PHYSIOGRAPHIC PROBLEMS OF TODAY 527 



words in which to speak concisely and accurately, the condition in 

 which the physiographer finds himself at the present time; and, on 

 the other hand, a science with a language so technical and abstruse 

 that it seems a foreign tongue to the uninitiated — is there not a happy 

 mean ? Such a much-to-be-desired end seems to be within the grasp 

 of the physiographer. By giving precision to, and defining the bounds 

 of words inherited from physical geography, and adding to the list 

 such terms as are strictly essential in the interest of economy of time 

 and space, or for accuracy — such contributions, so far as practicable, 

 to be chosen from the language of everyday hfe — it would seem as if 

 a nomenclature could be formulated which would at the same time 

 meet the requirements of the scientific student and enable the general 

 reader of average intelligence to receive instruction and inspiration 

 from the talks and writings of the especially qualified interpreters of 

 nature. 



EXPLORATION. 



Physiography, to a great extent, is still in the descriptive stage of 

 its development, but the descriptions demanded are such as discrimi- 

 nate and select the essential, or suggestive, from the confusing wealth 

 of secondary details frequently present. The records should also 

 include comparisons between the objects described and analagous 

 topographic or other physiographic features, and, within safe and 

 reasonable limits, be accompanied by explanations of their origin and 

 Kfe-histories. 



One of the important functions of physiography, as a more mature 

 growth of physical geography, is to continue and render more com- 

 plete the exploration of the earth's surface and to conduct resurveys 

 where necessary. Geographical exploration has, as is well known, 

 been carried on viogrously, although spasmodically, in the past, and 

 the areas marked "unknown" on our globes have become smaller and 

 smaller, and more and more isolated. The more critical physiographic 

 studies, however, which have for their object not only the descrip- 

 tion of coast lines, mountain ranges, plains, etc., but a search for 

 the records of their birth, the discovery of their mode of development 

 and their assignment to a definite place in the complex whole, termed 

 man's environment, has progressed but slowly. In this stricter sense, 

 the unknown areas on the earth's surface embrace regions of continental 



