Davis.] 
316 
[January 18 , 
Introductory. This paper has been prepared largely with a 
view to use by the author in teaching, where it may serve as a 
supplement to the presentation of the subject in text-books, and 
also as a compilation of the more important special papers to 
which a school-class cannot have ready access. At the same time 
it may serve as a protest against the too statistical treatment of 
the topic usually followed, for in the text-books in general use 
there is a marked neglect of what we may call the true Physical 
Geography of the Land : there is too much of what , where and 
how many and not enough of how and why , so that the study 
degenerates into Descriptive or Statistical Geography and the 
properly Physical is lost. The ocean and the atmosphere are 
better treated ; currents and tides, winds, rain and storms have 
their causes given in addition to the usual description of place 
and quantity, while mountains and plains, rivers and lakes are 
generally passed by with but few words of explanation ; descrip- 
tion is all that is allowed to them. It is not enough to say that 
the missing part will be found in Geology : something of it is 
given there, but with a great deal more that is irrelevant to the 
subject as here considered, and without much that is essential. 
Perhaj^s one of the difficulties of the case is that on account of 
the interlacing of the threads of these studies, no satisfactory 
order can be found for taking them up independently of each 
other. A knowledge of Geology comes from the application of 
existing operations to explain the changes of the past, while a 
comprehension of Physical Geography constantly requires some 
reference to the forms of the earth’s surface antecedent to those 
now existing, and at least a suggestion of the methods by 
which changes are accomplished with the passage of time. In 
studying mountains, it is not sufficient to say they run in a certain 
direction and have peaks and passes of such and such heights : it 
must be taught also that they are the result of long, slow growth 
at different periods and of varying durations ; but the methods 
of knowing this, and the discussion of the forces engaged in 
mountain-making come later in Geology. The study of lakes 
gives excellent opportunity for work of this kind, but as the 
subject is one of some complexity, it will occasionally carry us 
beyond ordinary limits, especially under the headings of glacial 
