122 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. Xo. 526. 



into activity by the same stimulus in the 

 brain of the geographer. When the name 

 of the mountain is spoken, all of its attri- 

 butes and all of its subjective influences 

 may be conceived as being embodied in the 

 word used. 



In a similar way the word geography 

 has many shades of meaning, according to 

 the point of view and the training of the 

 person using it. To the child at school, to 

 the poet, the painter, the man of affairs, 

 the scientific geographer, etc., the word 

 does not have the same significance, and, in 

 fact, in the different connections just sug- 

 gested, might be thought to refer to widely 

 different subject-matter. To some persons 

 the mountain of earth-lore is far distant— 

 a mere cloud on the horizon — while to other 

 persons it is near at hand, overshadowing 

 in its immensity, awe-inspiring in its mag- 

 nificence, and its rugged slopes inscribed 

 with the history of ages, while its summit 

 is veiled from view in the cloud-land of 

 the unknown. 



The multiple interpretations that may be 

 given to the word geography demand atten- 

 tion, but in order to learn the scope and 

 aim of geography as a science, we turn to 

 the explorers and investigators who have 

 aided in its development. Answers to the 

 question: What is geography? by several 

 of its learned expounders were summarized 

 by Charles R. Dryer,* and a concrete defi- 

 nition extracted from them which reads: 

 Geography is the science which deals with 

 the distribution of every feature and the 

 environment of every creature on the face 

 of the earth. The meaning of this crys- 

 tallized statement is more fully shown in 

 the admirable address referred to by enu- 

 merating the several subordinate parts of 

 which geography is the symmetrical whole. 

 These are : 



•Charles K. Dryer, 'What is Geography?' An 

 address Itefore the Southern Illinois Educational 

 Council at Carbondale, October 23, 100.3, Teachem' 

 Jovrnal, Marion, Ind. 



1. The earth as a planet: its form, di- 

 mensions, motions and relations to the sun. 



2. The land: its outline and relief; the 

 distribution of its surface forms, including 

 streams and lakes. 



3. The sea : its outline, depth and con- 

 tents ; the properties and movements of sea- 

 water. 



4. The atmosphere : its properties, con- 

 ditions and movements, and their results 

 as manifested in climate. 



5. Plants and animals; their distribution. 



6. Man : the distribution and movements 

 of peoples; human conditions, industries, 

 structures and, to some extent, institutions. 



While it is no doubt necessary to divide 

 and subdivide the science of the cosmos, 

 both for convenience of study and in order 

 to bring the magnificent whole within the 

 range of human comprehension, the rigid 

 lines established for these and kindred pur- 

 poses, it should always be remembered, are 

 artificial and nearly always indefinite. 

 There is no inter-science law, correspond- 

 ing with international agreements, which 

 fixes their bounds. Every student of na- 

 ture must feel that he can visit his neigh- 

 bor's fields without being considered a tres- 

 passer, and be at liberty to pluck the 

 flowers of truth growing there without be- 

 ing branded a thief. From the hard, dry 

 formulas cited above— although fully ap- 

 preciating the logical plan for earth-stiidy 

 outlined by them— I would remove the im- 

 plied limitations as to space and time and 

 introduce perspective. Not only the study 

 of the distribution of land and water, of 

 plants and animals, etc., at the present day 

 should be free to the geographer, but the 

 many combinations of conditions and proc- 

 esses which have led to the present order of 

 things should come within the range of his 

 vision. The 'life history' of every feature 

 of the earth's surface, and the 'life-work' 

 of every process by which those features 

 have been fashioned, together with the 



