Geographical Record

American Geographical Society

Geographical RecordSource: Geographical Review, Vol. 56, No. 2 (Apr., 1966), pp. 278-296Published by: American Geographical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/212885 .

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GEOGRAPHICAL RECORD

NORTH AMERICA URBANIZATION IN THE UPPER MIDWEST. Only in recent years has the United States seen widespread functional reorganization within massive regions. In the nineteenth

century the disintegration of New England agriculture was noted but little regretted, since a

major component of the surplus rural population was quickly harvested to provide workers for the rapidly growing factory industry. Francis Cabot Lowell was perhaps the first Ameri- can to understand the structural implications of changes in regional economies when he de- vised his Waltham System toward the close of the War of 1812. He saw that declining economies often leave valuable legacies, such as his "inheritance" of ambitious but under-

employed New England spinsters. The traditional approach to change was different from Lowell's; intransigence held a few gaunt farmers on Maine's useless frontier, but national culture led most to shrug and walk away westward. So long as free land and untouched resources were just beyond the ridge enclosing the barren field or the cutover grove, the notion that discarded lands had other uses could not gain adherents.

Several areas in the United States experienced sharp cyclical change in the 1930's. Decline has been both more recent and more sweeping in the Upper Midwest, where during the last several decades the three elements of local support-lumbering, iron mining, and wheat growing-have suffered badly. The juncture of three such declines in one broad

geographical area has added Jim Hill's empire to the general disintegration of nineteenth-

century imperial structures. It is not surprising, therefore, that the fate of the Upper Mid- west has been the subject of considerable organized research. To present its conclusions, a series of eight urban reports, "Upper Midwest Economic Study," have appeared over the last five years under the direct supervision of John R. Borchert of the University of Min- nesota. We may disregard the first, fourth, and fifth reports in the series, since they conform more to the hortatory mold of planners than to the analytical mold of geographers; and the

eighth report merely predicts the future on the foundation laid by these substantive studies. The discussion that follows is therefore based on the second, third, sixth, and seventh reports (John R. Borchert: The Urbanization of the Upper Midwest, 1930-1960, Univ. of Minnesota Urban Rept. No. 2, Minneapolis, 1963; John R. Borchert and Russell B. Adams: Trade Centers and Trade Areas of the Upper Midwest, ibid., No. 3, 1963; Russell B. Adams:

Population Mobility in the Upper Midwest, ibid., No. 6, 1964; John R. Borchert, Thomas L. Anding, and Morris Gildemeister: Urban Dispersal in the Upper Midwest, ibid., No. 7, 1964).

The Upper Midwest of the study is conterminous with the Ninth Federal Reserve District. Thus the whole states of Montana, North and South Dakota, and Minnesota have been joined with the northern parts of Wisconsin and Michigan. The resulting region in- cludes the inner reaches of the Columbia drainage in Montana, which fact may disturb those of us who view the exceptionalism of the coasts as our strength; but there is a statistical convenience in allowing the economist's region to stand. The array of data available to this study was considerable and has in general been well employed. What emerges is a clear picture of a stable or declining region.

To begin with, it is important to understand that the urbanization envisaged by Borchert and his associates differs greatly from the traditional process. For them urban population



GEOGRAPHICAL RECORD

means all nonfarm population. The result is that the prairie sections of the Upper Midwest, which were the scene of normal homesteading, appear as less urban than the North Woods areas engaged mainly in timber cutting and mining. Thus the urbanization process com-

prehends not only the growth of cities in the usual sense but also the holding of people in

dispersed settlement by any support other than outright farming. Although we might not

automatically object to the designation of loggers living in a forest clearing as urban men, such omnium-gatherum definitions of urban population do destroy distinctions we might well wish to make. Similarly we must regret the destruction of specific meaning for the term "suburban." In the Upper Midwest Economic Study the term indicates not a structural

relationship of a peripheral area to a city center, as it does etymologically and historically, but rather a survey township where "more than 50 per cent of township population [is] non-farm," and where there are "more than 2,000 non-farm inhabitants" (Rept. No. 2,

p. 21). Even if we grant that up to the present time this definition outlines areas that are

structurally suburban towns, this is a weak defense. It is obvious that in the near future the definition would admit to suburban status cabins strewn about the woods far from any ostensible city.

Casting the sound metal of their work in a more traditional mold, we shape some in-

teresting conclusions. Borchert and Russell B. Adams summarize recent trends in the Upper Midwest as including among other changes "centralization-[leading to] concentration of an

increasing proportion of the work force and their dependents at major centers or within

commuting range of those centers" and "dispersal-[leading to the] location of an increasing proportion of non-farm homes, both year-around and seasonal, in scattered countryside settlements around principal cities, in the lake districts, or in other scenic areas" (John R. Borchert and Russell B. Adams: Projected Urban Growth in the Upper Midwest: 1960-1975, Urban Rept. No. 8, 1964). Each of these forces is working in a region where the preexisting settlement pattern has left a legacy whose conditions the heirs must accept to enjoy.

To the authors' evaluation of structural dispersal in the Upper Midwest we might add observations of the phenomenon elsewhere. In New England the spread of city-bred people into structurally rural areas goes far toward explaining the peculiar social structure of Ver- mont and other stretches of "pretty country." In contrast with the Upper Midwest, where true rurality is found only where farmers live, in the Northeast that bucolic state exists only where beauty disappears, as in the sandy pine barrens of southern Rhode Island.

