THE NATURE AND SCOPE
a remote antiquity, represents, at the present time, one of the most hopeful aspects of the study of man, for, from its association, however indeterminate, with geology, it has gained a breadth and an inclusiveness of vision that has been denied the better established humanistic studies. Nevertheless, a too close association with a science already highly elaborated, and a too great dependence upon the work of pioneers who had not fully entered into the spirit of modern scientific method, have Jed to a logical formalism in dealing with its subject-matter which has not wholly been in the interests of scientific progress. Anthropogeography, in short, provides a great body of observations assembled under logically arranged headings, but has failed to recognize that investigation to be effective must be conducted in presence of a specific problem. Furthermore, in the actual consideration of the influence of habitat upon human affairs, there is almost invariably apparent, on the part of geographers, a certain laxity in regard to the facts of historical change. Though habitat and climate have, in general, remained constant throughout the historical period, civilizations have arisen and decayed, to be followed by other civiliza-
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