bookmight be wanted.
(a) The circumstances under which it was written.
(b) The fact that there seemed to be an opportunityfor improvement not only in the popular presentation ofscientific topics but in the character and method of reviewquestions and suggestions following such topics in schooltexts.
(c) Experience has shown that pictures may be madeto perform a much more vital function in teaching thanis usually assigned to them in the text-books.[1]
[1] On this subject I cannot do better, perhaps, than quote from anarticle on "The Picture Book in Education," contributed to the NewYork Evening Post:
"We learn more easily by looking at things than by memorizingwords about them. The principle, of course, holds whether the imagewhich the eye receives comes from the object itself or only from thepicture of the object. Therefore we should learn to read pictures aswell as books.
"New York has long recognized the added efficiency in the teachingprocess to be obtained from the use of pictures. The Division of VisualInstruction, established thirty years ago, has an international reputationfor the extent of its equipment, the simplicity of its methods,and the excellence of its results."
- vi -
(d) In the particular field to which this story relatescomparatively little has been written either for reading inthe family circle or for use in the school; although therelation of physiography, not only to human history andpolitical and commercial geography but to the whole immenserealm of natural science, is so basic and its greatprinciples and processes so striking in their appeal to curiosityand our sense of the grand and the dramatic.[2]
[2] Commenting on the need of popular literature dealing with earthscience, Doctor Shaler says:
"In no other fields are large and important truths