Abstract
THIS work has met with deserved popularity in Germany. Dr. Hellwaid is known as one of the most accomplished living geographers, and is well fitted to undertake the compilation of a work like the present. It will, we believe, be completed in two volumes, the volume before us dealing with America and Africa. The author follows to some extent the method of Reclus in his magnum opus, though, of course, on a smaller scale. He takes the great divisions of the land and water one after another, and in a thoroughly interesting and clear style, summarises all that is known of them on the basis of the latest discoveries, and under a variety of well-selected heads. The work, so far as we have tested it, is up to the latest date, and we know of no more trustworthy, interesting, and handy compendium of geographical information. Some of the illustrations might bear improvement, especially in the case of North America, where, we think, a freer use might have been made of the magnificent illustrations in the U.S. Survey publications. On the whole, however, the work is a valuable “family book,” as it is meant to be, and we should think would prove of considerable service to teachers of geography. We have no doubt that many would welcome an English edition of the work.
Die Erde und ihre Völker: ein geographisches Hausbuch.
Friedrich von
Hellwald
Von. Erster Band. Zweite Auflage. (Stuttgart: Spemann, 1877.)
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Die Erde und ihre Völker: ein geographisches Hausbuch . Nature 15, 447 (1877). https://doi.org/10.1038/015447b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/015447b0