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of those who favoured its study are to-day chiefly interest iug as showing 

 the entire inadequacy of the methods of geographical tuition in those days and the 

 little importance attached to it in educational circles. I must, however, quote 

 with approbation the words of one master, who said : ' I feel strongly the great 

 importance of the subject, not only as a mental discipline, an essential part of a 

 liberal education, but as more especially necessary for Englishmen, many of whom 

 will be called upon in after-life to turn their geographical knowledge to practical 

 and serious account ' ; and he added : ' One of the difficulties in doing justice to the 

 claims of the subject is the somewhat absurd prejudice in teaching geography, as 

 if it were less worthy of first-rate men than Latin prose, or essay writing, or 

 criticism.' On the other hand, most of the headmasters threw cold water on any 

 attempt to give geography a substantial place in our great public schools. They 

 considered it not sufficiently important as an educational instrument ; it was 

 hardly a discipline ; it was little more than an effort of memory; it was quite 

 worthless educationally till it became a branch of history ; problems in it could 

 not be set. These masters were supported by the opinion of a distinguished 

 geologist that geography was not suitable as a university subject because it was a 

 ' graphy,' and not a ' logy.' Nor, indeed, can it be contended that these depre- 

 ciatory views of geography, as it was then generally taught, were unreasonable. 

 The text-books of that time were, as a whole, worthy of the position which the 

 subject held iu the education of the country, and on a par with its reputation 

 among the educated public. The use of maps in the daily newspapers was almost 

 unknown ; while as regards military geography, the late Lord Napier of Magdala, 

 at the opening of the Education Exhibition of the Society, forcibly contrasted the 

 position at home with the importance attached to the subject in the German Army, 

 where at the manoeuvres every third soldier has a map of the ground, and where 

 in the Franco-German war maps formed part of the equipment of every company. 

 If the position of geography in this country was so unsatisfactory a quarter 

 of a century ago, it was not because its raw material was wanting in our 

 language. On the contrary, few countries then possessed a literature of 

 travel and exploration so wide and of so high a class as ours. The 

 source of our weakness was the paucity of men qualified to apply scientific 

 method to this raw material, and there was no institution where it was 

 possible to obtain a thorough training in geography, such as could be obtained at 

 a score of universities in Germany, Austria, and France. This was the position 

 which had to be faced before placing the subject on a more satisfactory footing. 



It is unnecessary for me to describe in detail the methods adopted by the Royal 

 Geographical Society ^so far as its resources and influence permitted — in carrying 

 out the work of reformation. I need only bring before you the general results. 

 No one will now doubt that the active minds in this great movement were right 

 in believing that the surest means of influencing our schools of all grades, and 

 also of obtaining in the country generally a recognition of the subject as a depart- 

 ment of science, as a field for research, and as a subject of practical importance iu 

 various spheres of national activit)-, was to obtain, in the first place, proper recog- 

 nition at our great universities. Attempts had, indeed, been made in the same direc- 

 tion as far back aa 1871 and 1874, but without efiect. I need hardly remind you 

 that the later efforts of the Society had a very different result. For many years 

 now there has been a school of geography at Oxford, while a readership esta- 

 blished at Cambridge several years ago has also developed into a fairly well- 

 equipped school. At Oxford there is a reader with a staff of three lecturers, and 

 a diploma in geography is granted which practically amounts to honours in the 

 subject. The field covered may be seen from the subjects of examination for this 

 diploma. They are : (1) Regional Geography, (2) Climatology and Oceano- 

 graphy, (3) Geomorphology, (4) Ancient Historical Geography, (5) Modern 

 Historical Geography, (6) History of Geography, and (7) Surveying. It may 

 give a more complete idea of what English students regard as included in their 

 subject if I mention the principal topics iu the examination on regional geo- 

 gi'aphy — the cartographical analysis of the physical regions of the world — an 

 elementary knowledge of the chief generalisations regarding the surface forms of 