A second attraction of the countryside for nonfarmers is vividly apparent in the American West. There, around even lean cities, scattered formless houses can be seen in the openness. Beauty cannot be called into play as the dynamic, but license can. The chance to build housing at the speed, and in the fashion, chosen by the owner, rather than by the building inspector, goes along with the rejection of the convention that makes individual behavior take place only indoors in the suburb. So if Borchert and his colleagues note urban dispersal in the Upper Midwest, by looking elsewhere we may better know its cause.

The result of the increase in the relative importance of rural nonfarm housing has been the creation of what Borchert calls "urban regions." These have "one or more urban areas plus intervening, contiguous non-farm townships and places within those townships" (Rept. No. 2, p. 27). Such urban regions cover most of the North Woods between The Soo and the Red River valley and furnish a unity that is unreal. In part that stretch of country is pretty, and in part it is abandoned. Thus the two stimulants we learned of outside the

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Upper Midwest induce there a regional continuity that needs more careful analysis than it is given by such a definition. Only from the genetic viewpoint do we gain understanding, and it convinces us that this is not a "region"; it is a fabric in which the pretty parts are peopled by displaced persons from the city, who may warrant Borchert's designation of suburban, and the grim parts by the rural libertarians.

The centralization of people into cities and their adjacent residential areas comes, in the Upper Midwest, particularly from trade. The shifts in the support of rural areas cannot fail to affect these trade centers. If we assume that countrymen commute, as they do, then the place of the local-convenience trade center is weakened. In addition, the shopper is now willing to go farther because he does so more easily, and to greater advantage when he gets there. This dual impact of commuting and greater shopping mobility is, ultimately, strongly compounding. As trade is taken away from small towns, they offer acceleratingly less effective competition in trade. But with mobility people need not reject the small town as a

place of residence. The outcome is a functional split that creates complexity in urban geography but allows men to have their cake and eat it. This pleasant dichotomy is not allowed those whose fate lies in burgeoning regions. For them the physical growth of the city out- distances their ability to commute.

In considerable measure the maintenance of country residence for urban workers is possible because "commuting is becoming a substitute for migration as growing job centers are reaching out 30 miles or more to rural townships and small towns which do not have

adequate local employment" (Rept. No. 6, p. iv). And "the long-distance commuter in the

Upper Midwest is not the stereotype of a high-salaried executive, managerial, or professional man. He is far more likely to be a blue-collar or clerical worker who drives to a factory job, school or business office. He may be a part-time farmer or resort operator supplementing his earnings through seasonal employment. ... We are witnessing this 'suburbanization of the countryside' " (Rept. No. 6, pp. 49-50). May we not also see in this the urbanization of rural man in the sense that the countryman wishes to maintain the personal freedom that has

always been permitted the man in a state of dispersed settlement while not settling for the economic decline that the rural economy of many sections of the United States dictates?

Although Borchert does not draw this conclusion, his evidence supports it. He notes two

types of small towns: "(1) the 'isolated' hamlet or convenience center, chiefly dependent upon farm income; and (2) the 'accessible' town which is within commuting range of a

major job center" (Rept. No. 6, p. 51). The health of the two types is in sharp contrast; four out of five of the isolated places are losing population, whereas only half of the accessible

places are doing so.

Rounding out the picture of the transformation of the pioneer economy of the Upper Midwest, Borchert and two of his associates show the nature of present-day urban dispersal. They conclude "that urban dispersal is a natural part of the phenomenon of urbanization in the automobile era" (Rept. No. 7, p. iii). But just as the surplus rural population of New

England at the beginning of the nineteenth century was usable only in part and the unmarried

daughters were the troops of the Industrial Revolution, so the relicts of another economic era in the Upper Midwest are only partly valued as an inheritance. Borchert notes two

dynamics, centralization of people and functions out of the pioneer landscape into cities and later dispersion of nonfarm households into the country left underpopulated; to which we might on experience elsewhere add a third-selection of the abandoned areas to be used by

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GEOGRAPHICAL RECORD

the new settlers. Not all the countryside will be attractive to those making a conscious deci- sion to change their environment, which is the main force leading men back to the country. Thus the country must have its unused resources, as the farm families did a century ago in New England. For that reason it is not enough to cite the dispersion of people from the city as the delineator of the rural future. The dynamic of selection means that the value of land attaches to its qualities as a chosen environment for residence rather than to its economic

productivity. As yet we have not established the basis on which to judge utilization of a region when the well-worn but unavailing notion of "economic maximization" does not serve.

Unfortunately, the Upper Midwest Economic Study visualizes some vague parity of participation in the economic growth of the nation as the basis for regional health. But dispersion has a largely cultural derivation.

The form in which these urban reports appear is, we hope, preliminary. Aside from weaknesses of style, the authors' excessive modesty keeps them from drawing the general conclusions of broad geographical application that their careful and extensive work would

support. Until that valuable service is performed for us, we still may, by a bit of work, draw conclusions of importance to a realm far more extensive than Jim Hill's and more enduring than the planner's.-JAMES E. VANCE, JR.

LATIN AMERICA

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN LATIN AMERICA. Among the many studies of Latin-American economic development that have appeared recently are four that ought not to be missed. They are, in the order of their appearance (as theater programs are careful to state): "The Economic Development of Latin America in the Post-War Period" (United Nations, New York, 1964); "Economic Development of Central America: A Statement on National Policy by the Research and Policy Committee of the Committee for Economic Development" ([New York] November, 1964); "Economic Survey of Latin America 1963" (Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Economic Commission for Latin America, United Nations, New York, 1965); and "Latin America: A Special Survey," Economist, Vol. 216, No. 6370, London, Sept. 25-Oct. 1, 1965). The similaritie; and the differences among these four studies are fascinating, reflecting as they do the sponsorship and authorship of each.

