592 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLII. No. 1087 



have already achieved results of great in- 

 terest and value, but I think that they will 

 be ready to admit that there is here a wide 

 and profitable field, of activity for many 

 more workers who will study closely these 

 early maps and, not being contented with 

 verbal descriptions, will use quantitative 

 methods wherever these are possible. 



In the study of map projections some 

 activity has been visible in recent years, 

 and we may hope that those who have 

 worked in this branch of the subject will 

 see that British geography is provided with 

 a comprehensive manual of this subject 

 which will be worthy of the vast importance 

 of cartography to the Empire. The selec- 

 tion of suitable projections is receiving 

 much more attention than was formerly 

 accorded to it, but the number of commu- 

 nications on this subject which reach geo- 

 graphical journals are few and far be- 

 tween. The subject is not one which can 

 appeal strongly to the amateur geographer, 

 but its importance renders it imperative 

 that the scientific geographer who realizes 

 its intimate bearing upon all his work 

 should so arrange that the matter does not 

 fall into the background on this account. 



A closer relation and a more active co- 

 operation between those who are prepared 

 to work seriously at cartography and its 

 various problems may reasonably be ex- 

 pected to raise the standard of that class 

 of map which is used to illustrate books of 

 travel, or works descriptive of a region. At 

 the present time the inadequate character 

 of many of the maps and plans which are 

 reproduced in such publications shows 

 clearly that the public demand for maps 

 which have been compiled with a view to 

 illustrating the volume in question is still 

 very ineffective. 



The whole subject of cartography, with 

 its component parts of map projection, com- 

 pilation, reproduction, cartometry and the 



history of its development, is so important, 

 not only to the individual geographer but 

 also to the advancement of scientific geog- 

 raphy, that we should aim at fostering it 

 and encouraging the study of it in every 

 way, and it wiU be the zeal of individuals 

 rather than the benevolent aid of institu- 

 tions which will achieve this. 



But it may be suggested that the lack of 

 activity in mathematical geography is due 

 to the somewhat specialized nature of the 

 subject, and to the fact that the number of 

 those who have received an adequate mathe- 

 matical training and are prepared to devote 

 themselves to geography is few. "When we 

 turn to physical geography in its treatment 

 of the land we do find a field which has been 

 more actively worked, for this is just the 

 one to which the traveller's and explorer's 

 observations should contribute most largely, 

 and where therefore their material should 

 be utilized with the best results. Even here 

 there is room for much more work of the 

 detailed and critical type, which is not 

 merely general and descriptive, but starts 

 from the careful collection of data, pro- 

 ceeds to the critical discussion of them, and 

 continues by a comparison of the results 

 with those obtained in similar observations 

 in other regions. 



To take a single branch of physical geog- 

 raphy, the study of rivers, the amount of 

 accurate material which has been ade- 

 quately discussed is small. In our own 

 country the rainfall of various river basins 

 is well known through the efforts of a 

 meteorological association, but the propor- 

 tion of it which is removed by evapora- 

 tion, and of that which passes into the 

 soil, has only been very partially studied. 

 Passing to the run-off, which is more easy 

 to determine satisfactorily, the carefully 

 measured discharges of streams and rivers 

 are not nearly so numerous as they should 

 be if the hydrography of the rivers is to 



