464 General Notes. [July, 
raphy claims the position of a science distinct from the rest, and 
of singular practical importance.” 
he Council also mention that in France the State has endowed 
seven chairs of geography besides providing instruction of a high 
class in the Lycées. Seven of the German universities are also 
provided with professors of the science, and there are three chairs 
in Switzerland. “The literary results of German travel at the 
present day seem to show that the educational advantages which 
are attainable in Germany have borne fruit in developing and 
directing the powers of observation in German travelers.” 
“ A copious collection of maps, models, pictures and ethnologi- 
cal illustrations of the various lands which are the theatres of his- 
torical study, would gradually accumulate under the charge of a 
professor of geography, and would enable him to illustrate their 
configuration and scenery as well as the social character of their 
inhabitants with a fullness that no ordinary teacher could hope to 
rival. Such illustrations, it may be remarked, are consistent with 
the general tendency of modern instruction.” 
GEOGRAPHICAL News.—The Nature states that a large amount 
of material for arriving at some approximately correct notion of 
the mean depth of the sea having been accumulated in recent 
years, Dr. Kriimmel has lately attémpted this. Soundings were 
wanting for the Antarctic and a part of the North Polar sea, 2 @., 
about 475,000 square miles, or seven per cent. of the entire se@ 
surface, so that he gives his estimate only as a closer approxima- 
tion. He estimates then the mean depth of the sea as 1,877 
fathoms, or 3,432 metres, or 0.4624 geographical mile. It was 
natural to compare the mean height of dry land above the sea- 
level. umboldt’s estimate of 308 metres is regarded as quite 
out of date. Leipoldt has since estimated the mean height of 
Europe as 300 metres. Accepting this number for Europe, 500 © 
for Asia and Africa, 330 for America, and 250 for Australia, Dr. 
Kriimmel obtains the mean of 420 metres, or 0.0566 mile. he 
surface ratio of land to water being considered 1: 2.75, the vol- 
ume of all dry land above the sea-level is inferred to be 140,086 
cubic miles, and the volume of the sea 3,138,000 cubic miles. 
Thus the ratio of the volumes of land and water is I: 22.4. a 
is, the continents, so far as they are above the sea-level, might be 
contained 22.4 times over in the sea-basin. Reckoning, however, 
the mass of solid land from the level of the sea-bottom the for- 
mer would be contained only 2.443 times in the sea space. VI. 
Kriimmel also compares the masses (taking recent data) ; he finds 
that of the sea 3,229,700 cubic miles, and that of the solid land 
ee 
