GEOGRAPHY 



By Gardiner Greene Hubbard 



President of the National Geographic Society 



^^PURING the half century that has elapsed since 

 t the Smithsonian Institution was organized, 

 more progress has been made in acquiring 

 knowledge of the geography of the earth than 

 in any previous century. More than a fourth 

 of the globe, which in 1846 was practically unknown, and 

 was represented by a blank on our maps, has been explored 

 in this half-century ; and in this work of developing our 

 knowledge of unknown regions, the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion has played a far more prominent part tlian is popularly 

 supposed. Few expeditions have been equipped and sent 

 out by it; but of the expeditions organized by the United 

 States government for purposes of exploration, there are 

 few which have not been aided by the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, either by additions to its personnel, by instruction, 

 counsel and advice, or by the working up and publication 

 of its results. 



In these ways the fostering care of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution has been felt by many branches of science now rep- 



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