GEOGRAPHIC LITERATURE 



Constantinople and its Problems. By 

 Henry Otis Dwight, EE. D., with 

 illustrations. New York : Fleming 

 H. Revell Company. 



Of the competency of Dr. Dwight to 

 write a book on this subject there can 

 be no question. Born in Constantinople, 

 he has there spent the larger part of an 

 active and useful life. He knows well 

 the various languages, beliefs, and cus- 

 toms of its inhabitants. Moreover, he 

 is a man of quick mind and genial tem- 

 perament, sure by contact with men of 

 all classes to pile up a store of rich ex- 

 perience. In his honesty as a narrator 

 one must have full confidence. One 

 may sometimes disagree with his opin- 

 ions, but when he tells us something 

 occurred we know he believes it occurred 

 just as he said it did. He is not a man 

 to pad or adjust even his anecdotes. 



With this equipment the reader ex- 

 pects from him a valuable treatise on so 

 important a subject as ' ' Constantinople 

 and its Problems." But the author is 

 handicapped by two disadvantages. The 

 first is that a man who lives and expects 

 to live in Constantinople cannot deal 

 with such a subject, his name being 

 known, with frankness and unreserve. 

 The political atmosphere of Constanti- 

 nople does not favor free expression or 

 the pushing of syllogisms to their con- 

 clusion. The second disadvantage is 

 that he writes from a purely missionary 

 point of view. This may be the highest 

 point of view, but it is by no means the 

 only one, nor is it the broadest. So the 

 first disadvantage robs the book of its 

 largest possible value, and the second 

 disadvantage narrows its breadth. 



The book is interesting from begin- 

 ning to end. It conveys much informa- 

 tion as to habits, customs, and ideas. 

 It is chatty, rather than profound, and 

 when dealing with problems or with 

 geographic or political conditions is by 



no means equal to what Dr Dwight is 

 capable of writing. 



Edwin A. Grosvenor. 



Constantinople — The Story of the Old 

 Capital of the Empire. By William 

 Holden Hutton, Fellow of St. John 

 Baptist College, Oxford. Illustrated 

 by Sydney Cooper. New York : The 

 Macmillan Co. 



This book contains nothing new, and 

 little which has not been printed many 

 times. The author has visited Con- 

 stantinople, but his work is none the less 

 of the sort which a compiler may easily 

 produce at home, a few authorities being 

 employed as sources of information. 

 Pages i to 230 sketch the story of Con- 

 stantinople ; pages 231 to 336 indicate 

 the more prominent objects of interest. 

 In the historical summary the treatment 

 is sympathetic, though unduly theolog- 

 ical, and but small appreciation is shown 

 of the city's commercial and political 

 importance and of its great part in the 

 Middle Ages. -Whatever excellence the 

 book possesses is constantly marred by 

 carelessness of style and statement. 

 There is apparently no rule for orthog- 

 raphy. Thus we have Stamboul and 

 Stambul, St. Sophia and S. Sophia, ka- 

 pousi and kapoussi, Pantocrator and Pan- 

 tokrator, Valideh, Valide, and Valide, 

 " os " and " us " used as termination of 

 the same Greek word, and so on ad in- 

 finitum. Some of the slips amuse as 

 well as surprise. Thus the bas-relief 

 of the Emperor Theodosius holding the 

 wreath to crown the victor in the chariot 

 race, opposite page 324, is gravely enti- 

 tled ' ' The imperial box during the per- 

 formance of a ballet ! ' ' On page 6 it 

 is stated, " The seven hills . . . stretch 

 . . . from east to west," regardless 

 of the fact that six of the seven run 

 north and south, and that the seventh 

 is a rough triangle. Execrable proof- 



