112 



NATURE 



[March 24, 19 10 



sufficiently strong to resist fairly rough treatment. The 

 surface shown in ^'ig. 2 is that of the earth in relief, 

 where the scale is 1/5-10', giving an exaggeration of 

 twenty times. This surface shows the relief of the land, 

 the depressions of lakes and rivers, while the limits of 

 pack- and drift-ice in the Polar regions are ingeniously 

 marked. From the scientific point of view it is perhaps 

 a pity that, the relief of the ocean beds has not been 

 shown, as one of the important advantages of a globe on 

 this scale appears to be the possibility of an adequate 

 realisation of the gradients of the land surface, and such 

 a conception loses more than half its value when it is 

 limited to the subaerial parts ; possibly the inventor, Mr. 

 G. R. Gill, will be able to make sections to show the 

 complete relief of the solid crust. 



Other surface sections are available ; first, political 

 sections showing by divers colours the great world empires, 

 the railways, the rivers, and the ocean and cable routes ; 



Fig. I. — Meridians in place. 



secondly, plain sections on which the demonstrator may 

 draw his own sketches. These sections are interchange- 

 able, so that pupils may be tested as to their power to 

 draw coast lines, &c. The whole globe can be set up in 

 a few minutes, and a few seconds suffice for the changing 

 of sections. Additional attachments are provided so that 

 the large globe may be used to represent the sun, and a 

 set of small balls, mounted at varying slopes, the planets ; 

 the Pole Star and Ursa Major are represented by a set 

 of small balls to be fixed to the axis. There appears to 

 be no difficulty in arranging the surface sections so that 

 the upper half represents the southern hemisphere. 



For purposes of measurement, and for the elucidation 

 of "great circle sailing," schoolmasters will probably ask 

 Mr. Gill to supply a thin steel band, graduated in degrees, 

 which could be used to demonstrate and measure the 

 shortest distance between two places upon the earth. 



The model is sufficiently large and rigid that a youth 

 may climb into and hide within the interior, and it is 

 probable that for teaching purposes the possession of this 

 globe would render the use of wall maps of the continents 

 unnecessary for class work in geography. The teacher 

 of geography by the methods of modern science will find 

 this globe extremely useful, not only as his final resort in 

 summarising the pupils' studies of a definite region, but 

 In putting that region in precise relationship with the 

 NO. 2108, VOL. 83] 



neighbouring regions ; in our opinion there seems to be no 

 end to the many practical e.\ercises of a " heuristic "nature 

 which pupils could be set, even to the extent of several 

 at a time working on the one globe. 



Many little devices suggest themselves at once whereby 

 the main factors of the earth's climatic conditions might 

 become more real ; it will suffice to suggest one use of 

 a slightly different nature ; the room is darkened, the rays 

 from the lantern are centred accurately on the model, 

 questions of local time and sun time are discussed, and 

 with a needle to represent a stick the shadow exercises 

 so common in school work in the playground are repeated 

 on the globe, with this advantage, that the graph obtained 

 to show the sun's altitude, which took the whole of one 

 school year to make, may now be made in a shorter period, 

 when the work may be carried through without a break. 

 The inventor may be congratulated on the way in which 

 he has surmounted many mechanical difficulties, and in 



Fig. 2. — Inserting the last section. 



which he has produced an important addition to the 

 apparatus which may be used to teach geography 

 scientifically. B. C. \\ . 



THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION FOR THE 

 ADVANCEMENT OF TEACHING. 



T^HE fourth annual report of the president and treasurer 

 ■* of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of 

 Teaching is now available, and deals with the work of 

 the year ending September 30, 1909. It will be remem- 

 bered that, in dealing with the third report in our issue 

 of June 3, 1909 (vol. Ixxx., p. 399), Prof. J. Edgar 

 described at length the scope and character of the founda- 

 tion, and it is necessary here to deal only with points of 

 interest in the work of the past year. 



During the year the foundation granted 115 pensions 

 amounting to 35,400^. It is now paying 318 pensions, the 

 cost being 93,200^ The professors receiving these pensions 

 are from 139 colleges, distributed over forty-three States 

 of the Union and provinces of Canada. To the accepted 

 list of colleges, that is, to the list the professors of which 

 may regularly receive pensions under fixed rules as a right 

 and not as a favour, seven colleges were admitted during 

 the vear. The governors and legislatures of twenty-six 



