426 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E.—PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 
Section E.—GEOGRAPHY. 
PRESIDENT OF THE SEcTION.—SiR OCuartEes P. Lucas, K.C.B., 
K.C.M.G. 
The President delivered the following Address at Adelaide on Wednesday, 
August 12 :— 
Man as a Geographical Agency. 
In an inaugural address to the Royal Scottish Geographical Society on Geography 
and Statecraft Lord Milner said: ‘If I have no right to call myself a 
geographer, I am at least a firm believer in the value of geographical studies.’ 
I wish to echo these words. I have no expert geographical knowledge, and am 
wholly unversed in science, but I am emboldened to try and say a few words 
because of my profound belief in the value of geographical studies. I believe in 
their value partly on general grounds, and largely because a study of the British 
Empire leads an Englishman, whether born in England or in Australia, to the 
inevitable conclusion that statecraft in the past would have been better, if there 
had been more accurate knowledge of geography. This statement might be 
illustrated by various anecdotes, some true, not a few apocryphal; but anecdotes 
do not lend themselves to the advancement of science. I am encouraged, too, 
to speak because the field of geography is more open to the man in the street 
than are the sciences more strictly so-called. It is a graphy, not a logy. 
Geology is the science of the earth. Geography is a description of the face of 
the earth and of what is on or under it, a series of pictures with appropriate 
letterpress and with more or less appropriate morals to adorn the tale. 
Taking the earth as it is, geographical discovery has well-nigh reached its 
limit. The truth, in the words of Addison’s hymn, is now ‘spread from Pole 
to Pole,’ and recent exploration at the South Pole, with its tale of heroism, will 
have specially appealed to the citizens of this Southern land, reminding us all 
that the age of chivalry is not yet past. The city of Adelaide is rich in the 
record of explorers, and to the list is now added the name of Sir Douglas 
Mawson. It is not for me to attempt to take measure of his great enterprise, 
but the scientific results of his work, including the carrying of wireless tele- 
graphy into the Antarctic Continent, illustrate my thesis that man is a 
geographical agency. Members of the British Association will note with 
pleasure that he derived backing and inspiration from the Australasian Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science. Outside the polar regions coasts are in 
most cases accurately known. The age of Cook and Flinders is past. Interiors 
are more or less known. In Africa there is no more room for Livingstones, 
Spekes, Burtons, Stanleys. In Australia Sir John Forrest is an honoured survival 
of the exploring age—the age of McDouall Stuart and other heroes of Austra- 
lian discovery. The old map-makers, in Swift’s well-known lines, ‘ o’er unhabit- 
able downs placed elephants for want of towns.’ Towns have now taken the 
place of elephants and of kangaroos. Much, no doubt, still remains to be done. 
The known will be made far better known; maps will be rectified; many great 
inland tracts in Australia and elsewhere will be, as they are now being, 
scientifically surveyed ; corners of the earth only penetrated now will be swept 
and garnished. But as we stand to-day, broadly speaking, there are few more 
lands and seas to conquer. Discovery pure and simple is passing away. 
