GEOGRAPHY. 



By J. King Goodrich. 



GENERAL, NOTES. 



The attention of the geographical world has been drawn away from 

 the poles and centered upon the equatorial regions during the short 

 period which has elapsed since the last report of the progress in geog- 

 raphy was written. As a summary of the work done, the address of 

 the Marquis of Lome, president of the Royal Geographical Society of 

 Great Britain, at the opening of the session of 1885-'86, may be very 

 properly alluded to at this point and commended as a careful and satis- 

 factory epitome of what is of most interest. 



While lacking much of the harrowing element that was so distress- 

 ingly conspicuous in the records of the "Jeannette" and Greely Arctic 

 expeditions, and which appealed so strongly to our sympathy, the cur- 

 rent record is by no means wanting in evidences of danger and disaster. 



The Aberdeen meeting of the Geography Section of the British Asso- 

 ciation commenced on the 9th of September. The leading feature of 

 this year's meeting was the prominence given to Indian subjects. Out 

 of a total of thirty-four papers read, as many as eleven referred to the 

 geography of India and the regions immediately adjoining it. Geo- 

 graphical education attracted much attention, and the report of Mr. 

 Keltic upon this subject elicited prolonged discussion. The importance 

 of this branch of education is becoming more marked every day ; com- 

 munications on the subject have frequently appeared in the leading 

 jouruals, which devote columns specially to geography. In order to 

 test the condition of education in Denmark, the Government decided at 

 the beginning of the year to have a test examination among the recruits 

 of the army and navy, on the Belgian i)rinciple. The result of this ex- 

 amination appears to have been very discreditable to education in Den- 

 mark, and particularly to that in geography. One of the examiners, 

 the Eev. J. L. Bang, of Langaa, has given some particulars of the re- 

 sults, from which we quote : " The regiment selected was the Life Guards, 

 the crack regiment of the Danish army, the recruits (282 in number) 

 being drawn from every part of the country. Questions such as how 

 many ells (the Danish measure) go to a mile, and the size of an acre of 



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