.S38 



NA TURE 



[September 26, 1901 



this task it is my ambition to devote myself. I may be per- 

 mitted to state that Scotland is far behind England or Wales in 

 the number of rainfall stations per square mile. Thus there is, 

 roughly, one rain-observing station for every 20 square miles of 

 England, one for every 30 square miles of Wales, but only one 

 for every 67 square miles of Scotland, and one for every 170 

 square miles of Ireland. 



Rainfall observations only tell the amount of available water ; 

 the configuration of the stream-beds must be considered in deter- 

 mining water-power. The only country I know where the 

 horse-power of the rivers has been measured and mapped is 

 Finland, but of course individual rivers, such as the Mississippi, 

 Rhine, Seine, and Thames, have been thoroughly studied. 

 Before many decades have passed it will be a necessary element 

 in the surveys of all countries, though at present the available 

 data are few and scattered. 



ropulaficn Maps. 



In considering human geography we come to the most inter- 

 esting and least occupied field of research. Until Mr. Bosse 

 constructed his beautiful maps of the density of population of 

 Scotland and England we had absolutely no cartographical 

 representation of the true distribution of people over the land. 

 To map population by counties gives a very poor idea of the 

 truth, for in such counties as Yorkshire or Perthshire there are 

 large areas entirely without inhabitants, and small areas where 

 the population is very dense. Mr. Bosse's maps were made on 

 the principle of leaving blank all the land on which there were 

 no dwelling houses, and so obtaining a close approximation to 

 the true density of population of the inhabited area. For Scot- 

 land his map shows at once that it is a function of configuration. 

 It shows the densely peopled lowland plain, the less densely 

 peopled coast-strip surrounding the country, and the least 

 densely peopled valleys running inland into the great uninhabited 

 areas. The population map of England, on the other hand, 

 shows an absolutely startling relation to the geological structure, 

 which in turn is closely related to the configuration. We are 

 not astonished to see the centres of densest population coincid- 

 ing with the Coal Measures, but it is both surprising and 

 instructive to see how the density of population runs parallel to 

 the strike of the Secondary and Tertiary rocks of south-eastern 

 England, a band of the lightest population following each out- 

 crop of chalk and limestone, a band of dense population 

 following each belt of sandstone or clay. 



Anthropo-geography teems with fascinating subjects of re- 

 search. The admirable investigations in the West of Ireland 

 on the physical anthropology ot the people might well be ex- 

 tended to the whole country outside the great towns, where all 

 evidence of place of origin and original character is speedily 

 lost. Good work has been done in this way by the Ethno- 

 graphic Survey promoted by a committee of this Association, 

 and a committee of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society 

 has rendered great aid to the Ordnance Survey in the cognate 

 study of the place-names of Scotland. 



The distribution of religion, even in the three typical forms of 

 Anglican, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic — forms so typical . 

 as to be, broadly speaking, national — is most imperfectly 

 known. The objection to a religious census is one which is 

 somewhat difficult of comprehension in Scotland, and too 

 polemic for sober discussion in England. But a few of the 

 problems are worth being worked out by individuals. The 

 curious islands of Roman Catholic continuity in Lancashire, the 

 Hebrides and the Highlands can probably be related simply 

 enough to the configuration of the country and the means of 

 communication as influencing free movement of people at critical 

 periods of history. There are many interesting points as to the 

 geogiaphical distribution of surnames, the relation of character- 

 istic literature or poetry to specific areas, things small in them- 

 selves, but capal)le of exercising very far-reaching influence if 

 systematically worked out. 



Geographical Synihesis. 

 Granted that the subsidiary surveys have been made and the 

 results put in a strictly comparable (orm, the cential problem 

 remains — the synthesis of the complete geogiaphy of the country. 

 This can perhaps be solved best by comparing the maps of the 

 various distributions in the proper order, and seeing how far 

 they are related to one another. For the general discussion the 

 Ordnance Map on the scale of one inch to a mile should be used, 

 and each natural region ought properly to be treated by itself, 



NO. 1665, VOL. 64] 



but as a matter of practical convenience it would probably be 

 found best to select either the artificial boundaries of counties 

 or the still more arbitrary lines bounding sheets of the map. 

