ON THE PROMOTION OF THE STUDY OF GEOGRAPHY. 159 



branches of education which do not present a geographical aspect, and 

 which do not therefore offer a field for instruction in geography in com- 

 bination with some other subject. 



It is unnecessary to insist upon the close connection of history and 

 geography, or upon the importance of a knowledge of the physical con- 

 ditions of the various regions of the world, to those who engage in the 

 conduct of our political affairs. 



Without the comprehensive study of the earth, for which Englishmen, 

 as a people, have the largest opportunities and the least preparation, 

 physical students would fail to grasp the true character and relations of 

 che various sciences of observation, such as anthropology, geology, botany, 

 meteorology, &c. 



As geography already holds a statutable place in the studies of the 

 University, it seems to us that the courses of a Reader or Professor in 

 Geography might easily, by consultation with the examiners, be so 

 arranged as to fit in with the requirements of scholars in the Honour 

 Schools, their establishment serving rather to complete the present 

 University system of instruction than to introduce a new element 

 into it. 



The Council of the Royal Geographical Society are so fully convinced 

 of the national importance of placing geographical science on a sound 

 footing, and of the necessity of some action at the Universities in order 

 to obtain this result, that they have approved the proposals submitted 

 by their Education Committee, enclosed herewith, which they beg you to 

 take into your favourable consideration, and to submit at the earliest 

 opportunity to the proper authorities. 



The length of time for which the Society should undertake to make 

 a contribution out of its funds towards a Geographical Chair or Reader- 

 ship will be further considered whenever your University may be pre- 

 pared to accept our proposition in principle, and to discuss in detail the 

 plans proposed. 



Believe me, my dear Vice- Chancellor, 

 Sincerely yours, 



Aberdaee, President. 

 To the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford. 



December 9, 1886. 



Sir, — The Council of the Eoyal Geographical Society have on two 

 previous occasions (in 1871 and 1874) addressed memorials, of which 

 copies are enclosed, to your predecessors, urging the claims of geography 

 to further recognition by the Universities, 



They have recently undertaken an inquiry into the position of geo- 

 graphy in English and Continental education. The result has been un- 

 favourable to England ; and there has been a general concurrence of 

 testimony, according with their own strong conviction, that the most 

 effectual step towards the removal of our inferiority would be the estab- 

 lishment in our Universities of Chairs or Readerships similar to those 

 held in Germany — viz., by Karl Ritter at Berlin, and Professors Peschel 

 and Richthofen at Leipzig. 



So much of human knowledge and human interests is bound up with 

 the relations and interaction of the physical conditions of the earth, the 

 study of which is practically embraced in geography, that there are few 

 branches of education which do not present a geographical aspect, and 



