716 EEPORT— 1886. 



In the first place let us examine into the work done and doing by the Royal 

 <jeographical. Society. What the objects of this Society are, and what have been 

 its operations for half a century, may be gathered by a perusal of Mr. Clements 

 Markham's interesting record published on the occasion of its completing the 

 fiftieth year of its existence on July 16, 1880. I quote two passages which bear 

 upon our present lines of thought. One recites the propositions, ' unanimously 

 accepted as sound and true,' which are in truth the basis on which this now 

 flourishing institution was originally formed. They are thus expressed : 



'That a Society was needed whose sole object should be the promotion and 

 diffusion of that most important and entertaining branch of knowledge, geography ; 

 and that a useful Society might therefore be formed under the name of the 

 Geographical Society of London ; that the interest excited by this depart- 

 ment of science is universally felt, that its advantages are of the first importance to 

 mankind in general, and paramount to the welfare of a maritime nation like 

 Great Britain, with its numerous and extensive foreign possessions ; that its 

 decided utility in conferring just and distinct notions of the physical and political 

 relations of our globe must be obvious to everyone, and is the more enhanced by 

 this species of knowledge being obtainable without much difficulty, while at the 

 same time it affords a copious source of rational amusement, and finally that, 

 although there is a vast store of geographical information existing in Great 

 Britain, yet it is so scattered and dispersed, either in large books that are not 

 generally accessible, or in the bureaus of public departments, or in the possession 

 of private individuals, as to be uearly unavailable to the public' 



There is perhaps a quaint boldness discernible in coupling the adjectives 

 ' important and entertaining,' and introducing the word ' amusement,' but these 

 verbal expressions are unquestionabh' appropriate, and may suggest an explanation 

 of much of the Society's popularity at the present time — a popularity exemplified 

 in the large and increasing number of its fellows. 



The second passage from Mr. Markham's report is the author's own estimate 

 of geographical work — an estimate supported by a wide and varied personal ex- 

 perience : — 



'Geography is a progressive science. Every year, with its discoveries and 

 novelties, also brings forth a large crop of corrections and of information which 

 modifies preconceived theories and opinions. It is this freshness, this constant sup- 

 ply of new material, which constitutes one of the many charms of geographical 

 research.' 



Let us add a hope that when its real scope becomes known and its uses more 

 patent to our masters in education, eflicient advocates will not be wanting to secure 

 its acknowledgment in England as a study of absolute necessity. 



Of late years the Royal Geographical Society, in pursuance of its originally ex- 

 pressed aims and objects, and strong in the experience of a long and prosperous 

 career, has endeavoured to arouse the rising generation to a sense of their short- 

 comings as regards the particular science in the promotion of which it has its own 

 raison d'etre. It granted prizes to such public schools as chose to compete for 

 them, and after sixteen years' trial discontinued the grant, owing to unsatisfactory 

 results. It opened correspondence with schools and colleges, and made other 

 j udicious and laudable attempts to evoke sympathy and support. But all its pro- 

 ceedings have been as it were preliminary, and may be considered rather as foun- 

 dation-stones of a temple of success than the outer walls or any visible part of the 

 building itself. A more recent attempt to reach the masses was the Exhibition of 

 Educational Appliances. Objects used in geographical instruction at home and 

 abroad were collected and arranged in galleries hired for the occasion, and the 

 public were invited to inspect them. At the same time appropriate lectures were 

 periodically delivered, by competent and experienced men, to the visitors, many of 

 whom were not merely interested amateurs, but persons actually engaged in school 

 teaching. Attention was called to the fact that the exhibition was purely educa- 

 tional ; that there were in it specimens of German, Austrian, and Swiss maps, 

 executed with a finish and detail unusual in our school maps at home ; but that as 

 the Society's inquiry embraced universities as well as schools, part of the appliances 



