Geographical Maps and Sailing Charts. 371 



dashed line, which follows close to Japan and near the Aleu- 

 tian Islands, seems wholly unnatural, yet transpose these same 

 tracks to a sphere, and the great circle appears the only natural 

 one, the rhumb course wholly unnatural. The great circle 

 course, which may easily be followed and measured on a stereo- 

 graphic map, figure 14, page 265, is 5,865 miles long, about 330 

 miles shorter than the rhumb course. If a stop is made at 

 Honolulu the discrepancies between the rhumb and great 

 circle courses, as indicated in figure 37, are not very great. It 

 is in the higher latitudes that the Mercator map is especially 

 defective and misleading. 



It is frequently claimed that for physical maps Mercator's 

 projection is the best, because directions are preserved and all 

 the world, excepting the polar regions, is represented on the map. 

 In physical geography, however, rhumb courses never come 

 into consideration, while to trace the courses of great circles 

 and to measure distances, neither of which may be done with 

 ease on a map in Mercator's projection, are both matters of 

 great importance; hence, having shown how easily all kinds 

 of measurements may be made by the use of stereographic 

 maps and a protractor, it is believed that Mecator's projection 

 is not as serviceable for physical maps as the stereographic 

 projection would be. 



Finally, this general discussion of maps may be brought to 

 a close by a brief criticism of the maps of an " Elementary 

 Geography" of the twentieth century which accidentally came 

 to the attention of the present writer. In a chapter headed 

 "Maps and Map Heading" " the measuring and drawing" 

 of the school desks and school room is recommended to pupils 

 as an exercise, it being stated that " its application to the reading 

 of maps should be in connection with Geography." There 

 then follows a fair sized map, designated "Commercial Map 

 of the World, showing Routes of Travel." It is evidently a 

 Mercator's projection, and, what is essentially wrong, a scale 

 of miles is printed on the map, and no adequate description is 

 given, although it is stated, where it is believed that scholars 

 would not be very apt to see it, "that the northern and 

 southern parts are drawn too wide because the curve of the 

 sphere is not taken into account." Tracings of South America, 

 Greenland and the scale of miles of the map referred to, are 

 given in figure 38. A few pages beyond, maps of the 

 Western and Eastern Hemispheres are given in stereographic 

 projection, this being the only modern geography which the 

 writer has seen where this projection is used. Figure 39 is a 

 copy of Greenland as it appears on the map of the Western 

 Hemisphere, and, considering its size, it gives a good impres- 

 sion of the shape of the island. Again, a few pages beyond, a 



