2 24 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



our land are represented to us as they never have been before. 

 The scale employed varies from one to four miles to an inch on 

 the maps thus far issued, but in future only the larger scale of a 

 mile to an inch will be used. Relief is indicated by brown con- 

 tour lines at intervals varying from five to fifty or more feet, ac- 

 cording to the scale of the map and the character of the surface. 

 Water is printed in blue ; names, roads, boundaries, etc., in black. 

 The accuracy of the work is not so great as many geographers and 

 geologists would like to see. The expense of more accurate work 

 would perhaps prevent its execution ; but it may be justly said that 

 a great increase of knowledge is made by the publication of these 

 maps. Some of the sheets are better than others, and some of the 

 poorer ones have been severely criticised by those who know the 

 ground ; but, as far as I have been able to observe, the character 

 of the work is rising, and the interest in it is increasing. A sym- 

 pathetic popular support and an intelligent criticism of this great 

 undertaking will go far toward securing its improvement and 

 extension. The study of geography will be greatly advanced 

 when these maps are properly distributed to schools, as they 

 soon should be, so that every high school at least would have not 

 only its own district represented, but would possess also a collec- 

 tion of typical maps of other districts.* At the same time the 

 demand for more and better maps will be increased. In my own 

 teaching, I find these maps simply invaluable. It is not only the 

 younger students who learn lessons from them. Many a problem 

 is effectively introduced and illustrated by the maps that would 

 otherwise remain out of reach to teachers as well as scholars. 

 The case which I am about to describe illustrates this point very 

 clearly. 



On noticing, a year or more ago, that the topographic sheets 

 thus far issued for Illinois included a good part of the old Michi- 

 gan outlet, I resolved to have a look over the ground at the first 

 opportunity. A visit to the World's Fair was therefore arranged 

 to include a trip down the Illinois valley, maps in hand, and in 

 the good company of several friends from the Chicago University. 

 The assistance given by the maps in gaining an appreciation of 

 the form of the country raised the high estimate that I had pre- 

 viously formed of their educational value. They are simply in- 

 dispensable in geographical study. 



* It may be noted that the conference on o;eography held in Chicago in the winter of 

 1892-'93 one of several conferences held under the auspices of the National Educational 

 Association appointed a subcommittee to prepare a list of these and other governmental 

 maps of use in teaching. This list has been published, with explanatory notes, under the 

 title of Governmental Maps for Use in Schools, by Messrs. Henry Holt & Co., New York. 

 Many of the maps can be obtained free of cost from the governmental bureaus, and others 

 can be had for a merely nominal cost. 



