37 



Pkesipent's Address. 



By Charles Redway Dryer. 



1'HE NORTH AMERICA OF TODAY AND TOMORROW AND IN- 

 DIANA'S PLACE IN IT. 



Among the twei'ty-slx presidents who have served the Indiana Academy 

 of Science since its oi'ganization, I ha\e the honor to .stand today as the 

 first representative of geography. One out of twenty-six is hardly as 

 many as the intrinsic importance of the science might justify, but it is 

 as many as the standing of the subject among scientific men in Indiana 

 calls for. However that maj' he, this is geography day in our Academy, 

 and I feel like opening it witli an invocation to Urania, the muse repre- 

 sented by that noble figure in the gallery of the Vatican, standing alert 

 and at ease, with a globe in her left hand, a stylus in her right, and on 

 her face an expression of dignity, interest and invitation worthy of n 

 schoolma'am about to demon.strate the change of season.s. In view ol 

 the infrequency with which geographical topics are discussed before gen- 

 eral scientific audiences, and in view of the vestigial and appendicular 

 character of the position which geography generally holds in colleges and 

 universities (where it has any position at all), it would not be out of 

 place to enter upon an exposition of the nature, scope, and content of 

 geography, and its logical place among the sciences. I will content myself, 

 however, with saying that the grandmother of the scientific family, al- 

 though often assigned the role of Cinderella, is alive, active and fairly 

 keeping pace with the growth of her numerous progeny. Her greatest 

 problems are no longer those of research, but rather those of the organi- 

 zation of the wealth of facts which her children, to the third and fourth 

 generation, are continually pouring into her house. Geography is still a 

 description of the earth ; and how much that means now as compared 

 with 400 or 100 years ago! Geography is still the science of distributions: 

 and how the things (Jistributed over the face of the earth do multiply! 

 Geography is still the study of the earth as the home of man, and physi- 

 ology, medicine, engineering, agriculture, economics and sociology vie with 



