CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. 327 
First Meeting, October 25. 
The meeting was presided over by Dr. A. C. Haddon, Chairman of the 
Conference, who delivered the following address :— 
Regional Surveys. 
In all our societies there are various kinds of members, who have joined 
for very different reasons. The remarks which I am about to make are not 
intended to apply to the majority of workers. They for the most part know 
what they want to do and how to do it, and their time is usually fully 
occupied. There are, however, many members who are not workers; of 
these there must be a considerable number who accomplish nothing because 
they mistrust their own ability or do not quite know what to do. In other 
words, these members are interested, but not sufficiently interested. The 
problem is, how can their imagination be sufficiently stimulated to constrain 
them to set to work at something ? 
As men have diverse gifts so have they diverse interests. If our societies 
could manage not only to maintain the zeal of their ordinary working mem- 
bers, but to arouse the enthusiasm of fresh workers in old and new subjects, 
the societies would increase their membership and their efficiency, and the 
broader the basis of interest the more stable would be their position. 
The widening of the interests need not lead to superficiality, for each 
worker can be as keen and deep a student of his own branch as his ability, 
time, and opportunities permit. The mingling of enthusiasts of different 
interests is alike stimulating and educative, and it is not loss of time to 
learn what others are discovering in or concerning the neighbourhood. 
With all diffidence I venture to make a few remarks about certain 
subjects which appear to me eminently suitable for the more converted study 
of the members of local societies. 
The relation of geology to the present scenery has been the subject of 
innumerable books and memoirs, but there is yet room for more studies of 
the character of Principal A. W. Clayden’s extremely valuable and interesting 
book, The History of Devonshire Scenery: an Essay in Geographical 
Evolution (1906). Our local societies can give valuable help in the collec- 
tion of the details upon which generalisations of this kind are based, and 
those members who are interested in photography can supply the pictorial 
illustrations. I should like to draw attention to the paper on ‘ Charnwood 
Forest: a Buried Triassic Landscape,’ by Professor W. W. Watts (Geogr. 
Journ. xxi. 1903, p. 623), as an illustration of the close connection between 
geology and geography. At the same time it affords an example of what 
can be done in a limited area by one who combines the gifts of seeing both 
minutely and broadly. 
The study of geography has now been recognised as one of primary import- 
ance, not only for its own sake, but as a department of other branches of 
study. Fortunately, the teaching of geography has undergone a fundamental 
change since the days when most of us were at school, and from being largely 
an effort of memory has become a rational subject. The inter-relations of 
geography with other sciences render it peculiarly valuable as a starting-point 
or a meeting-ground, and the junior members of our societies should be 
encouraged to think geographically—if only the responsible persons in the 
Colonial and Foreign Offices could do so, much friction, ill-feeling, and loss 
would be saved to the Empire ! 
No better illustration of my meaning can be adduced than Dr. Hugh Robert 
-Mill’s admirable paper entitled ‘A Fragment of the Geography of England : 
South-West Sussex’ (Geogr. Journ. xv. 1900, pp. 205 and 353). Allusion 
may also be made to Dr. D. Woolacott’s ‘The Origin and Influence of the 