The first and third come from an intergovernmental agency under the aegis of the United Nations. They present a stupefying array of charts, graphs, and statistics, at which the mind of this reader boggled. The text is not always free from governmentese. The authors believe strongly that the key to the solution of Latin-American problems is more government action, mostly on the part of the rest of the world, in providing better terms of trade in the form of higher prices for Latin-American exports, but also on the part of Latin-American governments, in the form of more and better planning-to redistribute income, to direct the flow of investment, and (by adopting plans as firm government policies) to provide stable incentives for private investment.

The second publication is a report from a blue-ribbon group of North American business executives. It is extraordinarily lucid in style and presentation. Its tone is basically hopeful; the steps toward integration taken and being taken in Central America admittedly give the authors more to be hopeful about. Their proposals are rock-ribbed private enterprise: channel government effort and money to primary education, roads, and health; these are the keys to any long-term development, they are the things that governments can do well and that only

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governments can do on an intensive national scale. Don't rely too much on international

commodity agreements to solve all your problems. Create a climate that will encourage private capital, national and foreign, to go into risk ventures. Find your resources of practically creative people (and they are not confined to any institution or class), turn them loose, and

give them room to work. The fourth on the list is a special survey by the deputy editor of the London Economist,

who spent the summer of 1965 in Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. It is an unusually good example of Economist-style prose-which to this reader is high praise indeed. A survey by a journalist rather than a study by a professional economist, its effect is of brilliant insight rather than of profound analysis. (Perhaps the two are incompatible.) The recommendations are

Keynesian. The devil is underemployment of plentiful resources of readily trainable man-

power; the way to overcome him is to make these people consumers-and thereby to make them and a lot of other people producers-by large infusions of money, mostly from the

developed countries, without overmuch worry about where the money comes from or how and when it will be recovered, or about traditional monetary theories concerning inflationary or deflationary consequences, which probably can't be accurately predicted or controlled

anyhow. It would perhaps only be rephrasing what the four studies say to touch briefly on what

seems an important and highly sensitive element: the agonizing inability of Latin-American countries to decide whether they really do or do not want foreign private capital investment. This writer used to work for a large oil company and carried around in his head figures about how many hundred million dollars in foreign exchange Brazil spends each year on imports of petroleum while steadfastly refusing on patriotic grounds-"O Petroleo e Nosso"-to let foreigners risk their own money looking for oil in Brazil.

Every Latin-American government will say, as an abstract proposition, that of course it wants foreign private investment and one is not to talk nonsense. But along with their capital the foreigners will want to send their own managers and technical people; and no matter how much the country may lack exactly these skills, stresses are set up that are sometimes hard to take. And the foreigners will also want the right to take home (until they've taken it home they haven't really received it) a profit, if they earn it, commensurate with the risks they have taken. This is an easy thing to promise before the capital is invested; but when the gamble is a

big one and turns out well, particularly if the payoff extends over a long period of years, the

temptation is strong to forget the original risks and to think of these profit remittances as an unfair drain on the national foreign-exchange resources. Add to this the fact that on the local

stage the foreign investor is the perfect political whipping boy, to whose defense nobody will come, and the picture can be pretty discouraging, both to the investor who is already there and, more important, to the potential investor who is sitting outside deciding whether to go there.-WOODFIN L. BUTTE

AFRICA

A FURTHER NOTE ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PYRAMIDS. In the Janu- ary Geographical Review Professor Philip Kissam has commented on the theory developed by Mr. Edward J. Kunkel that the great pyramid of Giza (and perhaps other pyramids) was

designed and built as a hydraulic structure (Philip Kissam: A New Concept of the Construc- tion of the Pyramids, Geogr. Rev., Vol. 56, 1966, pp. 121-123). It occurs to the present writer,

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a marine biologist, that Kunkel's hypothesis would be supported if "fossil" remnants of aquatic plants and animals could be found within the pyramids.

The possibility of finding such "fossils" rests on an implication of the Kunkel hypothesis, namely that the pyramid formed an open freshwater pond during much of the period of its construction. This pond would almost certainly have become inhabited by a variety of small aquatic organisms such as algae, protozoans, nematodes, crustaceans, insects, and perhaps snails. Many of these (for instance, diatoms, ostracods, and insects) have siliceous, calcareous, or chitinous "skeletons," which, when their owners die, resist decay and accumulate on the bottom. There they may last indefinitely if protected from chemical action and weathering. Furthermore, such skeletons are often identifiable with precision as to the kinds of organisms of which they were originally a part.

Most of the skeletal remains would be microscopic and therefore not apparent to casual inspection. They would simply be components of the dirt on the horizontal surfaces formerly covered by water. It is especially likely that they would be preserved in grooves or crevices in the horizontal surfaces-for example, in the "notches on the inside of the top of each stone" mentioned in Professor Kissam's note (p. 122).

