TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 181 



tion to the general relations existing among all tlio forces and pliononiena of nature. 

 In some important branches of such subjects, it is only through study of the local 

 physical conditions of vai-ious parts of the earth's surface and the complicated phe- 

 nomena to which they give rise, that sound conclusions can be established ; and 

 this study constitutes Physical or Scientific Geogi-aphy. It is very necessary to 

 bear in mind that a large portion of the phenomena dealt with by the sciences 

 of observation relates to the earth as a whole in contradistinction to the substances 

 of which it is formed, and can only be correctly appreciated in connexion with the 

 terrestrial or geographical conditions of the place where they occur. On the one 

 hand therefore, while the proper prosecution of the study of Physical Geography 

 requires a sound Icnowledge of the researches and conclusions of students in the 

 special branches of science, on the other success is not attainable in the special 

 branches without suitable apprehension of geographical facts. For these reasons it 

 appears to me that the general progi-ess of science will involve the study of Geo- 

 graphy in a more scientific spirit, and with a clearer conception of its true function, 

 which is that of obtaining accurate notions of the manner in which the forces of 

 nature have brought about the varied conditions characterizing the surface of the 

 planet which we inhabit. 



In its broadest sense Science is organized knowledge, and its methods consist of 

 the observation and classification of the phenomena of which" we become conscious 

 through our senses, and the investigation of the causes of which these are the effects. 

 The first step in Geography, as in all other sciences, is the observation and descrip- 

 tion of the phenomena with which it is concerned ; the next is to classify and coni- 

 fare this empirical collection of facts, and to investigate their antecedent causes, 

 t is in the first branch of the study that most progress has been made, and to it 

 indeed the notion of Geography is still popularly limited. The other branch is 

 commonly spoken of as Physical Geography, but it is more correctly the science 

 of Geogi-aphy. 



The progi'ess of Geography has thus advanced from first rough ideas of relative 

 distance between neighbom-ing places, to correct views of the earth's form, precise 

 determinations of position, and accurate delineations of the surface. The first im- 

 pressions of the ditferences observed between distant countries were at length cor- 

 rected by the perception of similarities no less real. The characteristics of the great 

 regions of polar cold and equatorial heat, of the sea and land, of the mountains 

 and plains, were appreciated ; and the local variations of season and climate, of wind 

 and rain, were more or less fully ascertained. Later, the distribution of plants and 

 animals, their occurrence in groups of peculiar structure in various regions, and the 

 circumstances under which such groups vary from place to place gave rise to fresh 

 conceptions. Along with these facts were observed the peculiarities of the races 

 of men — their physical form, languages, customs, and history — exhibiting on the 

 one hand striking diflferences in difierent countries, but on the other often con- 

 nected by a strong stamp of similarity over large areas. 



By the gradual accumulation and classification of such knowledge the scientific 

 conception of geographical unity and continuity was at length formed, and the con- 

 clusion established that while each different part of the earth's surface has its special 

 characteristics, all animate and inanimate nature constitutes one general system, 

 and that the particular features of each region are due to the operation of universal 

 laws acting under varying local conditions. It is upon such a conception that is 

 now brought to bear the doctrine, very generally accepted by the naturalists of our 

 own country, that each successive phase of the earth's history, for an indefinite 

 period of time, has been derived from that which preceded it, under the operation 

 of the forces of nature as we now find them ; and that, so far as observation justifies 

 the adoption of any conclusions on such subjects, no change has ever taken place in 

 those forces or iu the properties of matter. This doctrine is commonly spoken of 

 as the doctrine of evolution, and it is to its application to Geography that I wish to 

 direct your attention. 



I desire here to remark that in what I am about to say, I altogether leave 

 on one side all questions relating to the origin of matter, and of the so-called forces of 

 natm-e which give rise to the properties of matter. In the present state of know- 

 ledge such subjects are, I conceive, beyond the legitimate field of physical science, 



