president's address.— section e. 145 



SECTION E. 



GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY. 



ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT: 

 Professor Sir Douglas Mawson. Kt.B., D.Sc, B.E., O.B.E. 



Professor of Geology in the University of Adelaide- 



THE CURRENT GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLOOK. 



Eight loug years have passed since the last meeting of this 

 Association. So far has the Great* War dislocated the even tenor 

 of our scientific world here in Australasia. But during this period 

 science has not been neglected, rather has it flourished as never 

 before. It has been a struggle in which every branch of science 

 has contributed to the utmost. Geography has done her share. 



Mr. Freshfield. as President of the Royal Geographical Society, 

 has stated* that " nO' branch of science enters more closely intr 

 the art of war than G^oigraphy." 



Where this is true of every war it has special point in tftis 

 world-conflict conducted in far-flung fields. Operations have been 

 carried out in every sort of clime; from the Arctic shores of the 

 White Sea to the fever-stricken jungles of East Africa; from the 

 desert plains of Arabia to^ the mountain tops of the Carnic Alps ; 

 ploughing the blue waters of the sunny Mediterranean in search 

 of submarines, or groping along the foggy shores of Jvitland in 

 search of bigger game. The white, the brown, the yellow, and 

 the black have all been enrolled in one great army. The proper 

 conduct of such a war surely calls for the fullest possible knowledge 

 of geography. 



♦ Pres. Add., 1915, Roy. Geog. Soc. ; Geog. Jonr., July, 1915. 



