October 23, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



609 



ditions of physical, economic or political 

 environment which contribute to the pros- 

 perity of a place are not necessarily the 

 same. This thesis he supported by a num- 

 ber of striking examples. Mr. Ralph 

 Eichardson made some remarks on the 

 various so-called '■ Schomburgk lines ' which 

 appear on the maps of British Guiana. In 

 the afternoon Sir Martin Conway, who had 

 returned from an expedition to Spitzbergen 

 a few days previously, gave a preliminary 

 account of the first crossing of the south- 

 western island, and drew a graphic picture 

 of the extraordinary difficulties he had to 

 overcome on account, of the slushy nature 

 of the snow and the marshes which covered 

 the valley floors. His companions Dr. J. 

 W. Gregory and Messrs. Garwood and 

 Trevor-Battye had made most important 

 geological, zoological and botanical obser- 

 vations and collections. Mr. H. W. Cave 

 described, with numerous fine photographs, 

 the ruined cities of Ceylon, and Prof. J. 

 Milne gave a paper on earthquakes and sea 

 waves with special reference to recent oc- 

 currences in Japan. 



The Section met for the last time on 

 Tuesday, September 22d, when, after a paper 

 by Mr. A. E. Fitzgerald (who is about to 

 attempt the ascent of Aconcagua) , on his 

 passage of the Southern Alps of New Zea- 

 land, General Sir Charles Wilson gave a 

 masterly address on the Egyptian Sudan. He 

 confined himself, of course, to the non-poli- 

 tical conditions of the country, and laid 

 stress on the importance of a railway being 

 constructed between the Eed Sea and the 

 Nile above the cataracts. The country he 

 looked upon as one with a great future for 

 trade when once a way to the coast has 

 been provided. Mr. A. W. Andrews read 

 a paper on the teaching of geography as the 

 basis of history in schools. From practical 

 experience he stated what could be done if 

 the teacher threw his heart into the work. 

 Mr. E. Odium, of Vancouver, gave a short 



description of the border-lands of British 

 Columbia and Alaska, which acquired a 

 special interest from the presence, on the 

 platform, of the first settler in British Col- 

 umbia, Mr. John Coles, and the surveyor of 

 the southern boundry line of the province. 

 Sir Charles Wilson. In the afternoon Mr. J. 

 Scott Keltic, who had just returned from 

 Christiania, described the triumphal recep- 

 tion of Dr. ISTansen and the crew of the 

 Fram in the Norwegian capital, and also 

 gave a brief outline of the course of the ex- 

 pedition, citing Prof. Mohn's high tribute 

 to the unique value of the observations 

 made in the course of it. He pointed out 

 that although Nansen had returned in the 

 Windivard he had anticipated no greater 

 difficulty in crossing to Spitzbergen than in 

 reaching Franz Josef Land itself. Mr. A. 

 J. Herbertson showed a simple piece of ap- 

 paratus for illustrating map-projections by 

 means of the shadow cast by a wire hemis- 

 phere. Mr. B. V. Darbishire showed a 

 new population- map of South Wales, on 

 which all inhabited houses as well as vil- 

 lages and towns were marked. The pro- 

 ceedings were brought to a close by the 

 reading of an interim report of the Com- 

 mittee on the Teaching of Geography in 

 Schools, and the Section was adjourned 

 until Thursday, 19th August, 1897, in To- 

 ronto. 



It may be mentioned here that it would 

 be a matter of importance if intimation of 

 any papers on geographical subjects to be 

 offered to the Section next year would be 

 made as early as possible to me at 1 Savile 

 Eow, London, W., so that as representative 

 a program as possible may be prepared 

 before the meeting. The meeting is looked 

 forward to as one at which it will be possi- 

 ble for Section E of the British Associa- 

 tion to learn much as to the recent ad- 

 vances in geography on the American con- 

 tinent. 



Hugh Egbert Mill. 



