160 ‘ REPORT—1874. 
GEOGRAPHY. 
Address by Major Wusor, R.E., F.RS., F.R.GS., Director of the Topogra- 
phical Department, Horse Guards, War Office, President of the Section. 
Tue President of the Royal Geographical Society has so recently delivered his 
Anniversary Address, that if I were to attempt to trace the progress of geographical 
discovery during the period that has elapsed since the Meeting of the British As- 
sociation at Bradford in September last, I could scarcely avoid repeating much that 
has already been said in far abler terms than I have it within my power to com- 
mand. Still there are, at the present moment, certain subjects of such very general 
interest, and of so much importance, that they cannot well be passed over in any 
address to the Geographical Section of the British Association. 
It has, I believe, been usual in the addresses to this Section to select some special 
subject for remark ; and I will therefore, if you will allow me, before alluding to 
the geographical achievements of the year, draw your attention to the influence 
which the physical features of the earth’s crust have on the course of military ope- 
rations, to the consequent importance of the study of Physical Geography to all 
those who have to plan or take part in a campaign, and to the contributions to geo- 
graphical science that are due, directly or indirectly, to war and the necessity of 
preparing for war. I do this the more readily from a feeling that sufficient 
importance is not attached to the study of geography as a branch of military sci- 
ence, and that of recent years officers in our foreign possessions and colonies have 
not received that encouragement which they might have expected to engage in geo- 
graphical research, as well as from a hope that new life may be given to that spirit 
of enterprise and love of adventure in strange lands and amongst strange people 
which have so long distinguished the officers of both services. 
To show how varied are the conditions under which war has to be carried on, 
and how much its successful issue may depend on a previous careful study of the 
physical character of the country in which it is waged, it is only necessary to remind 
- you of the recent operations on the Gold Coast, brought to a successful issue in an 
unhealthy climate and in the heart of a dense tropical forest, where an impenetrable 
undergrowth, pestilential swamps, and deep rivers obstructed the march of the 
troops ; of the Abyssinian Expedition landing on the heated shores of the Red Sea, 
and thence, after climbing to the lofty highlands of Abyssinia, working its way 
over stupendous ravines to the all but inaccessible rock crowned by the fortress 
of Magdala; of the march of the Russian columns across the ee and deserts of 
Central Asia to the Khivan oasis—one month wearily plodding through deep snow, 
the next sinking down in the burning sand, and saved from the most terrible of 
disasters by the timely discovery of a well; and, lastly, of the great struggle nearer 
home, the last echoes of which have hardly yet passed away, when the wave of 
German conquest, rolling over the Vosges and the Moselle, swept over the fairest 
provinces of France. 
The influence of the earth’s crust on war may be regarded as twofold: first, 
that which it exerts on the general conduct of a campaign; and second, that which 
it exerts on the disposition and movement of troops on the field of battle. Military 
Geography treats of the one, Military Topography of the other; and it is well to 
keep this broad distinction in view, for, as with Strategy and Tactics, they stand 
in such close relation to each other that it is not always easy to say where Geography 
ends and Topography begins. Of special importance in the first case are great inequa- 
lities or obstacles that confine or obstruct the movement of large bodies of troops, and 
those features which retard or accelerate their march, whether they be mountain- 
ranges, ravines, or defiles with inaccessible sides, deep crevasses (such as those 
washed out in some steppe-countries by winter rains), extensive plains, dense forests, 
rich cultivation (such as that of the valley of the Po, which confines all movements 
to the roads), enclosed country like that of England and Ireland, great marshes 
(such as that of the Beresina and Pripet), or running or standing water that cannot be 
crossed without a bridge or boats. Of no less importance are those features which 
do not allow of the employment of large masses of troops or of special arms, such 
