514 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1916. 



This is the place to refer in a word to the great service rendered to 

 exploration, and to geography in general, by photography since it 

 began to be applied to this purpose. The old wood engravings, and 

 even plates, which were used for illustrations in the prephotographic 

 days, while sometimes wonderfully good from the artistic, and even 

 from the geographical standpoint, could seldom compete in the latter 

 respect with the photograjDhs taken by a discerning eye. I remember 

 well the difficulty in persuading some of the more conservative mem- 

 bers to permit the introduction of lantern slides at the meetings of 

 the Royal Geographical Society as being too trivial and too childish 

 for a serious scientific body. I need not remind you of the universal 

 use now of this method for scientific lectures of all kinds. 



One other feature w^hich has marked the development of geographi- 

 cal work during the half century might be pointed out. Fifty years 

 ago geographical enterprise was the work of individual explorers, 

 sometimes backed by their Governments; but in recent years a re- 

 markable circumstance in geographical method has been the growth 

 of international cooperation, as shoAvn in the international congi-esses 

 and international bodies, such as the International Geodetic Associa- 

 tion, the International Meteorological Committee, the International 

 Council for the Study of the Sea, with special reference to fisheries ; 

 the international map of 1 : 1,000,000; and the great bathymetric map 

 of the oceans undertaken by the Prince of Monaco with an interna- 

 tional committee. 



I have thus endeavored to present to you, I fear in a very summary 

 fashion, the results which have been achieved during the past half 

 century toward the completion of our knowledge of the home of the 

 human race. I think you will admit that so far as results are con- 

 cerned it will compare favorably with any other half century in the 

 history of exploration. I have had necessarily to confine myself to 

 what I may call the superficial results of all this activity. But apart 

 from the fact that vast areas of previously unknown lands have been 

 brought within human ken and provisionally mapped, abundant ad- 

 ditions have been made to all the aspects that come within the sphere 

 of geography. Many departments of science have profited b}^ these 

 explorations — the character and distribution of physical features of 

 minerals and vegetation, of animal life, of climatic and economical 

 conditions, of man himself in his various races and varieties. Of 

 some of the results of all this knowledge you may have been able to 

 form some idea from the figures I have given as to the growth of the 

 population and the greatly enhanced value of the results of economic 

 development. For the more detailed and precise is our knowledge 

 of the habitable lands of the globe the more are we in a position 

 to turn them to the best account for the benefit of humanity. As I 

 have pointed out, there is still a certain amount of pioneer work to 



