THE RELATION OF GEOGRAPHY TO HISTORY 



FRANCIS W. PARKER 



Geography is the science of the present appearance of the 

 earth's surface. Geology is the history of the present appearance 

 of the earth's surface, the record of the countless changes which 

 have led to the present phase of geology or geography. Min- 

 eralogy is the science of the rock material which has undergone 

 countless changes. Physics and chemistry are the sciences of 

 the laws of change in the crust of the earth as well as in air 

 and water generall}^ Meteorology is the study of heat acting 

 through air and moisture changing the earth's surface, producing 

 and sustaining life. 



Geography, with its kindred sciences of inorganic matter here 

 named, ma}^ be called the science of the physical basis of 

 life, since it deals with the environment, the support and the 

 nourishment of life; it is therefore the interpretation of life. 

 The modern geologist, wdio reads as an open book the present 

 surface of the earth in all its varied forms, traces there the sig- 

 nificance of each characteristic area ; in other words, the present 

 surface forms of the earth are the visible revelation of its geologic 

 history. Thus each particular form has its |)rofound signifi- 

 cance ; it is to him the manifestation of all the changes that 

 the earth has undergone by the action of forces through matter 

 under law. 



But there is still a higher and more important significance 

 of surface forms, that may be called functional. Geography 

 has been defined as the physical basis of life ; life in its multi- 

 plicity of organisms can best be studied by understanding the 

 influence of structural and meteorological environment upon it. 

 Ethnology and history are the sciences or philosophies, if you 

 please, of the evolution of the human soul from the beginning. 

 When the written record fails, then suppositions must fall back 



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