THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY 
287 
geography is only in its infancy, and that 
by far the greater part of the globe is 
from this point of view still in the class 
of exploratory surveys. 
Permit me to return to our own coun- 
try for a moment. The needs of the 
government required surveys from time 
to time in separate parts of the country. 
We may instance those of the coasts, the 
lakes, the Mississippi River, and of the 
interior in general. The only way in 
which the detached surveys could be 
properly related to each other was by 
joming them with a network of triangu- 
lation, which has resulted in a uniform 
system of geographic coordinates which 
may be extended over Canada, and in 
fact over the whole of the North Ameri- 
can continent, by the governments con- 
cerned. 
How fortunate we are in respect to 
this matter will appear if we consider 
the conditions under which the Euro- 
pean triangulations were developed. In 
each of the autonomous governments of 
continental Europe independent systems 
were carried on, and, what was v/orse, 
they were based on incommensurable or 
at least different units of length. This 
condition resulted in the formation, 
about 50 years ago, of the European 
Geodetic Association. One of the first 
fruits of its activities was the creation 
of an international bureau of weights and 
measures, which was designed, among 
other things, for the intercomparison of 
different units of length. This inter- 
European Geodetic Association soon 
broadened its scope and invited other 
than contiguous nations to join it for the 
avowed purpose of furthering the meas- 
urement of the earth. 
All the great powers of Europe, by 
formal conventions, now recognize this 
association and support its undertakings. 
But not only the great powers of Eu- 
rope, for Canada, the United States, 
Mexico, and Argentina have joined it, 
and Japan has set the example for Ori- 
ental nations by very active participation 
in the deliberations and execution of the 
projects of the association. It assem- 
bles every three years, and delegates 
come from all parts of the world to study 
and report on the progress made ; to dis- 
cuss methods and to recommend things 
which are desirable or necessary, and to 
cooperate in those things which are be- 
yond the power of any one nation to 
achieve. And wherever there is inter- 
national cooperation one may look for 
great progress. 
The nature of the scientific questions 
discussed may be illustrated by the case 
of the Cape to Cairo triangulation, in 
which various nations are concerned. 
The association declared that it is most 
desirable that it should be accomplished. 
Another case is the junction of the sur- 
veys in India with those of Russia. Fif- 
teen or tv/enty years ago it was thought 
that this highly important work was an 
unattainable ideal on account of political 
considerations. At the present time 
these particular difficulties have disap- 
peared ; but, to make the junction of 
these surveys, it would be necessary to 
establish stations in Chinese territory. 
It is therefore hoped that that ancient 
country will join the International Geo- 
detic Association, and thus help in the 
great work to be accomplished and which 
is of such vast interest to geodesy and 
to geography in fixing on the maps the 
boundaries in their existing geographical 
relation. 
The time will come when existing po- 
litical boundaries will be defined by their 
geographic coordinates, and future gen- 
erations will then be able to reproduce 
the political geography of the past with- 
out relying on the speculations of the 
archeologist or the historian, and I trust 
that when such boundaries, which the 
science of the day has fixed, are changed, 
it will be done only with the approval 
of the enlightened people of the whole 
world. 
the; toastm aster, dr. bell 
If there is any question on which I 
should like to expand, if it were not for 
the lateness of the hour, it is the great 
work of the American Red Cross So- 
ciety. But it is unnecessary for me to 
expatiate upon the subject at all, for we 
have with us tonight no less a person 
than the Chairman of the National Re- 
lief Committee of the American Red 
Cross, Miss Mabel Boardman. 
