vi 
a “graded river.’’ It is still worse to meet with 
statements that cannot but tend to beget confused 
thinking on the part of the learner, as where we are 
told that ‘on a flat surface streams begin by cutting 
deep _ perpendicular-sided the 
canons of Colorado’’ (p. 8, col. 2), or where, from 
the wording of the text, a boy would be led to 
believe that a river in subsiding after a flood de- 
posits matter only along its banks (p. 9, col. 1), or 
where he is told (p. 32, col. 2) that ‘‘ the length and 
direction of rivers [in Great Britain] are largely deter- 
ravines ...as in 
mined by the surface features,’? which ought to lead 
him to try to think what other circumstances may 
contribute to determining those things. These points 
may seem trifles, but for the A stage more particu- 
larly it is essential that the statements should be 
strictly accurate and unequivocally clear. More 
Serious misconceptions are sure to be engendered by 
such statements as that ‘the circulation of the 
waters of the ocean brings warmth to the coasts of 
British Columbia and Western Europe” (p. 18, 
col. 2). That is quite true if we understand by the 
coast the mere line of contact of land and water, but 
boys and girls ought to understand and never forget 
that it is not true 6 inches inland. Indeed, the whole 
of the important subject of temperature is very in- 
adequately treated. There is no systematic develop- 
ment and consistent application of the fact stated on 
p. 16, col. 1, that ‘‘ movements of air naturally bring 
warmth to cooler regions or coldness to warmer,”’ 
and the neglect of this, one of the most serious 
omissions apparently due to the failing to form a 
distinct conception of the function of geography, gives 
rise to other statements in the book that cannot but 
mislead. 
In the preface, Mr. L’Estrange points out that in 
most of the maps in his book the projections adopted 
are such as show the parallels of latitude by straight 
lines. For larger areas the projection most fre- 
quently used is the homalographic, which is indeed 
very good where comparisons of area are important, 
but is not satisfactory for wind maps, for which it is 
used in Plate 4, with the result that in the January 
map the arrows representing the direction of the wind 
over the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan will be 
read as indicating north-west winds if we refer them 
to the parallels of latitude, but nearly due north if we 
refer them to the meridians. By Mr. L’Estrange 
Mercator’s projection is eschewed throughout, but, in 
spite of its obvious faults, for wind maps there is none 
better. 
The coloured plates, sixty-nine in number, of Mr. 
L’Estrange’s book are now to be had separately under 
the title of Philips’ ‘‘ Progressive Atlas of Com- 
parative Geography.’’ They consist mainly of maps 
on each of which there are either names or references 
by means of letters and numbers printed in brown, 
blue, and red. On the named maps the brown names 
are those which it is considered proper for the boys 
and girls in the A stage to learn, those in B learning } 
also the blue, and those in C adding the red. The 
maps with references are in other respects duplicates 
: NOewIO5O, VOL. 75] 
Supplement to “ Nature,’ March 14, 1907 
of the named maps, and are intended as test maps. 
In addition, there are various climatological, com- 
mercial, and industrial maps and diagrams, all well 
executed for the purpose for which they are intended. 
The “‘Atlas,”’ like the corresponding plates in the 
““Geography,”’ is provided with an index on a simple 
and ingenious plan, only the nearest degrees of lati- 
tude and longitude marked on the map being given, 
with the bearing from the intersection of those lines. 
Thus Nagpur is entered 20 80 N.W., meaning that 
it lies north-west of the intersection of 20° N. 80° E., 
a method which enables one to find the place on the 
map referred to with great ease. Unquestionably this 
“Atlas” is fitted to be extremely useful in schools. 
““Stanford’s Octavo Atlas’? is well known for its 
merits of handiness, of as much fulness as is com- 
patible with its size, and as much clearness as is 
compatible with its fulness. In this new edition the 
more important changes that have taken place on 
the map of the world since the last edition are in- 
dicated. The difficulty of inserting new names on 
the maps might to some extent have been met by 
inserting them in the index, where the excellent plan 
is adopted of including more names than are to be 
found on the maps, so that those who use the atlas 
are at least enabled to fix the position of a place on 
the proper map, and thus see its relations to the 
places which are named thereon. The fact is, how- 
ever, that some names, such as Kotlass in Russia 
and Nelson in British Columbia, have already found 
a place on maps, but not in the index. For a new 
edition it would be well to reprint this index, abandon- 
ing the present plan of giving no reference to the 
number of a map, but only the name of the country 
to which a place belongs. Thus one gets the latitude 
and longitude of a place in Canada, then has to refer 
to the table of maps at the beginning, and, finally, 
to ascertain in which of the three maps of Canada 
there enumerated the place is to be found. In re- 
printing the index the opportunity might be taken to 
insert all places omitted. Gro. G. CHISHOLM. 
PHOTOGRAPHY FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS. 
Photography for Students of Physics and Chemistry. 
By Prof. Louis Derr. Pp. vii+247. (New York: 
The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan and 
C€o., Ltd., 1906:)) Price’ 6s. net. 
ROF. DERR is hard to please. He says that 
good handbooks of photographic manipulation 
are abundant, but they are apt to be unsatisfactory 
because their business is not to explain principles. 
Of complete treatises there are also not a few, but 
in them the thoughtful student is likely to be ‘‘ over- 
whelmed with an avalanche of detail and history ’’; 
and monographs are too highly technical and ‘ con- 
fined to such limited portions of the photographic 
field that the desired information generally lies in 
the gaps between them.’’ He _ has, therefore, 
endeavoured to prepare a volume that suffers from 
none of these disadvantages. He may have suited 
his book to the needs of his students, but the result 
