Oct. 24, 1889] 



NATURE 



629 



Oct. 

 28 



31 



h. 

 23 



16 



south 



Jupiter in conjunction with and 0° 7' 



of the Moon. 

 Mercury at greatest elongation from the Sun, 



19° west. 



THE GEOGRAPHICAL PAPERS AT THE 

 BRITISH ASSOCIA TION. 



SCIENTIFIC geography did not form a prominent feature in 

 ^ the Geographical Section at Newcastle. As was right and 

 proper in so important an industrial centre, it was evidently in- 

 tended to devote special attention to commercial geography. 

 The success was only partial. It will have been seen that the 

 President, Sir Francis De Winton, devoted a considerable part 

 of his address to pointing out some of the important practical 

 applications which may be made of geographical knowledge. 

 Again, one of the ablest and most instructive papers read in the 

 Section was by Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, on the Physical Basis of 

 Commercial Geography. A necessary preliminary. Dr. Mill 

 pointed out, to the study of commercial geography is a full 

 acquaintance with topography, especially with the names and 

 positions of all commercial towns. A necessary accompaniment 

 to the study of commercial geography is a knowledge of the 

 ever-varying relations between regions of supply and demand, 

 the incidence of tariffs, and the political and social conditions of 

 countries. The physical basis of commercial geography, which 

 underlies and gives unity to the whole subject, is a knowledge 

 of the resources of the earth as regards the various existing forms 

 of matter and modes of energy, the best means of separating, 

 combining, and modifying these so as to produce commodities, 

 and the way in which commodities can be best transported. 

 Commerce being the artificial redistribution of the matter and 

 energy of the world, a knowledge of the general properties and 

 the unchangeable laws of matter and energy should take a chief 

 place in the training of commercial men. A general acquaintance 

 with this practical science, which may be termed applied phy- 

 siography, or practical earth knowledge, ought to be possessed 

 by all merchants, and a special branch should be familiar to 

 each. Amongst the advantages which would thus be gained 

 are : — (i) The merchant would understand the principles of the 

 production and manufacture of his goods. (2) He would know 

 in many cases, without aimless and extravagant experiments, 

 where it is possible to produce any special commodity in great 

 abundance. (3) He could, to a great extent, anticipate the 

 frequent changes in staple commodities by knowing what other 

 commodities it is possible to produce in the regions now yielding 

 the staple only. (4) He would understand the best and shortest 

 routes between trade centres. Illustrations and arguments showing 

 the importance of these statements were given in Dr. Mill's 

 paper, and a large map of the commercial development of the 

 world was shown. Dr. Mill has thus done something to give 



definite shape to a conception of commercial geography. The 

 fact is, applied geography in general, like applied chemistry or 

 applied physics, implies a sound knowledge of the subject 

 as a science. If the facts and principles of the subject are 

 thoroughly known, their .application need not be difficult. 

 This application cannot be said to have been very successful ii> 

 Section E. The evident object in view was to exemplify by 

 special examples the principles laid down in the President's 

 address and in Dr. Mill's paper. Thus we had a series of papers^ 

 on what purported to be the commercial geography of a number 

 of countries or regions. The geography, however, in most cases 

 was conspicuous by its absence. The papers were certainly most 

 useful in their way, and doubtless would be of some commercial 

 value. Thus Colonel Mark Bell's paper on the great Central 

 Asian trade route from Peking to Kulja and Semrechensk,. 

 and to Yarkand and India, abounded with original information 

 collected by an acute observer, and it is hoped will be published 

 in full by the Royal Geographical Society. But the minute 

 details dwelt upon by the author were quite unsuited to an 

 audience. Mr. R. S. Gundry's review of industrial and com- 

 mercial progress in China was admirable in its way, and the 

 views enunciated by the author original and suggestive. The 

 conclusion come to was that a more widespread desire for progress 

 and radical financial reform will be required before China is 

 likely to rival Japan in the completeness of its transformation. 



There was as usual a considerable number of African papers, 

 some of them really good even from the geographical standpoint. 

 Governor Moloney gave much useful information on the 

 Yoruba country and its various tribes, his paper, however, being 

 mainly occupied with suggestions as to its industrial develop- 

 ment. The same may be said of Captain Lugard's paper ovt 

 Nyassaland, and Mr. Rankin's on the Zambesi. The Rev. R. P. 

 Ashe's paper on Buganda contained little not already published 

 in his recent work ; it dealt mainly with the natives, their 

 political organizations, their religion, manners, and customs. 

 Captain E. C. Hore's paper on Lake Tanganyika was one of 

 the best in the Section. The author, who has lived ten years 

 on the lake, described its geographical position, as occupying the 

 central depression of the heights of Africa, from the surrounding 

 barrier of which descend the furthest sources of the great rivers ;. 

 referred to its outlet, the Lukuga, and remarked upon certain 

 earthquake phenomena, and the aspect of the depression and of 

 the bed of the lake. He gave a general description of the lake, 

 with the results of meteorological observations and notices of 

 scenery, and aspects of the lake under various changes of 

 weather. He described the natives living on the shores of the 

 lake and within the central depression, as representing all the 

 great African families, and gave some account of their arts and 

 industries, and of the produce of the lake region. He sketched 

 the African routes and lines of communication as converging 

 towards or crossing the lake, and the present available approaches 

 to the lake from the east coast. He then referred to the position 

 of the lake amongst and in relation to present claims and opera- 

 tions in Central Africa, pointing out what European enterprise 

 has already achieved on the lake. 



An excellent paper in physical geography was that of Mr. 

 Flinders Petrie on Wind- Action in Egypt, the results of his own 

 recent observations in the Nile Delta. He stated that the under- 

 lying motions of the Delta are depression on the coast and up- 

 heaval at Ismailiyeh. Above these movements great changes 

 have been made by wind-action ; in some sites at least 8 feet of 

 ground has been removed and deposited in the water. This 

 has partly caused the great retreat of the Red Sea head, and 

 tends to form the characteristic swamps of this district. Formerly 

 the Delta was a desert tract, with valleys inundated by the Nile. 

 Before historic times the Nile valley was deep in water, partly 

 estuarine, partly fluvial, and great rainfall then took place. That 

 this was in the human age is shown by the position of worked 

 flints. 



Mr. Batalha Reis, in his paper on recent Portuguese explora- 

 tions in Africa, put in a claim for exploring activity on behalf of 

 Portugal which it would be difficult to substantiate. Mr. E. G. 

 Ravenstein made some important corrections in the course of the 

 Upper Nile as laid down in recent German maps. 



Mr. Basil Thomson's paper, on his recent expedition to the 

 D'Entrecasteaux and Louisiade Islands, was the same as that 

 given some time ago to the Royal Geographical Society, and 

 reported in Nature. Dr. Carl Lumholtz's paper, on the present 

 and future of Queensland, was highly interesting and useful from 

 a colonial point of view. He, moreover, gave some of the 



