July 21, 1923] 



NA TURE 



91 



as well as those employed by the Ordnance Survey and 

 in British mihtary practice at home. 



In his preface to the second edition the author 

 states that it should be considered as transitional from 

 the pre-War subject which he taught in the geography 

 school at Cambridge " to the considerably developed 

 and altered maps and survey " which have come within 

 his experience at the Royal Geographical Society. It 

 is a fact that not only has the subject altered con- 

 siderably in recent years under normal conditions^ but 

 also the War has brought forcibly to the attention of 

 surveyors the great value, in suitable circumstances, 

 of air-photo-surveying and of photographic methods 

 generally ; while in peace-time exploration the use 

 of wireless time signals for the determination of longi- 

 tude has removed the traveller's greatest technical 

 difficulty. 



An interesting addition is entitled " A further 

 Chapter on Maps " ; it deals with some of the many 

 problems which are now before the cartographer, such 

 as flying maps, the international air map, the spelling 

 of place names, and styles of lettering. As an example 

 of the difficulty of meeting the airman's requirements 

 it is pointed out that, on the international air map, 

 the sign for Brest must indicate aerodrome, sea-plane 

 station, wireless, radio-goniometer, wireless telephone, 

 meteorological station, aerial light and aerial ground- 

 sign : a striking example of the difficulty of selecting 

 conventional signs. While dealing with the subject 

 of conventional signs it may be mentioned that the 

 Ministry of Transport and the Ordnance Survey are 

 now publishing a new set of half-inch maps of Great 

 Britain, giving the new road classification and the road 

 numbers approved by that Ministry. The issue of 

 this series of maps has taken place since the book under 

 review was published. The chapter ends with an 

 analysis of more than thirty new types of maps, 

 mostly published since the first edition of this book 

 was printed. 



The account of maps and survey in war is excellent, 

 and is chiefly based on the experience of the British 

 Army on the Western Front. Some of our cartographic 

 difficulties were caused by using a grid marked in 

 squares of a thousand yards' side printed over maps, 

 with dimensions derived from the Belgian Survey, which 

 were a definite number of kilometres in length and 

 depth. Then as regards the projection, both French 

 and Belgian peace-time maps were plotted on Bonne's 

 projection, which gives equivalence of areas but is 

 not well suited for military use. Both English and 

 French survey staffs came to the conclusion that it was 

 desirable to adopt a form of orlhomorphic projection, 

 and the French in 1917 introduced a close approxima- 

 tion to Lambert's conical orthomorphic projection. 



NO. 2803, VOL. 112] 



Arrangements had been made for the British to follow 

 suit, when the War came to an end. Of course the 

 quality of orthomorphism only strictly holds locally, but 

 for some miles it is sensibly exact. These questions of 

 the grid and projection have their importance, but it 

 would be wrong to overestimate it. Generally speak- 

 ing, the British maps on the Western Front were 

 excellent, and compared most favourably with those 

 of the enemy ; and it was undoubtedly right to start 

 with the Belgian projection and size of sheet — in no 

 other way could the maps have been produced in time 

 to be of use in the early days of trench warfare. 



The book ends with an account of photo-stereoscopic 

 survey, including a description of the stereo-autograph 

 of von Orel — of the Military Geographical Institute 

 of Vienna — another instance of the debt which the 

 arts of surveying and cartography owe to the armies. 

 This stereoscopic method has a future before it, but 

 at present the price of a von Orel machine is high, 

 and it is to be hoped that some less costly and less 

 elaborate piece of apparatus may be devised which 

 will be equally efficient. As the author remarks, how- 

 ever, the method is not easily applied to flat country 

 without commanding points of view, and is not suitable 

 for very small scales. 



It will be seen that Mr. Hinks's book is in effect an 

 excellent account of the present state of surveying and 

 cartography, and all interested in these subjects will 

 find the book well worth perusal and study. 



C. F. C. 



The Drapers' Company and 

 Statistical Research. 



Department of Applied Statistics, University of London^ 

 University College. Drapers' Company Research 

 Memoirs. Studies in National Deterioration. IV. : 

 On the Relationship of Health to the Psychical and 

 Physical Characters in School Children. By Prof. Karl 

 Pearson. Pp. 77. (London : Cambridge University 

 Press, 1923.) 15s. 



IN this most recent of the Drapers' Company Research 

 Memoirs Prof. Karl Pearson discusses the relation- 

 ship of health to the psychical and physical characters 

 of school children, on the basis of information supplied 

 by selected schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, some 

 years ago, in respect of more than 2000 boys and 2000 

 girls in schools for the professional classes. The informa- 

 tion represents, as it were, the collective considered and 

 recorded judgment of the masters and mistresses who 

 contributed, and previous examinations of the data have 

 afforded evidence of trustworthiness. Prof. Pearson 

 finds that the statistics show little relationship between 

 health and the characters considered : the healthy 