If places where skeletons of aquatic organisms would have settled out of the water are accessible, then to obtain samples for examination would be easy. Small amounts of the dirt could be picked out of the grooves and crevices, with the use of something like a needle or ice pick, and placed in vials or small bottles, carefully labeled as to location. Samples from about ten different levels of the pyramid would be adequate, at least as a preliminary. The samples would, of course, have to be from places that have been protected from wind and rain since the pyramids were built.-J. LOCKWOOD CHAMBERLIN

POLAR REGIONS

FURTHER NOTES ON CAPTAIN COOK'S POSSIBLE SIGHTING OF THE ANT- ARCTIC CONTINENT. In an earlier article in thisjournal (CaptainJames Cook's Discovery of the Antarctic Continent? Geogr. Rev., Vol. 51, 1961, pp. 575-577) I made the point that owing to recent research on the phenomenon of refraction, or looming, it was no longer possible to disregard Cook's modest claim that vast floats of ice he had encountered proved the existence of a landmass near the South Pole, and that his expedition had probably seen part of it. Additional information has since become available from several sources: the Antarctic experiences of leading present-day scientists, the Hakluyt volume on Cook's voyage of 1772- 1775 (J. C. Beaglehole, edit.: The Joumals of Captain James Cook on His Voyages of Dis- covery, Vol. 2, The Voyage of the Resolution and Adventure, 1772-1 775, Hakluyt Soc. [Publs.] Extra Ser. No. 35, Cambridge, 1961), and entries in thejournals of certain members of Cook's expedition, preserved in the British Museum and the Public Record Office and examined by my daughter-in-law, Mrs. Elizabeth Price, in the fall of 1964.

The days on which the expedition could have sighted the continent were January 17 and 18, 1773, in latitude 67?15'S, longitude 39?35'E, off the Queen Maud Land coast, andJanuary 30, 1774, in latitude 711?o'S, longitude lo6?54'W, off the Walgreen Coast, on the opposite side of the continent. Both the Hakluyt reprint of Cook's journal and Mrs. Price's notes on the other diaries show that the vast icefield which the expedition encountered off Queen Maud Land may have included, in the far distance, the low coast of the continent, and that Cook may well have failed to realize what he was seeing, as Bellingshausen did in the same region in

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1820. All the journals in London should be examined carefully, for, like Cook's, they may include important entries under quite unexpected dates; nevertheless, it is doubtful whether this question will ever be settled.

Far more challenging is the investigation of the events that took place on January 30, 1774, off the Walgreen Coast, where the expedition encountered a vast icefield "very different from any we have ever seen during the voyage," in the words ofJohn Elliott, a midshipman on the Resolution. Cook himself wrote two accounts, now available in the Hakluyt volume. In one he says: "The Clowds near the horizon were of a perfect Snow whiteness and were difficult to be distinguished from the Ice hills [icebergs] whose lofty summits reached the Clowds. The outer or Northern edge of this immence Ice field was compose of loose or broken ice so close packed together that nothing could enter it; about a Mile in began the firm

ice, in one compact solid boddy and seenied to increase in height as you traced it to the South"

(italics mine). John Elliott, whose account in his journal in the Public Record Office has apparently not

been published, wrote similarly: "about 2 or 3 miles within the Edge the ice began to rise and

continued rising gradually till from the masthead the top of it could not be seen. Many people mlay conclude from the gradual Rising of the ice that there may be land within it, but, if there is, it will be of very little consequence, as there appeared not the least possibility of ships coming near it" (italics mine).

A third account, in the journal of William Wales, the astronomer aboard the Resolution, is preserved in the Mitchell Library in Sydney. Wales wrote that at 4: oo a.m. they discovered a large field of ice exteinding east and west beyond their sight from the masthead. From a distance it appeared "very high aind like a fixed solid mass with many high mountains [ice-

bergs] in it." When they calle close, however, they found that its edge "was scarce higher than the water and coliposed of sm1iall pieces close jambed together and the high parts very

large islands which were amlongst it; but farther in it still appeared high and as if one solid

piece" -though Wales conceived that this was a deception as well as the other. "A long way within the field (whiclh we could not see over) was the appearance of a long ridge of very

high mountains [of] ice; but I am of the opinion that this was nothing more than a strong Fog

bank, illuminated by the rays of light which were reflected from the ice. I[t] seems to me

imlpossible that [it] should be ice or snow unless land was under it, of which we had no other

signs. Wales's statement about their seeing no other signs of land is important but not quite

accurate. On January 26, when on the Antarctic Circle in longitude 109?3 'W, they had seen an appearance of land so strong that they had pursued it to the east and southeast. This was

possibly a looming up of Thurston Island, 400 miles to the southeast. On the same day they took a sounding to 130 fathoms but naturally found no bottom, since they were in very deep water and a long way from the coast; even at their farthest south, half a mile off the ice edge, they were still in water about 275 fathoms deep. In the early morning ofJanuary 30 Cook "saw a piece of Rock Weed covered with Barnacles which one of the brown Albatroses was

picking off." Mrs. Price notes that Charles Clerke, the bird expert of the party, reported the

presence of Antarctic and brown petrels, albatross, and penguins. These extracts from primary sources are important and should be studied by authorities

who know the Antarctic. As the research has progressed I have consulted three distinguished explorers, Mr. John Rymill, Dr. Phillip Law, and Dr. Paul A. Siple, who have been particu-

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larly helpful on the matter of visibility. There has been no opportunity to obtain their views on all the journal excerpts, but they agree that onJanuary 30, 1774, Cook reached a position in which he could have seen the continent under certain circumstances.

John Rymill writes in a letter to me (March 16, 1965): "With regard to the distance at which objects can be seen in the Polar regions, I make reference to Alexander I Island on page 121 of my book Southern Lights. At the time we were, of course, sledging on sea ice and the nearest peak on Alexander I Island was about lo miles away and 8,ooo feet high. Using the standard tables for distance of the sea horizon ... a mountain peak of 8,ooo feet would only just be visible at 93 miles if no correction for refraction were necessary,... whereas we could even see the Piedmont Glacier at the base [of the peak]. In Polar regions when the sun is at a very low angle, refraction plays the most extraordinary tricks, and ordinary navigational tables become pretty pointless. This was only one of many occasions when the whole range was lifted up by refraction."

