«io 



NATURh 



[DECEMb 



K K i 



192. 



any attempt to Kummarisc it must meet with failure : 

 ovrrv fi»iiwct of the subject is dealt with in all its 

 1 ind there is scarcely a redundant word, 



I T on the aim and function of geography is 



1 " nating. Stress is laid on the fact 



I phy must be the geography of 



}... ,,.,.. .iwi I he mere learning oigeograpnical 

 < 1.1 1. 1 111' I results, but a training in the geographer's 

 cli.ir.u ti li.stic methods and principles of interpreta- 

 tion, and an assimilation of his characteristic point 

 <it \iiw. This, we consider, is a most important 

 s and postulates a trained geographer for 



t! -i of any geographical scheme. 



Prtx;eethng, the Report deals with the stages of 

 school life, and outlines the principles which should 

 guide in the formation of a syllabus of geographical 

 instruction in secondary schools : a detailed syllabus 

 for each year is appended. Stress is laid on the 

 necessity of proceeding psychologically with young 

 children and of adopting a logical order only as riper 

 years are gradually reached. An outline scheme for 

 each stage, including the advanced course, is given, 

 and apart from its merits as a scheme it p>ossesses 

 special value for the teacher because the underlying 

 ami of each step is made abundantly clear. Great 

 importance is attached throughout to the value of 

 direct observational work and to the construction and 

 interpretation of maps and charts. " One important 

 value of geography in education is the opportunity it 

 gives to express thought in diagram and sketch no 

 less than in words." This sentence should be con- 

 stantly in the mind of every geography teacher. A 

 highly controversial dictum is that formal lessons in 

 physical geography should not precede the advanced 

 course : incidental teaching of most subjects is apt 



to be disjointed and i: :id the ex; 



of many examiners • ion pro\ 



geography is r mlL'. 



The Buggi me of studv 



advanced coui^.- ' ' ■ -^ • 



the economic con 

 is suggested thn 

 prehensive an.i! . 11; 

 subsidiary sul)je<.i-^ 1^ ' : 



The chapter on the relation f-; 

 and history cannot fail to in 

 uninformed reader what 

 knowledge, not only of top< ■ 

 allied subjects as physics, ixjiauy, 



history, and economics, is <!' of the g<' 



teacher called upon to carry out such a 

 geography course. It is pointed out that it 1 

 duty to teach these subjects; ne\< 

 correlate them he must know them, 

 proceeds to summarise the facilities otiere' 

 universities for the training of geography r 

 Practically all the universities have est 

 honours schools of geography — mostly in the 

 of Arts — and there is general •■'"■' -—'Tit that the .... 

 of study should include gee jry, and politi -X 



economy at least to intc:.... .c standard. I ■ 



number of trained geographers leaving the universit ■-> 

 is steadily increasing, and "the result," to qu' ' • 

 the Report, " undouDtedly will be not only a mor.- 

 thorough and scientific study of the subject, but i 

 general increase of accurate knowledge of the Emj'.r • 

 and the rest of the world, which will affect the ever 

 day life of the community through its economic ai i 

 political relationships with other countries." 



J. Martin 



Transport and its In 



T N the Engineering Section of the British Associa- 

 *■ tion at Liverpool, one whole morning was de- 

 voted to the subject of transport, the other sessions 

 being occupied by papers — many of great interest — 

 on very diverse branches of engineering. The 

 president of the Section, Sir Henry Fowler, was chief 

 mechanical engineer of the Midland Railway, and he 

 took as the subject of his address " Transport and its 

 Indebtedness to Science." extracts from which were 

 published in Nature of September 29, p. 474. He 

 was followed by Mr. A. E. Berriman, the chief engineer 

 of the Daimler Co. ; Col. O'Brien, the electrical 

 engineer of the L.M.S. Railway ; Major-General Sir 

 Sefton Brancker, of the Air Force; and Mr. A. T. Wall, 

 of Messrs. Wall, Maas and Co., naval architects, of 

 Liverpool. 



Each speaker dealt with the branch of the subject 

 with which he was specially identified. As the 

 president pointed out, there is probably no city in the 

 world more dependent on transport than Liverpool, 

 and no city which has done such pioneer service in its 

 development. Whether one considers canals, steam 

 railways, electric railways, or motor traffic, one finds 

 that Liverpool was in the forefront of development, 

 and it was a happy thought of the president, a non- 

 academic engineer, engaged in practice, to take as his 

 thesis that progress in all means of transport has been 

 based upon scientific investigation, to predict that 

 this will be even more marked in the future, to insist 

 on the interdependence of science and engineering, 

 and the necessity for the terms scientific and practical 

 being synonymous. In concluding his address Sir 

 Henry said that " one would like to feel that the 

 meetings of the British Association were more 

 generally used as the occasion on which the scientist 

 and the engineer would meet in larger numbers." 



NO. 2822, VOL. I 12] 



debtedness to Science. 



Mr. Berriman gave a ver>' valuable review of t:.- 

 position of road transport. He was somewh ;'. 

 scathing in his criticism of the railway compani' - 

 lack of faith in the railway principle, as shown by th- r 

 proposal to operate their own road vehicles 1 ^r 

 through traffic. He maintained that, since the 

 tractive effort on rails is only 5 lb. per ton 

 60 lb. per ton on average roads, it is techi 

 sheer waste of energy to transport by road bviMccUj 

 distant points that are rail-connected. Mr. Berrii 

 also dealt with the question of traffic regulation, 

 maintained that the warning signs on roads have 

 put up on a wrong principle and are consequent 

 largely disregarded ; in his view, every cros 

 should have a primary and a secondary' stream 

 traffic, the former having priori t>' and not beii 

 expected to slow down ; drivers on the seconds 

 roads would be warned to go dead slow on approach- 

 ing a crossing. 



Col. O'Brien's paper, as was to be expected, d€ 

 largely with the question of electrification, which 

 really an economic one ; there are no engineerii 

 difficulties. " A \&xy slight lowering of rates 

 interest and in the price of the material required fc 

 such electrification is likely to produce a very con- 

 siderable development in future." " There is nc 

 doubt that the electrification of any main Une con^ 

 taining gradients of i in 300 or greater and avera 

 over 2 trains per hour in either direction would 

 least involve no loss of any kind to the compa? 

 while the indirect advantage to both the rail\ 

 company and the electrical industry of the couii:: 

 would be ver\' large." 



Sir Sefton Brancker's breezy optimism wnth regard 

 to aerial transp>ort caused some amusement. He was 

 fortunate in delivering his paper before the news came 



