THE SCIENCE OF DISTANCES. 539 



tern — our national banking system — which has carried ns over seem- 

 ingly insurmountable obstructions to brave trade triumphs. 



The general considerations which I have named might lead to the 

 inference that actual geographical disadvantages, in trade competition 

 for instance, may sometimes be conquered by man's resourcefulness 

 and energy. Within obvious limitations that is certainly true. At 

 places, as we know, the borderland between geography and many of 

 the natural sciences is often vague and confusedly interlaced. So per- 

 haps also with mechanical and economic science our boundaries at 

 certain spots overlap. Quick steamers, far-reaching telegraph lines, 

 and the piercing of isthmuses by ship-canals may at the first glance 

 appear outside the purview of the geographer. Yet from that particu- 

 lar aspect of geography which I have already spoken of as the Science 

 of Distances we perceive how relevant they are, how worthy of study. 

 Truly ours is a very catholic science, and we have seen how even the 

 comparative value of national banking systems may help to explain 

 seeming geographic inconsistencies, to reconcile facts with possi- 

 bly unexpected results, and to show how the human element modifies, 

 perhaps, the strictly logical conclusions of the geographer intent upon 

 physical conditions alone. It is for the statesman and the philosopher 

 to speculate upon the character and the permanency of such influences. 

 Our success as an Empire will probably depend for its continuance 

 upon a high level of national sagacity, watchfulness and resource, 

 to make up for certain disadvantages, as I think, of our geographical 

 position since the cutting of the Suez Canal; and it will also depend 

 upon the comprehensive and intelligent study of all branches of geog- 

 raphy, not the least important of which to my view is the Science of 

 Distances — the science of the merchant, the statesman and the 

 strategist. 



