92 



NA TURE 



[November 26, 1908 



of a classified s}'nopsis, whereby the serial positions 

 of all the genera and species might be seen at a 

 g-lance. In all other respects we heartily congratulate 

 Mr. Hay on the completion of such a valuable and 

 heavy piece of palEeontological work. R. L". 



APPLIED GEOGRAPHY. 

 Applied Geography. By Dr. J. Scott Keltie. Pp. 

 viii+igg. Second edition. (London : G. Philip and 

 Son, Ltd., 1908.) Price 2S. 6d. 



SINCE the appearance of the first edition in 1890, 

 this work has been recognised as an authoritative 

 and coherent statement of human industry and pro- 

 gress from the point of view of geography. The 

 demand for a new edition has provided the opportunity 

 for a thorough revision of the work, involving the 

 addition and consideration of new material now avail- 

 able; and the result is a volume in which the dry 

 bones of what is known as commercial geography are 

 articulated so that their relationship to each other, and 

 to the life of man, can be clearly distinguished. 



It is sometimes said that geography is not a science; 

 and in so far as it deals only with the collection of 

 facts there is justification in the remark. No branch 

 of natural knowledge can claim a place in the 

 hierarchy of the sciences until the facts with which 

 it is concerned have been classified, generalised, and 

 shown to lead to productive principles. In the past, 

 geographers themselves have not realised that this is 

 the ultimate aim and intention of scientific investiga- 

 tion, and have mostly been content with the accumula- 

 tion of facts without attempting to construct an 

 organic system from the material. Few have worked 

 on Baconian principles with the object of discovering 

 by systematic inquiry the true significance of the 

 facts. 



That definite principles can be deduced from geo- 

 graphical material is illustrated by many statements 

 in Dr. Keltic's book. Consider, for instance, the 

 relation of rainfall to population and to animal and 

 vegetable commodities. Neglecting the local influence 

 of minerals, manufactures, and transport, it may be 

 said that population is relatively low where the rain- 

 fall is deficient or excessive, and high where rainfall 

 favours the growth of grass, grain, and other food 

 products. The density of population in many parts of 

 India is in e.xact proportion to the rainfall, and the 

 number of sheep that can be grazed per square mile in 

 Australia also varies with the rainfall, being at the rate 

 of twenty-two sheep per square mile for every inch of 

 rain above nine inches. Wheat also shows a similar 

 relationship, the harvest in South Australia being on 

 the average 12.5 bushels per acre for a rainfall of 

 1S.5 in., 10 bushels for 15 in., and 6.5 bushels for 

 13s in. An extra inch of rain in the season would 

 thus represent in South Australia a gain of about 

 io,ooo,oooZ. These are examples of geographical prin- 

 ciples derived from the coordination of meteorological 

 and economic data by scientific inquiry. 



Though Dr. Keltie gives many similar instances of 

 the relation of various factors of climate to the products 

 and commercial value of a country, he omits to men- 

 NO. 2039, VOL. 79J 



tion that the distribution of rainfall through the year 

 is more important than the actual amount. Grass 

 lands require not only an annual rainfall of about 

 thirty inches, but also a distribution of this quantity 

 throughout the year at intervals not exceeding a 

 month. Wheat-growing also depends upon the dis- 

 tribution; and with some varieties can only be success- 

 fully carried on where the percentage of winter rains 

 is largely in excess of that for the summer months. 

 Given the meteorological conditions and the character 

 of the soil in any part of the world, it is possible to 

 state what variety of wheat will come to maturity 

 there, or whether the region is unsuited to wheat 

 culture. Here then we have the facts of meteorology, 

 agriculture, botany, and economics, leading to a con- 

 clusion of high significance to the human race ; and 

 it is only one of many examples of applied geography. 



" From neglect or ignorance of known geographical 

 conditions," says Dr. Keltie, " or from taking no steps 

 to counteract them, the most serious disasters to crops 

 and flocks were of constant occurrence in Australia, 

 though, recently, improvements have been introduced. 

 It is, therefore, the most short-sighted policy imagin- 

 able in a young colony to neglect the survey of its 

 territories ; public money cannot be better spent than 

 in the maintenance of an efficient survey service, and a 

 carefully selected network of meteorological stations." 



Man is, of course, able to modify natural condi- 

 tions or adapt his demands to them. Irrigation has 

 converted barren land into fertile fields; insanitary and 

 malarious regions have been rendered habitable as 

 the result of biological observation and experiment; 

 and hindrances to commerce have been overcome by 

 engineering enterprise. In this connection, the author 

 says, " By deafforesting here and planting there, we 

 have been able appreciably to modify rainfall, and 

 therefore climate." There is, however, little evidence 

 for this belief. No amount of afforestation or de- 

 afforestation will modify the direction or frequency of 

 rain-bearing winds; forests do not, in fact, affect 

 greatly the rainfall of a region, but they assist in 

 conserving the moisture actually received, and when 

 they are destroyed the soil may be washed away or 

 the loss by evaporation and percolation increased. 



When referring to the relation of man himself to 

 the resources around him. Dr. Keltie remarks, " Had 

 a diff^erent type of man from the Chinese, men like 

 ourselves, possessed that vast territory, how different 

 the results would have been." The explanation of 

 undevelopment is not, to our mind, due so much to 

 the type of man as to the beliefs and traditions 

 accepted by the people. The Chinese are as industrious 

 and ingenious as any Western race, and when they 

 awake to the knowledge that the wisdom of the past 

 is insufficient for the needs of to-day and the future 

 they w'ill make even more substantial advances than 

 Japan has done. Lentil the study of science had been 

 transferred from books and authority to nature by 

 observers like Paracelsus, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, 

 Gilbert, and Gesner, Europe was in the dark ages, 

 and the conclusions of Aristotle, Ptolemy, and other 

 sophists were regarded as the final standard of judg- 

 ment by which the validity of natural fact or theory 



