﻿256 
  ANNUAL 
  REPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  194 
  3 
  

  

  use 
  of 
  one 
  map, 
  for 
  the 
  mind 
  is 
  inexorably 
  conditioned 
  to 
  its 
  shapes. 
  

   It 
  begins 
  to 
  look 
  "right" 
  and 
  all 
  others 
  "wrong." 
  There 
  are 
  some 
  ex- 
  

   amples 
  of 
  how 
  this 
  conditioning 
  has 
  produced 
  false 
  notions 
  of 
  geog- 
  

   raphy. 
  Example 
  number 
  one 
  is 
  provided 
  by 
  the 
  Pacific 
  war 
  area. 
  

   The 
  Pacific 
  is 
  so 
  large 
  that 
  any 
  map 
  of 
  the 
  entire 
  ocean 
  must 
  have 
  

   considerable 
  distortion, 
  but 
  for 
  generations 
  we 
  have 
  depended 
  almost 
  

   exclusively 
  on 
  the 
  Mercator 
  projection. 
  Similarly, 
  the 
  interrupted 
  

   homolosine 
  projection, 
  devised 
  by 
  the 
  late 
  Chicago 
  Prof. 
  Paul 
  Goode, 
  

   sacrifices 
  the 
  polar 
  regions 
  to 
  distortion. 
  Its 
  greatest 
  accuracy 
  lies 
  

   in 
  the 
  zones 
  of 
  the 
  world's 
  great 
  shipping 
  lanes 
  and, 
  hence, 
  in 
  the 
  

   areas 
  of 
  naval 
  strategy 
  as 
  conceived 
  in 
  the 
  nineteenth 
  century. 
  Now 
  

   both 
  the 
  United 
  States 
  and 
  Japan 
  lie 
  on 
  the 
  fringe 
  of 
  Mercator's 
  and 
  

   Goode's 
  area 
  of 
  reasonable 
  accuracy, 
  and 
  the 
  shortest 
  line 
  between 
  them 
  

   goes 
  far 
  above 
  this 
  area 
  from 
  Seattle 
  across 
  the 
  Alaska 
  Peninsula 
  and 
  

   curves 
  above 
  55° 
  N. 
  before 
  swinging 
  southwestward 
  along 
  the 
  Kurile 
  

   Islands 
  to 
  metropolitan 
  Japan. 
  A 
  few 
  miles 
  south 
  of 
  this 
  line 
  lies 
  

   that 
  too-long 
  neglected 
  bastion 
  of 
  North 
  American 
  defense, 
  Dutch 
  

   Harbor, 
  while 
  2,300 
  miles 
  south 
  of 
  that 
  is 
  Pearl 
  Harbor. 
  

  

  Pearl 
  Harbor, 
  in 
  fact, 
  lies 
  on 
  a 
  line 
  between 
  San 
  Francisco 
  and 
  

   Australia, 
  and 
  could 
  only 
  be 
  called 
  a 
  flank 
  defense 
  by 
  one 
  familiar 
  

   with 
  the 
  globe. 
  Alaska, 
  on 
  the 
  other 
  hand, 
  offers 
  a 
  jumping-off 
  place 
  

   for 
  all 
  the 
  shortest 
  routes 
  from 
  the 
  United 
  States 
  to 
  Asia, 
  Japan, 
  

   Siberia, 
  China, 
  India. 
  For 
  example, 
  from 
  the 
  midwestern 
  industrial 
  

   center 
  of 
  the 
  United 
  States 
  to 
  Chungking, 
  as 
  flown 
  by 
  our 
  ferry 
  com- 
  

   mand 
  across 
  the 
  South 
  Atlantic 
  to 
  Lagos 
  to 
  Khartoum 
  to 
  Karachi, 
  and 
  

   so 
  on, 
  is 
  more 
  than 
  12,000 
  miles 
  ; 
  by 
  way 
  of 
  Fairbanks 
  and 
  Siberia 
  about 
  

   8,000 
  miles. 
  On 
  Mercator 
  the 
  12,000-mile 
  jaunt 
  looks 
  reasonable 
  

   enough. 
  But 
  the 
  direct 
  air 
  route 
  New 
  York-Chungking 
  (which 
  passes 
  

   close 
  to 
  the 
  North 
  Pole) 
  is 
  difficult 
  to 
  trace 
  on 
  the 
  Mercator 
  projection, 
  

   as 
  on 
  this 
  map 
  it 
  would 
  go 
  vertically 
  off 
  the 
  top 
  of 
  the 
  map 
  near 
  

   western 
  Greenland, 
  reappear 
  above 
  the 
  central 
  coast 
  of 
  Siberia 
  and 
  

   drop 
  directly 
  south 
  to 
  Chungking. 
  

  

  Example 
  number 
  two 
  is 
  provided 
  by 
  the 
  Atlantic 
  theater 
  of 
  war. 
  

   Both 
  New 
  York 
  and 
  London 
  lie 
  in 
  the 
  area 
  of 
  sharply 
  increasing 
  dis- 
  

   tortion 
  on 
  Mercator. 
  The 
  great 
  circle 
  route 
  between 
  them 
  reaches 
  

   the 
  fifty-third 
  parallel. 
  Hence 
  the 
  earlier 
  perplexities 
  of 
  Anglo- 
  

   American 
  relations. 
  Hence 
  also 
  the 
  widely 
  held 
  misconceptions 
  of 
  

   the 
  Arctic, 
  which 
  is 
  not 
  a 
  stagnant, 
  impassable 
  waste, 
  but 
  a 
  fluid, 
  prac- 
  

   ticable 
  pathway 
  of 
  the 
  Atlantic. 
  In 
  fact, 
  the 
  Mercator 
  mind 
  blankly 
  

   abandons 
  the 
  Arctic 
  to 
  infinity 
  while 
  it 
  faithfully 
  records 
  the 
  true 
  

   proportions 
  of 
  the 
  jungles 
  of 
  equatorial 
  Africa, 
  Amazonian 
  rain 
  for- 
  

   ests, 
  and 
  the 
  deserts 
  of 
  the 
  Arabian 
  peninsula. 
  The 
  Arctic 
  is 
  not 
  only 
  

   a 
  branch 
  of 
  the 
  Atlantic 
  but 
  provides 
  a 
  back-alley 
  access 
  to 
  the 
  Pacific. 
  

   To 
  be 
  sure, 
  ice 
  blocks 
  it 
  for 
  half 
  of 
  the 
  year, 
  but 
  the 
  savings 
  in 
  time 
  

  

  