448 REPORT ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. — 1919 



as an old FeHow of the Koyal Geographical Society, and a traveller in most 

 •parts of the world, he had often been surprised at the amount of ignorance of 

 this great subject so frequently displayed, and had continually urged the im- 

 portance of more thorough instruction in geography for the widening of th« 

 outlook of our people, and for giving to them a fuller knowledge of the world, 

 that they might be better fitted for the use of the great trust of the Empire 

 that had been placed in their hands. 



Dr. Vaughan Cornish spoke of the need of geography to members of various 

 professions, and maintained that education should be built up on a study of 

 Nature. 



The Eev. J. 0. Bevan ( Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club) suggested that 

 three subjects naturally hang together — viz.. Geography, History, and Econo- 

 mics. If there were left out another important factor — viz., the anthropological 

 element — he wou'ld say that there was a danger in accentuating geography. In 

 fact, attention was beingi paid by teaching and examining bodies to general 

 teaching of the kind desiderated. The Society of Arts examined candidates for 

 a commercial certificate The College of Preceptors had started an examination 

 on the same subject, and one of our Univer.=ities had arranged for a Degree in 

 Commerce. It was also important to note that the textbooks in geography had 

 improved in late years. Finally, he deplored the fact that the survey of the 

 British Empire was very incomplete as regards boundary, regional, and other 

 like matters which furnished the initial bases of geographical knowledge. 



Sir E. Beabrook (Balham and District Antiquarian and Natural History 

 Society) observed that the study of geography was a necessary foundation for 

 that of anthropology. The circumstance that so eminent a geographer as Mr. 

 Chisholm bore the title of Eeader in Geography at the University of Edinburgh, 

 instead of that of Professor of Geography, showed that that great University, 

 like many others, had not formed an adequate conception of the importance 

 of the subject. 



Dr. HoYLE (Cardiff Naturalists' Society) expressed the opinion that the 

 question was ultimately one of finance, and the best solution would be the 

 establishment of a few well-paid Chairs of Geography in the Universities. 



Mr. Edward C. Barton, coming from Queensland, where the University 

 matriculation examinations have been altered at the instigation of the schooJ 

 authorities, almost to include geography, felt that some definition of geograpliy 

 is much wanted in order to limit the demands of the enthusiastic geographer, 

 and thereby disarm tlijo.=e who would relegate geography to a secondary place 

 in education. It was to be hoped that some authority would give uis such a 

 definition, and also define geographical education so that it may tend more 

 tovi'ards .preparing the mind of the young for assimilating and using geographical 

 data and' less towards filling that mind with facts. Especially must the enthu- 

 siast refrain from the inclusion of more astronomy, geology, meteorology, history, 

 or other charming cognate branches of science than are absolutely necessary to 

 the understanding of geography in its bold outlines. 



