TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E, 701 



a result of that or not it is hardly for me to say, but certainly since that inquiry 

 some twelve years ap-o the position of geography in England has considerably 

 improved both in education and as a field for research. Better methods have been 

 introduced in our schools ; a much wider scope has been given to the subject ; in 

 many quarters teachers have shown themselves anxious to be guided in the right 

 direction ; and, above all, both Oxford and Cambridge at length consented to 

 the establishment of lectureships in geography. A school of young geographers 

 has grown up, consisting of men who have had a thorough university training in 

 science and letters, and who are devoting themselves to the various branches of 

 geography as a speciality. In this way the arid old text-books and characterless 

 maps are being supplanted by others that will bear comparison with tlie best pro- 

 ductions of Germany. Photography and lantern slides illustrating special geogra- 

 phical features are coming into use in schools ; and in other directions appliances 

 for use in education are being multiplied and improved. A British geographical 

 literature is growing up, and if, as I hope, the progress be maintained, we 

 shall be able to hold our own 'm geography with any country. The interest in the 

 subject has been extended by the foundation of geographical societies in various 

 large centres ; whereas thirteen years ago the only geogi'aphical society was 

 that of London, there are now similar societies in Manchester, Newcastle, Liver- 

 pool, and Edinburgh, the last with branches in Glasgow, Dundee, and Aberdeen. 

 If this progressive movement is maintained, as there is every reason to hope it will 

 be, the scientific and educational aspects of geography in Britain will be more 

 nearly on a par with exploration in which our country has so long lield the lead. 



In the United States I found that the position of the subject in education was 

 not much more satisfactory than it was in England. Since then there is reason 

 to believe considerable progress has been made. One of the best text-books on 

 physical geography, Hinman's 'Eclectic Physical Geographj',' is of American 

 origin ; while in the States, as in England, a school of scientific geographers has 

 arisen which bids fair to give the subject a high place in that country. I fear, 

 from what I can learn, that the position in Canada is not as satisfactory as it ought to 

 be. It seems to me, then, that one of the great problems which geographers have 

 to face in the future is the place which this subject is to hold in education, both 

 as a body of information and as a discipline. We have been making progress, 

 and if we persevere with intelligence and firmness, and maintain the subject at 

 the highest standard as a field of research, there can be little doubt of our success. 



There is a prevalent belief that geographers have nothing more to learn in Europe, 

 that that old continent has been thoroughly explored. It is true that nearly every 

 country in Europe has been, or is being, trigonometrically surveyed. Except some 

 parts of the Balkan Peninsula and North of Russia, the topography of the continent 

 has been accurately mapped on scales and by methods sufficient at least for the pur- 

 poses of the geographer. Yet there are districts in the Balkan Peninsula — for 

 example, Albania — which are as vaguely known as Central Africa. But it is a delu- 

 sion to think that because a country has been fully mapped the occupation of the 

 geographer is gone. It is only when a region at large is adequately mapped that 

 the work of geographical research begins. The student, with a satisfactory map of a 

 definite district as his guide, will find on the spot abundant occupation in working 

 out its geographical details, the changes which have taken place in its topogi'aphy, 

 and the bearing of its varied features upon its history, its inhabitants, its indus- 

 tries. This kind of worlc has been in progress in Germany for over ten years,, 

 inider the auspices of the Central Commission for the Scientific Geography 

 (Landeskunde) of Germany, with its seat at Stuttgart. Under the collective title 

 of ' Forschungen zur Deutschen Landes- und Volkskunde,' a long series of mono- 

 graphs by specialists has been published, dealing in minute detail with one or 

 more aspects of a limited district. Thus we have such memoirs as ' The Plain of 

 the Upper Rhine and its Neighbouring Mountains,' by Dr. Richard Lepsius ; ' The 

 Towns of the North German Plain in relation to the Configuration of the Ground,' 

 by Dr. Hahn ; ' The Munich Basin : a Contribution to the Physical Geography 

 of Southern Bavaria,' by C. Gruber ; ' The Mecklenburg Ridges and their Relation 

 to the Ice Age,' by Dr. E. Geinitz ; 'The Influence of the Mountains on the 



