853 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



sponded ; but surely the wonderful develop- 

 ment of the coal-tar industry, which had 

 been and still was being carried on in such 

 thoroughly scientific spirit, was an example 

 which should not be forgotten. Sir Freder- 

 ick Abel, the President of the British Asso- 

 ciation, where the paper was read, was struck 

 with Dr. Perkin's remarks on the reasons 

 why the English had been left behind in the 

 development of that particular industry, and 

 said that there were now great works in Ger- 

 many where chemical research is carried on 

 as an elaborate business, and was pursued 

 by men who had acquired university degrees 

 and distinction. He knew of one establish- 

 ment where forty trained chemists were at 

 work on the particular branch of research 

 in which it is interested. If they could get 

 a small army of men in England to pursue 

 the work systematically, they might regain 

 lost ground. In the first years of the coal- 

 tar industry the English claimed it as par- 

 ticularly their own, but now they could not 

 do so in view of the competition of the 

 French and Germans. 



The Available Lauds of the Globe. The 



subject of the lands of the globe still avail- 

 able for European settlement was discussed 

 at a joint meeting of the Geographical and 

 Economical Science Sections of the British 

 Association. Mr. G. E. Ravenstein reviewed 

 the capacity of different parts of the earth, 

 excluding the arctic and antarctic regions as 

 wholly unavailable, to accommodate popula- 

 tion. He estimated the total number of per- 

 sons whom the earth could feed at 5,999,- 

 000,000. The kind of population with 

 which it shall be inhabited will depend to a 

 large extent on the capacity of Europeans to 

 thrive in strange climates. He spoke of the 

 tendency of populations to move to the 

 southward, but did not think tropical cli- 

 mates adapted to the acclimatization of Eu- 

 ropean races in the sense in which the word 

 acclimatization is generally used. The health 

 of Europeans in tropical countries had im- 

 proved in consequence of sanitary measures, 

 but that was not all. Population in some 

 countries did not increase ; and, where they 

 could compare the facts collected in the 

 same country, they found that the superior 

 race increased at a slower rate than the in- 

 ferior race. That would, in course of time, 



keep back the growth of population, and, in 

 fact, the whole of mankind was being gradu- 

 ally lifted up to a higher level. If only the 

 superior, not the inferior, people increased, 

 the speaker did not think the progress of 

 civilization would be quite so steady. Mr. 

 E. J. Marend, after his experience in Africa, 

 was of the opinion that the prevalent idea 

 that tropical regions are unsuited to coloni- 

 zation by Anglo-Saxons is mistaken. Eng- 

 lishmen live for years in Matabeleland, 

 bringing up their children and keeping their 

 health. Traders, missionaries, and Dutch- 

 men are all able to thrive there, and the 

 country is competent to provide the food- 

 supplies for a large population. Sir R. Raw- 

 son believed that the proportion of land in 

 the different zones is as follows : About fifty 

 per cent of the whole is in the temperate 

 zone, about forty per cent in the torrid zone, 

 and about a tenth in the arctic zone. Be- 

 fore going further in dealing with a future 

 home for the surplus population of Europe, 

 we must ascertain the zones that are suited 

 to a European population. The surplus pop- 

 ulation of England and the north of Eu- 

 rope could occupy only a temperate zone. It 

 was also essential that we should know how 

 much is available in each of the zones. Mr. 

 John Mackenzie's experience had shown him 

 that South Africa is habitable for both the 

 north and south Europeans. The Rev. Dr. 

 Cunningham pointed out that the intensity of 

 production might be much increased through 

 the direction of native agriculture by Euro- 

 pean intelligence. Mr. Wells, a traveler in 

 Brazil, from whose papers we have quoted, 

 called attention to an area in the south of 

 that country which might be called the 

 Transvaal of South America. To the north- 

 west of Rio lay a considerable coffee-produc- 

 ing area, with an exceedingly healthy cli- 

 mate, and the productive powers of the 

 country were very far indeed from being 

 approximately reached. Several speakers 

 mentioned the necessity of emigrants to the 

 south adapting their mode of life to the 

 changed climate, and insisted on the neces- 

 sity of temperance. Dr. J. G. Garson said 

 the question of drainage was most impor- 

 tant, though it often occurs that the first 

 steps toward sanitation are followed by out- 

 breaks of fever, arising from saturation of 

 the soil by sewage. Elevation above the 



