PRESENT PROBLEMS OF GEOGRAPHY 661 



itself; nevertheless, its completion will mark an era, the accomplish- 

 ment of the small-scale survey of the globe, and permit of fresh 

 advances. 



Money could solve the last of the problems of exploration, but when 

 we come to problems of the second category we enter a region of pure 

 science, where money becomes a minor consideration. The acquisition 

 of knowledge is a simple process, for which multitudes have a natural 

 aptitude; but the coordination of knowledge and its advancement 

 are very different matters. The difference is more marked in the case 

 of geography than in geology or chemistry or physics, for, in English- 

 speaking countries at least, the training of geographers is in its in- 

 fancy, whilst that of the exponents of other sciences is highly devel- 

 oped. Hence it happens that before any actual problem in geography 

 can be attacked, the man who is to deal with it must be prepared on 

 purpose for the task, and he must have determination enough to 

 stick to an unpopular subject with little encouragement in the 

 present and small prospects for the future. Such men are not very 

 easily found. 



If they can be found, the problems they should be set to solve are 

 at hand and waiting. We know enough about the relations of mobile 

 distributions to fixed environments to feel satisfied that the relations 

 are real and of importance; but we do not yet know enough to de- 

 termine exactly what the relations are and the degree in which they 

 apply to particular cases. It is the province of geography to find this 

 out, and to reduce to a quantitative form the rather vague qualita- 

 tive suggestions that have been put forward. The problem is multi- 

 form and manifold, applying to a vast range of phenomena, and those 

 who have surveyed it are often inclined to sigh for a Kepler or a 

 Newton to arise and call order from the chaos. 



A vast amount of material lies before the geographer with which to 

 work, even though, as has been explained, much more is needed 

 before the data can be looked upon as complete. After seeing that 

 the missing facts are in course of being supplied, the great thing is to 

 work and to direct the work of others towards the proper compre- 

 hension of the facts and their bearings. This involves as much the 

 checking and discouragement of work in wrong or useless directions 

 as the help and encouragement of well-directed efforts. 



The first element of geography is the configuration of the crust of 

 the Earth, and our knowledge is already ripe for a systematic classi- 

 fication of the forms of the crust, and for a definite terminology by 

 which to describe them. For some reason, not easy to discover, 

 geographical terms, with the exception of those handed down from 

 antiquity, have not, as a rule, been taken from the Greek, like other 

 scientific terms. They have usually been formulated in the language 

 of the author who has introduced them. For this reason they retain 



