486 TRANSACTIONS OP SECTION E. 



may be said of all the others. Not only in all parts of the Empire but in these 

 islands also there is ample opportunity for the detailed geographical study of 

 single localities or individual phenomena, just as much as in geology, in botany, 

 or in zoology ; and it is these separate pieces of work which, when thoroughly 

 carried out and critically discussed, provide the material on which wider 

 generalisations or larger investigations can be based. Herein lies, therefore, the 

 importance of the prosecution of them by as many workers as possible, and the 

 value of communicating the results to others for criticism and for comparison 

 with the results which they have obtained ; for such work, if it cannot be made 

 accessible to other workers in the same and related fields, loses a large proportion 

 of its value. 



If we now consider some of the problems of human geography we shall find 

 the need for such systematic study to be even greater ; for the variable factors 

 involved are more numerous than in physical geography, and many of them are 

 difficult to reduce to precise statement ; the quantitative study of the subject 

 is therefore much more difficult than the qualitative or descriptive, so that 

 the latter is too frequently adopted to the exclusion of the former. The remedy 

 lies, I believe, in individual research into special cases and special areas where 

 the factors involved are not too numerous, where some of them at least can be 

 defined with some accuracy, and where, consequently, deductions can be drawn 

 with some precision and with an accuracy which gives grounds for coiifidence 

 in the result. The settlements of man, his occupations, his movements in their 

 geograpliical relations are manifested everywhere, and subjects of study are to 

 be fomid without difficulty, but their investigation must be based on actual 

 observation, and on data which have been carefully collected and critically 

 examined, so that the subject may be treated as completely as possible, and in 

 such a way that the evidence is laid before the reader in order that he may 

 form his own conclusions. 



It is probable that some of the lack of precision which is to be found in this 

 part of the subject is to be attributed to the want of precision 'in its termino- 

 logy. For many things in human geography good technical terms are required, 

 but these must be selected by those who have studied the type or phenomenon 

 concerned and have a clear idea of the particular conditions which they desire 

 to associate with the term ; this is not the work of a Committee of Selection, 

 but must grow out of the needs of the individual workers. 



There is, it must be admitted, no small difficulty in using the same precise- 

 ness of method in this portion of the subject as is readily attainable in 

 mathematical geography, and is usually practicable in physiography ; but at any 

 rate it is undesirable to indicate any condition as the controlling one until all 

 other possible influences have been carefully examined and have been shown to 

 have less weight than that one which has been selected. 



Whether the investigation deals with the settlements of man or his move- 

 ments and means of communication it is important that in the first instance 

 problems of a manageable size should be undertaken and thoroughly treated, 

 leaving larger areas and wider generalisations nntil a sufficient stock of 

 thoroughly reliable material which is in the form in which it can properly be 

 used for wider aims is available. 



The relation of geographical conditions to small settlements can be satis- 

 factorily worked out if sufficient trouble is taken and all possible sources of 

 information, both of present date and of periods which have passed away, are 

 utilised. Such studies are of a real value and pave the way to more elaborate 

 studies, but we need more serious study of these simpler cases both to set our 

 facts in order and to provide a, methodical classification of the conditions which 

 prevail in this part of the subject. Out of such studies there will grow such 

 a series of terms with well-defined associations as will give a real precision to the 

 subject which it seems at the present time to lack. 



The same benefit is to be anticipated from detailed work in relation to man's 

 communications and the interchange of commodities in all their varied relations. 

 Generalised and descriptive accounts are readily to be found, and these are for 

 the most part supported by tables of statistics, all of which have their value 

 and present truths of great importance in geography, but the spirit of active 

 research which aims at clearing up thoroughly a small portion of the wide field 



