president's address — SECTION E. 125 



could hardly be the case in other countries, where almost every 

 problem connected with the commercial, industrial, and physical 

 aspects of the science have been long mastered and understood. 

 But in these lands geography is a nascent science. We have still 

 vast areas in our own continent, as well as in New^ Guinea and the 

 islands of the Pacific and Antarctic Seas, that are either wholly 

 unexplored or so impeifectly known that stores of interesting and 

 invaluable information await the explorer who brings to his task, 

 not only the energy and endurance which so many of his prede- 

 cessors have displayed, but that jjractical knowledge and grasp of 

 the relative importance of things to be observed which only a 

 scientifically trained mind can ever hope to acquire. 



Lord Napier, of Magdala, speaking at the Exhibition of 

 Appliances used in Geograp ideal Education, pointed out " the 

 importance attached to such education. Every trained soldier in 

 the German army was provided with a map of the country," and ta 

 this he attributed "• the great advantage of the German over the 

 French in the Franco-German war." 



Through the w4se liberality of the Royal Geographical Society 

 of England in off'ering prizes for proficiency in geography, no less 

 than 3,237 male and female students presented themselves from 

 forty-fom- training colleges for examination in 1887. Of these. 

 Her Majesty's Inspector reports that 534 male and 576 female 

 students passed in the first division, and 698 male and 1,139 

 female students in the second division ; there also passed, in the 

 third division, 149 male students and 189 female — a very success' ul 

 beginning of a highly important, but hitherto much n(!glected, 

 branch of education. It is also a very significant fact that in every 

 division the greater number of students were women. 



To the practical mind, whether he aims at distinction in the 

 State or at the amassing of w^ealth, a knowledge and study of 

 geography is a store of invaluable information ; to the student it 

 is a stimulating basis from which to set out along a hundred special 

 lines; to the teacher it is an implement for the calling out of the 

 powers of the intellect — unless, indeed, we except that old-world- 

 class of schoolmaster, who measures the disciplinary value of a 

 subject by the repugnance with which it inspires the pupil. 



The geographical descriptions now accessible in print are, to use 

 a mild term, old fashioned. Where newer material has been pub- 

 lished it is but fi-agmentary at best, brief, and imperfectly illus- 

 trated. The first elements of geographical study — the physical 

 features of the earth — still call for close investigation. 



THE PROGRESS OF GEOGRAPHY. 



Sixty-three years have elapsed since the institution of the Royal 



Geographical Society of England — on the 24th of May, 1830. 



Before that time geographical science was practically unborn. 



At its inaugural meeting the President, Mr. John Barrow, in his 



