140 



NATURE 



[October 8, 1914 



for example, who read in the Africa volume 

 Mr. Basil Worsfold's interesting and valuable 

 statement of native problems in South Africa will 

 be able to read them in the light of the observa- 

 tions made by Mr. E. B. Sargant in the chapter 

 on educational problems of the Empire, culmina- 

 ting in the reflection that where there are two 

 distinct social orders, of which one represents 

 largely the hewers of wood and drawers of water, 

 "any neglect of the development of the more 

 backward^ group must react unfavourably upon 

 the development of the other, and ultimately leave 

 its mark upon the whole Empire " (General Sur- 

 vey, p. 233), as, on the other hand, those who 

 read these highly general observations will have 

 the advantage of considering them in the light of 

 the more concrete presentments of fact elsewhere. 



While there is so much to be thankful for in 

 these volumes there are nevertheless one or two 

 things to regret. To begin with a minor matter, 

 it may be pointed out that some of the maps and 

 diagrams are not so completely self-explanatory 

 as one would like them to be. Thus, in the map 

 of the " Economic Regions of Canada " in the 

 America volume, it is not clear what territory the 

 so-called " Central Agricultural Region " is in- 

 tended to include. In the map of the " Railways 

 of Eastern Canada," p. 189, there seems to be 

 some mistake in the reference. In the very inter- 

 esting rainfall diagram on p. 334, as on that 

 of the monthly discharge of the Nile on p. 345, 

 it would be well to add at least the latitudes of 

 the places mentioned. In the former, for ex- 

 ample, the contrast between Wadelai and Ghaba 

 Shambe would be all the more striking if we knew 

 that there there is only 4° of latitude between the 

 two places, a fact which there is no means of 

 finding out from the book, inasmuch as Ghaba 

 Shambe is not named on the map of north-east 

 Africa, between pp. 316 and 377. 



Then, further, it is both surprising and regret- 

 table that in a work coming out virtually under 

 the auspices of the Oxford School of Geography 

 there should have been apparently so little system- 

 atic endeavour to give prominence to geographical 

 influences. Even in the section on the British 

 Isles, a good deal more space is given to the 

 administration of towns than to the conditions 

 that tend to fix their sites and promote their growth. 

 In the Australasia volume there is indeed a deliber- 

 ate effort to develop those influences in the 

 chapter on physical geography, but this attempt, 

 to our mind, suffers somewhat from the promin- 

 ence given to geological history in setting forth 

 those influences. The sentences in this chapter 

 may in many cases be individually interesting, 

 but the reading of a paragraph, notwithstanding 

 NO. 2345, VOL. 94] 



the illustration by block diagrams, is often hard, 

 that of a sequence of paragraphs still more so. 



But there is one chapter conspicuously free 

 from this fault, a chapter by an unnamed 

 writer in which what may be called the 

 geography of British policy and of British 

 strategy is expounded in such illuminating fashion 

 that the most ignorant under this head will be 

 enlightened, a chapter which will be read in 

 present circumstances with the keenest interest, 

 and for the sake of which alone it would be worth 

 while for anyone who has fourteen shillings to 

 spare to buy the volume — that containing the 

 general survey, an admirable volume in other 

 respects. We may conclude this review with a 

 quotation from the chapter (p. 190), which all of 

 us may ponder with profit at the present time : — 



"The geographical situation of the British Isles 

 confers certain advantages from the point of view 

 of waging offensive warfare. It greatly facili- 

 tates the protection of our oversea trade against 

 an enemy that is compelled to issue from the 

 North Sea to gain access to the Atlantic, and it 

 enables us to keep the ports on the other side of 

 the Channel under effective observation should 

 necessity to do so arise. But against those ad- 

 vantages must be weighed those conferred by a 

 possible enemy for waging warfare by the double 

 exit from the Baltic via the Kiel Canal and the 

 Skaggerak. This double exit not only increases 

 the difficulty of maintaining effective observation 

 on any hostile fleet that can make use of either 

 passage, but imposes upon us the necessity of 

 keeping our main fleet in a position from which 

 it can ensure bringing the enemy to action before 

 he can break out of the North Sea, and in certain 

 circumstances might prevent any division of the 

 battle fleet." G. G. C. 



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