Phillip Law agrees that "the Walker Mountains certainly could have been seen at that distance under certain circumstances," but, using Cook's account only, he considers that the leader did not recognize any mountains. He notes that Cook could evidently distinguish, though with difficulty, the tops of the lofty icebergs from the clouds, and Law therefore doubts whether Cook himself thought that the clouds were snow-covered mountains. "Snow-covered mountains," writes Law, "do not generally appear snowy white. Generally they are cream coloured or darker and the only clouds I have ever mistaken for mountains at a distance are dark ones."

Paul Siple's most interesting and knowledgeable comments on the visibility factor are contained in this issue of the Geographical Review. They need no interpretation from me, though I should like to add my hearty agreement with his suggestion that Cook's name should appear on the map of Antarctica in the Amundsen Sea area. Nothing could be more appropri- ate. This is the region where the great explorer and his party saw their southernmost ice, which they rightly conjectured stretched unbroken to the Pole. Even more important, it was here that Cook probably discovered Antarctica, on January 30, 1774. We now know that at least two members of the expedition expressed the view on that date that they might be seeing-as they most likely were-snow-covered slopes, which were later proved to be part of the continent. Thus if we cannot say with certainty that Cook discovered Antarctica, neither can we say with certainty that some later explorer discovered it.-SIR GRENFELL PRICE

THE ROLE OF REFRACTION IN EARLY ANTARCTIC DISCOVERIES. In an article in 1961 in the Geographical Review, "CaptainJames Cook's Discovery of the Antarctic Continent?" (Vol. 51, pp. 575-577), Sir Grenfell Price presented an interesting argument for the possibility that Captain Cook first sighted a tiny bit of the Antarctic Continent on January 29-30, 1774, from latitude 71?lo'S, longitude lo6?54'W. Price suggested that "his [Cook's] expedition had probably seen it [the Antarctic Continent]-a claim that should certainly be tested by modern research." Although my present comments neither prove nor disprove Cook's priority of discovery, they may provide additional insight into the much- discussed subject of land sightings by early polar explorers. Perhaps the most memorable of these sightings were the long-contested discoveries by Charles Wilkes's United States Ex- ploring Expedition.

Most previous discussions hinge on problems of visibility, and the question of refraction

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is usually applied southward, the direction in which the early explorers expected to find new Antarctic lands. Less emphasis has been placed on refraction to the north, the probable direction in which the daily latitude observations were taken. Refraction tables for high lati- tudes and low sun angles are even today of questionable accuracy. Thermal inversion and variable temperature layers at interfaces of wind-shear zones in the atmosphere make any use of even modern refraction tables subject to considerable error in actual application. I have not

personally undertaken to ascertain whether the Cook or Wilkes navigational computations have been preserved, to see whether refraction corrections used one or two centuries ago were of reasonable accuracy by modern standards for navigation in the Antarctic. Certainly it would seem possible that under unusual circumstances somewhat gross errors in latitude

might have been made unwittingly. Latitude observations of centuries past have been more

readily accepted than longitude observations, which require accurate timekeeping. In the far reaches of the Southern Hemisphere, refraction affecting the noonday sun, if greater than

suspected, would increase its apparent height and therefore would indicate positions con-

siderably to the north of the correct positions. It is conceivable that such errors could explain in part Wilkes's apparent position errors and might have placed Cook, and later Walker, closer to Thurston Island than either claimed.

If the early navigators had chosen to determine their latitude while inside the Antarctic Circle from a meridian transit to the south the chances of refraction error would probably have been even greater but would have tended to imply positions farther south-that is, closer to the coast-than would have been correct. The temptation to use the midnight sun as a novelty for navigation must have been great to those who were first privileged to cross the Antarctic Circle. Frequent cloudy weather and days on end without sun or moon fixes (the stars being invisible at that season) might have required observations using the midnight sun. Moreover, the uncertainty of magnetic directions, unknown currents, and local time could have caused further errors in determination of the sun's height at meridional transit. Refrac- tion affecting the apparent horizon (looming) might have introduced even greater errors for

navigators looking across cold seas and ice floes. On September 18, 1957, at the geographic South Pole a refraction (or mirage) equivalent

to a "navigational" error of 120 to 150 nautical miles or more was observed in the form of a

"Novaya Zemlya effect." The sun appeared above the horizon five days (nearly 2?) before it crossed the equator from north into south declination (Paul A. Siple: 9o? South [New York,

1959], p. 332). This phenomenon was observed only toward the Eastern Hemisphere side of

the Pole, where the snow-covered land has since been found to rise to higher elevations than the Pole surface. In contrast, no premature sighting of the sun occurred during the period when it was traversing the subhorizon of the Western Hemisphere, where the Transantarctic Mountains might have intercepted or interfered with refraction, and where the land surface is known to lie much lower across the Ross Ice Shelf. On September 18 there was a strong temperature inversion about 1400 feet above the plateau surface, which itself is about 9200 feet above sea level. This inversion layer (about -40?F aloft, with snow surface temperatures locally as low as -104?F) served in effect as a great mirror facing down on the "land" and thus

permitted us to see the sun, which on that date was only just due to put in its vernal appearance at latitude 88?S (120 nautical miles away). The phenomenon repeated itself on each clear day until official sunrise.

