446 EBPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. — 1919. 



control. Land forms and climatic conditions, and the vegetation resulting from 

 these, have accounted for all the differences of the races, for the rise of industry 

 and the developments of commerce. It is only in proportion to our power to 

 overcome the disabilities of our environment that we rise above the level of 

 the savage. 



Surely it is necessary to study geography if a right conception of oui- obliga- 

 tions is to be obtained. Practically all historical teaching should have a geo- 

 grapliical basis, and if commerce is to be carried on in a less spasmodic fashion 

 than in the past, a knowledge of geography must be acquired by all our great 

 commercial leaders. 



It appears necessary that an honours course in Geography be established in 

 all our Universities, with professors and lecturers like the other leading subjects 

 of a University course. Until this is done the secondary schools will never 

 supply the students in geography except as teachers in elementary schools, or 

 where tbe subject is compulsory, as in most of our schools of commerce. 



One of His Majesty's inspectors once said that any boy could acquire all 

 the geogi-aphical know-ledge he required. Could not this be said of any subject 

 with equal truth? His point was that there was no call for the subject, since 

 there were no scholarships at the Universities, and no schools there to which a 

 student with geographical inclinations could attach himself. The rchools could 

 gain no ' eclat ' by passing boys through a geographical course. As he said, ' the 

 subject leads nowhere.' 



At the present moment geography needs a man of strong ideas — an enthusiast 

 who could make his ideas acceptable to others. Whether this man be an official 

 of the Board of Education, a leader in our Universities, or a common teacher, 

 he has a task which would well I'epay his efforts. He has a subject which is 

 bound to be of importance in the next few years. Geography will determine 

 the boundaries of States, the Governments of peoples, the development of trade 

 and commerce, and the rise of new industries. 



The opening of new trade routes and the improvement of the old also calls 

 for attention from the geographer. Mr. Fairgrieve has said that geographical 

 control is no less potent because it is obscure, hence the necessity of a skilled 

 geographer in almost all our gi'eat commercial undertakings. 



From the standpoint of examinations some change is desirable. As an ex- 

 aminer in University and scholarship examination, together with many years' 

 teaching experience in secondary schools and training colleges, the author can 

 claim some knowledge of the baneful effect of present-day examinations in 

 geography. 



Most secondary schools prepare pupils in the upper forms for the matricu- 

 lation examinations of some University. Would it not be possible to have a 

 more uniform syllabus for all the Universities. It is practically impossible to 

 prepare a mixed class for the Matriculation, the Preliminary Certificate, and 

 the Oxford Senior in the subject of geography. 



But even if there were no examinations and no scholarships and no degrees' 

 for the students of geography, the subject has a fascination for most boye and 

 girls in the upper forms of a secondary school. It is not so difficult as the 

 classics or mathematics, and many will take a keen interest in a geography 

 course when there is no examination in view. But it cannot be left for anyone 

 to teach. Geography is a synoptic science. It touches on so many different 

 subjects, and forms a meeting-ground tor these. Only the specialist can be 

 allowed to determine the boundaries of the subject of geography. He may not 

 be called upon to verify the laws which he uses to support his facts, but he 

 alone can know how to use these laws for his particular work so as to produce 

 a harmonious relationship between man and his environment. 



It is the very fact that geography encroaches upon so many subjects that 

 makes it such a valuable school subject. Our outlook iipon the world depends 

 upon our culture, and the mightiness of our Empire must inevitably depend upon 

 our power to recognise that geographical factors have controlled the rise and 

 the fall of great empires even before our day. 



Mr. SowERBtTTTS then added the following remarks on his own account : — 



I should like to emphasise what, in my opinion, is required. We want 

 more men (and in this connection, of course, man embraces woman) with the 



