2 Inaugural Lecture 1889 



more or less geographically. This is especially the case with 

 regard to the descriptive sciences or rather the descriptive 

 departments of these sciences, such as Geology, Botany and 

 Zoology. It would be absurd to attempt to repeat in a neces- 

 sarily perfunctory manner in a course of lectures on geography 

 what has already been thoroughly done in the special lectures 

 on these subjects. It will, however, be necessary to make 

 occasional use of the teachings of these sciences in elucidating 

 the form and development of our globe and the vital activity 

 upon it. 



Again, we hear of Historical Geography, but history is 

 nothing if not treated geographically, though its treatment 

 will differ somewhat, according as it is approached from the 

 moral or the physical side. The historian treats the earth as 

 the platform on which he parades his men and he has a tendency 

 to ascribe to their physical and mental superiority all their 

 successes whether in the barbarous contests of man against 

 man, clan against clan and nation against nation, or in the 

 more elevated, but not less keen, contests in the domains of 

 science and art, of industry and commerce. The geographer 

 has to endeavour to restore the balance, by reclaiming for 

 Mother Earth her share in the shaping of the destinies, not 

 of the human race only but of all her offspring whether vegetable, 

 animal or indeed mineral. 



The portion of the earth which we inhabit is the solid 

 crust, about three-fourths of which is covered by water, and 

 the whole surface, land and water, is overlaid by a gaseous 

 envelope. Roughly speaking therefore the globe as we see 

 it consists of air, earth and water. If we include the further 

 element of fire, and understand by it the energy which is 

 continually supplied by the radiation of the sun, and by virtue 

 of which all the changes and vital phenomena are produced 

 and sustained, we have, under the ancient headings, fire, 

 air, earth and water, a rough classification of the elements 

 of nature 



Owing to the fostering influence of the sun's heat there 

 is a constant interchange of matter going on between the sea 

 and the land through the medium of the atmosphere. Water 



