OCTOBEB 29, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



611 



nation can be recommended for any particular 

 variety. 



While it is generally possible to secure a 

 higher percentage germination in the gelatin- 

 sugar solutions than in the simple sugar so- 

 lution, growth of the pollen tube is often less 

 rapid, especially when the larger amounts of 

 gelatin are used. This is frequently an ad- 

 Tantage if large numbers of samples are being 

 tested, since long, interlacing tubes make 

 dounting difficult. E. J. Kraus 



■Oeegon Ageicultubal Bxpeeiment Station 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 Meonomic Geography. By John McFaelane, 



lecturer in geography in the University of 



Manchester. The MacmiUan Company. 



8vo. Pp. 560. $2.25. 



The work is based on the principle of nat- 

 ural regions. It is recognized, however, that 

 political conditions control economic develop- 

 ment so largely that the boundaries of coun- 

 tries, whether natural or arbitrary, must fig- 

 ure in the reckoning. Also true geographic 

 units may be closely linked into a group 

 dominated by one or more geographic factors. 



Preceding the geography of continents and 

 countries are three chapters on physical condi- 

 tions of economic activity, climate and vege- 

 tation. These chapters occupy but 26 pages 

 and it may be questioned whether so brief and 

 general a statement is useful as an introduc- 

 tion to the main treatment. The author recog- 

 nizes that the economic geographer relies on 

 the geologist, meteorologist, botanist, etc., for 

 the data which he correlates, and it would, in 

 the reviewer's judgment, be as well to leave the 

 ease thus; for, to take an example, a non- 

 geologist could not derive much help from the 

 author's two-page account of rocks and geo- 

 logical periods, or from one page on the prin- 

 eiples of geomorphology, or the like brief 

 discussions of winds, ocean currents and the 

 distribution of plants. Should we not frankly 

 eoncede that this branch of geography is an 

 advanced phase to be based on previous train- 

 ing in physical and biological geography? 



The proportioning of space in the regional 

 treatment is fairly balanced considering that 



the text is no doubt expected to be used mainly 

 by British students. This fact would justify 

 38 pages for the United Kingdom and 34 for 

 the United States. Indeed most American 

 texts are more one-sided than this. On the 

 same basis we can not criticize the assignment 

 of more space to India and Ceylon than to 

 Germany, or giving two thirds as much space 

 to Canada as to the United States. Our author 

 used the term economic as designating the 

 phase of anthropogeography here treated. It is 

 not easy to see that the subject-matter differs 

 in general scope from the volume by Mr. 

 Chisholm, who although deeply versed in eco- 

 nomic conditions, calls his handbook com- 

 mercial geography. So, it would seem, we are 

 still using these terms intercbangeably. It is 

 to be hoped that we may be able in time to 

 arrive at more specific terminology. 



As for the body of the work, we find sound, 

 clearly expressed and informing accounts of 

 the physical conditions, products and trade of 

 the various countries, the work of a thorough 

 and conscientious geographer. The illustra- 

 tions are confined to maps, eighteen in number, 

 mainly devoted to rainfall and the delineation 

 of natural regions. Possibly the author's plan 

 was deliberate, not to emphasize transporta- 

 tion either by map or text, and thus to justify 

 somewhat the term economic. The chapter on 

 the United States has been prepared with evi- 

 dent care. The map of natural regions conveys 

 some misapprehensions wliich indeed a gen- 

 eralized map could not avoid. Some mislead- 

 ing boundaries, however, are qualified by state- 

 ments in the text. Still it is not quite appro- 

 priate, as seen by an American geographer, to 

 include the lake plains of New York and the 

 coastal plain of New Jersey in a " Middle 

 Appalachian Eegion." 



The volume takes a good place among the 

 few comprehensive manuals in English deal- 

 ing with this aspect of geography. 



A. P. Beigham 



10 AND ITS ENVIRONMENT 



The manuscript of Dr. Chas. C. Adams's 

 paper on " The Variations and Ecological Dis- 

 tribution of the Snails of the Genus lo " was 



