August 4, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



127 



neighboring sciences is desirable, nor that 

 trespassing upon a neighlDoring science is 

 in itself undesirable; but that when a geo- 

 grapher has so serious a responsibility placed 

 upon him as the regional description of a large 

 area of the earth's surface, he is more likely 

 to meet it if it does not dissipate his time and 

 energy and thought upon subjects for which he 

 is not responsible. 



"While I am speaking of this matter, let me 

 add that a geographer should resent the im- 

 plication made by those who argue that the 

 interest or importance of certain non-geograph- 

 ical matters is reason enough for their intro- 

 duction into geographical essays. To accept 

 that argument is a confession that the truly 

 geographical elements in geographical essays 

 are of so little importance and interest that such 

 essays need the stimulation of irrelevant mat- 

 ters. That is not true. Geography needs no 

 padding, no seasoning by items and scraps of 

 other subjects. It is, like them, sufficient unto 

 itself. Did you ever hear of an astronomer or 

 a geometer or a physicist or a botanist who 

 thought that his science needed to be spiced 

 up by any other in order to attract attention? 

 Never! All kinds of subjects must be studied, 

 and studied for themselves in this studious 

 world; and geography is one of them. Let 

 geography therefore be pursued as earnestly, 

 as devotedly, as wholeheartedly and as single- 

 mindedly as any other subject ; and let it accept 

 cheerfully and contentedly the place that it 

 can win on its own merits in the constellation 

 of the sciences. 



The Limits of Geography 



It is however certainly a curious thing that 

 geography still needs the development and defi- 

 nition of its content in the manner that I have 

 just intimated. One might almost call it a 

 moron among the sciences, for altho it is very 

 old in years it has not yet come into the full 

 possession of its senses. It is a part of the 

 duty of trained professional geographers to 

 arouse and awaken their science, both by defin- 

 ing and by limiting its content, especially in its 

 regional aspect which is the culmination of 

 geography. The solution of this task is largely 

 a question of the point of view; and the essen- 

 tial point of view for a geographer is one from 



which he can clearly see the actual constitution 

 of a region as it exists in the "today" of human 

 history. Let it be remembered that, as already 

 noted, the geography of a region of the earth 

 must include its land and water forms, its cli- 

 mate, its more significant plants and animals, 

 its human inhabitants, its political divisions, 

 its products and industries, and its trade and 

 transportation; and that all these elements must 

 be conceived in their actual special relations, 

 as they exist together and interact upon one 

 another. Regional geography is therefore an 

 immensely complex subject, even if all non- 

 geographical elements are excluded from it; all 

 the more wisely therefore should a geographer 

 hold only to truly geographical elements, as 

 above intimated. 



Indeed, even when properly limited, regional 

 geography is so complex that some critics assert 

 it cannot be successfully mastered and treated 

 by one man. There is no question that 

 it can not successfully be treated by a 

 geographically uninformed, untrained, un- 

 disciplined man ; or by a trained man who gives 

 part of his attention to other sciences; and it 

 may perhaps be true that it cannot be so well 

 treated by one informed, trained and disci- 

 plined geographer working alone as by several 

 informed, trained and disciplined geographers 

 each responsible for a part of the total subject 

 and all working together in a team. No de- 

 cision need be made on that question now, be- 

 cause the problem has never been given study 

 long enough and serious enough to answer it. 

 My own belief however is that such a staff of 

 professional geographers as I have indicated 

 will, after a score of years or more, reach such 

 a measure of success in their tasks as to show 

 that one-man regional descriptions are of great 

 value. But if that judgment be wrong, and if 

 one-man geography be insufficient, the remedy 

 is simple enough; geographical exploration 

 must then be done by pairs of geographers, or 

 trios, or quartettes or groups working together, 

 each member supplementing the work of his 

 associates. Whatever the decision is on this 

 point matters very little today; the essential 

 thing is that the work must be done, and done 

 in the best way possible. So much then for the 

 content of geography. Now for its method. 



