438 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 



climatology before the Meteorological Society; and those on anthropology and 

 ethnography before the Anthropological Society. To make quite sure of this 

 point I will cite a few titles of the papers read : ' The great Tarawera Volcanic 

 Rift,' by J. M. Bell; 'Recent Earthquakes,' by R. D. Oldham; ' Glacial History 

 of Western Europe,' by Professor T. G. Bonney; 'Climatic Features of the 

 Pleistocene Ice-Age,' by Professor A. Penck; 'Rainfall of British East Africa,' 

 by G. B. Williams; 'Geographical Distribution of Rainfall in the British Isles,' 

 by Dr. H. R. Mill ; ' Geographical Conditions affecting Population in the East 

 Mediterranean Lands,' by D. G. Hogarth ; ' Tribes of North- Western Se-Chuan,' 

 by W. N. Fergusson. 



This little list of typical subjects indicates clearly that there is a large group 

 of contributions which would have found an appropriate home in the journals of 

 the Geological, Meteorological, and Anthropological Societies ; there is a possible 

 corollary that, since men who make a life study of these subjects are best capable 

 of dealing with them, the authors of the above type of paper who submit their 

 work to the Geographical Society in so doing appeal rather to the public at 

 large than to men of their own special sciences. 



We may therefore sum up the results of this brief investigation into the work 

 of the Royal Geographical Society by saying that 60 per cent, of it is concerned 

 with exploration and mapping, and that some of the remainder could be dealt 

 with appropriately by the learned societies concerned, but that the Geographical 

 Society serves as a popularising medium. It also serves a useful purpose as a 

 common meeting-ground for vulcanologists, seismologists, oceanographers, 

 meteorologists, climatologists, anthropologists, and ethnographers. 



Another line of investigation may be profitably pursued. Who are, by 

 common consent, the leading geographers of the world ? No doubt the explorers 

 come first in popular estimation, such men (omitting British names) as Peary, 

 Charcot, Sven Hedin. Then after this type would come the men of learning who 

 stand out in any International Congress. These men stand out because they 

 have, by their own exertions, increased the sum of human knowledge. Omitting 

 for the moment the consideration of exploration and mapping, we find that in an 

 international congress a large number of the most celebrated geographers are 

 eminent as geologists. In such a gathering we can also pick out those who have 

 advanced the sciences of meteorology or anthropology. Is there such a thing as 

 an eminent geographer per se ? There are those who say that, apart from ex- 

 plorers, the nearest approach to such a being is the compiler who popularises the 

 results obtained by men working in definitely scientific branches of knowledge. 



To revert to the ideas gathered from an international congress, let us suppose 

 the position reversed. Let the functions of geology be supposed to be some- 

 what in dispute and those of geography perfectly definite, and further let us 

 suppose that at an international meeting of geologists a large proportion of the 

 men of real distinction were geographers. We may in this way get an idea of 

 what geography looks like from the outside. 



I think that at this point we may explain, in a preliminary way, the work of 

 the Geographical societies, after the fashion of the ' Child's Guide to Know- 

 ledge ' : — 



Question : What is Geography ? 



Answer : There is no generally accepted definition of Geography. 



Question : Can we not form some idea of the scope of the subject by 

 considering the work of the Royal Geographical Society ? 



Answer : Yes ; 60 per cent, of this work deals with explorations, sur- 

 veys, and mapping, and of the rest a considerable portion consists of matter 

 which could be discussed appropriately before the Geological, Meteoro- 

 logical, and Anthropological Societies. 



Question : What, then, leaving maps out of consideration, are the useful 

 functions of a Geographical society ? 



Answer : A Geographical society serves to popularise the work of men 

 who labour in certain fields of science, and such a society forms a very 

 convenient meeting-ground for them. 



Question : What is a geographer ? 



Answer : The term geographer is sometimes applied to explorers ; some- 

 times to men who compile books derived mainly from the labours of 



