426 



NATURE 



[October 6, 19 10 



should, none the less, be competent to interpret them 

 with judgment, and we should have been grateful to 

 the author for some guidance in this matter. Every- 

 body knows, for instance, that the silica is lilcely to be 

 more correctly determined than the alumina, and so 

 in a general way for other constituents; but a sum- 

 mary discussion by a skilled mineral analyst of the 

 probable errors attaching to the several chief con- 

 stituents of igneous rocks would be very welcome- 



A. H. 



A'£F GEOGRAPHICAL BOOKS. 

 (i) Diitaut Lands.. .In Elementary Study in 

 Geography. By H. J. Mackinder. Pp. .xvi + 296. 

 (London : Geo. Philip and .Son, Ltd., n.d.) Price 



2S. 



(2) A First Book of Physical Geography. By W. M. 



Care}-. The First Books of Science Series. Pp. 



viii+150. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 



1910.) Price IS. 6d. 

 {^0 A Physiographical Introduction to Geography. Bv 



Prof. .\. J. Herbertson. The O.xford Geographies. 



Pp. 120. (O.xford : The Clarendon Press, igio.) 



Price IS. 6d. 



(4) Geology. By Prof. J. W. Gregory. Dent's Scien- 

 tific Primers. Pp. 140. (London : J. iM. Dent and 

 Sons, Ltd., n.d.) Price is. net. 



(5) .An Economic Atlas. By J. G. Bartholomew, with 

 an introduction by Prof. L. W. Lyde. Pp. xii4-64. 

 (O.xford : The Clarendon Press, 1910.) Price 3.?. 6d. 

 net. 



(6) Devonshire. By F. .\. Knight and Louie M. 

 (Knight) Dutton. Cambridge County Geographies. 

 Pp. xii + 245. (Cambridge: University Press, 1910.) 

 Price IS. 6d. 



(7) Dorset. By A. L. Salmon. Cambridge Cminly 

 Geographies. Pp. 1x4-154. (Cambridge: Lniver- 

 sity Press, 1910.) Price is. bd. 



(8) Derbyshire. By H. H. .\rnold-Bemrose. Cam- 

 bridge County Geographies. Pp. .x4- 174. (Cam- 

 bridge : L'niversity Press, 1910.) Price is. 6d. 



(9) A Systematic Geography of Asia. By G. W. 

 Webb. Pp. vi4-ioo. (London: Methucn and Co., 

 Ltd., 19 10.) Price is. 



\/f R. MACKINDER has now brought his studies 

 ■l-' 1 in the teaching of geography by means of its 

 correlation with history to a penultimate stage. Ap- 

 proximately half this book (i) deals with history in 

 some form, either with the world-movements of 

 peoples, such as the Magyars or Turks, or with the 

 history of discovery connected with the names of 

 Marco Polo or Cook. There is, as yet, little poli- 

 tical geography, all of which is promised in the final 

 volume of the series, and the treatment tends to 

 ignore the possibilities of correlation with other sub- 

 jects in the school curriculum. Most pupils learn 

 something of the value of coordinates in relation to 

 the fixing of the position of points in space, and pro- 

 vided the problems of latitude and longitude be post- 

 poned, their adequate treatment follows as a special 

 case of this method of recording the positions of 

 points; .Mr. .Mackinder approaches these problems bv 

 NO. 2136, VOL. 84] 



way of an account of the work of Eratosthenes and 

 of the eclipse of the suji at the battle of Arbela. The 

 book makes an interesting reader, and is profusely 

 illustrated with maps and diagrams, some of which 

 imply a geographical knowledge which the text does 

 not call upon the pupils to utilise. 



The beginner in any study should know the tech- 

 nical language in which the phenomena of that sub- 

 ject are described : hence the utility of the three books 

 which represent the physiographic aspect of 

 geography. Mr. Carey (2) brings to his explanation 

 of the terms of physical geography, and of the " prin- 

 ciples which underlie and control the development of 

 the physical conditions " of any region, the methods 

 of the successful teacher. He gives a series of prac- 

 tical exercises which familiarise the pupil vt'ith the 

 matter to be considered ; he then presents the facts 

 in their usual setting, and elucidates the technical 

 terms and the principles, and, finally, asks questions 

 which force the pupil to realise the meaning of the 

 matter studied. The references are usually to parts 

 of the British Isles. 



Prof. Herbertson (3) attempts a succinct summary 

 of world geography. The text and the illustrations 

 require the active cooperation of the teacher with the 

 pupil at every step, and thus the work is much more 

 difficult for the pupil than either of the two pre- 

 viously mentioned. For example, Mr. Carey makes the 

 pupil draw an isotherm, and then discusses the inter- 

 pretation of typical isotherms for the British Isles ; 

 Prof. Herbertson deals with world isotherms at once, 

 assuming that the pupil knows how they are made 

 and what they mean. Prof. Herbertson gives a useful 

 concluding chapter on map nets, while there is an 

 appendix containing many revision questions contri- 

 buted by Miss Kirk. 



Prof. Gregory (4) contributes an explanation of the 

 teclinical terms employed in geology, which should 

 serve as an excellent introductory primer, but there 

 is lacking the apparatus of exercise and question for 

 school use. Probably, of all subjects, geology requires 

 the assistance of an expert who can suggest and 

 advise as to the particular ways in which practical 

 work in the field should be performed, and the be- 

 ginner, whether school pupil or private student, would 

 be greatly helped were this primer provided with 

 guidance in this direction. 



The ■' Economic .Mlas " (5) is a re-issue of the 

 " School Economic Atlas," with slight modifications. 

 Prof. Lyde, in an introduction, limits economic 

 geography to a study of the earth in relation to man, 

 and provides a series of valuable hints as to the study 

 of the maps which follow. In this introduction Prof. 

 Lyde claims that the water-parting between the Atlan- 

 tic and the Indo-Pacific Oceans divides the world into 

 two fairly equal parts, and in an inset map the water- 

 parting is shown bv a black line on a map of the 

 world, having the Pacifjc Ocean in the middle. There 

 is no suggestion of the internal drainage s\"Stems of 

 the continents, nor of the drainage into the Arctic 

 Ocean. A consideration of the map and text, apart 

 from a consideration of these other facts, would prob- 

 ably lead to erroneous conclusions. The introduction 



