276 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1051 



such effects. Here is the question of ac- 

 climatization and tropical disease, in short, 

 of the white man's burden. 



Here again Ward proceeds with instruc- 

 tive caution. It is a complex subject, he 

 says, conclusions are contradictory, curves 

 may be made to show anything. There are 

 many weather elements and there are many 

 other factors, such as sanitation, foods, 

 water, habits, altitude, soil, race, traffic and 

 other controls. Microorganisms intervene 

 to make climate largely an indirect influ- 

 ence.*^ 



Thus M^e have a group of problems for 

 the medical observer, but either in him or 

 with him must the geographer share the 

 task whose successful accomplishment af- 

 fects the destinies of every colonial empire 

 and the ultimate place of the white race. 

 Brinton speaks of the hopelessness of the 

 problem,** and Ripley recognizes the im- 

 portance of it by criticizing Ratzel for in- 

 adequate attention to it in the second vol- 

 ume of the "Anthropology."*^ "We have 

 an interesting discussion in Woodruff's 

 "Effects of Tropical Light on White Men." 

 It is for a more competent hand to estimate 

 its value. Some of its generalizations seem 

 too sweeping and too easy to be true. Al- 

 together in this whole field, a field of high 

 practical importance, there has been much 

 sincere effort, but no great harvest. 



We want narrower fields of investigation 

 and better proven results. Only thus will 

 be gathered the data for great generaliza- 

 tions. In this direction we may cite a 

 passage of Hahn on the physiological effects 

 of diminished pressure,^" and the studies of 

 E. G. Dexter and H. H. Clayton on the 

 sociological effects of climate. 



Let us look at the field of biogeography 



*7" Climate," 180 et seq. 



*8 D. G. Brinton, ' ' Eacea and Peoples, ' ' 278-83. 



49 W. G. Eipley, Pol. Sci. Quar., IX., 323. 



50 J. Hahn, "Handbook of Climatology," trans, 

 by Ward, 224 et seq. 



in relation to man. The distribution of 

 plants and animals as forming large ele- 

 ments in environment can not fail to in- 

 volve man and to uncover many interesting 

 relationships. This study is now in a 

 hopeful state of vitality and progress. Our 

 own association has a good number of 

 workers in this field. 



A wealth of pertinent facts awaits dis- 

 covery and coordination as regards the 

 coincident distribution of man with plants 

 and animals. Payne, in the history of early 

 America already cited, uses this as a basal 

 principle, showing the migration and pres- 

 ence of organic forms in causal relation to 

 man. Here again, Ripley finds occasion to 

 criticize Ratzel for insuificient attention 

 to the theme. A few siiggestive illustra- 

 tions may be given. Kirchoff in his "Man 

 and Earth '"^^ coordinates the Mediterra- 

 nean spread of the Phoenicians with the 

 occurrence of the dye-yielding mollusc. 

 Dr. C. Hart Merriam once surprised the 

 writer by saying that the beaver was the 

 most important fact in early American his- 

 tory. The more one considers this the less 

 one is disposed to consider it as an outburst 

 of a biologist's enthusiasm. 



In Hansa days tens of thousands of peo- 

 ple dwelt in the Peninsula of Schonen, in 

 the towns of Falsterbo and Skanor, at the 

 most southwestern tip of Sweden. To-day 

 an old church, a few cottages and a summer 

 hotel make up Falsterbo, while Skanor is a 

 sleepy village of a few hundred people. 

 Why should this throbbing Baltic market 

 of centuries ago have suddenly declined to 

 insignificant shore villages? Because the 

 herring migrated to other waters. A new 

 harbor has been built at Skanor and it will 

 be seen whether modern conditions can re- 

 store the prosperity which the runaway fish 

 destroyed. 



Dr. Scharfetter in a work on the dis- 



51 Trans, of "Menseh und Erde," 30-31. 



