The great merit of a wall map consists in its size, which makes possible the depicting on a large scale of the things which can be represented upon a map, with the further capital advantage that such a map can be seen by a great many people at the same time. Its superiority over the atlas lies then, not in accuracy, or wealth of detail, but in its visibility. For this there is absolutely no substitute; and this advantage, which for the teacher is almost the only one, secures for the wall map a place among the indispensables in classroom equipment. They can be made to represent anything that any map can, though their special province is the exhibition of general facts where minute details are negligible. In fact, the encumbering of a large map with a multitude of names and other data is the cardinal sin of the cartographer. The two broad classes of facts put upon maps are political and physical, and almost always in combination, as neither one has very much meaning without the other. Let us take up the physical maps first, as they offer the greatest difficulties, are the most expensive, and in consequence, are most rarely found of a satisfactory character.
The trouble with a physical map is that it has the impossible task of showing physical features as they are and so that they can be seen. This is impossible, because if things are shown in their right proportions, and if such natural features as rivers and mountains were drawn true to scale they would appear in most cases as nothing more than faint lines and specks upon the map. As it is absolutely necessary that they be seen clearly at some distance, a gross exaggeration of their apparent size is made necessary. These difficulties are successfully compromised in a series well known in the United States, published by the house of Perthes, and known as the Sydow-Habenicht series. In their color scheme, omission of unnecessary details and general mechanical excellence, they are so satisfactory that they have come to be something like the standard maps for the continents. Their great English competitor is Stanford’s new series of orographical school maps, compiled under the direction of the well-known writer, H. J. Mackinder. Of an equally high character and worked out with somewhat greater elaboration of details are some of the maps of W. & A. K. Johnston, and the series of physical maps published in America by the Rand-McNally Company. Before leaving the subject of physical wall maps, I want to say a word of commendation of the maps of Dietrich Reimer, of Berlin, prepared by Richard Kiepert. The classical maps of Henry Kiepert, published by the same house, are seen in nearly every high school in the country, but the work of Richard Kiepert is altogether too little known. Owing to the influence of mere personal taste one should be very cautious about stating their preferences too confidently while attempting to discriminate between a number of different types of maps, all of which are excellent, but I feel bound to state that I regard Richard Kiepert’s map of Central Europe as representing the great desideratum of map-making. The essential physiographic features of that most intricate region, including the primary and secondary axes of the continent, are exhibited with such clearness that it is possible to use this map before a large class in a college or university lecture course. For all ordinary purposes of the high school, the Sydow-Habenicht map of Europe is sufficient, and as it is the map of the whole continent, the geographical relationships of Europe and Africa and Europe and Asia are shown, as, of course, they cannot be with the Kiepert map, but no college class should be denied the privilege of seeing the Kiepert map or its equivalent, and if there is an equivalent I am not acquainted with it. Some of the maps of the French houses of Delagrave and Hachette & Company are deserving of wider use in this country, but our dependence on English and German publications, for commercial reasons; is not likely to be diminished for several years to come. These French firms apparently make little effort to advertise their wares in the United States, so that the difficulty of keeping track of their latest works and ordering them when they are known, constitutes a serious obstacle to their general use.
The second grand division of wall maps is made up of those which attempt primarily to show forth political divisions. They fall naturally into two further divisions; first, political maps of modern countries as they are at the present time, and second, historical maps which represent political divisions of the earth as they were at different times in the past. The most accurate maps of the first class are, generally speaking, published by the various governments of the civilized world, particularly of those military nations whose general staffs have, from the necessities of scientific warfare, been driven to preparing as accurate representations of the surface of the earth as is humanly possible. Of course, such maps record the minutest topographical details, and to that extent are physical in character, but for that matter, purely political maps in the sense of totally ignoring all physical features, are becoming, happily, almost unknown. All a political map is, then, is a map which pays relatively more attention to the human side of geography than to the physical, and so, as it were, looks at the face of the continent from the point of view of man rather than nature.
There are good maps of the first subdivision almost without number, and they are well known by people other than specialists. Those published in England and America by such houses as Rand-McNally, W. & A. K. Johnston, George Philip & Son, and Edward Stanford may serve as good examples. They are quite adequate for the English speaking world and are known to schoolmen throughout this country.
The subject of historical maps, the second subdivision in the classification made above, cannot be dismissed quite so easily, and the treatment of this topic should not be relegated to the end of a short article on maps in general. In this field of cartography, England and America are distinctly behind the peoples of the continent of Europe, so that for maps illustrating historical geography recourse must be had to foreign productions, particularly those of Germany. Without any attempt to make comparisons, I must content myself with the bare statement that the two series, Henry Kiepert for the ancient period, and Spruner-Bretschneider for the medieval and modern period, cover the field of European and Oriental history very satisfactorily for college classes. The fact that in the first series all names are in Latin, and in the second all names are in German, make these maps unsatisfactory for general use in the high schools. In lieu of these products of the firms of Reimer, in Berlin, and Perthes, in Gotha, there are used very generally and with satisfaction the cheaper and cruder historical charts of MacCoun. The color scheme in these charts is distinctive if not beautiful, while the few minor inaccuracies are too unimportant to affect the general usefulness of the series.
There is no space left for even touching upon the subject of economic, commercial, and ethnographic maps; upon the arrangement, suspension, and classification of the map collection in any given school or department of a university; or upon the all-important topic of atlases, a whole subject in itself, closely related to the subject of wall maps, and even more difficult to handle properly. But these and other matters, such as the actual handling of maps before classes, and the treatment of the geographical factors in history, though closely associated with the subject of wall maps, are not within the scope of this article. I shall be content if the references given here to particular maps prove specific enough to give practical aid to the history teacher in building up the map equipment of his department.
“The American Historical Association, 1884-1909”
REVIEW OF DR. JAMESON’S RECENT ARTICLE.
A noteworthy article upon the origin of the American Historical Association and its history during the past twenty-five years appears in the October number of “The American Historical Review.” The author, Dr. J. Franklin Jameson, is better fitted than any other man in the country to treat this subject, and he gives us the early history of the association with a genial sympathy that enlists one’s interest at once.