Abstract
THE author claims that his book marks an epoch in the supersession of mechanical by organic thought about the world. It would almost appear that the discovery that “Landschaft und Volkheit” should be treated together is claimed by him as his contribution to knowledge. Surely, not to go farther back, we all acknowledge our debt to Ferdinand von Bichtofen and Paul Vidal de la Blache in this matter, the more so as we do not feel that Banse gets as far in that direction as they and others have done. Banse claims that he does not follow out details in the way that ‘liberals’ would, but makes the presentation of Qanzhe.it (wholeness) his aim. One could wish that he did this more carefully, but for that purpose some insight is needed that he clearly lacks. Looked at as a product of a mechanistic mind, the book has its value as a work of reference for its immense series of definitions. It is regrettable that the author should find it necessary to overstate his own claims, for example, to be the chief author of a system of major regions (1912), dismissing the Herbertson scheme (1905), as a timid effort.
Lehrbuch der organischen Geographic:
Vorschule und Einführung in das Studium. Von Prof. Ewald Banse. Pp. ix + 626 + 5 plates. (Berlin und Leipzig: Walter de Gruyter und Co., 1937.) 18 gold marks.
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F., H. Lehrbuch der organischen Geographic. Nature 143, 137 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/143137a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/143137a0