October 29, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



595 



ried by the rising water into the main 

 stream it provides the drift material which 

 makes up the block or "sadd." 



But this term has been extended im- 

 moderately to mean the region in which 

 these physical conditions occur, or the type 

 of vegetation which grows under these con- 

 ditions, and even the type of country 

 where such conditions prevail. One writer 

 has even used the word in describing the 

 fossil vegetation of a character such as is 

 associated with marsh lands. 



The crystallization of such geographical 

 terms into true technical terms is an im- 

 portant step in the futheranee of scientific 

 geography, but it must be done by the 

 geographers themselves, and no means of 

 doing this is more fruitful than the work 

 of original research and investigation in 

 definite areas or on specific problems. 



It would take too long to discuss each 

 branch of physical geography and indicate 

 the opportunities for individual effort, but 

 what has been said of one may be said of 

 all the others. Not only in all parts of the 

 Empire, but in these islands also there is 

 ample opportunity for the detailed geo- 

 graphical study of single localities or indi- 

 vidual phenomena, just as much as in geol- 

 ogy, in botany, or in zoology; and it is 

 these separate pieces of work which, when 

 thoroughly carried out and critically dis- 

 cussed, provide the material on which wider 

 generalizations or larger investigations 

 can be based. Herein lies, therefore, the 

 importance of the prosecution of them by 

 as many workers as possible, and the value 

 of communicating the results to others for 

 criticism and for comparison with the re- 

 sults which they have obtained; for such 

 work, if it can not be made accessible to 

 other workers in the same and related 

 fields, loses a large proportion of its value. 



If we now consider some of the problems 

 of human geography we shall find the need 



for such systematic study to be even 

 greater; for the variable factors involved 

 are more numerous than in physical geog- 

 raphy, and many of them are difficult to 

 reduce to precise statement; the quantita- 

 tive study of the subject is therefore much 

 more difficult than the qualitative or de- 

 scriptive, so that the latter is too fre- 

 quently adopted to the exclusion of the 

 former. The remedy lies, I believe, in in- 

 dividual research into special cases and 

 special areas where the factors involved 

 are not too numerous, where some of them 

 at least can be defined with some accuracy, 

 and where, consequently, deductions can 

 be drawn with some precision and with an 

 accuracy which gives grounds for confi- 

 dence in the result. The settlements of 

 man, his occupations, his movements in 

 their geographical relations are manifested 

 everywhere, and subjects of study are to 

 be found without difficulty, but their in- 

 vestigation must be based on actual obser- 

 vation, and on data which have been care- 

 fully collected and critically examined, so 

 that the subject may be treated as com- 

 pletely as possible, and in such a way that 

 the evidence is laid before the reader in 

 order that he may form his own conclu- 

 sions. 



It is probable that some of the lack of 

 precision which is to be found in this part 

 of the subject is to be attributed to the 

 want of precision in its terminology. For 

 many things in human geography good 

 technical terms are required, but these 

 must be selected by those who have studied 

 the type or phenomenon concerned and 

 have a clear idea of the particular condi- 

 tions which they desire to associate with 

 the term; this is not the work of a com- 

 mittee of selection, but must grow out of 

 the needs of the individual workers. 



There is, it must be admitted, no small 

 difficulty in using the same preeiseness of 



