640 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 



Section E.— GEOGRAPHY. 

 President of the Section. — Professor A. J. Herbertson, M.A., Ph.D. 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1. 

 The President delivered the following Address : — 



Geography and some of its Present Needs. 



Geographical Progress in the Last Decade. 



At the close of a reign which has practically coincided with the first decade of a 

 new century, it is natural to look back and summarise the progress of geo- 

 graphy during the decade. At the beginning of a new reign it is equally 

 natural to consider the future. Our new Sovereign is one of the most travelled 

 of men. No monarch knows the World as he knows it ; no monarch has ruled 

 over a larger Empire or seen more of his dominions. His advice has been 

 to wake up, to consider and to act. This involves taking existing geographical 

 conditions into account. It will be in consonance with this advice if I pay more 

 attention to the geography of the present and future than to that of the past, 

 and say more about its applications than about its origins. Yet I do so with 

 some reluctance, for the last decade has been one of the most active and interest- 

 ing in the history of our science. 



Among the many geographical results of work in the past decade a few may 

 be mentioned. The measurement of new and the remeasurement of old arcs 

 will give us better data for determining the size and shape of the Earth. Surveys 

 of all kinds, from the simple route sketches of the traveller to the elaborate 

 cadastral surveys of some of the more populous and settled regions, have so 

 extended our knowledge of the surface features of the Earth that a map on 

 the scale of 1 : 1.000,000 is not merely planned, but actually partly executed. 

 Such surveys and such maps are the indispensable basis of our science. 



The progress of oceanography has also been great. The soundings of our own 

 and other Admiralties, of scientific oceanographical expeditions, and those made 

 for the purpose of laying cables, have given us much more detailed knowledge 

 of the irregularities of the ocean floor. An international map of oceanic contours, 

 due to the inspiration and munificence of the Prince of Oceanographers and of 

 Monaco, has been issued during the decade, and so much new material has 

 accumulated that it is now being revised. A comparison of the old and new 

 editions of Kriimmel's ' Ozeanographie ' shows us the immense advances in this 

 subject. 



Great progress has been made on the geographical side of meteorology 

 and climate. The importance of this knowledge for tropical agriculture and 

 hygiene has led to an increase of meteorological stations all over the hot belt — 

 the results of which will be of value to the geographer. Mr. Bartholomew's 

 ' Atlas of Meteorology ' appeared at the beginning, and Sir John Eliot's 

 ' Meteorological Atlas of India ' at the end of the decade. Dr. Hann's ' Lehr- 

 buch ' and the new edition of his 'Climatology,' Messrs. Hildebrandsson and 

 Teisserenc de Bort's great work, and the recent studies of the Upper Atmo- 

 sphere, are among the landmarks of progress. The record is marred only by 



