TRAINS ACTIONS OF SECTION" E. 69^ 



Sectiox E.— geography. 

 Pkesidext of the Section — J. Scott Keltie, LL.D., Sec.E.G.S. 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 19. 

 Tlip President delivered the following address : — 



NVe meet this year in exceptional circumstances. Tliirteen years ago the British 

 Association met for the first time in a portion of the Empire beyond the 

 limits of the British Islands. During these thirteen years much has happened of 

 the greatest interest to geographers, and if I attempted to review the progress 

 which has been made during these years — progress in the exploration of the globe, 

 progress iu geographical research, progress in geographical education — I could not 

 hope to do it to any purpose in the short time during which it would be right for 

 a president to monopolise the attention of the Section. But we have, at the same 

 time, reached another stage in our history which naturally leads us to take stock 

 of our progress in the past. We have all of us been celebrating the 60th year of 

 the glorious reign of the Sovereign, of whose vast dominions Canada and the United 

 Kingdom form integral parts. The progress made daring that period iu our own 

 department of science has been immense ; it would take volumes to tell what 

 has been done for the exploration of the globe. The great continent of 

 Africa has practically been discovered, for sixty years ago almost all but its rim 

 was a blank. In 1837 enormous areas in North America were unexplored, and 

 much of the interior of South America was unknown. In all parts of Asia vast 

 additions have been made to our knowledge ; the maps of the interior of that 

 continent were, sixty years ago, of the most diagrammatic character. The 

 Australian interior was nearly as great a blank as that of Africa ; New Zealand 

 had not even been annexed. Need I remind you of the great progress which has- 

 been made during the period both in the North and South Polar areas, culminating 

 in the magnificent achievement of Dr. Nausen? It was just sixty years ago that 

 the great Antarctic expedition under Sir James Ross was being organised ; 

 .■<ince that, alas, little or nothing has been done to follow up his work. Sixty years 

 ago the science of Oceanographj', even the term, did not exist ; it is the creation 

 of the Victorian era, and may be said almost to have had its origin in the voyage 

 of the ' Challenger,' which added a new domain to our science and opened up 

 inexhaustible fields of research. I have thought then that the most useful and 

 most manageable thing to do on the present occasion will be to indicate briefly 

 what, in my estimation, are some of the problems which geography has to attack 

 in the future, only taking such glances at the past as will enable us to do this 

 intelligibly. 



It has been customary for the occupants of this chair to try to define the 

 field of geography, and on occasions, in somewhiit too apologetic language, to 

 justify its existence as a section of n. scieutific association. I do not think this 1& 



