178 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 109. 



currents, waves and tides. The book may 

 be strongly recommended for a professor's 

 library. 



THE GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION. 



A NUMBER of English schoolmasters have 

 formed a Geographical Association, ' to im- 

 prove the teaching of Geography in second- 

 ary schools by adopting any methods that 

 tend to the comprehension of geographical 

 principles rather than the accumulation of 

 isolated facts.' The prevalent backward 

 condition of the study in England can be 

 inferred from the publication of an essay on 

 ' Geography as a school subject,' by the 

 Hon. Secretary, B. B. Dickinson (Lawrence, 

 Eugby, 1896), 'an attempt to show that 

 geography can be taught as a training of 

 the mind. ' It is curious to note that the 

 element of training, as far as it is illustrated 

 in this essay, is almost entirely derived 

 from a consideration of climate, and that no 

 disciplinary value is assigned to the study 

 of land forms themselves. The treatment 

 of the winds, under climate, is unsatisfac- 

 tory ; for example : " It can be explained in 

 simple language that one effect of [the 

 earth's] rotation will cause the atmosphere 

 to be heaped up relatively high over the 

 equatorial regions and low over the poles, 

 and that this would lead to a gradual in- 

 crease in the atmospheric pressure on the 

 surface of the earth as we proceed from the 

 poles to the equator." Again : " The pupils 

 should carefully note how gradual is the 

 falling-ofif of the heat received in the first 

 45° [from the equator] , and how rapid it be- 

 comes with greater obliquities." Both 

 quotations contain errors of statement that 

 are inconsistent with good training. On the 

 other hand, the attempt to connect human 

 conditions with physical conditions is 

 admirable; so admirable, indeed, that it 

 should be uniformly extended all through 

 the study of geography with as much care 

 as is here given to the chapter on climate. 



NOTES. 



' The Missouri river and its utmost 

 source 'is the title of a book by J. V. 

 Brower (St. Paul, 1896), already known 

 by his studies of the source of the Missis- 

 sippi. This newer volume contains a little 

 in the way of observation on the ground, 

 but it is confused with a quantity of irrele- 

 vant matter, both in text and illustration. 

 The text has less of physiographic matter 

 than might be inferred from the title. 



Professor A. A. Weight, of Oberlin, has 

 recently addressed the Ohio Academy of 

 Science on the importance of establishing a 

 topographic survey of that State. The edu- 

 cational, as well as the technical, value of 

 the survey is emphasized, and a joint un- 

 dertaking with the U. S. Geological Survey 

 is recommended. The Academy approved 

 the plan and appointed a committee of 

 three to secure favorable action by the 

 next Legislature. 



W. M. Davis. 



Harvard Univeesity. 



CDBBENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 THE GAME OF MANCALA. 



The value of games, both as marking 

 distribution within certain areas and as 

 illustrating analogous lines of independent 

 development, has been a fruitful study in 

 the hands of Mr. Stewart Culin, of the 

 Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. 



His latest contribution is entitled ' Man- 

 cala, the national game of Africa,' and ap- 

 pears in the last Eeport of the United States 

 National Museum (pp. 10, with illustra- 

 tions) . He believes that " it marks the 

 limits of Arab culture," or, rather influence, 

 and was historically disseminated by the 

 extension of this Semitic people. He de- 

 scribes the modes of playing it and com- 

 ments on its historical spread. It seems to 

 have been known for some years in the 

 United States under the name ' chuba.' 



