May 7, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



425 



expanse of ruins, and the town is about one of 

 the dirtiest on the Russian shores of the Black 

 Sea. Should the government carry out its plan, 

 Kaffa will doubtless recover a deal of its ancient 

 prosperity, but considerable time will be needed ; 

 and, in the financial condition of Russia, it is 

 curious the government should burden itself with 

 such an onerous task. 



TOPOGRAPHICAL MAPS OF THE UNITED 

 STATES. 



A number of sheets of the topographic map 

 of the country in preparation by the geological 

 survey have lately been issued, and give good 

 promise of the future. As to their accuracy it is 

 impossible for any one person to speak, inasmuch 

 as they come from many parts of the country ; 

 but, so far as they represent regions that the 

 writer has chanced to visit, they give a satisfac-. 

 tory and characteristic illustration of their geog- 

 raphy, and there can be little question that they 

 will meet with general approval on this score. In 

 regard to execution, they deserve hearty praise, 

 as being decided improvements over certain 

 maps previously issued. The sheets are about 

 eighteen and one-half inches long by thirteen to 

 fifteen inches wide, varying in the latter measure 

 according to their latitude. Each one is bounded 

 by even degrees or half-degrees, and is printed in 

 three colors. The relief is indicated by brown 

 contour lines for every fifty feet in the states, 

 where the scale is 1 : 125,000, and for every two 

 hundred and fifty feet in the western territories, 

 where the scale is 1 : 250,000. The streams and 

 lakes are in blue. The roads, towns, boundaries, 

 and lettering are in black : the latter gives the 

 name of the survey and that of the state or ter- 

 ritory, and a special name for the sheet, at the 

 top ; latitude and longitude (from Greenwich), on 

 the margins ; scales, date of work, and names of 

 persons or surveys in charge of the district, at the 

 bottom; and names of counties, townships, towns, 

 streams, etc., on the map itself. The mechanical 

 execution of all this work is neat, clean, and 

 accurate ; and it is with a feeling of great satis- 

 faction that we greet the appearance of so wel- 

 come an addition to our scanty store of these 

 civilizing agents. We have as yet received no 

 information as to the cost of the maps per sheet, 

 but presume that they can be obtained singly and 

 at moderate price ; so that eventually — and not 

 too far in the future — we may all have good 

 maps of the region about us. The present edition 

 contains several sheets for Montana, constructed 

 from data received from the late Northern trans- 

 continental survey; a good number for Utah, with 



two for Arizona and Nevada, from work under 

 the old Hayden, Wheeler, King, and Powell sur- 

 veys, whose records are now, happily, thus con- 

 solidated ; and a few others for Missouri, Texas, 

 and Alabama, surveyed two years ago under the 

 present organization. These last are especially 

 interesting as revealing to us the topography of 

 regions that have had too little attention during 

 the last two decades of rapid western exploration. 



THE COUNTRY BANKER. 



Mr. Rae's book consists of a series of informal 

 talks about the business of an English country 

 banker. There is hardly any thing about the gen- 

 eral theory of banking, and little that is directly 

 of value to the economist or student. The author 

 simply gives a great quantity of practical advice 

 to bank managers in the smaller towns of Eng- 

 land, — whom they ought to give credit to, what 

 securities to take, how to treat customers and 

 clerks ; and so on. The advice is confined ex- 

 clusively to the particular audience he is address- 

 ing. Nothing is said about the practice and busi- 

 ness of other kinds of banks ; not even of the large 

 London banks, except incidentally by way of con- 

 trasting their operations with those of country 

 banks. 



A great deal of the advice given is such as any 

 shrewd and sensible man would give in any pro- 

 fession. The country banker is to be careful and 

 circumspect, to watch his customers and his se- 

 curities, to keep a good reserve, not to give too 

 high salaries and yet to give sufficient salaries ; 

 and so on. It is not easy to see how such advice 

 can be of much use to the persons to whom it is 

 addressed. Rules of this kind are obvious enough : 

 the difficulty is to apply them. Occasionally Mr. 

 Rae gives something more concrete, as where he 

 discusses the goodness of various kinds of securi- 

 ties, and the inferences to be drawn from a busi- 

 ness-man's balance-sheet ; and in these places 

 bankers and money-lenders may find useful hints. 

 But in the main one suspects the book will prove 

 entertaining to that large class to whom banking 

 and finance are an attractive mystery, — the people 

 to whom a discussion of money and money-mak- 

 ing and money-lending, and the handling of finan- 

 cial matters, has a fascination like that of the big 

 bars of solid gold to the sight-seers at the mint. 

 And to such persons, as well as to the general 

 reader who wants to know something of the rou- 

 tine of banking, the book can be recommended. 

 It is sound, sensible, and clearly and fluently 

 written. 



The country banker. By George Rae. With a preface 

 by Brayton Ives. New York, Scribner, 1886. 12°. 



