336 



The National Geographic Magazine 



procedure, which requires a scrupulous 

 examination of the detail, together with 

 a wide survey of generality, it exchanges 

 constantly the small circle of special 

 research and the wide field of general- 

 ization. Must not such a change be- 

 tween restriction and expansion be most 

 helpful ? It is a fact that the type of 

 the learned specialist who is almost a 

 stranger to the problems beyond the 

 limits of his own work is in no field so 

 rare, if not so totally absent, as in geog- 

 raphy. The broadest-minded people of 

 the fine staff of German scientists, the 

 most alive to the interests of the world 

 about them, are met with among the pro- 

 fessors of geography. Geography forces 

 its apostles to keep constantly apace 

 with all the progress around them. In 

 no other field of study would the neglect 

 of almost any question of the day, sci- 

 entific or not, prove more fatal than 

 here. The introduction of the study of 

 geography into the universities, there- 

 fore, is a powerful ally to keep the stu- 

 dents from becoming narrow in their 

 views, from looking no further than the 

 small circle within which the axis of 

 their own special interests rotates. It 

 will make them tolerant b}^ teaching 

 them to understand different conditions, 

 and to make allowance for different con- 

 sequences arising from these different 

 conditions. It will make them wise and 

 successful in contact with political ques- 

 tions, because they will not expect nor 

 exact from foreign nations more than 

 they can afford, according to their actual 

 state and circumstances. 



UTII.ITY OF GEOGRAPHY 



Geography, more than almost any 

 other science, has the power to enrich 

 the lives of those who devote themselves 

 to its study. The botanist may teach 

 3^ou the secrets of the life of trees and 

 plants, the zoologist introduce you into 

 the interesting ways and habits of many 

 a little fellow-creature, the geologist 



open your e3^es for the charms of tracing 

 the history of the soil which you tread, 

 but none gives you such an entire and 

 satisfactory feeling of nature as geog- 

 raphy. It is the entirety of the impres- 

 sion upon which stress ought to be laid. 

 The natural disposition of the average 

 mind goes to the whole. Even a good 

 botanist or other scientist will be spe- 

 ciall5anterested only in part of what sur- 

 rounds him, be it plants or animals or 

 stones, sometimes even only in a certain 

 class or family of them. Geography 

 teaches j^ou to enjoy nature as a whole. 

 It tells you why the soft lines of this 

 mountain range, covered with dark firs, 

 slope so gently down to the valley, while 

 yonder ice-capped summits tower up., 

 steep and bold to the sky. It shows 

 you why here waving cornfields reward 

 the farmer's labor, and why another re- 

 gion seems to be one enormous meadow. 



Geography will contribute, too, to 

 improve the character and adorn the 

 life of the student. It will make him 

 feel familiar and at home on almost 

 every spot of the earth ; nowhere will 

 he stand criticising and complaining of 

 what is different from his native place, 

 but appreciate the differences of nation- 

 ality, and instead of repining for what 

 cannot be changed, come home enriched 

 b}^ the touch of many a string in his 

 heart which would never have resounded 

 under other circumstances. In the char- 

 acter of the German nation we see this 

 side highly developed, too highly even 

 from certain points of view. The read- 

 iness with which the German adopts 

 foreign customs when he goes abroad, 

 as well as when they are brought to 

 him, the facility with which as an im- 

 migrant he accommodates himself to 

 the conditions of his new home is in 

 great measure due to his highh^ devel-' 

 oped feeling of geographic equit}^ A 

 reasonable portion of it added to na- 

 tional character would be an improve- 

 ment for maii}^ races. 



Political geography, especially, must 



