A GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE BRITISH 
ISLANDS 
The April number of the London Geographical Journal con- 
tains an important account by Dr H. R. Mill of his plan for a 
comprehensive Geographical Description of the British Islands. 
He proposes that a memoir shall be prepared for each sheet of 
the Ordnance one-inch maps, giving an index of places; the mean 
elevation of the sheet and of the areas included between suc- 
cessive contour lines ; a hypsographical description ; a physio- 
graphical explanation ; the areas of woodlands, moorlands, and 
cultivated lands ; a description of local iJolitical boundaries and 
of historical events ; and, finally and chiefly, a geographical 
chapter, “showing the relation of the human inhabitants to all 
the foregoing conditions, especially with regard to the sites of 
towns and villages, the distribution of population, the utiliza- 
tion of natural resources, and historical development of indus- 
tries.” A few carefully selected photographs of typical scenery 
should accompany each memoir. Some sketch maps and dia- 
grams may also be included. A bibliography would give the 
titles of all pertinent publications. 
This plan was favorably received at a meeting devoted to its 
]>resentation, and it is to be hoped that the Royal Geographical 
Society will vigorously promote so admirable an undertaking. 
Hitherto concerned chiefly with the exploration of foreign lands, 
a share of its attention 7nay well be turned towards its home 
islands ; for, as was truly remarked at the opening of a recent 
Italian Geographical Congress, however great the glory of dis- 
tant exploration may be, the study of the home country is a 
geographical duty. 
It may, however, be questioned whether the method of issuing 
a memoir for each survey sheet is on the whole advisable for a 
work in which the physiographical and geographical chapters, 
the most important parts of all, ought to be limited by natural 
and not by arbitrary geometrical boundaries. Unity of treat- 
ment would be gained and much repetition would be avoided by 
considering each physiographical area as a whole and not in acci- 
dental fragments as it happens to be divided by the edges of the 
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