erd-kunde

Updated: May 10, 2025

But I would, whether a field-club existed or not, require of every young man entering the army or navy indeed of every young man entering any liberal profession whatsoever a fair knowledge, such as would enable him to pass an examination, in what the Germans call Erd-kunde earth-lore in that knowledge of the face of the earth and of its products, for which we English have as yet cared so little that we have actually no English name for it, save the clumsy and questionable one of physical geography; and, I am sorry to say, hardly any readable school books about it, save Keith Johnston's "Physical Atlas" an acquaintance with which last I should certainly require of young men.

Charles Kingsley - Scientific Essays and Lectures