PRESinENTfAL ADDRESS. 479 



carefully observed data, which they will have classified methodically and dis- 

 cussed critically, in order that these may be utilised to form sound generalisa- 

 tions as to their relationships and sequence in accordance with the method 

 which is employed in all scientific work. 



In order that we may see what advance has been made in the scientific 

 study of geography in this country during the last quarter of a century, we 

 must turn to the results that have been attained by the activity of geographical 

 investigators who have devoted themselves to the serious study of various 

 phenomena, and the detailed investigation of particular regions. If we do so 

 I think that we must admit that the number of original investigators in 

 scientific geography who are extending its scope in this way is not so large as 

 it might be, nor are we yet utilising sufficiently all the material which is avail- 

 able to us. Anyone who will examine the geographical material which has been 

 published in any period which he may select for review will find that purely 

 descriptive treatment .still far outweighs the analytical treatment which alone 

 tan lead to definite advances in scientific geography. If pleasing descriptions 

 of this or that locality are sought for, they are for the most part to be found 

 readily in the very large amount of such material that has been and is being 

 published each year by residents, travellers, and explorers ; but if information is 

 desired in the prosecution of a jDiece of geographical research, we are checked 

 by the lack of precise details. Few of this class of descriptions are sufficiently 

 definite to enable the necessary comparisons to be made between one locality 

 and others which are similarly situated ; thoroughly quantitative treatment 

 is for the most part lacking, and while a pleasing picture is drawn which is 

 probably true in character, it is usually inadequately furnished with those 

 definite facts which the geographer requires. 



I propose, therefore, to examine a little more closely the question of 

 geographical inve.itigation and research in order to see where we stand and in 

 what direction it behoves us to put forth our energies to the end that a branch 

 of knowledge which is of such importance shall rest upon that basis of detailed 

 study and investigation which alone can supply the starting-point for further 

 advance. The intricate and complicated character of the subject, the extent 

 of its purview, the numerous points at which it touches and imperceptibly 

 passes into other well-defined branches of knowledge, render the study of 

 geography very liable to degenerate into a purely descriptive treatment of the 

 earth's surface and all that is to be found thereon, rather than to follow the 

 narrow path of scientific progress in which the careful collection of data 

 furnishes the material for systematic discussion and study in order that trust- 

 worthy generalisations may be reached. 



The opportunity to undertake Ion"' journeys through distant lands comes to 

 few of us, but this is not the only direction in which research can be profitably 

 undertaken, for there is no part of these islands where a geographer cannot find 

 within his reach some geographical problem which is well worth working out, 

 and which, if well and thoroughly done, will be a valuable contribution to 

 his science. Even for such as cannot undertake such field work the library 

 will provide a host of subjects which have not received nearly the amount of 

 attention and of careful study that they deserve. The one thing essential is 

 that the study should be as thorough as possible, so that all the contributory 

 lines of evidence shall be brought together and compared, and so that the 

 result may prove to be a real addition to geographical science on which other 

 workers may in their turn build. 



For those who desire to undertake such investigations there is at any rate 

 no lack of geographical material, for travellers, explorers, and others engaged 

 in various occupations in every part of the world are continually recording 

 their experiences and describing their surroundings in books and pamphlets ; 

 they recount their experiences to the Geographical Societies, who apparently 

 have no difficulty in obtaining communications of wide interest for their 

 meetings. Most portions of the British Empire as well as regions belonging to 

 other nations are in these days more or less fully examined, surveyed, and 

 investigated with a view to their development, and those who undertake such 

 work have ample opportunities for the most part for preparing descriptions of 

 the lands in which they have sojourned and with which they are well 

 acquainted. But although the material is so ample the quality of it is not 



