486 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



embodied in the text instead of being given separately as notes, but one realises 

 that they are not numerous or important enough to justify the extra expense 

 which this would have involved, though they unquestionably add to the value 

 of the work. 



The book undoubtedly meets a real need for all who have to do with maps. 

 While treating the subject scientifically, and with sufficient fulness for most 

 purposes, it assumes no mathematical knowledge which is beyond the powers 

 of the average student. 



M. T. M. O. 



Geography: Physical, Economic, Regional. By J. F. Chamberlain, Ed.B., 

 S.B. [Pp. xviii + 505, with 192 illustrations and 17 maps.] (London : 

 J. B. Lippincott Company. Price 15s. net.) 



The advertisement on the loose cover of this American publication is in the 

 nature of a preface, and clearly indicates the scope and character of the work 

 itself : 



" No longer can our national life be one of isolation, even if we so desired. 

 To perform efficiently and justly our part in world and national affairs we must 

 know geography. The great need is for a fuller grasp of physical and economic 

 geography and the regional geography of our own country." 



The British or other foreign student who makes his study of geography 

 from a purely academic or scientific point of view is liable in a book of this 

 kind to find his standard of values quite upset and to feel considerable dis- 

 appointment with a work which, from the point of view from which it is written, 

 may be very valuable. 



Again, the British teacher of geography, in discussing an American school 

 textbook, is more often than not quite unacquainted with the character and 

 standard of the teaching of the subject in the schools of America, and therefore 

 does not know upon what foundation the teaching given in the book is based. 



As a result of this, if the book is read as a complete textbook on the 

 subject, without the careful co-ordination of the teaching of other subjects — 

 especially physical science — quite false impressions may be produced. 



On both of these grounds it is often difficult to recommend American 

 geographies to English students unless the latter are sufficiently well trained 

 to be able to study the text in a detached or critical manner. 



One or two extracts from the book at present under review will illustrate 

 these difficulties, and incidentally show how the purpose for which a geography 

 is written may give colour to the information in it. 



In the first chapter, dealing with man in relation to his physical environ- 

 ment, the following sentence occurs : 



" Good pottery clays have led to the manufacture of world-famous 

 pottery and porcelain at East Liverpool, Ohio, Trenton, New Jersey, Sevres 

 and Limoges, France and other places." 



This is a case in which a purely economic point of view of the United 

 States as a producer governs the whole statement to the complete exclusion 

 of other considerations, such as the artistic and the historical aspects. 



The ease with which a false impression may be created where the co- 

 ordination with scientific teaching is not clearly outlined is illustrated in the 

 following short account of the formation of glaciers : 



" Snow-fields that endure for many years or centuries gradually become 

 consolidated into ice, and slowly move from higher to lower levels. These 



