Geography in the United States. — Davis. 185 
other sciences, and by which, more than by anything else, geog- 
raphers may come to be united. Among the great number of 
persons — many thousands in all — whose attention is given 
primarily to subjects that are closely related to geography as 
here defined, there must certainly be many — probably several 
hundred — with whom mature scientific geography is a first 
interest. It is upon these persons, geographers by first inten- 
tion, that the future development of sound and thorough, ma- 
ture and scientific geography among us primarily depends. 
To these geographers in particular, I would urge the import- 
ance of developing the systematic aspects of the science, and of 
constantly associating the special branch that they cultivate 
with the subject as a whole. Observation will not suffice for 
the full development of geography ; critical methods of investi- 
gation, in which deduction has a large place, must be employed ; 
for only by the aid of careful theorizing can an understanding 
of many parts of the subject be gained. With the progress 
of systematic geography we may expect to see a parallel prog- 
ress of local or regional geography. As the science is thus 
developed, societies of mature geographical experts will be 
formed, and scientific geography will thrive; but whether thus 
developed into a thriving science or not, I hope that another 
long term of years may not pass without a representative of 
geography in this vice-presidential chair. 
EDITORIAL COMMENT. 
WHERE DID LIFE BEGIN?* 
The quest of the place of origin of the human race, the loca- 
tion of the Garden of Eden, and the beginning of life on the 
I lanet are not identical, but arc so closely allied that the author 
of the first-mentioned of the works named includes the latter 
topic in his discussion. In several of his chapters Dr. Warren 
directs attention to the conditions favoring the commencement 
• Paradise found; The cradle of the human race at the North Pole; A study 
of the prehistoric world. . W.M. F. Warrkn. Boston. Houghton, MifHin and 
Company, pp. 505. 1SS5. 
•'Where did Life begin?" .\ brief inquiry as to the probable place of begin- 
ning and the natural courses of migration therefrom of the 1-lora and Fauna 
of the earth. .A. monograph. By G. Hilton Scrihnhk, New Vork. Charles 
Scribner's Sons, 75 pp. 1903. New edition, price $1.20 net. 
