TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 129 
British Columbia on the shores of the Pacific. It is impossible, I believe, to over- 
rate the importance of this work to all concerned; it will practically unite these 
two great colonies in British America, and open up a vast and fertile country where 
our surplus population may live under their own flag instead of seeking a home 
under another. It must be remembered that we are living side by side on that 
great continent with a people second to none in their enterprise and perseverance ; 
that already they have carried a railway from the Atlantic almost to the Pacific, 
and that they are completing it under difliculties as great as any we should have 
to encounter; but a few days since I received a letter from our Consul at San 
Francisco, in which he says “ the Pacific railway is rapidly progressing, and in 1870 
assengers will be carried from New York to San Francisco in five days.” If 
ritish America is to progress under the flag of this country, and if we are to 
maintain our commercial position in the Pacific and in China, we must not be slow 
to follow this example ; geographers have done enough to prove that the under- 
taking is feasible ; Canada and British Columbia are alive to the importance of it, 
and as to the latter, its very existence, I believe, depends upon it. 
I will ask your permission still to trespass on your time for a very few moments 
on a subject which has lately seriously engaged the attention of the Council of the 
Royal Geographical Society, and which will probably be of interest to some pre- 
sent. I regret very much that Mr. Francis Galton, a distinguished and well-known 
member of the Association, should not have been present himself to introduce the 
subject to you, for it is a child of his own, and he would have done far more jus- 
tice to it than I can. There has been a pretty general feeling among geographers 
that, popular as geography is in a practical point of view, it does not receive that 
attention at our great public educational establishments which its importance entitles 
it to; and when itis considered and acknowledged how essential an acquaintance with 
geography isin the pursuit of the study of history and other branches of education, 
this cannot but be regretted. The Council of the Geographical Society, then, 
with the countenance of the heads of certain of the principal schools of the 
United Kingdom, have decided to offer a certain number of medals to be com- 
peted for annually, for the encouragement of the study of geography, the first 
competition to take place in May 1869. The pamphlets containing the particulars 
of this proposal will be found on the table, and the object of mentioning the 
subject here is to invite a discussion on it, and that it may be known before the 
meeting of the schools in autumn; possibly those present who haye sons eligible 
for the competition may feel inclined to encourage them to compete; this must 
be considered as a first effort on the part of the Council of the Society, and 
it is entirely due to Mr. Galton. If attended with success, it cannot be doubted 
but that it will be followed by further encouragement in the same direction. 
I may not conclude these remarks without expressing my sincere regret (in 
which [ am sure I shall be joined by all present) at the absence of the man 
who, above all others, has done so much for the advancement of the science 
which this Section of the Association represents. This Section, indeed, was his 
own creation; and I venture to think it has not been the least of his contribu- 
tions to geography, great as they have been. I need scarcely say I allude to Sir 
Roderick Murchison. You will rejoice to know that it is no serious indisposition 
which keeps him away from us. Ina letter received from him only yesterday he 
says to me, “ Tell the Section that nothing would have induced me to be absent 
from the Association, of which I have been a constant attendant for more than 
thirty years, but the absolute necessity of rest.” The truth is that he has de- 
yoted himself to public duties, and especially those connected with our science 
during the past year, in a manner that would have severely taxed the energies of a 
far younger man ; and with all his hopefulness he cannot but have felt deeply the 
uncertainty attaching to Livingstone’s fate. I believe myself that the hope nearest 
his heart is once more to welcome home this great man, great in every sense of the 
word ; and we must all earnestly hope that so fitting a consummation of a long 
and distinguished public career may be in store for him. 
I am aware that it may be questioned whether this is the place or the occasion 
to record an obituary notice ; and, indeed, the one I shall allude to has been already 
recorded in a more fitting place, and by one more entitled to pronounce it; but 
9 
1868. 
