geographic research in a manner that could not be accomplished by scattered individuals, or by local societies; we may also hope—through the same agency—to diffuse the results of geographic research over a wider area than would otherwise be possible.

The position to which I have been called has compelled me to become a student. Since my election I have been trying to learn the meaning of the word "geography," and something of the history of the science to which it relates. The Greek origin of the word ([Greek: gê], the earth, and [Greek: graphê], description) betrays the source from which we derived the science, and shows that it relates to a description of the earth. But the "earth" known to the Greeks was a very different thing from the earth with which we are acquainted.

To the ancient Greek it meant land—not all land, but only a limited territory, in the centre of which he lived. His earth comprised simply the Persian Empire, Italy, Egypt and the borders of the Black and Mediterranean seas, besides his own country. Beyond these limits, the land extended indefinitely to an unknown distance—till it reached the borders of the great ocean which completely surrounded it.

To the members of this society the word "earth" suggests a very different idea. The term arouses in our minds the conception of an enormous globe suspended in empty space, one side in shadow and the other bathed in the rays of the sun. The outer surface of this globe consists of a uniform, unbroken ocean of air, enclosing another more solid surface (composed partly of land and partly of water), which teems with countless forms of animal and vegetable life. This is the earth of which geography gives us a description.

To the ancients the earth was a flat plain, solid and immovable, and surrounded by water, out of which the sun rose in the east and into which it set in the west. To them "Geography" meant simply a description of the lands with which they were acquainted.

Herodotus, who lived about the year 450 B.C., transmitted to posterity an account of the world as it was known in his day. We look upon him as the father of geography as well as of history. He visited the known regions of the earth, and described accurately what he saw, thus laying the foundations of comparative geography.

About 300 years B.C., Alexander the Great penetrated into hitherto unknown regions, conquered India and Russia, and founded the Macedonian Empire. He sent a naval expedition to explore the coasts of India, accompanied by philosophers or learned men, who described the new countries discovered and the character of their inhabitants. This voyage may be considered as originating the science of Political Geography, or the geography of man.

About the year 200 B.C., Eratosthenes of Cyrene, the keeper of the Royal Library at Alexandria, became convinced, from experiments, that the idea of the rotundity of the earth, which had been advanced by some of his predecessors, was correct, and attempted to determine upon correct principles its magnitude. The town of Cyrene, on the river Nile, was situated exactly under the tropic, for he knew that on the day of the summer solstice, the sun's rays illuminated at noon the bottom of a deep well in that city. At Alexandria, however, on the day of the summer solstice, Eratosthenes observed that the vertical finger of a sun-dial cast a shadow at noon, showing that the sun was not there exactly overhead. From the length of the shadow he ascertained the sun's distance from the zenith to be 7° 12', or one-fiftieth part of the circumference of the heavens; from which he calculated that if the world was round the distance between Alexandria and Cyrene should be one-fiftieth part of the circumference of the world. The distance between these cities was 5000 stadia, from which he calculated that the circumference of the world was fifty times this amount, or 250,000 stadia. Unfortunately we are ignorant of the exact length of a stadium, so we have no means of testing the accuracy of his deduction. He was the founder of Mathematical Geography; it became possible through the labors of Eratosthenes to determine the location of places on the surface of the earth by means of lines corresponding to our lines of latitude and longitude.

Claudius Ptolemy, in the second century of the Christian era, made a catalogue of the positions of plans as determined by Eratosthenes and his successors, and with this as his basis, he made a series of twenty-six maps, thus exhibiting, at a glance, in geographical form, the results of the labors of all who preceded him. To him we owe the art of map-making, the origination of Geographic Art.

We thus see that when Rome began to rule the world, the Greeks had made great progress in geography. They already possessed Comparative, Political and Mathematical Geography, and Geographic Art, or the art of making maps.

Then came a pause in the progress of geography.

The Romans were so constantly occupied with the practical affairs of life, that they paid little attention to any other kind of geography than that which facilitated the administration of their empire. They were great road-builders, and laid out highways from Rome to the farthest limits of their possessions. Maps of their military roads were made, but little else. These exhibited with accuracy the less and greater stations on the route from Rome to India, and from Rome to the further end of Britain.

Then came the decline and fall of Rome, and with it the complete collapse of geographical knowledge. In the dark ages, geography practically ceased to exist. In the typical map of the middle ages, Jerusalem lay in the centre with Paradise on the East and Europe on the West. It was not until the close of the dark ages that the spirit of discovery was re-awakened. Then the adventurous Northmen from Norway and Sweden crossed the ocean to Iceland.

From Iceland they proceeded to Greenland and even visited the main-land of North America about the year 1000 A.D., coasting as far south as New England; but these voyages led to no practical results, and were forgotten or looked upon as myths, until within a few years. For hundreds of years geography made but little advance—and the discoveries of five centuries were less than those now made in five years. In the fourteenth or fifteenth century, the mariner's compass was introduced into Europe from China, and it then became possible to venture upon the ocean far out of sight of land. Columbus instead of coasting from shore to shore like the ancient Northmen, boldly set sail across the Atlantic. To many of his contemporaries it must have seemed madness to seek the East by thus sailing towards the West, and we need hardly wonder at the opposition experienced from his crew. The rotundity of the earth had become to him an objective reality, and in sublime faith he pursued his westward way. Expecting to find the East Indies he found America instead. Five centuries had elapsed since the Northmen had made their voyages to these shores—and their labors had proved to be barren of results. The discovery of Columbus, however, immediately bore fruit. It was his genius and perseverance alone that gave the new world to the people of Europe, and he is therefore rightfully entitled to be called the discoverer of America. His discovery was fraught with enormous consequences, and it inaugurated a new era for geographic research. The spirit of discovery was quickened and geographic knowledge advanced with a great leap. America was explored; Africa was circumnavigated. Magellan demonstrated the rotundity of the earth by sailing westward until he reached his starting point. Everywhere—all over the civilized world—the spirit of adventure was aroused. Navigators from England, Holland, France and Spain rapidly extended the boundaries of geographical knowledge, while explorers penetrated into the interior of the new lands discovered. The mighty impetus given by Columbus set the whole world in motion and it has