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Section E.— GEOGRAPHY. 



President of the Sectioh-— Henry Seebohst, Sec.E.G.S., F.L.S., F.Z.S. 



TRVRSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14. 

 The President delivered the following Address : — 



[PLATE v.] 



Geography, the child of Mathematics and Astronomy, stands in the relation of 

 mother to half a dozen other sciences, which have long- ago left the parental roof to 

 establish sections of their own. Like every other science, geography is so closely 

 connected with, and dependent on, its allied sciences that it is impossible to treat 

 of the one without invading the province of the others. No one supposes that 

 the making of maps is the whole duty of the geographer. The accurate delineation 

 of the trend of coast-lmes, the courses of rivers, the heights of mountains, the 

 depths of seas, or the position of towns is only the skeleton which underlies the 

 real science of geography. 



The study of geography may be divided into various section.^, but it must always 

 be remembered that they dovetail into each otlier, as well as into the allied sciences, 

 to such an extent that no hard-and-fast line can be drawn between them. The 

 object of dividing so comprehensive a section as that of geography into sub-sections 

 is more practical than scientific. The classification of facts is an important aid to 

 memory, and introduces order into what might otherwise seem to be a chaos of 

 knowledge. 



The foundation of all geography is exploration ; but before the traveller can do 

 good geographical work he must acquire the necessary knowledge embraced in the 

 science of cartography. This includes a practical acqtiaintance with the various 

 instruments used in making a survey, the necessary mathematical and astronomical 

 knowledge required for their use, and a familiarity with the accepted mode of 

 expressing the geographical facts that may be acquhed on a chart or map. 

 Exploration may then be undertaken with some chance of ultimate success, but 

 the object of exploration must be something more than the filling up of blanks in 

 our maps. _ Many other subjects must receive attention, subjects which are 

 collectively mcluded in the term physical geography, but which require treatment 

 under different heads. Of these the most obvious is the geographical distribution 

 of light and heat, as well as the more fitful alternations of wind and rain with 

 calm and drought ; in other words, the numerous causes which combine to 

 produce climate. Meteorology or climatology, the geography of the air, is a most 

 important branch of geography in general ; and when we come to inquire into the 

 changes which have taken place in the climate of different parts of the earth's 

 surface, especially those which have afiected the Polar Basin, we enter upon a 

 subject which has claimed a large share of the attention of geologists, who have 

 also made a profound study of the geographical distribution of the various kinds 

 of rock which are found on the crust of the earth. Another sub-section of great 

 importance is the geographical distribution of organic life. The geographical 

 ranges of the species and genera, both of plants and animals, have become a subject 

 of vastly increased importance since so much attention has been directed to the 



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