﻿258 
  ANNUAL 
  REPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  1943 
  

  

  reports 
  from 
  the 
  theater 
  of 
  war. 
  The 
  North 
  Polar 
  equidistant 
  pro- 
  

   jection, 
  for 
  example, 
  had 
  hardly 
  ever 
  been 
  used 
  as 
  a 
  world 
  map 
  

   since 
  Cassini 
  (1696). 
  After 
  its 
  reappearance 
  in 
  a 
  leading 
  national 
  

   monthly, 
  it 
  has 
  become 
  increasingly 
  popular 
  with 
  magazines 
  and 
  

   newspapers. 
  Another 
  case 
  is 
  the 
  even 
  older 
  orthographic 
  projection. 
  

   This 
  map 
  has 
  remarkable 
  visual 
  properties 
  and 
  its 
  neglect 
  is 
  one 
  of 
  

   the 
  major 
  mysteries 
  of 
  cartography. 
  A 
  series 
  of 
  orthographies 
  

   recently 
  published 
  provides 
  in 
  four 
  maps 
  a 
  good 
  and 
  inexpensive 
  

   substitute 
  for 
  a 
  20-inch 
  globe. 
  In 
  the 
  increasingly 
  popular 
  conic 
  

   projection 
  — 
  the 
  cone 
  having 
  been 
  laid 
  tangent 
  to 
  the 
  forty 
  -fifth 
  

   parallel 
  of 
  latitude 
  north 
  — 
  the 
  battlefields 
  of 
  south 
  Kussia 
  are 
  very 
  

   nearly 
  true 
  to 
  scale. 
  

  

  Many 
  college 
  geographers 
  now 
  realize 
  that 
  the 
  United 
  States 
  has 
  

   been 
  lagging 
  far 
  behind 
  other 
  nations 
  — 
  the 
  British 
  and 
  notably 
  the 
  

   Germans 
  — 
  who 
  not 
  only 
  produce 
  large 
  quantities 
  of 
  maps 
  but 
  pound 
  

   away 
  at 
  geography 
  and 
  all 
  its 
  lessons, 
  political, 
  economic, 
  and 
  

   military, 
  throughout 
  all 
  grades 
  of 
  schooling. 
  American 
  cartography 
  

   is 
  now 
  meeting 
  this 
  challenge 
  with 
  boldness 
  and 
  ingenuity 
  — 
  par- 
  

   ticularly 
  as 
  regards 
  the 
  representation 
  of 
  large 
  areas. 
  German 
  map 
  

   making 
  — 
  profuse 
  in 
  detail 
  and 
  meticulous 
  in 
  execution 
  — 
  has 
  largely 
  

   stuck 
  to 
  conventional 
  projections, 
  and 
  Mercator's 
  hold 
  on 
  German 
  

   cartography 
  may 
  account 
  for 
  some 
  German 
  misconceptions 
  as 
  re- 
  

   gards 
  the 
  strategic 
  position 
  of 
  the 
  United 
  States 
  and 
  the 
  Soviet 
  Union. 
  

   By 
  contrast, 
  American 
  cartography 
  now 
  leads 
  in 
  the 
  imaginative 
  

   use 
  of 
  those 
  projections 
  which 
  show 
  large 
  areas 
  and 
  true 
  distances, 
  and 
  

   thus 
  are 
  best 
  suited 
  for 
  teaching 
  the 
  new 
  geography 
  of 
  international 
  

   air 
  communications. 
  

  

  The 
  psychological 
  isolationism 
  of 
  the 
  United 
  States, 
  be 
  it 
  said 
  in 
  

   conclusion, 
  can 
  be 
  in 
  large 
  measure 
  traced 
  to 
  our 
  failures 
  in 
  map 
  

   making 
  and 
  the 
  teaching 
  of 
  geography 
  — 
  the 
  prerequisites 
  of 
  educa- 
  

   tion 
  in 
  international 
  relations. 
  The 
  world 
  is 
  round. 
  By 
  the 
  skill- 
  

   ful 
  presentation 
  of 
  its 
  "roundness" 
  strategic 
  realities 
  are 
  made 
  clear. 
  

  

  