614 TRANSACTIONS OF SECtlON fi. 



the Gulf of Mexico by' Mr. Alexander AgKssiz, entirely at bis own expense. Tiie 

 cable-laying companies have also done a good deal on behalf of oceanography, 

 and some of the results of their investigations have been published by the Royal 

 Geographical Society, under the superintendence of tSir John Murray. The 

 immensely valuable work constantly carried on by His Majesty's surveying 

 vessels, under the direction of the Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty, is 

 so generally known as to make it unnecessary for me to dwell upon it. 



Long before the close of the nineteenth ceatury, however, oceanic navigation 

 had ceased to be of a pioneer or exploratory character, except in the Polar regions, 

 and had devoted itself to the no less important tasks of filling in details and 

 of undertaking scientific research, while the comparatively new subject of 

 limnology, which deals with those other portions of the hydrosphere known as 

 lakes or inland seas, and which has had such immense and valuable labour 

 devoted to it in this country by Sir John Murray, falls strictly within the limits 

 of scientific research. To this end all geographical travel and all geographical 

 study must come ;''"'and I am thus led to the second branch of my address, dealing 

 .with the growth of the scientific side of our subject and tbe concurrent spread of 

 interest in its study. On these points I propose to deal mainly with our own 

 country ; but I shall be compelled to draw certain comparisons, however un- 

 willingly, with'the more advanced conditions, in this respect, of other countries, 

 and notably of Germany. No one, indeed, could assert that the importance of 

 problems relating to the geomorphology of the lithosphere, to the distribution of 

 land and water, and to the influence of these (combined with climatic conditions) 

 upon the distribution of life and on human interests, were not recognised amongst 

 us long before the last meeting of the British Association at York. The under- 

 lying principles of scientific geography have been perceived in all ages and in all 

 countries by a few thinkers ; but so late as twenty-five years ago a true concep- 

 tion of the functions and scope of geography was confined to a very limited circle 

 of specialists. In confirmation of this, I may remind -you of an inquiry which 

 the Royal Geographical Society undertook about that time into the position of 

 geography at home and abroad. 



For many years previously the Society had been endeavouring to awaken the 

 public mind as to the high capabilities of geography when dealt with on scientific 

 lines, and to encourage the teaching of tbe subject on a higher plane by the award 

 of medals on the results of examinations. The failure of these attempts induced 

 the Society to make tbe investigation to which I refer, and its report (published 

 only a few years after the York meeting) may be regarded us the starting-point of 

 the revolution that has since occurred. It was found that Germany even then had 

 professors of geography in nearly all its universities, and a number of thoroughly 

 trained and earnest students who devoted themselves to investigation of the sub- 

 ject in all directions : and that in Austria, as well as in Germany, geography had 

 attained a position, both in universities and in schools of all grades, practically on 

 a level with other subjects of education; while in this country it was generally 

 regarded with apathy, and even contempt. It had no place in our universities ; 

 it was barely tolerated in our secondary and higher schools; while in the simple 

 geography of our elementary schools there was great room for improvement. 

 Practical work in geographical research scarcely existed, except in so far as it was 

 an outcome of geology. There was no encouragement for students, there was no 

 high-class geographical literature, such as existed in Germany, and for standard 

 works we had to resort either to that country or France. The great treasure-house 

 for geographers was Elis6e Reclus's 'G(5ographie Universelle,' which, fortunately, 

 was translated into English. There existed, indeed, a few popular works in this 

 country, but these were more or less of a purely descriptive and unscientific 

 character, excluding altogether the fundamental data of the subject. In the 

 Society's report to which I have referred were also given very intere.sting 

 quotations from the opinions of headmasters of English public schools as to 

 the value of geography and the educational position which it ought to ha\e. 

 It was melancholy reading. Only a few of them took a favourable view 

 of the subject, while the majority treated it with little respect. The remarks 



