I04 



NATURE 



[September 23, 1915 



over the sands and boulder-clays and cut their valley- 

 heads back southward. Overflows may have taken 

 place on the unconsolidated wall of the great east-and- 

 west river, ' which was now deprived of its barrier of 

 moraine-filled ice. In one way or another, the shallow 

 valley of the main river was tapped near Kustrin, 

 and the Oder, rising in the Moravian plateau, was 

 sent northward as an independent stream. Similarly, 

 the Vistula was carried off at Fordon, where the bend 

 due to capture is conspicuous at the present day; and 

 the whole drainage of the north wall of the Car- 

 pathians swept across the drift deposits down the 

 course of some hitherto unimportant stream. Along 

 the valley thus carved out, brown and yellow cliffs 

 now rise above the marshy flood-plain, and the red 

 castles of advancing Germany have for centuries 

 looked down firmly on the stream. It is quite con- 

 trary to our customary philosophy, but a good cor- 

 rective all the same, to ask ourselves if this lower 

 valley of the Vistula, eighty miles in lengrth, was 

 shaped in a few months or a few years. The main 

 part of the excavation, across unconsolidated lands, 

 may have occupied less time than the building of the 

 strongholds at the fords. 



Conclusion. 

 In spite of the swamping of the Alkmaar country 

 in 1825, in spite of the tragedy of Messina only seven 

 short years ago, we feel that Europe is a settled con- 

 tinent, and we judge the past and future by the pre- 

 sent superficial peace. We have applied the same 

 thoughts to human movements, and the inconceivable 

 has happened in our midst. We naturally find It 

 diflficult to carry our minds back to epochs when the 

 earth-blocks may have parted asunder as ice parts 

 across the polar seas. We have still, however, very 

 much to learn about causes now in action ; and the 

 mystery of the earth, and of our connection with it, 

 grows upon us as we learn. Can we at all realise the 

 greatest change that ever came upon the- globe, the 

 moment when living matter appeared upon its surface, 

 perhaps over a few square miles? Matter Is either 

 dead or living-, that is, endowed with life; there Is no 

 intermediate state. And here was living matter, a 

 product of the slime, if you will, but of a slime more 

 erlorious than the stars. Was this thing, life, a sur- 

 face-concentration, a specialisation, of something that 

 had previously permeated all matter, but had remained 

 powerless because It was Infinitely diffuse? Here you 

 will perceive that the mere ideologist is very much 

 be3'ond_hIs depth. Let us return to our orderly studies, 

 our patient hammerlnf^s. our rock-slices, our chlselllne;- 

 out of fossil shells. Behind It all Is the earth Itself. 

 Quiescent, It may be, but bv no means In the sleep of 

 death. As Termier puts It, "La planete n'est pas 

 encore morte ; elle ne fait que dormir." If In this 

 address I have dwelt upon the possibility of rapid 

 chanp-es In Its surface, no member of our association 

 will feel the least alarm. 



Felix qui potuit rerum rognoscc-e causae, 

 Atqiie mrtu'; omnes, et inexorabil'' fatiim 

 Siibiecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis auari. 



SECTION E. 



geography. 



Opening Address ^ by Major H. G. Lyons, D.Sc , 



F.R.S., President of the Section. 



The Importance of Geographical Research. 



This year, when the British Association is. holding 



its meeting in times of the utmost gravity, the 



changed conditions which have been brought about 



by this war must occupy the attention of all the 



1 Slightly abridged bv the author. 



NO. 2395, VOL. 96] 



sections to a greater or less extent, and our attention 

 is being- called to many fields in which our activities 

 have been less marked or more restricted than they 

 might have been, and where more serious study is to 

 be desired. The same introspection may be usefully 

 exercised in geography, for although that branch rf 

 knowledge has undoubtedly advanced in a remarkable 

 degree during the last few decades, we have certainly 

 allowed some parts of the subject to receive inadequate 

 attention as compared with others, and the necessity 

 for more serious study of many of its problems is 

 abundantly evident. 



In order that we may see what advance has been 

 made in the scientific study of geography in this coun- 

 try during the last quarter of a century, we must turn 

 to the results that have been attained by the activity 

 of geographical investigators who have devoted them- 

 selves to the serious study of various phenomena, and 

 the detailed investigation of particular regions. If 

 we do so I think we must admit that the number 

 of original investigators in scientific geography who 

 are extending its scope in this way is not so large as 

 it might be, nor are we yet utilising sufficiently all the 

 material which is available to us. Anyone who will 

 examine the geographical material which has been 

 published in any period which he may select for review 

 will find that purely descriptive treatment still far out- 

 weighs the analytical treatment which alone can lead 

 to definite advances in scientific geography. If pleas- 

 ing descriptions of this or that locality are sought for, 

 they are for the most part to be found readily In the 

 very large amount of such material that has been and 

 is being published each year by residents, travellers, 

 and explorers ; but if information is desired in the 

 prosecution of a piece of geographical research, we 

 are checked by the lack of precise details Few de- 

 scriptions of this class are sufficiently definite to enable 

 the necessary comparisons to be made between one 

 locality and others which are similarly situated; 

 thoroughly quantitative treatment is for the most part 

 lacking, and while a pleasing picture is drawn which 

 Is probably true in character, it is usually inadequately 

 furnished with those definite facts which the 

 geographer requires. 



The opportunity to undertake long journeys through 

 distant lands comes to few of us, but this is not the 

 only direction in which research can be profitably 

 undertaken, for there is no part of these islands where 

 a geographer cannot find within his reach some geo- 

 graphical problem which is well worth working out, 

 and which, if well and thoroughly done, will be a 

 valuable contribution to his science. Even for such 

 as cannot undertake such field work the library will 

 provide a host of subjects which have not received 

 nearly the amount of attention and of careful study 

 that they deserve. The one thing essential Is that the 

 study should be as thorough as possible, so that all 

 the contributory lines of evidence shall be brought 

 together and compared, and so that the result may 

 prove to be a real addition to geographical science on 

 which other workers may In their turn build. 



The ease with which a tract of country or a route 

 can be described by the traveller, and the attractiveness 

 of such a description of a little-known region, results 

 In the provision of a vast quantity of geographical 

 information, the greater part of which has probably 

 been collected by those who have no adequate training 

 in the subject. But anyone who has had occasion to 

 make use of such material in a serious investigation 

 is only too well aware how little precise and definite 

 information he will be able to extract from the greater 

 part of this wealth of material, and in most cases 

 this Is due to the traveller's lack of g-eographlcal 

 knowledge. He probably does not know the pheno- 



