German Geographers and German Geography 335 



geography comprised all the various 

 branches named above, it could hardly 

 be called a science, but was rather an ag- 

 glomeration of fragmentary knowledge 

 borrowed from a dozen other sciences, 

 the study of which was an impossibility 

 even for a first-rate intelligence, and 

 must needs lead to a kind of half knowl- 

 edge of everything which was the verj' 

 contrary of scientific work. It has been 

 one of the most serious tasks of geog- 

 raphers to refute this objection which 

 has been repeated most obstinately over 

 and over again, as it arises from an en- 

 tire misunderstanding of the geograph- 

 ical spirit. In the first place, there is no 

 science now known in which one mind 

 can have an equally complete command 

 of all the subdivisions ; even the greatest 

 men in medicine, zoologj'-, historj^, etc., 

 are specialists in some definitelj^ limited 

 area, while they merely keep up with the 

 scientific progress of the rest and leave 

 other specialists to do other special 

 work. Yet nobody will accuse them 

 of superficiality. Why should not the 

 geographer enjoy the same privilege ? 

 But even if it were possible for one 

 man to have a perfect and up-to-date 

 knowledge of all knowledge connected 

 Avith geography, that would not make 

 him a geographer. Geography is not 

 a ' ' cj^clopedia ' ' of all the enumerated 

 sciences. That is the point where er- 

 roneous judgments on geography gen- 

 erally start. It is not the number and 

 character of the facts which constitute 

 geography, but the ways and methods 

 in which they are studied. This is 

 what makes the geographic spirit and 

 what gives geograph}^ the character of 

 a separate science apart from all the 

 others, however closely connected with 

 them in manj^ points. 



Thus, for example, the physicist may 

 study, describe, and explain the devia- 

 tion of the compass or the differences of 

 temperature of the atmosphere ; but the 

 geographer (Humboldt) will locate on 

 the map the points of observations and 



connect equal observations by lines, and 

 from the arrangement of these lines draw 

 conclusions as to the influence of mag- 

 netism or temperature upon the surface 

 of the earth ; or the statesman will draw 

 and claim boundaries for the state which 

 he represents for such and such reasons ; 

 the geographer will look at and compare 

 the boundaries of the states in different 

 parts of the world, find out the laws act- 

 ive in their formation, tell us why cer- 

 tain boundaries have always been objects 

 of contention while others never were 

 disputed, and explain the present bound 

 aries, their origin, and their importance 

 for the life of the nations (Ratzel) ; or 

 the geologist will study and explain the 

 different strata of the earth's crust ; the 

 geographer (Briickner) will examine 

 their distribution over the surface of the 

 globe, compare it with the present ar- 

 rangement of mountain ranges, and ex- 

 plain out of the geologic past the fea- 

 tures of the geographic present. In 

 whatever problem the geographer may 

 be interested, the object of his investiga- 

 tion must be connected with the earth, 

 the earth's surface as a whole and as 

 the primary unit. However interesting 

 ma}^ be the object of his special research, 

 he cannot allow himself to be entirely 

 confined to it without ceasing to be a 

 geographer. 



POINT OF VIEW 



The poet Jean Paul says : ' ' There are 

 two wa5^s of enjoying the world. One 

 is to lie down in the grass, look at the 

 green stalks and pretty flowers about 

 you, watch the humming insects, and 

 thus fondly take in all the wonderful 

 revelations of life which present them- 

 selves in this seclusion. The other is 

 to rise up high in the air like a bird, so 

 high that all the little and mean things 

 vanish from your view, and you only 

 behold the whole of the great, wonder- 

 ful creation beneath you." 



In geography both methods are com- 

 bined. By the peculiar character of its 



