Ja.nlary 27, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



suggestive summary does not exhaust the 

 subject in hand; the recognition of work 

 well done, as when a geographical society 

 bestows a medal on an explorer ; the as- 

 sumption of the duties of an executor, as 

 when such a society administers a legacy; 

 the opening of halls for the exhibition of 

 loan collections of various kinds, etc., show 

 that the functions of geographical societies 

 are still wider and more varied than can be 

 discussed at this time. 



In connection with this summary, I de- 

 sire to emphasize the fact, as has already 

 been done in part, that in the exercise of 

 several, if not all its functions, the power 

 of a geographical society to do good and 

 enhance the welfare of mankind increases 

 both with the growth of its ideals and with 

 its increase in numbers. 



That the importance and influence of 

 such a society of necessity increase with 

 the lengthening of its roll of members may 

 not be true, but as even the laymen in a 

 society have expressed by the act of be- 

 coming members their interest in the ideals 

 for which it stands, and furnish the prin- 

 cipal part of the audience to which its pro- 

 fessional members address their talks and 

 writings, they furnishing a desirable means 

 for disseminating knowledge, and in this, 

 if in no other way, aid in the fulfilment 

 of the tasks geographical societies under- 

 take. The mere fact that persons inter- 

 ested in geography unite to form societies 

 is, in itself, evidence that by means of such 

 cooperation something is gained which is 

 denied the isolated individual, and so far 

 as experience suggests there is no upper 

 limit to the number that can to advantage 

 unite their efforts in this manner. 



THE PRESENT STATUS OF GEOGRAPHICAL SO- 

 CIETIES IN NORTH AMERICA. 



The leading functions of geographical 

 societies being, as all persons will, I think, 

 concede, the increase and diffusion of geo- 



graphical knowledge, the inquiry comes 

 home to us: How well are the geographical 

 societies of America fulfilling the purposes 

 for which they exist? 



After considerable exploration— analo- 

 gous to that involved in traversing a new 

 land — but greatly assisted by a recently 

 published paper on the 'Geographical So- 

 cieties of America,' by J. Paul Goode,* I 

 find that in North America at the present 

 time there are not less than seventeen so- 

 cieties, associations and clubs which have 

 geography in some form as the chief bond 

 which unites their members. A list of 

 these several organizations, together with 

 certain data concerning them, is presented 

 on the next page. 



The distribution of these societies, as 

 is indicated in the table, includes in an 

 east and west direction, Boston and San 

 Francisco, and its range in latitude is 

 from Washington to Quebec on the east, 

 and from San Francisco to Seattle on the 

 west. In view of the fact that geography 

 is concerned with the distribution and en- 

 vironment of living things, the narrow belt 

 as measured in latitude inhabited by our 

 geographical societies is suggestive. What 

 are the climatic and other conditions pe- 

 culiar to this belt of nine degrees, which 

 make it prolific in geographical societies, 

 while the vast region to the north and a 

 nearly equal extent of land to the south 

 are barren in this particular? 



Of the organizations referred to, there 

 are perhaps ten which, as declared by their 

 constitution and made evident by their 

 work, can reasonably claim recognition as 

 geographical societies; the remainder are 

 of the nature of social clubs, with geo- 

 graphical features, rather than societies 

 having for their leading aim an earnest de- 



* The Journal of Geography, Vol. II., 1903, pp. 

 343-3.50; Vol. III., 1904, p. 44. 



t Quoted from the article by J. Paul Goode, 

 cited above. 



