582 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VIII., No. 205 



GEOGRAPHICAL NEWS. 



M. DE Lesseps, on his arrival at Paris, reiterated 

 the assertion that the Panama canal will be opened 

 in 1889, "even if the most difficult part of the 

 cutting is not then complete." He added, that the 

 portion then navigable will demonstrate that the 

 original calculations were well founded. 



The latest rumors about the Kongo are, that the 

 station at Stanley Falls (the highest station estab- 

 lished by Stanley) has been abandoned, owing to 

 the continued hostility of the Arab slave-traders. 



English capitalists having definitely decided to 

 have nothing to do with the proposed Kongo 

 railway, it is stated that a committee has been 

 formed in Brussels to proceed to the Kongo and 

 decide upon the feasibility of the project on the 

 spot. 



There are so many travellers now exploring the 

 central portion of Asia, that it is extremely diffi- 

 cult to keep track of them. Dr. Radde arrived at 

 Sarakhs on the 22d of July, after a successful 

 journey through the now familiar regions of Merv. 

 Penjdeh, Meruchak, Zulfikar, Askabad. Thence 

 he repaired to Tiflis, where he arrived in the early 

 part of September. As might have been expected, 

 he suffered severely from the heat. 



Two Frenchmen, MM, Capus and Bonvalot, 

 traversed a portion of the same ground, spending 

 a whole month in Merv. They reported the mov- 

 ing sand-hills, or 'Barchaus,' to be great obstacles 

 to the construction of the Transcaspian railway. 

 Their intention, when last heard from, was to 

 search for a route to Balkh via the Amu-Daria. 

 Thence they would attempt to reach Kafiristan 

 over the Hindu Kush, hoping to find a pass free 

 from snow, notwithstanding the lateness of the 

 season. They have since been captured by the 

 Afghans, and are now in close confinement. 



There is a clear and valuable account of the 

 recent troubles in Afghanistan, from a Russian 

 point of view, in the London Twies for Nov. 1 and 

 12. This purports to be a translation of a synopsis 

 of a Russian ' blue-book.' It appeared originally 

 in the Journal de St. Petersbourg. 



The officers in charge of the Indian survey have 

 already surveyed Burma from Mandalay south- 

 ward along the Irawaddy as far as Pagan. It is 

 probable that a rough sketch-map of upper Burma 

 on a quarter-inch scale will be published before 

 long. 



Among recent school-maps we note ' The Brit- 

 ish empire on a uniform scale of 107 geographical 

 miles to an inch,' by William Shaw (London, 

 Philip & Son). Naturally the most extensive 

 limits have been assigned to the British posses- 

 sions ; and this in some cases, as in Africa, to the 

 great injury of other colonial powers. Alto- 



gether, the map, though useful, reflects scant 

 credit on its author. 



A good statement of the present condition of 

 the British colonies, from the side of the colonies 

 themselves, is ' Her majesty's colonies : a series of 

 original papers issued under the authority of the 

 royal commission.' The introduction is by Seeley, 

 whose ' Expansion of England ' has introduced 

 him to a host of readers. 



Determined to be up with the times, the geogra- 

 phers of Australasia have formed a geographical 

 society, which has flourished so luxuriantly that a 

 branch society, restricted to South Australia, ha& 

 already put forth its first volume of Proceedings. 



THE TRAINING OF THE MEMORY. 



Systems of mnemonics are exceedingly numer- 

 ous, and the number of persons who have dis- 

 covered "the quickest and best way to acquire a 

 perfect memory" is legion. Every once in a 

 while some new and absurd book on the training 

 of the memory is foisted upon the public, and 

 each has its dupes. The trouble with them all is 

 the same, — ignorance of the physiological con- 

 ditions of memory, and a very inaccurate ac- 

 quaintance with psychology. Therefore we must 

 plead guilty to the possession of a prejudice 

 against any book on the education of the memory. 

 It was with this prejudice that we took up Dr. 

 Holbrook's little book ; ' but the perusal of the 

 preface and the introductory sections alone proved 

 that for once at least a prejudice against books on 

 training the memory was unfounded. Dr. Hol- 

 brook writes with a physiological and psychologi- 

 cal knowledge of his subject, and he treats it in a 

 plain, straightforward, common-sense way. After 

 showing the physiological basis of memory, he 

 draws the i^ractical conclusion that robust health,^ 

 a well-nourished brain, and a healthy nervous 

 system are the normal physiological conditions of 

 a good memory. The psychological conditions 

 are strict attention to sensory impressions, repeti- 

 tions of them, and the formation of chains of 

 association for them. The value of association 

 may be tested by any one who is foolish enough 

 to doubt it, by making the test given by Dr. Hol- 

 brook on p. 113, quoted from Dr. Pick's work on 

 training the memory. We ourselves have tried it 

 ^vith several persons, and found it a most excellent 

 and piactical illustration. The practice of making 

 notes of important matters is adverted to and 

 commended, even if the notes are at once thrown 

 away, because the process of writing the fact, 

 name, or date down increases our attention to it» 



1 How to strengthen the memory. By M. L. Holbrook,, 

 M.D. New York, Holbrook, 1886. 12". 



