E.—GEOGRAPHY 107 
VII. 
I must now bring my rambling tale to a close. It has been a plea, 
not to a converted audience like this, but to a sceptical and on the whole 
an older generation, that geography is entitled to the full honours of 
a science. To the objection that it has to borrow so much of its raw 
material from other sciences, the answer is that the material is already 
there for the service of human knowledge generally, just as mathematics 
is at the service of astronomy, or physics and chemistry at the service of 
geology. Moreover, there is none of the bordering sciences which is 
prepared to undertake the tasks and fill the rdle of geography. Its 
positive claim is that, while always indenting freely on existing sources of 
knowledge, it is building up for itself, sifting and classifying, a body of 
knowledge which is found nowhere else, and which has a unity of its own 
and a purpose of its own. ‘This process, we claim, raises it definitely to 
the dignity of a distinctive science. 
Its unity is not impaired by the variety of its interests, some of which 
we have been cursorily surveying. Like many a family that is only lately 
ennobled, it can assert a respectable antiquity. It may not be able to 
produce maps showing the exact conformation of the earth’s surface in 
the ages when it was occupied by the mammoth and Neanderthal man ; 
but, from the teachings of geology, it can deduce approximately the position 
of land, water and ice-caps at the time when the races of mankind were 
in their cradles ; and, keeping abreast of geological change, it can guess 
the routes of their subsequent migrations. It can bring the moulding of 
the habitable globe, with reasonable certainty, down to our own day ; 
and the careful geographer can record the surface changes which are now 
going on, and estimate their force and their pace. Alongside of those 
changes he will examine the physical influences which make certain 
portions of the earth suitable or unsuitable for human occupation, as well 
as those which facilitate or obstruct the intercourse of mankind. Geo- 
graphy will then carry us into the detailed investigation of the settlements 
of mankind, with reference more particularly to their national groupings 
and needs. Here, hand in hand with economics, it will explore the 
manner in which the various countries of the world are used for man’s 
habitation, and under what conditions of life and labour and productivity 
they are occupied. Finally, geography in its hours of leisure may tell 
us where to see the supreme glories of nature, and in its more serious 
moods it may warn the League of Nations where to expect those causes of 
economic and territorial friction which imperil world peace. 
Through all this diversity runs a golden thread of unity, in the human 
interest which binds the whole story together. Geography is essentially 
the science which treats of man’s home, and the steady adaptation of the 
surface of our globe to be his dwelling-place and his workshop. And 
just as geography has its essential unity, so also is it transfused by a 
common purpose, the study of the relations between man and nature. 
If to this it can add—and why not ?—the ambition to help in improving 
those relations, then we complete its scientific purpose by associating with 
ita moral aim. Thus, at the risk of wearisome repetition, it is claimed 
