Jan. 2 1, I 



NA TURE 



27i 



filled with an artificial steam-fog, by meansofapipe brought 

 from the boiler of the engine-house, and the loS-jet Wig- 

 ham gas-burner, and an electric arc fed by one machine, 

 were pitted against each other, and the distances from 

 which the lights could be seen determined. In all cases 

 the electric arc became visible before the gas flame, as 

 the observers walked up the shed towards the lights, 

 confirming the other eye-observations which have been 

 already mentioned. 



The experiments showed also that the electric light suf- 

 fered a greater proportional loss than either of the two 

 other illuminants when passing through fog or haze, but 

 that, owing to its far greater initial intensity, it neverthe- 

 less exceeded the other lights in its penetrating power. 



The Committee add to their Report some account of 

 the cost of the three illuminants, from which it appears 

 that there is but little difference in the first cost of the 

 electric and gas systems, the latter being slightly the more 

 costly ; but, on the other hand, the annual cost of the gas 

 is estimated at rather less than that of the electricity. 

 The cost of the mineral-oil apparatus is estimated, both 

 for its installation and for its annual maintenance, at 

 about two-thirds that of either gas or electricity. 



The general conclusions arrived at by the Committee 

 — conclusions which seem fully borne out by the evidence 

 set forth in the Report — are, that the " electric light, as 

 exhibited in the experimental tower at South Foreland, 

 has proved to be the most powerful light under all con- 

 ditions of weather, and to have the greatest penetrative 

 power in fog : '' that for all practical purposes the gas 

 and oil were equal ; and " that for the ordinary necessities 

 of lighthouse illumination, mineral oil is the most suitable 

 and economical illuminant, and that for salient head- 

 lands, important landfalls, and places where a very 

 powerful light is required, electricity offers the greatest 

 advantages." 



GEOGRAPHICAL EDUCATION 

 "T^HE Council of the Royal Geographical Society have 

 -'• been making a determined effort during the past 

 eighteen months to improve the position of geography in 

 the education of this country, with special reference to 

 the higher schools and universities. They have collected 

 information as to the position of the subject and the 

 methods used in teaching it in the schools and universities 

 of the leading Continental countries as well as in England, 

 and published the results in the form of a Report, which 

 has attracted considerable attention, and is likely to lead 

 to useful results. In connection with this inquiry the 

 Society has arranged an Exhibition of Appliances in use 

 in Geographical Education at the rooms, 53, Great Marl- 

 borough Street, which, since it was opened in the beginning 

 of December, has attracted many visitors of the class for 

 whose special benefit it was intended. Already there are 

 signs that this Exhibition will do real good in at least 

 leading to the multiplication and improvement of the 

 meagre appliances in use in English schools. Nothing 

 could show more strikingly the marked difference in the 

 variety and quality of these appliances in use in English 

 and in Continental schools. 



The catalogue of the Exhibition covers So large octavo 

 pages. It is arranged in eight divisions — wall-maps, 

 globes, telluria, planetaria, &c., models and relief-maps, 

 geographical and ethnological pictures, atlases, text- 

 books, miscellaneous. Upwards of 200 wall-maps are 

 shown, while about 100 more have not been hung for 

 want of space. .All the leading types of this kind of work 

 are represented on the walls. They are arranged geo- 

 graphically — maps of the world, of Europe, and parts of 

 Europe, and so on. The object aimed at in hanging the 

 maps has been to bring side by side those of the same 

 region by different publishers and in use in difterent 

 countries, so that visitors may compare the results for 



themselves. Some of the English work thus shown is 

 certainly good — accurate, carefully executed, and fairly 

 well adapted for its purpose, especially the maps of 

 Stanford and Keith Johnston. The Exhibition, it should 

 be remembered, is purely educational, and therefore the 

 finest cartographical work of our best publishers and our 

 Ordnance Survey must not be looked for ; some of this 

 work will compare favourably with the best work of other 

 countries. As a whole, it must be admitted, that English 

 school-maps are far behind those of the leading Con- 

 tinental countries, notably Germany, Austria, Switzerland, 

 and even Italy. We do not seem to be guided by any 

 definite principles in the construction of such maps ; our 

 teachers, as a rule, have never seen good school-maps, 

 and the best English cartographers seem to think such 

 work beneath them. We in England seem to cherish the 

 pernicious idea that a school-map should be something 

 quite different in kind from an ordinary map of the best 

 class. In the Continental countries mentioned above, on 

 the other hand, it is recognised that in the case of young 

 people, even more than with men and women, only the 

 very best work should be used, for first impressions are 

 everything. In elementary wall-maps, of course, the 

 minute details of the finest hill-shading and other features 

 would be out of place, but the style and method of the 

 work should be the same, only more generalised. For 

 example, in .Austrian schools, maps produced by pho- 

 tography from reliefs are absolutely forbidden on account 

 of the exaggerated impression which they convey. The 

 reliefs are almost necessarily exaggerated in such cases, 

 and the light thrown on them from a particular direction 

 to give picturesque eftect ; the result as a rule being a 

 misrepresentation of the real configuration of the ground. 

 Maps which attempt to indicate physical features by the 

 use of variety of colour are but little used on the Con- 

 tinent. They do not appeal at all to the eye or help the 

 imagination of the child, and are of no use in helping 

 him to read maps executed in the usual way, which are the 

 maps he must deal with when he grows up to be a man. 

 The use of colour for special features is certainly useful, 

 but then only in advanced classes. For the younger 

 classes in Continental schools one does find it, but almost 

 invariably conjoined with graphic mountain-shading. In 

 the best maps, moreover, when the method is used, often 

 only one, generally not more than two, colours are intro- 

 duced : green for the lowest levels, tints of brown for the 

 higher levels. In Kiepert's maps, brown alone, in deepen- 

 ing tints according to altitude, is used, just as blue is 

 used after a similar fashion to indicatethe varying depths 

 of the sea. And this reminds us of the common practice 

 in the best Continental schools, of always having two 

 maps of the same region for teaching-purposes — one 

 physical and the other political. On the former, always 

 without names and political indications, the physical 

 features are everything, and are boldly brought out ; in 

 the latter the physical features are still clear and pro- 

 minent, but ate accompanied by what are known as 

 " political " features. In England one map has usually to 

 serve not only for all grades of classes, but for both physical 

 and political teaching : and as in our best school-maps 

 the physical features are faint and obscured by the glaring 

 colours used for political divisions, they are almost hidden 

 when covered with names and other details. 



In the matter of outward appearance, even, our school- 

 maps leave room for great impiovement. They, as a 

 whole, cannot be compared as to taste and style with the 

 best Continental maps. The finest of these are either not 

 coloured at all, or the colours are put on faintly and 

 delicately to show political divisions ; often only boundary 

 lines are coloured, so that the physical features, which 

 have so much to do with political development, are well 

 shown. The taste of our teachers and map-makers in 

 this matter requires radical reformation ; the more 

 glaring and vivid the colouring of wall-maps, the more 