 Whatever small area is taken as the unit of description, it 

 should be treated in such a way as to seek for and prove 

 or disprove the existence of any control exercised by the 

 form of the land and its geological character on the outcrops 

 of the rocks, the nature of the soil, the course of the rivers, the 

 temperature and movements of the air, the rainfall, the vegetation 

 and agriculture, the distribution of population, the sites of 

 towns, villages, and isolated dwellings, the roads, railways and 

 harbours, the birth-rate and death-rate, and on the progressive 

 changes in all these conditions which are shown in the discussion 

 of the statistics collected annually or decennially. When such 

 unit areas are worked out individually the results can easily be 

 combined and condensed into a geographical description that 

 will be complete, well balanced, and symmetrical. The work 

 is practicable : it requires only time, money, direction and 

 workers to carry it out ; but although a specimen memoir, pre- 

 pared by the authority of the Royal Geographical Society, met 

 with a certain measure of approval, all attempts failed to obtain 

 funds for making the work complete, and the scheme must 

 await a more educated generation before it can be profitably 

 revived in its entirety. But meanwhile this field for geo- 

 graphical study and research lies at the doors of every Uni- 

 versity where the subject is or may be recognised, and the 

 labours of professors and students might be profitably directed 

 to the completion of such memoirs for the surrounding dis- 

 trict, gradually working further and further afield. The idea 

 is no. more new than every other "thing under the sun." 

 Such exercises, not so elaborately planned, but the same 

 in essentials, were ordinary subjects for theses in the universities 

 of Sweden and Finland during the eighteenth century. To 

 come nearer home, the local handbooks prepared for successive 

 meetings of the British Association are frequently very fair 

 examples of the geographical description of a district. The 

 essential qualities are rarer in guide-books, but we must not 

 forget one brilliant exception, the poet Wordsworth's "Guide 

 to the English Lakes." 



It is pleasant to hear that through the encouragement of Sir 

 John Murray the Scottish Natural History Society is taking up 

 the systematic study of the basin of the Forth, and they will, I 

 feel sure, give a good account of their labours. One point 

 which must be very strongly emphasised is that a geographical 

 treatise is distinguished from a jumble of facts mainly by the 

 order and proportion in which the phenomena are dealt with, 

 and by the relation of cause and effect that is established between 

 them. 



As to the utility of complete geographical descriptions, we 

 must of course recognise their greater practical importance in 

 new and developing countries than in old lands like our own. 

 Vet even with us the study of the distribution of natural 

 resources may suggest important changes, involving great re- 

 distributions of population. 



A Geographical IVarning. 



Hitherto, except as regards exploration and cartography, the 

 position of geography in this country has never been satisfactory. 

 Times are changing, and even in exploration we are now only 

 one amongst many rivals, often better equipped by education, 

 usually in no way deficient in daring. Although the best work 

 of several of our cartographers in Edinburgh and London need 

 fear no comparison, we cannot conceal the fact that Germany 

 leads the world in map-making. As regards the recognition or 

 even the comprehension ot geography by the .State, by the 

 universities and by the public, we are equally far behind our 

 neighbours across the North .Sea. 



It has sometimes been hinted that the study of geography has 

 been deliberately discouraged by politicians or by merchants 

 because too much knowledge on the part of the public might 

 embarrass foreign policy or lead to mercantile competition ; but 

 we surely cannot entertain such unworthy suspicions. I am 

 inclined to attribute the neglect of the subject merely to 

 ignorance of its nature due to imperfect education. 



Two cases in which the application of geography to political 

 and practical affairs suggests a definite course of action may be 

 mentioned as examples. There is still one important colonial 

 boundary entirely undelimited in a region somewhat difficult of 

 access and still little known, where goldfields will probably be 

 found or reported before long, and where a very serious inter- 



