OCTOBER 22, 1897.] 
The National Geographic Society, of 
Washington, D. C., had made especial 
efforts to have America well represented, 
and much is due to its efforts. It is, how- 
ever, to be regretted that there were so many 
papers of an historical character dealing 
with the geographic results of the several 
government bureaus of the United States 
and Canada, and so few papers on the one 
branch of geography in which America has 
done the most in the last few years, namely, 
Physiography. Theabsence of many of our 
best physiographers on official field duties 
partly accounts for the scarcity of such 
communications. ; 
The meeting of the Section opened most 
auspiciously with a goodly attendance at 
the address of the President, Dr. J. Scott 
Keltie, Secretary of the Royal Geographical 
Society, and editor of the Geographical Jour- 
nal and Statesmen’s Year Book. Dr. Keltie’s 
eareful summary of the geographical results 
to date, and his outline of possible future 
work, has already been published in several 
places, and needs no furthercomment. The 
listening American was impressed with the 
heartfelt compliments that the author paid 
to the works of several Americans, and to 
the various United States government bu- 
reaus. 
In the afternoon of the first day Sir 
George Robertson gave a very interesting 
and entertaining account of Kafiristan and 
the Kafirs, and his life among them. Mr. 
H. G. Ravenstein reported in brief the re- 
sults of the Committee on the Climatology 
of Africa. The committee is continued with 
a erant of £10 from the Association. The 
two following papers were brief abstracts of 
recent investigations of the Physiography 
and Temperature of Nova Zembla and Spitz- 
bergen. 
The second day of the meeting was to 
have been devoted to educational papers, 
but there were not enough to fill the pro- 
gram, The day opened with a short 
SCLENCE. 
O17 
paper by the writer on ‘Scientific Geography 
for Schools,’ a plea for the assistance of 
scientists in the planning and execution of 
geographical courses in schools for all 
grades. A brief summary was given by the 
President of the voluminous report of the 
Committee on Geographical Education, pre- 
pared by Mr. A. J. Herbertson. The Royal 
Geographical Society has within the last 
fourteen years accomplished a very great 
reform in geographical education, since the 
careful study of the conditions by Dr. Keltie 
brought attention to the matter. Other 
papers of the forenoon were by Lieutenant- 
Colonel Bailey, on ‘ Forestry in India.’ Col- 
onel Bailey gave a very interesting account 
of the present conditions of the forests and 
the methods of protection necessary, a paper 
that showed thorough familiarity with the 
subject at first hand. The indefatigable Re- 
corder of the Section, Dr. Hugh R. Mill, 
who is also librarian of the Royal Geograph- 
ical Society, presented a very thoughtful 
paper on the ‘ Classification of Geography,’ 
based on the results of his labors in cata- 
loguing. The last paper of the fore- 
noon was by Mr. Vaughn Cornish, on the 
‘Distribution of Detritus by the Sea,’ in 
which the author considered the ocean pro 
cesses in much detail. 
In the afternoon Professor John Milne, 
the seismologist, gavea very suggestive and 
interesting lecture on ‘Certain Submarine 
Changes,’ deduced from his study of earth- 
quakes and the breaking of ocean cables. 
Professor Milne also gave a more popular 
and inclusive evening lecture before the 
whole Association, and other papers before 
the Geological Section, each of which pre- 
sented many new thoughts of practical 
use to geologists and geographers. Mr. 
Ravenstein followed Professor Milne with 
a detailed account of the result of his 
studies concerning the Congo and the Cape 
of Good Hope from 1482 to 1488, and the 
first rounding of the Cape. 
