July 4. 1907J 



NA TURE 



219 



the absence of all reference to the relations between 

 Stokes and Lord Kelvin. We are told that this long 

 scientific friendship is to be commemorated by a special 

 volume of correspondence. There can be no question 

 as to the propriety of this arrangement, and the volume 

 will be looked for with the liveliest interest. 



Horace Lamb. 



FIVE SMALL GEOGRAPHIES. 



Our Own Islands. By H. J. Mackinder. Pp. xv + 

 2g8. (London : George Philip and Son, Ltd., n.d.) 

 Price 2s. 6d. 



The O.xford Geographies. ]'ol. L TIic PrcU)iiiniiry 

 Gcograpliy. By A. J. Herbertson. Pp. viii+i4q. 

 (Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1906.) Price i.s. 6rf. 



TJic O.xford Geographies. Vol. lU. The Senior Geo- 

 graphy. By A. J. Herbertson and F. D. Herbert- 

 son. Pp. viii + 363. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 

 1907.) Price 25. 6d. 



The Dominion of Man. By Ernest Protheroe. Pp. 

 xii + 215. (London: Methuen and Co., n.d.) Price 



2S. 



Notes upon the Island of Dominica {British West 

 Indies). By Symington Grieve. Pp. 126. 

 (London : .'\. and C. Black, 1906.) Price 2S. 6d. 

 net. 



ALTHOLTGH no close comparison can be made 

 between the two elementary reading-books in 

 geographv which Mr. Mackinder and Dr. Herbertson 

 have given us, since the former deals with the British 

 Isles and the latter with the whole world, yet we may 

 note certain similarities of method. Both build up 

 their descriptions about an imaginary journey from 

 place to place ; both endeavour to present physical and 

 industrial geography as cause and efifect ; both largely 

 use diagram-maps, partly to supplement the atlas, 

 partly to stimulate the use of it ; and both adopt, to 

 some extent, the method of "teaching by question." 

 While this last innovation is a step in the right direc- 

 tion, it is but a hesitating step. The full advantage 

 of this method cannot be obtained by occasional inter- 

 polations of questions or suggestions for map-study 

 amid the descriptive matter. Such interruptions are 

 apt to be shelved until a more convenient season that 

 may never come. 



Mr. Mackinder's book is arranged on a progressive 

 plan. While map scales and directions are taken at 

 the outset, contour-lines are not explained until half- 

 wav through the book. Description starts with the 

 north of England, the uplands and lowlands of which 

 present an easy contra>t. .Scotland follows, then Ire- 

 land, Wales, and finally the Midlands and south and 

 east of England. Simply and lucidly written, with 

 many -views and maps, it is a most readable book. 

 We must, however, object to county-towns being 

 called " capitals " (p. 143), to the coupling of Shrop- 

 shire (strictly Shrewsburyshire) with Berkshire as a 

 county name not derived from a town (p. 263), and to 

 the printing of Macaulay's magnificent Armada lines 

 cut in halves (p. 275). 



Dr. Herbertson is unconventional in the order 



in which he takes" the continents, starting with 



the Americas, because their physical and climatic 



conditions lend themselves best to simple generalis- 



NO. 1966, VOL. 76] 



ations, and they thus serve as a type with which Asia, 

 Australia, Africa, and Europe are in turn contrasted. 

 The immensity of the subject-matter renders occasional 

 " scrappiness " of treatment inevitable, though in 

 general this has been very successfully avoided, and 

 attention concentrated on broad general features and 

 contrasts. Altogether, it is a refreshing change from 

 the old-fashioned dry text-books, but it needs supple- 

 menting with views to enable the child to realise the 

 scenes described. 



Both books have sulYered a little from the troubles 

 incidental to process-illustrations. The hemispheres 

 on p. 3 of the " Preliminary Geography " are not all 

 printed the right way up (this should have been 

 avoided by processing them in pairs, instead of singly) ; 

 and a phantom coalfield appears in Cheshire in Fig. 

 37 of " Our Own Islands." 



By dividing the world into natural regions and show- 

 ing how political divisions are related to these. Dr. 

 and Mrs. Herbertson have produced an altogether ad- 

 mirable book. Particularly to be noticed is the treat- 

 ment of the Alps as a whole, and the historical de- 

 velopment of the Central European States in relation 

 to them. There are only two small matters on which 

 it occurs to us that the student needs further enlighten- 

 ment—viz., the use of Mont for the names of passes 

 as well as of peaks in the Western Alps (it is a common 

 mistake to cite Mt. Cenis as a peak), and the mis- 

 leading name of the first Alpine railway tunnel, taken 

 from the Mt. Cenis carriage-route which it super- 

 seded. The historical summaries given for each 

 country are very well done. We have noticed very few 

 mistakes. West Indies, on p. 105, should surely be 

 East ; William the Conqueror did not march down 

 stream from Wallingford (p. 142) ; and the statement 

 on p. 68 as to the origin of Boulder-clay is rather 

 dogmatic for so disputed a subject. It is difficult to be 

 consistent in the spelling of European place-names, 

 but to us at least Luzern looks as out-of-place in an 

 English sentence as would Torino or Firenze. These 

 are trivial criticisms on a book the reading of which 

 has given us a great amount of pleasure, and which 

 should become the standard geography for schools. 



Mr. Protheroe has produced a well-arranged trea- 

 tise on the commercial products of all parts of the 

 world, on communications, towns and markets. His 

 enthusiasm for civilisation and progress gives his 

 style a floweriness which is occasionally overdone, 

 but his book is very readable. It is illustrated 

 by a well-chosen series of photographs, and while not 

 exactly a school-book, should be very useful to teachers 

 of geography and to those numerous persons who 

 wish to make good the deficiencies in their knowledge 

 of commercial geography. We have noticed a few 

 errors, the worst being the derivation of Portland 

 cement from Portland stone (p. 94). 



Mr. Symington Grieve recently paid a visit of 

 investigation to Dominica, in the Lesser Antilles, and 

 now gives an interesting account of the island, its 

 natural productions and people, illustrated by photo- 

 graphs taken on his expedition. To anyone intending 

 to visit the island, whether as tourist, naturalist, or 

 trader, the book may be recommended as an excel- 

 lent guide. A. M. D. 



