130 



SCIENCE. 



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



organic geography here, where my au- 

 dience probably consists for the most part 

 of geologists. 



There can be no just complaint of nar- 

 rowness in a science that has charge of all 

 the relations among the elements of terres- 

 trial environment and the items of organic 

 response. Indeed, the criticism usually 

 made upon the subject thus defined is, as 

 has already been pointed out, that it is too 

 broad, too vaguely limited and too much 

 concerned with all sorts of things to have 

 sufficient unity and coherence for a real 

 science. Some persons, indeed, object that 

 geography has no right to existence as a 

 separate science; that it is chiefly a com- 

 pound of parts of other sciences; but if it 

 be defined as concerned with the relation- 

 ships that have been just specified, these 

 objections have little force. It is true, in- 

 deed, that the things with which geog- 

 raphy must deal are dealt with in other sci- 

 ences as well, but this is also the case -with 

 astronomy, physics, chemistry, geology, 

 botany, zoology, history, economics. * * * 

 There is no subject of study whose facts 

 are independent of all other subjects; not 

 only are the same things studied under 

 different sciences, but every science em- 

 ploys some of the methods and results of 

 other sciences. The individuality of a 

 science depends not on its having to do 

 with things that are cared for by no other 

 science, or on its employing methods that 

 are used in no other science, but on its 

 studying these things and employing these 

 methods in order to gain its own well- 

 defined object. Chemistry, for example, is 

 concerned with the study of material sub- 

 stances in relation to their constitution, 

 but it constantly and most properly em- 

 ploys physical and mathematical methods 

 in reaching its ends. Botanists and zoolo- 

 gists are nnich interested in the chemical 

 composition and physical action of plants 

 and animals, because the facts of composi- 



tion and action enter so largely into the 

 understanding of plants and animals con- 

 sidered as living beings. Overlappings of 

 the kind thus indicated are common 

 enough, and geography, as well as other 

 sciences, exhibits them in abundance. It 

 may be that geography has a greater 

 amount of overlapping than any other 

 science; but no valid objection to its con- 

 tent can be made on that ground ; the max- 

 imum of overlapping must occur in one 

 science or another — there can be no dis- 

 credit to the science on that account. Geog- 

 raphy has to do with rocks whose origin is 

 studied in geology; with the currents of 

 the atmosphere, whose processes exemplify 

 general laws that are studied in physics; 

 Avith plants and animals, whose forms and 

 manner of growth are the first care of the 

 botanist and zoologist; and with man, 

 whose actions recorded in order of time 

 occupy the historian; but the particular 

 point of view from which the geographer 

 studies all these things makes them as 

 much his own property as they are the 

 property of any one else. 



In view of what has been said, let me 

 return to the close scrutiny that I have 

 urged as to what should be admitted 

 within the walls of a geographical society. 

 We will suppose the geography of Penn- 

 sylvania is under discussion; as a result 

 there must be some mention of the occur- 

 rence of coal, because coal, now an element 

 of inorganic environment, exerts a control 

 over the distribution and the industries of 

 the population of Pennsylvania. But the 

 coal of Pennsylvania might be treated 

 with equal appropriateness by a geologist, 

 if its origin, its deformation and its ero- 

 sion were considered as local elements in 

 the history of the earth; by a chemist, if 

 its composition were the first object of 

 attention; by a botanist, if the ancient 

 plants that produced the noAv inorganic 

 coal-beds were studied. Furthermore, it 



