322 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 
that a new and larger Committee be appointed with the same terms of reference. 
This vecommendation was carried out by the General Committee at the Hull 
Meeting, 1922. 
In the course of its deliberations the Committee has had frequent occasion 
to consult with the heads of schools, teachers of geography, examinations boards, 
and universities, and desires to express its appreciation of the help which 
invariably has been given. 
Introduction. 
The definition of Geography as the study of the surface of the earth has 
by its very vagueness made both for progress and for retrogression. On the 
one hand, the various possible interpretations have encouraged’ the inclusion 
of the subject within the curriculum; on the other, the same considerations 
have given rise to criticism which has urged the inclusion of geography, wholly 
or in part, within the teaching scope of another subject, this inclusion to begin 
at some period ranging from the middle forms of the secondary school to the 
university stage. 
For these reasons, difficult though it is to define the scope of any subject in 
few words, especially when, as in school work, educational discipline and co- 
ordination of knowledge must also be considered, any attempt to carry out the 
Committee’s terms of reference demands a restatement of the content of the 
subject. Conceived on a world scale, the earth’s surface constitutes a sphere 
whose physical form arises from the interpenetration and interplay of the litho- 
sphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. Physical forms and forces, however, are 
but part of the constituents of the earth surface, and organic life—flora and 
fauna—enter into its composition. In addition, man, with his ability to transmit 
experience and knowledge. has an accumulating power to influence the other 
concomitants, physical and biological, of his existence. Some of his work, indeed, 
is of the magnitude of the works of Nature—e.g. the Suez Canal, the Forth 
Bridge, the Simplon Tunnel, the irrigation of Egypt, &c. Though he cannot 
alter to any appreciable extent the maior phenomena, yet in almost every small 
region the evidence of his work may be seen. The ‘surface’ of the earth is, 
therefore, at any moment the resultant of many complex processes, each of which 
is in a constant state of change, of greater or less rapidity. Structure, relief, 
climate, vegetation, human agency, and many other factors operate together. 
modifying the action of one another continually as change takes place in anv 
of them. From the earth as a whole to the smallest hamlet, movement and change 
of form constantly and continuously take place. imparting to a region many of 
the characteristics of an organism, and giving life to the subject of geography. 
Only an all-embracing intelligence could comprehend even for one region all the 
interweavings of all the phenomena and calculate the relative yalues of each, 
which makes the knowledge of the region full and complete. 
Nevertheless, it is not only possible but necessary for an appreciation of 
world conditions to-day to make a synthetic study of certain major phenomena. 
Such wvhenomena, for example, are the effects of the rotation and revolution of 
the planet with its axis at 664° to the plane of the ecliptic; the character and 
interpenetration of lithosphere. hvdrosphere, and atmosphere; the major dis- 
tribntions of land and water: the circulations of air and water: the distribution 
of vegetation zones; the distribution of peoples and their control hy and eventual 
control over the complete and resultant conditions mder which thev live. 
In the first place, geographical study is necessarily descriptive of the regional 
life as it is, though with the consciousness that in very few areas is there even 
an approximation to stability. The one area where scholars mav see and ohserve 
this multiplicity of phenomena in geographical unity is that of the home—.e. the 
district whose limits are defined by its accessibility for direct observation bv 
them. Here may be seen the various forces operating to give the characteristic 
life of the region—the altitude of the sun, weather changes, relief and soils. 
vecetation, buildings, works, public utilities. and the contacts with the larcer 
world. For the Jearner ‘home’ is the centre of his world. Jt is also the 
lahoratory in which geographical observations and records are made. It is here 
that the pupil must obtain measures and standards by which to estimate the 
other regions of the earth 
ipeiey 
