May 10, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



507 



plans for greater activity aud enlarged I'orni 

 of publication are in consideration. The 

 National Geographic Society of "Washington 

 is bnt a few years old. Its activity at pres- 

 ent is greatest in its home city in the matter 

 of geographical lectures, wliich are very suc- 

 cessful. A list of this winter's lectures was 

 given in Science Xo. 11. Its Magazine is 

 of irregular publication, presumably on ac- 

 count of lack of funds. While it contains 

 a larger proportion of physiogi'aphic matter 

 than auj' other publication in this country, 

 it gives practically nothing of general news 

 or literature. Ajipalachia, the organ of the 

 Appalachian Mountain Club of Boston, the 

 Bulletin of the Geographical Club of Phila- 

 delphia, the Bulletin of the Geogi'aphical 

 Society of the Pacific, and the papers of the 

 Sierra Club, both of San Francisco, com- 

 plete the list of geogi-aphical publications in 

 this country as far as known to the writer. 

 Geographical notes are given in the Amer- 

 ican Jfaturalist and in the Popular Science 

 Monthly. All these geograpliical journals 

 deserve warm support, especially in their 

 own communities, but none of them pre- 

 sents the subject of geography nearlj' as fully 

 as it is presented by several journals abroad. 



FOREIGN GEOCJE.iPHICAL JOUEXALS. 



The small amount of space that can be 

 allowed in Science to geogi-aphy makes it 

 impossible to report on the progress of ex- 

 ploration, save when results of especial im- 

 portance or of immediate physiogi'aphic 

 interest are announced. Exploration is, 

 however, fullj^ presented in various foreign 

 geogi'aphical journals ; and, in the hope of 

 extending their circulation in the libraries 

 of our countiy, occasional notes of their 

 character and contents will be here intro- 

 duced. Preeminent among all such publi- 

 cations stand the Geogi-aphical Journal of 

 the Royal Geogi-aphical Society of London, 

 and Petermann's Geogi-aphische Mittliei- 

 lungen, issued by the great geographical 



publishing house of Justus Perthes of Gotha 

 and now conducted by Professor Alex. 

 Supan. The Geographical Journal has for 

 the great body of our students of geography 

 the advantage of being in our own lan- 

 guage, and it will therefore long continue 

 to reach the larger circle of readers. Be- 

 sides general articles and current news, 

 ten or twelve pages are given in each num- 

 ber to notes on geograjjhical literature by 

 Dr. H. R. Mill, the entries being conven- 

 iently summarized bj- brief headings in 

 bold tj'pe, arranged under countries. Ex- 

 tended reviews are made of important 

 works. But those who can consult Ger- 

 man sources — and this abilitj' is now gen- 

 ei'ally demanded of students in higher col- 

 legiate and university work — will find in 

 Petermann's Mittheilungen an unrivaled 

 tiibliography of the whole range of geo- 

 graphical literature, from the geologj"^ of 

 the earth beneath to the meteorology of the 

 air above. Reviews of the more important 

 publications are given in so extended a 

 form that reference to original sources is 

 unnecessary, except for the specialist in 

 some particular division of the subject. 

 Anyone who follows these reviews and the 

 items of monthly news will acquaint him- 

 self very fully ^\^th the general progress of 

 current geographical work. Other foreign 

 journals will be referred to in subsequent 

 numbers of Science. 



wagner's geographisches jahrbtjch. 

 This indispensable annual, founded in 

 1866 by Behm and now in its seventeenth 

 volume, is a fitting supplement to the other 

 geographical publications of the house of 

 Perthes in Gotha. The most important re- 

 views and summaries in the Jahrbuch for 

 1 894 are : on terrestrial magnetism by 

 Schering, map projections by Hammer, eth- 

 nology by Gerland. geographical meteor- 

 ology by Briickner. and on the geographical 

 literature of the European countries by va- 