One may thus conclude that for low observation anigles, under similar inversion con-

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ditions, the top of a mountain protruding through the snow surface 120 miles away could be seen at the South Pole. Nearer to the go?E meridian the apparently false sun rose to a maximal

height of at least halfa diameter, though highly distorted in shape. The angle of reflecting and

refracting layers of the atmosphere can be assumed to conform roughly to the broad rise and fall of any extensive snow-covered land beneath. This "tilt of the mirror" can extend the see-

ing distance toward higher land and, conversely, may foreshorten the seeing distance toward the sea. Like many others, I have witnessed inferior mirages (seen from reflecting temperature air surfaces below eye level) in which an object such as a tent in normal straight-line view 212 miles away ranged in visual elevation upward by a whole degree or vanished entirely when level of eyesight was moved down and up through a vertical range of less than two feet.

On the Pacific Ocean quadrant of his circumnavigation of Antarctica, Captain Cook at his closest reported coastal position was apparently not much more than 100 nautical miles from

Cape Flying Fish and only about 115 miles from Mount Caldwell, the nearest high peak of the Walker Mountains on Thurston Island, which rise to about 2100 feet above sea level, with

peaks farther east rising to 3400 feet. It is quite possible that circumstances brought these mountain peaks into view; however, there is a weakness in the Cook narrative as recounted

by Price that casts some doubt whether Cook actually saw them on January 29, 1774. Dis-

cussing the appearance of land across field ice, Cook said he was looking south, whereas the Walker Mountains should have been east-southeast of him (that is, about 30? south of east). If he was farther south by a degree than he thought, the Walker Mountains would have been almost due east. If his longitude was off by a similar extent to the east, they would still have borne southeast. Generally, looming due to inferior mirage (as in Cook's case, looking across field ice) can make rough ice appear as gigantic features resembling ice-shelf fronts many miles away. The 2900oofoot highest summit of Bear Island, the nearest high land to the south of his reported position, was some 200 nautical miles distant. Behind it Mount Murphy, another 45 miles farther south, rises to nearly 9000 feet.

William M. Walker of the United States Exploring Expedition was the next to approach Thurston Island, about 65 years later, in the 96-ton Flying Fish, and he also noted the appearance of land, from a reported position 70?S and loo?16'W, about 125 nautical miles from Mount Caldwell and at least 125 miles from Cape Flying Fish if his ship's position is pre- sumed to be correct. Cook's Resolution, apparently being closer by about 10 miles, gave him an even better possibility of seeing Mount Caldwell. This advantage was canceled out, however, by Walker's being more nearly broadside to Thurston Island, so that he was placed where he could have seen the higher peaks rising to 3400 feet toward the east. Cook, situated end on, off the western cape of Thurston Island, was nearly 175 miles from the highest point, as compared with 140 miles for Walker's optimum position. Both were remarkable achievements, though neither Cook nor Walker, perhaps through modesty, was sufficiently con- vinced of his own discoveries to register these features on his maps. Thus, in effect, both discoveries awaited proof by Admiral Byrd's discovery in 1940. His also was a remarkable achievement, coupling aircraft operations with a sailing ship, the auxiliary barkentine Bear of Oakland.

Although I agree with Price that reexamination of early discoveries in a positive manner, using modern knowledge, is an interesting exercise in research, I maintain that it should not be taken too seriously. There is little point in using precision tools on rough castings. Many essential details are lost to record, and no amount of reconstruction, whether applied positive-

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ly or negatively, can serve as definitive judgment. Negative doubts and suppositions can

damage the interpretation of history by those who can never know all the actual circumstances. Rather, discoveries of the past should be accepted in principle for their historic significance. As for Cook and Walker, we can at least admit that it is technically possible that under the right circumstances either nmight have seen the Walker Mountains.

In the light of his near approach to Thurston Island, it would seem that Cook's name might appropriately be commemorated in this area as well as Walker's. Perhaps without

doing violence to the existing names, some such feature as the apparent embayment south of Amundsen Sea could commemorate Cook's close contact with the continent in this region. Cook's name belongs on the map in the Antarctic as well as in the areas of his other explorations. With all respect to the high regard due to Amundsen's great achievements elsewhere, Amundsen Sea might well have been named after James Cook, the first known navigator to sail its waters.-PAUL A. SIPLE

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

REMOTE SENSING OF THE ENVIRONMENT. Since the dawn of man's consciousness, his eyes and ears have been his most powerful observational tools. The capability of these natural sensors for detecting radiant energy without being in contact with the source of that

energy makes them ideal remote sensors. But as valuable as sight and hearing are, they cannot detect most of the turmoil and variation in our environment, since they operate within very narrow pitch and chromatic limits (400o-7000 angstroms and 16 to 20,000 cycles/second

respectively). However, within this century instrumented science and technology have pro- duced an ingenious array of devices that give new dimensions to environmental research.

Obtaining data that reveal the characteristics of phenomena or objects without establish-

ing direct contact with the subjects of investigation has been defined as remote sensing. The sensor may be a camera, an infrared or microwave scanner, a radiometer, or another device for sampling electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, gravity, acoustical energy, or other

physical quantities detected in a natural or man-made object or phenomenon. Although the

application of sensing techniques to the environment does not always produce patterns of distribution, most sensors do accumulate geographical data; that is, data which are, or can be, organized into presentations which contain the position, relative position, and qualitative or

quantitative aspects of each unit detected. Many sensor systems record their findings in an imagery form that resembles the aerial photograph. Although the black, white, and gray tones may have different meanings, the basic problems of areal differentiation and pattern analysis that lie at the heart of photointerpretation and geography are still present.

