January 4, 1906] 



NA TURE 



219 



an attempt to illustrate the areas tributary to each 

 railway company, which, if properly done, would be 

 a most valuable guide to business men. The present 

 map is hardly successful in showing more than the 

 obvious, and in the crowded area of south Lancashire 

 and the West Riding of Yorkshire, even when shown 

 on a larger scale in an inset, the method adopted does 

 not do justice to some of the lines. No attempt has 

 been made to distinguish areas which are served by 

 more than one railway; nor does the compiler seem 

 to have taken configuration into account in preparing 

 the map. No doubt the details can be worked out on 

 the half-inch maps which come later, but what might 

 have been a very effective and useful map is some- 

 what spoilt. It resembles a rough railway company 

 diagram rather than the other maps of the atlas. 



The densitv of population maps by Mr. Bosse, in 

 which the uninhabited area is first marked off, are 

 clear, and reveal a multitude of points not indicated 

 on maps which show the density of population by 

 counties. They form a very effective contrast to two 

 maps showing densities of agricultural, of industrial 

 and commercial population by counties, which, how- 

 ever, summarise the more obvious contrasts of density 

 and of distribution. Administrative divisions, political 

 and ecclesiastical, a commercial and a mineral map 

 end the first section of tin- atlas. 



(2) It is scarcely necessary to direct attention to the 

 merits of Bartholomew's half-inch contoured map, 

 which everyone uses who cycles or motors. It is 

 beautifully printed on sixty-seven sections. The con- 

 tour lines, as on the Ordnance maps, are shown for 

 every ioo feet up to iooo feet, and for every 250 feet 

 above that. The areas between each consecutive 100 

 feet up to 400 feet are tinted in shades of lighter and 

 lighter green, between each 200 feet to 1000 feet, and 

 then between each 250 feet, in deepening shades of 

 brown, a purplish tint being used for the bands 

 between 2750 feet and 3000 feet. This is a reasonable 

 compromise, but for students of orographical features 

 a single colour in different shades would give a clearer 

 picture. The great defect of our Ordnance maps is 

 the absence of a closer contour interval, and for the 

 inadequacy of the existing data in exhibiting the 

 characteristics of the relief Mr. Bartholomew cannot 

 be held responsible. 



These maps are wonderfully accurate ; in some 

 places they are more up to date than the survey 

 sheets. Only here and there have we detected minor 

 errors. The arrangement of the sections in the 

 atlas is confusing. The numbers zigzag in such a 

 way that it is not possible, without turning to the 

 sheet inside or to the key map, to discover whether 

 they run eastwards or westwards. This difficulty 

 might have been avoided by printing a key map 

 beneath the number outside each sheet and shading 

 thy area of the section drawn inside. 



(3) The town plans call for little comment, except 

 that they should have been on a uniform scale. 



(4) The text consists of clear descriptions of the 

 physical features in relation to political and com- 

 m.rri.il development by Dr. Mill, with one or two 

 slips, and of the geological features by Sir Archibald 



NO. l88S. YOL. 7 3] 



Geikie; temperature and rainfall tables for more than 

 a hundred stations (the latter, unfortunately, only for 

 1 ten years' mean); agricultural, population, ecclesi- 

 astical, demographic, political, commercial, industrial, 

 and railway statistics; a list of railways; the 

 etymology of English and Welsh place-names; and an 

 invaluable bibliography of the maps of the country 

 from the earliest times, specially compiled by Mr. 

 Bartholomew. 



It will be seen that the atlas deserves its com- 

 prehensive title. The time and art required to 

 produce it have been great, and Mr. Bartholomew very 

 properly makes due acknowledgments to his skilled 

 assistants. The execution is admirable, and the work 

 is not merely one of great scientific importance, but 

 also a specimen of cartography worthy of the reputa- 

 tion of the house of Bartholomew. 



LEATHER FOR BOOKBINDING. 

 Report of the Committee on Leather for Bookbinding. 

 Edited for the Society of Arts and the Worshipful 

 Company of Leathersellers by the Right Hon. 

 Viscount Cobham and Sir Henry Trueman Wood. 

 Pp. 120. (London : George Bell and Sons, 1905.) 

 Price 1 os. 6d. 



IN recent years there has been considerable dissatis- 

 faction with the quality of leather used for book- 

 binding; although many old books have their bindings 

 still in good condition, others more recently bound 

 have become dilapidated. In 1899 the School of Arts 

 and Crafts formed a committee for the investigation 

 of the subject, which appealed later to the council of 

 the Society of Arts requesting it to undertake a 

 thorough examination of the whole question, and in 

 February, 1900, the society agreed to appoint a com- 

 mittee for the purpose. The first meeting was held 

 in May, 1900, and two subcommittees were elected 

 from the members; the first, consisting of Mr. Cyril 

 Davenport, of the British Museum Library; Dr. J. 

 Gordon Parker, director of the London Leather In- 

 dustries' Research Laboratories; Mr. A. Seymour- 

 Jones, leather manufacturer; Mr. W. J. Leighton, 

 bookbinder ; and Mr. Douglas Cockerel!, bookbinder, 

 was to visit various libraries to ascertain the com- 

 parative duration of various leathers used at different 

 periods and preserved under different conditions. The 

 second subcommittee consisted of Dr. J. Gordon 

 Parker, Prof. Henry R. Procter, professor of leather 

 industries at Leeds University, and Mr. A. Seymour- 

 Jones; its duty was to ascertain the cause of any 

 deterioration noticed and to suggest methods for its 

 prevention. Mr. M. C. Lamb, director of the leather 

 dyeing and finishing department of Herold's Insti- 

 tute, was afterwards added to this committee. 



The committee reported in June, 1901, and the report 

 was printed in the Journal of the Society of July 5. 

 It was considered desirable to reprint the report in a 

 more permanent form, and with the financial assist- 

 ance of the Leathersellers' Company the present 

 volume has been produced, which contains more 

 detailed accounts of the work of the subcommittees 



