NATIONAL SURVEYS AND MODERN ATLASES 169 



produced, but these two, despite later progress in the sciences, 

 are still valuable for reference. 



National Atlases 



A later development in atlases, arising from the general 

 advance of geography, has been the publication of National 

 Atlases, i.e. atlases dealing with the physical and human factors 

 of a particular country. It is probably not entirely without 

 significance that the earliest of these were produced by young 

 countries or those with a strong national sentiment. The 

 Royal Scottish Geographical Society's Atlas of Scotland, pub- 

 lished by J. G. Bartholomew in 1895, is an early example of 

 this type. Though the basis is a layer-coloured map on the 

 scale of two miles to one inch in forty-five sections, it includes 

 smaller-scale maps illustrating the physiography, geology, 

 climate and natural history, prepared by Sir Archibald Geikie 

 and Alexander Buchan. The Atlas of Finland (first edition, 

 1899; third edition, 1925), an extremely comprehensive and 

 well-produced work, proclaimed its object to be "to assist the 

 people of Finland to know themselves and their country". In 

 addition to physical geography and geology, the second edition 

 covers also hydrology, flora, archaeology, and demography 

 (with maps showing the distribution of population by red 

 dots for each ten inhabitants). 



Less extensive in scope, and understandably emphasizing 

 economic factors, is the Atlas of Canada (first ed., 1906; 

 second ed., 1915), a more elaborate successor to which is now 

 being prepared. Several European countries, including Czecho- 

 slovakia and Germany, followed suit. One of the most com- 

 prehensive was the 'Atlas de France' compiled by the French 

 National Committee for Geography, and printed by the 

 Service Geographique de I'Armee. The plates in colour, 

 including maps on scales as large as 1:1 M., analyse the 

 elements of the country and work of the French. Of much 

 wider interest than its title suggests is the 'Atlas of American 

 Agriculture', prepared by O. E. Baker, and published in 1936, 

 after twenty years' work. These clear maps, printed in colour, 

 deal with the elements of ''the physical basis including land 

 relief, climate, soils and natural vegetation". The 'Great Soviet 



M 



