NOVEMBEB 25, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



749 



know what water is already assigned to the 

 uses of persons and corporations, and what 

 water is still available. We shall have to 

 differentiate between water for the per- 

 sonal use of man and animals, and water 

 for industrial purposes. The actualities 

 and the potentialities can be ascertained 

 and should be recorded and mapped. 



In the second direction of research — that 

 of treating from the geographical stand- 

 point the data acciunulated, whether by 

 government departments or by private 

 initiative — work has as yet hardly been be- 

 gun. 



The topographical work of the ordnance 

 survey is the basis of all geographical 

 work in our country. The survey has is- 

 sued many excellent maps, none more so 

 than the recently published half-inch eon- 

 toured and hill-shaded maps with colors 

 "in layers." Its maps are not all above 

 criticism; for instance, few can be ob- 

 tained for the whole kingdom having pre- 

 cisely the same symbols. It has not under- 

 taken some of the work that should have 

 been done by a national cartographic serv- 

 ice — for instance, the lake survey. Nor 

 has it yet done what the geological survey 

 has done — published descriptive accounts 

 of the facts represented on each sheet of 

 the map. Prom every point of view this is 

 a great defect; but in making these criti- 

 cisms we must not forget (a) that the 

 treasury is not always willing to find 

 the necessary money, and (6) that the 

 ordnance survey was primarily made for 

 military purposes, and that the latest map- 

 it has issued has been prepared for mili- 

 tary reasons. It has been carried out by 

 men who were soldiers first and topograph- 

 ers after, and did not necessarily possess 

 geographical interests. The ideal geo- 

 graphical map, with its accompanying 

 geographical memoir, can be produced 

 only by those who have had a geographical 



training. Dr. Mill, in the monograph 

 already referred to, has shown us how to 

 prepare systematized descriptions of the 

 one-inch map sheets issued by the ordnance 

 survey. 



At Oxford we are continuing Dr. Mill's 

 work. We require our diploma students 

 to select some district shown on a sheet of 

 this map for detailed study by means of 

 map measurements, an examination of sta- 

 tistics and literature which throw light on 

 the geographical conditions, and, above all, 

 by field work in the selected district. 

 Every year we are accumulating more of 

 these district monographs, which ought, in 

 their turn, to be used for compiling re- 

 gional monographs dealing with the larger 

 natural areas. In recent years excellent 

 examples of such regional monographs 

 have come from France and from Ger- 

 many. 



The preparation of such monographs 

 would seem to fall within the province of 

 the ordnance survey. If this is impossible, 

 the American plan might be adopted. 

 There the geological survey, which is also 

 a topographical one, is glad to obtain the 

 services of professors and lecturers who are 

 willing to undertake work in the field dur- 

 ing vacations. It should not be difficult 

 to arrange similar cooperation between the 

 universities and the ordnance survey in 

 this country. At present the schools of 

 geography at Oxford and at the London 

 School of Economics are the only univer- 

 sity departments which have paid atten- 

 tion to the preparation of such mono- 

 graphs, but other universities will probably 

 fall into line. Both the universities and 

 the ordnance survey would gain by such 

 cooperation. The chief obstacle is the ex- 

 pense of publication. This might reason- 

 ably be made a charge on the ordnance 

 survey, on condition that each monograph 

 published were approved by a small com- 



