G98 . EEPORT— 1901 



Section E.- GEOGRAPHY. 



Peesident of the Section — ^IIugh Roisekt Mill, 

 D.Sc, LL.D., F.R.S.E., F.ll.G.S. 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11. 



The rresiJeiit iluliNcivd tlie roUowinj,' Aildivss: — 



On Keseakcu in Geogkapuical Science. 



Introductory. 



The annual reassemblinj^ of friends and fellow-workers in the old re-visited towns, 

 and tbo annual accession of new lovers of science, furnish a unique opportunity for 

 a survey of the advances made in each department, a iittin<^ occasion also for 

 remembering tliose who have finished their work and can aid our deliberations 

 only by the memory of their example. 



Apart from our more intimate losses in the deatli of many distinguished 

 geographers and devoted workers, the period since our last meeting' has been for 

 all a year of mourning. The passing of the nineteenth century was almost lilve the 

 death of a friend, and it is still difficult to realise that the centuiy which we had 

 been so long in the habit of associating with everything new and great and 

 progressive has itself become part of the past. Few coincidences have been more 

 striking than the almost simultaneous close of that unparalleled reign which gave 

 a name to the Era including all that was best and most characteristic of the 

 century. The death of (^)ueen Victoria carried so keen a sense of personal loss 

 into every heart that few attempts have been made to show how vast a portion 

 of the stream of time — measured by progress — intervened between the terminal 

 dates of her life. Think for a moment of the splendid advances in the one small 

 department of geograpliical exploration during the late Queen's reign, the multi- 

 tude of landmarks which have been crowned by the great name of Victoria — of 

 the Earth's most southerly land and its most northerly sea, of the largest lake 

 and most majestic waterfall of Africa, the loftiest lake of Asia, the highest peak in 

 New Guinea, the widest desert and most populous colony in Australia, and of the 

 two thriving seaports on either side of the Nortli Pacific which couple together 

 the British Dominions of western America and eastern Asia. 



What could be more appropriate in this first meeting after the close of such a 

 century and of such a reign than to pass in brief but appreciative review the 

 advances of geography during those hundred or those sixty-live years? One 

 thing in my opinion is more appropriate than to dwell on past triumphs or to 

 regret past greatness, and that is to survey our present position and look ahead. 

 In the first year of a new century and of a new reign we are reminded that we 

 have a future to face and that the world is before us, and I propose to seize this 

 opportunity in order to speak of the science of geography as it is now understood 

 and especially to urge the importance of the more systematic pursuit of 

 geographical research henceforward. 



