TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 159 



subjects, so inseparably connected with Geogi-aphy, should ever be severed from it 

 in the proceedings of the British Association. 



Geography in a broad sense is so closely allied to many researches, that, since 

 the foimdatiou of the British Association, it has at times been coupled Avith different 

 sciences by our legislators. At first it was very naturally gi-ouped with my own 

 pecidiar subject, Geology, which may well be termed the Comparative Physical Geo- 

 graphy of byegone ages. But this union did not last long, because my brethren of 

 the hammer, ever producing more memoirs than coidd be discussed at any one 

 Meeting, the Geogi'aphers, who were desirous of having niiich time and attention 

 allotted to themselves, withdrew and no longer took part in Section C. 



In those days Geogi-aphy could not find a separate place in the list of sections ; 

 for it was a canon in the constitution of the British Association, that the number 

 of sections was to be for ever limited to seven. But as time wore on, changes, of 

 necessity, occurred. The first of these took place in Section B, which began by 

 including Chemistry and Agi-icidture. But this connexion of a pm-e Science with 

 the practical objects of proprietors and farmers could not be permanent ; and the 

 cultivators of the soil (finding no space for their exhibitions, and taking the British 

 Association as a model) established that most important national body, the Eoyal 

 Am-icultural Society. 



Next the medical men, finding that no adequate justice could be done in one 

 section to their diversified subjects, separated from us, and at the suggestion of my 

 lamented friend Sir Charles Hastings, founded the great Medical Association of 

 Britain. 



Through this withdrawal of medical science, the Section denoted by the letter 

 E remained for some time a blank, without any scientific duties attached to it; 

 and it was only in the year 1851 that, on my owa suggestion, and at the Ipswich 

 Meeting, the blank Section was refilled under the title of Geography and Ethno- 

 logy. Under this title I have read addresses to the Section at Leeds in 1858, at 

 Oxford in 18G0, at Newcastle-ou-Tjme in 1863, and at Bath in 1864. 



In alluding to such wi-ittcn addresses, it is well to remind the younger members 

 of oiir body that during twenty-five years they formed no part of our Pro- 

 ceedings. These preludes to the business of each Section were for the first time 

 introduced in the year 1856, and the person who led the way in these usefid and 

 now necessary parts of our duties was the present Earl of Derby, who then, as Lord 

 Stanley, presided over the Statistical Section at Cheltenham. I cannot advert to 

 this fact, so highly creditable to my noble friend, who is now a Vice-President of 

 our whole body, without reminding you that his illustrious father, whose name will 

 ever be revered in British histoiy, and whose beneficent deeds will ever be gi-ate- 

 fully remembered in Lancashire, was himself an admirer and patron of geogra- 

 phical explorers, and a Fellow of the Society over which I preside. I refer you to 

 my last Anniversary Address to the members of the Eoyal Geographical Society 

 for the expression of my admiration of his character. 



Before I speak of some" few of the contributions which will, I trust, be brought 

 imder our consideration, let me glance at the rapid progress of discovery in recent 

 years, and, first of all, at the great and impoi-tant additions to pure Geography 

 which have been made in Central Asia both by Eussian and British explorers. 

 ^ AVith all the western portion of that vast region in which lie the Khanats of 

 Khiva, Bokhara,_and Khokan, some of you may now be acquainted, through the 

 accounts of Eussian observers, who have already fixed the correct positions of the 

 chief towns, mountains, and rivers of Western "Turkistan. Proceeding eastwards 

 from the Sea of Aral, the Eussians have, for the first time in history, rendered the 

 Eiver Syr Daria (the Jaxartes of Alexander the Great) navigable by steam- vessels 

 of a limited size, and fixing military posts on its banks, have ascended towards its 

 sources and taken possession of the populous and flourishing city of Tashkent, a 

 great mart of caravan commerce. 



Again, Eussia has triumphed over the Khan of Bokhara, the savage ruler 

 who in years gone by barbarously put to death two British officers, Stoddart and 

 Conolh', and who has now met with a due humiliation. As peace has been con- 

 cluded between the Emperor of Eussia and those turbulent chiefs, who have now 

 been rendered subordinate to a great civilized nation, we may hope that the 



