Abstract
WE have received the concluding fascicule of the “Geographical and Statistical Dictionary of the Russian Empire,” published by the Russian Geographical Society, and edited by M. P. Semenoff. This monumental work, which was begun more than twenty years ago, has been now concluded in five large octavo volumes, and will remain for many years the most trustworthy and complete source of information for the geography of the empire, exclusive of Poland, but inclusive of the former Russian dominions in America. It may be regretted that the editor of the “Dictionary” has been diverted by so great a variety of geographical, statistical, and administrative work from this undertaking, and that therefore the last fascicule appearing twenty-three years after the first, the statistical information contained in the first fascicules and volumes has become out of date. But notwithstanding that, the “Dictionary” has not become old. Its value is not in the statistical data it contains; it is much more in the excellent geographical descriptions of the localities treated-that is, of each separate government of Russia, Siberia, Turkestan, and Caucasus—of the seas that border Russia, and their islands. Several articles are excellent and most complete monographs, and we need only mention those on the Amur, Caucasus, Sakhalin, the Northern Ocean, or Turkestan to remind geographers of these excellent descriptions of whole regions. The geology, the flora and fauna of each region have received much attention. These descriptions will not soon be old—they can be only completed.
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The Gazetteer of Russia 1 . Nature 34, 93 (1886). https://doi.org/10.1038/034093b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/034093b0