Early in 1961 scientists in the Geography Branch of the Office of Naval Research and in the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council recognized that the technolo-

gy of remote sensing, which had been principally developed and applied by classified military investigations, was getting far ahead of its application to the interpretation of the earth's

environment, and that the gap is "likely to get wider unless very stringent efforts are made to

bridge the gap." Under the guidance of Walter H. Bailey, and with the support of Army, Navy, and Air Force research agencies, the "First Symposium on Remote Sensing of En- vironment" was held at The University of Michigan's Institute of Science and Teclmology in

February, 1962, in conjunction with an ONR study program designed to explore the possible applications of remote sensing technology to the various earth-science fields. A selected group

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of earth scientists were informed of the state of the arts in remote sensing as completely as

security restrictions permitted and were then organized into working groups. They enthusi-

astically endorsed the significance of the technology for earth-science investigations and suggested some opportunities and problems associated with the participation of academic and other research scientists in the utilization of remote sensing technology ("Proceedings of the First Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment" [Infrared Laboratory, Institute of Science and Technology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1962]).

In October, 1962, and October, 1964, the second and third symposia were held, in which the original number of threescore and ten participants was expanded to some three hundred

representatives of educational institutions, governmental departments, and industrial organi- zations. The fourth symposium is planned for April, 1966, under the continuing direction of

Joseph O. Morgan and Dana C. Parker at Michigan's Infrared Laboratory. As they point out in the Proceedings of the Third Symposium, "The complexion of the symposium is ...

changing from one of evangelism ... to that of a scientific medium in which there is spirited information exchange."

The proceedings of the three symposia report on the application of remote sensors to a

variety of scientific and practical problems. (A collection of papers selected from the proceedings of the first three symposia is being published in 1966 by the American Society of

Photogrammetry.) Since all things have their own unique distribution of reflected, emitted, and absorbed radiation, the scientific exploitation of these spectral characteristics can dis-

tinguish one thing from another and can obtain information about location, shape, size, and other physical and chemical properties. Infrared detectors have revealed urban street

patterns and other thermally differentiated distributions such as water pollution, traffic flows, unhealthy vegetation, and subsurface thermal activity; and they record such data even during the darkest hours of night. Microwave detectors have mapped ice thicknesses and distributions. Cameras equipped with varied lens and film combinations reveal dis- eased crops and identify species of trees in the forest. The moisture content of soils and the pattern of geological features have been revealed by radar. The famous Nimbus and Tiros weather satellites are well known for their cloud-pattern detection, and capabilities for detecting soil temperatures and sea surface characteristics have been demonstrated (William Nordberg: Geophysical Observations from Nimbus I, Science, Vol. 150, 1965, pp. 559-572).

Although only two academic geographers have presented papers at the remote sensing symposia, others have participated, and many geographical scientists associated with government or industry have attended. Related studies are being carried out by geographers at the

University of Kansas, at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, at The University of Michigan's Infrared Laboratory, and in the Geoscience Department of Texas Instruments. The geographical interest in aerial photography was recently reported by Kirk Stone (Kirk H. Stone: A Guide to the Interpretation and Analysis of Aerial Photos, Annals Assn. of Amer. Geogrs., Vol. 54, 1964, pp. 318-328). Other geographers working in government agencies or industry are often obscured both by their job titles and by the classified nature of their work.

The critical problem of security restrictions was first faced in December, 1962. After conferring with a small group of government and academic scientists who were familiar with both the classified capabilities of remote sensors and their possible earth-science implications, the Michigan study group issued a "Statement of Need for Reviewing Security Classifications Governing Airborne Electromagnetic Sensory Devices and Data." The statement pointed out

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that "it is apparent that the potential applications for remote sensing devices are much broader than the original military applications in guidance or surveillance. In many instances the need for these sensors in natural science research programs directed toward betterment of the

general welfare of the nation may transcend the need for continued classification. . . . The

development of methods for interpreting pictorial imagery requires the experience of people of

many different backgrounds in using such imagery... . Imposing restrictions on the dissemi- nation of all infrared and radar imagery, for example, will retard their contributions and slow both civil and military progress."

With the assistance of NAS-NRC this document reached the highest military and civilian offices of the federal government and stimulated review and declassification procedures that are gradually releasing more imagery and interpretative data to the scientific fields. Some

equipment and technology are also being declassified; for example, a commercially available infrared scanner was recently announced.

After the initial focusing of scientific attention on remote sensing in 1961, dramatic

developments in space science and technology emphasized the potentials of remote sensing

systems operating from aircraft, satellites, and space vehicles. With "restrained enthusiasm"

oceanographic scientists evaluated these potentials in August, 1964, at a five-day symposium at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts, and published the proceedings (Gifford C. Ewing, edit.: Oceanography from Space: Proceedings of Conference on the

Feasibility of Conducting Oceanographic Explorations from Aircraft, Manned Orbital and Lunar Laboratories . . . [Ref. No. 65-1o, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Mass., 1965]). It was recognized that horizontally continuous observations by satellite sensors could provide entirely new data on the characteristics and propagation of tides, surges, and tsunami. The recognition and classification of the surface exposure of water masses and their interfacial boundaries, or "fronts," seemed possible. A photometric method for mapping the chlorophyll concentrations of water was believed feasible. And the existing capability of radar to give a complete description of the sea state from a synoptic vantage point is promis- ing. Sea-ice surveying promises to be a routine application.

