SECTION E.— GEOGRAPHY. 



SOME PROBLEMS OF POLAR 

 GEOGRAPHY. 



ADDRESS BY 



R. N. RUDMOSE BROWN, D.Sc, 



PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 



Since the last meeting of the British Association at Leeds, thirty-seven 

 years ago, the whole meaning of geography has changed. The purely 

 empirical stages of the collection of data have largely given way to the 

 higher stages of interpretation and explanation, and these in their turn 

 have called for re-examination of the facts by the use of more accurate 

 methods. An even greater change is the important place which geography 

 has won in education. Nothing could be more striking than this advance 

 in a generation or two unless it was the former neglect of the subject ; 

 one might say the entire omission of any geographical teaching in any 

 grade of education— an almost incredible defect in the training of youth 

 at a period of rapid imperial growth and consolidation. The battle is 

 not yet won, but even if some of the universities of this country, which 

 move but slowly, do not give geography the place it merits, it has at 

 least a foothold in all. Geographical research and serious geographical 

 publications have also shown an increase in recent times, though the 

 output in this country is far too small. This, however, is neither the 

 time nor the place to dwell on the educational side of geography. I 

 recall these developments only because the present year has seen the 

 passing of one who will always be associated with geographical work 

 during the last half-century, and especially the rise of geography to a 

 place of importance in the universities and the scientific world. Sir John 

 Scott Keltie was one of the pioneers of geographical education, and as 

 editor of the Geographical Journal and for many years recorder and 

 secretary of Section E took a leading part in the advancement of explora- 

 tion and the spread of sound geographical knowledge and research. The 

 present position of geography in this country is largely a monument to 

 his untiring labour, enthusiasm and tact. 



Geographical thought of to-day shows a growing tendency to lay 

 more stress on the human interests of the subject than it did of old. So 

 far as this leads to a broadening of the outlook in what was formerly 

 known as economic geography, with its somewhat narrow standards of 

 the bourse and market-place, the development is all to the good. The 

 humanising of the subject has done much to rob it of aridity and, by 

 widening its scope, to bring it into close touch with other aspects of the 

 study of man. It is a good thing for the growth of knowledge when 

 barriers between allied subjects break down on a ground common to 



