Vol. IV; pp. 85-100. March 18, 1892 



THE 



NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



GEOGRAPHY OF THE AIR. 



Annual Report by Vice-President, 



GENERAL A. W. GREELY. 



(Pre-'iented by titk before the Society January 22, 1892.) 



If the poet finds retrospection one of the deUghts of the mmd, 

 the investigator finds it to be a useful mental process at certain 

 stages in order the better to determine not only the results cer- 

 tainly attained but also the methods and directions promising 

 most in the future. Such a retrospective study has not infre- 

 quently been more valuable to the scientist than would an 

 uninterrupted continuance of his investigations involving double 

 the effort. 



The object of these annual reports is to give yearly, for the 

 benefit of the Society, a retrospective glance to appropriate 

 branches of physical sciences or physical research. 



I have said physical "' research " as well as science, for only 

 the enthusiastic yet class my subject — meteorology — as a science, 

 certainly no one as an exact science. It is of course a matter of 

 opinion as to when the epoch arrives Avherein any distinct 

 department of nature can be properly designated as a science, 

 and as being no longer an immense aggregation of facts, theories 

 and assumptions. Within the century the world has seen chem- 

 istry, mineralogy, botany, zoology and other now recognized 

 sciences emerge from their previously uncertain and indefinite 



m— Nat. (ii-.di;. Mac. vul. TV, 1«i2. (Sr,) 



