350 ANNUAL. REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 192 8 



good. The humanizing of the subject has done much to rob it of 

 aridity and, by widening its scope, to bring it into close touch with 

 other aspects of the study of man. It is a good thing for the growth 

 of knowledge when barriers between allied subjects break down on 

 a ground common to both. These trends in human and social geog- 

 raphy are to be welcomed, but at the same time there is a tendency 

 to forget that our geography must be founded on a knowledge of 

 the surface features of the earth. The physical factors must be thor- 

 oughly understood if the superstructure of human and social geog- 

 raphy is to have a sure foundation. This foundation can be best 

 laid in personal experience of earth, air, and water. In other words, 

 travel is an essential part of the training of the geographer if his 

 work is to have any reality. The complexity of geographical values 

 can never be gauged by any mere statistical presentment of the facts. 

 The experience of the world that is necessary to the equipment of the 

 geographer must be gained not merely by travel in densely populated 

 lands, where the modern applications of science do so much to protect 

 man from actual contact with the factors of climate, the influence of 

 land forms, and the effect of biological distributions, but of travel by 

 sea and in empty lands and of practical experience in exploring the 

 natural phenomena and occurrences, of real contact with the raw 

 materials of geography, in order to learn the elements of the science 

 at first hand. The scientific no less than the humanistic aspects of 

 geography must be learned by personal observation. The geographer 

 who depends solely on maps will never understand his subject or be 

 a source of inspiration to others. The best map is a poor substitute 

 for reality. A year of personal experience of nature is worth the 

 whole of a university course as a foundation of geographical study. 

 In selecting for the subject of my address some of the problems 

 of polar geography I have been moved by a twofold reason. First, 

 these problems come near to my interests by personal experiences, 

 and I think that in a comparative lull in polar exploration in this 

 country it is well to take stock of the problems that still await solu- 

 tion ; and secondly. I feel that modern geographical thought, with its 

 stress on the humanistic side, is tending to overlook the polar regions 

 in spite of their wide geographical interest. They otTer an incom- 

 parable field of observation for all sides of pure geography. From 

 the many problems I can select only a few of importance. 



THE TASKS OF EXPLORATION 



To turn first to the Antarctic, there are certain fundamental prob- 

 lems in physical geography — problems of the nature of those which 

 in other continents Avere solved several centuries ago. The broad 

 features of the map of Antarctica are not built on ascertained fact 

 as much as on intelligent guesswork. 



