126 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vo„. XIX. No. 473. 



maintained that the absence of any stand- 

 ard of geographical knowledge as a con- 

 dition for society membership has worked 

 as seriously against the development of 

 mature scientific geography as has the gen- 

 eral abandonment of geographical teaching 

 to the secondary schools. Large member- 

 ship seems to be essential to the mainte- 

 nance of good libraries in handsome so- 

 ciety buildings, and it is certainly helpful 

 in the collection of funds with which jour- 

 nals may be published and with which ex- 

 ploring expeditions may be equipped and 

 sent out. I should regret to see the mem- 

 bership in a single existing geographical 

 society decreased, but I regret also that 

 there is no geographical society of the same 

 rank as the American Mathematical So- 

 ciety, the American Physical Society or 

 many others in which number of members 

 is secondary to expert quality of members. 

 Large numbers of untrained persons are 

 not found necessary to the maintenance 

 of vigorous societies in Avhich these other 

 sciences are productively cultivated, and it 

 is, therefore, reasonable to believe that 

 large numbers would not be essential to 

 the formation of a geographical society of 

 high standing. Indeed, it can hardly be 

 doubted that the acceptance of a low stand- 

 ard for membership in our geographical 

 societies has had much to do with the pre- 

 vailing indifference regarding the devel- 

 opment of a high standard for the qualifi- 

 cation of geographical experts. 



Not only may any respectable person ob- 

 tain membership in any of our geograph- 

 ical societies, however ignorant he may be 

 of geography, but various kinds of socie- 

 ties are ranked as geographical, even 

 though their object may be geographical 

 in a very small degree. This is indicated 

 by a list of geographical societies recently 

 published, in which is included a small 

 travelers' club lately organized in one cor- 

 ner of our country. The object of this 



club is simply ' the encouragement of intel- 

 ligent travel and exploration. ' Interest in 

 rather than accomplishment of exploration 

 and travel suffice to recommend a candi- 

 date, otherwise qualified, for membership. 

 The object of travel is nowhere stated to 

 be geographical. As a matter of fact, 

 travel for the sake of art, archeology, lan- 

 guage, history, astronomy, geology and 

 botany, for discovery, or even only for 

 sport and adventure, as well as for strictly 

 geographical objects, is encouraged by this 

 young organization, which is really noth- 

 ing more than its name claims it to be: a 

 travelers' club. The same list of geograph- 

 ical societies includes several clubs . of 

 excursionists, outing-takers or mountain 

 climbers, among whom, as a matter of fact, 

 geography attracts hardly more interest 

 than botany. These societies are doing 

 an excellent work in taking their mem- 

 bers outdoors, sometimes on walks near 

 home, sometimes farther away to a hotel 

 in the country, sometimes to a camp among 

 the mountains. The chief result of such 

 outings is an increased enjoyment and ap- 

 preciation of the landscape, of natural 

 scenery and of everything that enters into 

 it ; but this excellent result is by no means 

 exclusively, perhaps not even largely, geo- 

 graphic in its quality. 



One might question whether geographic 

 rank was really accorded to these clubs by 

 general assent, if their recognition in the 

 group of geographical societies were ex- 

 pressed only by an individual opinion in 

 the list referred to ; but this is not the case. 

 In preparation for the meeting of the In- 

 ternational Geographical Congress, to be 

 held in this country next summer, dele- 

 gates to the committee of management 

 have been invited from the Appalachian 

 Mountain Club, in one corner of the coun- 

 try, and from the Mazamas in another. 

 The delegates appointed by these clubs are, 

 as might have been expected, men compe- 



