Science in Public Affairs 



The geographer's social ideal is indeed in process 

 of explicit formulation, and that on many sides. 

 And in its application to a particular city, the most 

 notable perhaps of these formulations may be found 

 in one of the books indicated for reading in con- 

 nection with this paper. It is Professor Geddes' 

 "City Development." Here indeed the ideal of 

 city development is by no means confined to that 

 of the geographer, but the civic policy here enunci- 

 ated has its definite starting-point in the geographer's 

 vision of the city. And other similar initiatives are 

 visible in many different directions. The Garden 

 City movement is essentially geographical in its 

 point of departure from traditional civic policies. 

 And the same may be said of Mr. H. G. Wells' 

 Utopist writings (in which the biological note is 

 also sounded) ; and indeed of all those who advo- 

 cate a certain ruralisation of the city, whether by 

 the development of parks and gardens, or by other 

 means. However much all these differ from one 

 another in other points, they agree in their emphasis 

 and insistence on a better regional adaptation to 

 city life. It is clear in fact that we are here in 

 the presence of a movement towards an Applied 

 Geography. The division of science into pure and 

 applied is a familiar one up to a certain point, but 

 we may more readily apprehend its significance, 

 if we view it as comparable to the distinction 

 between the Regular and the Secular orders in 

 religious communities. Like the Regular orders, 

 the cultivators of pure science concern themselves 

 mainly with doctrine, while the applied scientists, 



272 



