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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 473. 



eration in oiir colleges during the century 

 that opens with the outgrowth of our home 

 country ; and just so soon as mature teach- 

 ers of mature geography can make their 

 lectures of value to the young men of to- 

 day, who are to be the leaders of enterprise 

 to-morrow, place will be found for geo- 

 graphical courses in our higher institu- 

 tions of learning. Progress in this respect 

 is visible, though not rapid. In order to 

 hasten progress, increased attention might 

 well be given to so-called practical courses 

 in geography, as well as to courses of a 

 generally descriptive nature. The imped- 

 iment of low educational rank is not per- 

 manent; it need not discourage us, for it is 

 destined to disappear. 



The study of geography is not likely 

 soon to lead to a large, independent career, 

 but it may be made useful in many careers, 

 as has just been indicated. It will, how- 

 ever, be made particularly serviceable to 

 a class of men that is now of small but of 

 increasing numbers, namely, those who 

 travel about the world, seeking fortune, 

 entertainment or novelty. With the pres- 

 ent rapid increase of wealth among us, this 

 class is destined to grow, and while it may 

 never be large, it may soon be important, 

 and its members need careful cultivation; 

 and at the same time the teachers of this 

 class, and of other classes with whom geog- 

 raphy becomes important, will win a re- 

 spected career for themselves. The imped- 

 iment arising from the lack of a large pro- 

 fessional career will, therefore, have no 

 great importance when the many relations 

 of geography to other subjects are recog- 

 nized. 



The third impediment to the maturing 

 of geography is the most easily overcome 

 even if at present the most serious, for its 

 removal depends only on the action of 

 geographers themselves, and not on the 

 action of higher bodies, such as executive 

 officers, trustees and so on, or on the action 



of lower bodies, such a$ students. The ab- 

 sence of a society of mature geographical 

 experts is the fault of the experts them- 

 selves. No greater assistance to the devel- 

 opment of mature scientific geography lies 

 within our reach than the establishment of 

 a geographical society which shall take 

 rank with the Geological Society of Amer- 

 ica, for example, as a society of experts, in 

 which membership shall be open only to 

 those whose interests are primarily geo- 

 graphical and whose capacity has been 

 proved by published original work in a 

 distinctly geographical field. In order to 

 determine whether such a society can now 

 be organized, I propose to consider the 

 classes of persons in the community from 

 which the members of the society could be 

 recruited. 



Thei'e are at least four classes of geo- 

 graphical associates, as they may be called, 

 from which mature geographical experts 

 might be drawn. First and in largest 

 number is the class consisting of the teach- 

 ers of geography in our schools. It is true 

 that our school-teachers, as -a rule, devote 

 themselves to immature geography; that 

 is, to only so much of the whole content of 

 the subject as can be understood by mi- 

 nors, indeed by children. But, on the other 

 hand, one who is acquainted with recent 

 educational progress can not fail to recog- 

 nize the notable advance made in the last 

 ten years alone in the preparation for and 

 in the performance of geographical teach- 

 ing. There are in the secondary schools 

 to-day a number of teachers who are com- 

 petent to make original, mature geograph- 

 ical exploration of their home country, and 

 some of them have actually traveled east 

 and west with the object of making geo- 

 graphical studies. There are several teach- 

 ers' geography clubs, and the leading mem- 

 bers of these clubs are thoughtful workers. 

 I am sure that a significant number of ac- 



