712 REPORT— 1886. 



^Section B.— GEOGRAPHY. 



President of the Section— Major-General Sir F. J. Goldsmid, K.O.S.I., C.B., 



r.R.G.S. 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2. 



The President delivered tlie following Address : — 



However diffident I may feel in undertaking the duties of President of the very im- 

 portant Section of Geography at this anniversary, I have no right to take shelter 

 under that diffidence for any shortcoming in the fulfilment of my task. All I 

 would seek at your hands is indulgence for one whose training and antecedents 

 have scarcely fitted him for appearing before you in a quasi-professorial capacity, 

 and whose brief tenure of a Presidential chair at a meeting such as this must be 

 regarded as rather an incidental passage in the annals of the British Association 

 than a fair illustration of its modus operandi, or principle of selection in respect to 

 its officers. 



As to the subject of my opening address, I know none more befitting the occa- 

 sion than the means of popularising the branch of science to which the meetings 

 in this Section will be devoted, and thus attracting towards it that attention which 

 it merits — nay which, in this our country if anywhere, it demands and necessi- 

 tates. 



The question is a wide one, but I will endeavour to narrow the field of its dis- 

 cussion to suit our purpose of to-day, and keep within reasonable limits. A few 

 words will suffice to lay before you the programme. It embraces : first, the uses 

 of geography, an exposition of which should prove, and a due apprehension of 

 which should admit, the necessity of its inclusion among the special studies of 

 public schools ; secondly, the mode of imparting a knowledge of geography so as 

 to render it at once practical and engaging ; and finally, such illustrations of 

 modern travel and research as may serve to demonstrate how urgent is the study 

 of geography to all classes in this country. 



Before closing the subject, I shall endeavour to draw your attention directly, if 

 somewhat cursorily, to the progress made by travellers and geographers in further- 

 ing what I may for the nonce describe as tlie objects of their profession during the 

 past year, or since the last Annual Meeting of the British Association at Aberdeen. 

 But I shall only dwell upon such instances of geographical progress as from their 

 character and locality come within the range of my personal experience, and serve 

 to illustrate the main argument of this address. 



To begin then with the uses of geography. There are doubtless many who 

 will say demonstration here is superfluous, and that if its use was not admitted it 

 would find no place in school studies, which is contrary to fact in many instances ; 

 there would be no primers or elementary works on the subject, whereas they may 

 be reckoned bj' the score ; books of travel would be rather entertaining than in- 

 structive, a charge which many recently published volumes would disprove ; and 

 so forth. 



Some again will argue that its uses, such as they are, must be restricted to the 

 few specialists who aspire to be geographers, and that for the million it is enough 



