172 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 57. 



whicli the several continents are successively 

 described in their various aspects, the United 

 States naturally receiving the chief attention, 

 and the physical features of each region being 

 considered in close connection with its political 

 and industrial features. But in the new book 

 the most striking feature is the division of the 

 entire subject into two well-marked fields : the 

 first, which occupies some two-thirds of the 

 book, being devoted to the physical features of 

 the earth, and the rest dealing with political 

 geography. 



This plan will commend itself to many. The 

 physical features of the earth are the founda- 

 tion upon which the history of the nations has 

 been wrought out to its consummation in the 

 political geography of our own day; are, in fact, 

 the mould which has determined the present 

 aspect of political geography. It seems appro- 

 priate, therefore, that these relatively perma- 

 nent physical features should receive primary, 

 and the relatively transient political facts sec- 

 ondary attention, and that a full and clear un- 

 derstanding of these fundamental elements of 

 the earth's surface should give the pupil a sound 

 and thorough basis for all future knowledge 

 which he may acquire, either during or after 

 his school days, about the earth and all that 

 happens thereon. 



In accordance with sound pedagogical prin- 

 ciples, the broader physical facts are first 

 treated, so that an outline of the subject is 

 built up in the pupil's mind, to be filled in later 

 by more specific details when each region is 

 taken up in its turn. Here it is gratifying to 

 see that the author has kept closely in touch 

 with the most recent scientific studies upon the 

 form and development of the land surface. It 

 is exceptional to find a geography that recog- 

 nizes so ftilly the changes in the land surface 

 by wear (Lesson 11), or the rise of the sea floor 

 to become new land (Lesson 18), or the growth 

 and relative age of mountain ranges (Lessons 

 19, 77, 89), or the work of the North Ameri- 

 can ice sheet during the glacial epoch (Lesson 

 45). The appearance also of such current 

 scientific phrases as ' drowned valley, ' ' distrib- 

 utary,' 'drumlin,' 'fiord,' 'alluvial fan,' etc., 

 is another mark of the recognition of the labors 

 of modern scientific geogi-aphers. 



The illustrations and maps, which in any geo- 

 graphy are qviite as important an educational 

 element as the text itself, are numerous, closely 

 connected with the text, and for the most part 

 carefully executed and well arranged. Most of 

 the pictures are engraved directly from photo- 

 graphs, a sure means of securing truthfulness. 

 The numerous little globe maps will commend 

 themselves for the views that they give of the 

 relations of the continents and oceans. The 

 usefulness of such a map as that on page 102, 

 however, where the earth's crust is as it were 

 peeled oflF from the hidden side, and bent 

 around so as to bring all the lands into view at 

 once, may be questioned. The curved distortion 

 necessarily resulting is such as to make the earth 

 here appear neither flat nor round. Such features 

 as this map illustrates, are better shown upon 

 Mercator maps, which, of course, are distorted, 

 but in a manner simple and easily understood. 

 The clearuess and simplicity of the study maps 

 throughout the book is worthy of mention, as 

 is also the presence of an entirely separate, 

 large collection of reference maps, abounding 

 in detail, at the end of the book. 



The book, of course, is not without its defects. 

 The useful system of cross-references contains 

 some misprints, which escaped notice in the 

 final re\asion; and in the reference-maps we 

 observe the omission of so noted a volcano as 

 Krakatoa, the insertion of the long-since ruined 

 and abandoned Chenango canal (N. Y.), and 

 the failure to distinguish the political boundaries 

 of Russia from the conventional limits of 

 Europe, where the two happen not to coin- 

 cide. A good index would be a valuable addi- 

 tion. 



The meagre and almost purely categorical 

 treatment of many countries in the latter part 

 of the book is also disappointing. Their physi- 

 cal features are well set forth in the first part, 

 and many facts of interest are mentioned in 

 connection therewith; but in the second part, 

 which deals expressly ■ndth political and indus- 

 trial geography, we regret to see Italy dismissed 

 with but ninety-two words, Greece with but 

 nineteen, and the governments, cities, people, 

 customs and industries of many other foreign 

 countries treated with similar inadequacy. But 

 the book already exceeds the size of the average 



