542 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 173. 



will recall the story of the German profes- 

 sor who, near the close of a long life de- 

 voted to the dative case, regretted that he 

 had chosen so large afield. " I ought," said 

 he, " to have confined myself to the iota 

 subscript." I will not deny — nay, I am per- 

 suaded—that the specialization of which I 

 speak is wise, that by it the welfare of the 

 race is promoted. But, while this is so, it 

 should ever be borne in mind that special- 

 ized knowledge is not a substitute for gen- 

 eral knowledge. It is something called for 

 by the increased and increasing sum of 

 human knowledge ; but if by it the number 

 of students of larger and unspecialized fields 

 is greatly reduced harm may, indeed must, 

 result. 



My purpose, however, is not to call at- 

 tention to possible perils from undue 

 specialization, for before this audience 

 that is unnecessary. The subject has 

 been discussed and is well understood. 



For many years my work has been along 

 geographic lines, and this has led me to se- 

 lect as the theme for this annual address 

 the Geography of the United States — not its 

 mathematical geography, nor its physical 

 geography, nor its political geography, nor 

 its commercial geography, any one of which 

 might be treated with more ease than the 

 general subject. And yet a consideration 

 of the whole field and a picture of the gen- 

 eral progress made in the geography of the 

 United States since its creation will, it is 

 hoped, prove profitable — more profitable, 

 indeed, if well doue, than a more minute 

 examination of a more limited subject. It 

 is not uncommon when a subject of large 

 scope has been chosen to hear the comment : 

 " He has chosen a large subject," and some- 

 times we think we see in this an implied 

 opinion that the speaker shows either un- 

 wisdom or audacity in such choice. I will 

 not deny that either or both may be true in 

 this case, but will at once invite you to fol- 

 low me in a most general review of a cen- 



tury's progress in the diffusion of geo- 

 graphic knowledge in and as to the United 

 States. 



It is not to the details or agencies by 

 which our knowledge has been acquired 

 that I would draw attention. This has al- 

 ready been done many times. In the stout 

 and repulsive black volumes that for years 

 have, from the government printing office, 

 been poured out over the country without 

 stint or price — in these are set forth with 

 elaborate minuteness the geographic work 

 doue by the United States. The particular 

 fields investigated by boundary surveys, by 

 the Coast Survey, by the General Land 

 Office, by the Lake Survey, by the Pacific 

 Railroad Surveys, by the Wilkes Explor- 

 ing Expedition, by the Rogers Exploring 

 Expedition, by the so-called Hayden, 

 Wheeler and Powell surveys, by the North- 

 ern Transcontinental survey, by various 

 State surveys, . topographic and geologic, 

 and by the U . S . Geological S urvey — all these 

 are duly recorded and published in scores 

 of forbidding black volumes. These vol- 

 umes record the increase in geographic 

 knowledge, but throw little light on its 

 diffusion. For this we look to the text- 

 books, to public addresses in Congress and 

 out, to newspaper and magazine articles 

 and to public lectures. These reflect the 

 general knowledge of the community as to 

 geography. This phase of the subject shall 

 be our theme. 



It is now one hundred and nine years 

 since thirteen sovereign and independent 

 States, loosely bound together in a confed- 

 eration, agreed to form a ' more perfect 

 union.' By a narrow majority and after 

 protracted debate they accepted the terms 

 of an instrument which bound them in an 

 indissoluble Union. In April, 1789 — one 

 hundred and eight j'ears ago — -Washington 

 was inaugurated. That we may clearly 

 note our geographic progress since that 

 event let us picture to ourselves in broad 



