556 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 
Section E.—GEOGRAPHY. 
PRESIDENT OF THE SEcTION--GrorGE G. CursHoum, M.A., B.Sc. 
THURSDAY, AUGUST 1. 
The President delivered the following Address :— 
Geography and Commerce. 
THE subject which I have chosen for this Address is one that is very apt to raise 
questions that might lead to keen and even warm controversy. For the raising 
of such questions no occasion could be less suitable, and it will therefore be my 
endeavour to handle the subject in such a manner that burning questions may be 
altogether avoided. For that reason I propose to consider the relations of 
geography and commerce from an historical point of view, which at least gives one 
the opportunity of confining oneself to less debatable ground than is entered on 
when one ventures on prophecy, that ‘most gratuitous form of error,’ as it is 
styled by George Eliot. That I shall be able to keep wholly free from debatable 
matter is more than I can hope, but it is my intention to try to avoid it as much 
as possible by illustrating my subject chiefly by reference to the broad, familiar 
facts of commerce considered in the light of geographical and other implications 
that may be described as obvious—obvious, and yet perhaps not unimportant and 
not unworthy of having attention specially called to them; for, after all, the 
obvious is obvious only to those who are looking in the right direction and with 
the proper focus, not to those who are looking another way or far beyond what 
is immediately before them. 
As the first of these obvious considerations I may point out that unquestion- 
ably the foundation of commerce is the mutual advantage to be derived from the 
exchange of commodities produced in different places. Geographical relations 
are therefore of necessity implied in commerce. But those who carry on 
commerce have always aimed at the greatest possible advantage to themselves, 
and the commerce that has always attracted the greatest attention is that which 
has resulted in the greatest additions to their wealth. Peculiar importance 
therefore belongs to the geographical relations between regions which under any 
given circumstances lead to the most profitable exchanges. 
But before applying this consideration there is another point which must detain 
us a little. In speaking of wealth as I have just done I am aware that I have 
made use of a term which economists recognise as one requiring a great deal of 
exposition to prevent misunderstanding, and there is not the slightest doubt that 
in the history of commerce it has led to great misunderstanding, and therefore it is 
necessary, Without entering upon an economic disquisition on the subject, to 
consider the meaning of the term ‘ wealth’ sufficiently to indicate the way in 
which that misunderstanding has arisen. For this purpose it will be most con- 
venient not to give one of the highly abstract definitions of wealth which a 
modern political economist will give us, but to go back to the more concrete 
considerations set forth by Adam Smith, who tells us that ‘the wealth of a 