To the geographer, the geologist, and the oceanographer the principal appeal of a satellite as an observation platform lies in its ability to monitor large-scale features and events wher- ever and whenever they occur. Uninhabited interior areas, inaccessible coastlines, and modi- fications that result from storms, floods, earthquakes, seasonal changes, and the activities of man himself can be systematically recorded and evaluated through time. In January, 1965, NAS-NRC in association with NASA sponsored a "Conference on the Use of Orbiting Spacecraft in Geographic Research" at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas. The panel reports emphasized the value of the synoptic view of the satellite-borne sensors for

producing economical yet accurate maps at various scales. The reports point out that it should be possible to utilize space sensors to create maps resulting from a series of time-lapse images, thus showing the annual cyclical changes in such distributions as snow cover, vegetation, or the appearance of the landscape complex. Significant gaps in the map coverage of phenomena could be filled by space-located sensors, and the use of maps as analytical tools for problem solving should be greatly enhanced, with international cooperation encouraged by the sharing of data compiled.

A new climatology based on orbiting sensor measurements of the energy and moisture

budgets of the globe is anticipated. Greater efficiencies not only for the location and develop-

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ment of resources but also for new inferences concerning resource utilization may evolve from space-oriented study of the patterns of man-altered landscape. The synoptic and time- series evaluation of cultural activity, such as the flows of transportation and the dynamic growth of urban settlement patterns, is likely to contribute both new theoretical values and real-time applications to geographical science.

Recent NASA-sponsored research and programming indicate that space-located sensors

may soon be developed to secure three-dimensional topographical information from the surfaces of the moon and planets, including earth. Stereotelevision, optical radars, single- point radiation detectors, and other methods are being investigated. And the probability of manned orbiting laboratories in the near future creates exciting possibilities.

The increasing recognition of the new technology's significance was demonstrated by the formation of a Committee on Remote Sensing of Environment by NAS-NRC in 1964. In

April, 1965, the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers included a session on "Geographical Data from Space," organized by Robert H. Alexander of the ONR. And in December, 1965, the American Association for the Advancement of Science included its first symposium on the "Remote Sensing of Environment" in an annual meeting. The

symposium was organized by this writer at the request of Section E, Geography and Geology, and was jointly sponsored by the Association of American Geographers. The content of the AAAS symposium illustrated both the interdisciplinary nature of the field of remote sensing and the increasing emphasis on the interpretation and application of data obtained by simul- taneous multispectral sensing of environment. Much has been achieved, but much more remains to be accomplished by the advancement of the systems and methodology for the quantitative and qualitative analysis of remotely sensed environment.-JAMES P. LATHAM

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

LANGUAGE: WHYS AND WHEREFORES. Perhaps the key question in all research is how to find out; to answer it, always anew and a little better, is the real and only job of scholars. Well, linguists have found out a great deal about language, in no small part because they were willing to concentrate deliberately on ways of finding out about a few of its many aspects. For example, they forbade themselves pretty consistently the pleasures of discussing "meaning" in its conventional sense, in spite of its being perhaps the most "obviously" im-

portant side of language; instead they stuck to the sounds and the formal rules of their com- bination. They also tended to bypass the whole matter of who speaks how and when-that is, the cultural and social aspects of language.

Now, if someone could find out just how the way individuals speak is related to such things as who and where they are, what they are doing, whom they address, and what their relation is to their hearers-if, in short, someone could show how to deduce the who, where, and when, reliably, from everything that people said-language would provide a nice economical tool for finding out a lot about cultural patterns and social arrangements. (In fact, it does, in everybody's daily life; but we haven't known how to make simple rules for its interpretation.) Any study dealing with man, including cultural geography, would gain enor- mously if its practitioners had verifiable, clear-cut ways to interpret the subtleties of speech as reliable sociocultural indicators.

A good field man in cultural geography, and more so in anthropology or sociology, often turns out to be a shrewd evaluator of individual biases and limitations that show up in his

291




informants' way of talking: this is just a gift of hunch. Many anthropologists and linguists have recognized this function of evaluation, and some have tried to put it on a more solid basis

by carefully formulating their observations and analyses. Many of their discoveries have been

displayed in an important book, Dell Hymes's "Language in Culture and Society: A Reader in Linguistics and Anthropology" (New York, Evanston, London, 1964).

Hymes musters a long and distinguished line of speculators and researchers on the rela-

tionships of language usage with culture and society, and happily, although the articles in sum do not simply tell us what the relationships are-that would be asking too much!-

they do largely concern the key question, how to find out. Taken together, the contributions, and also those to "The Ethnography of Communication" (edited by John J. Gumperz and Dell Hymes as a Special Publication of the American Anthropologist, Vol. 66, No. 6, Part 2,

1964), demonstrate that significant regular relations do in fact exist among speech, status, and custom. Only a modest number of relations can be documented, but there are enough good ones to make the proposition stick, and the way has been shown: the linguists know how to find out more.

The question then arises-once again, for the linguists-what they will choose to find out about. The contributors seem to dally indecisively between two kinds of determinism:

language-guiding-culture and culture-guiding-language. (I tuck social forms into "culture"

here.) It is the old problem of the chicken versus the egg. But at least the accumulated work establishes that it is not a "ham and egg" problem of simple juxtaposition of independent phenomena. The significant thing is that valuable knowledge can be gained by either

determinism, plus some determination.

Present-day linguistic maps are fascinating, if rather futile. Linguistic maps based on

"genetic" classifications seem, for the geographer, to have certain virtues an undfiir sich, and not much more: from them one learns the names of languages and their locations, or some

vague redundancies concerning the gross patterns of history. It is significant that Hymes and his colleagues give little place to the classification of languages. Indeed, the findings reported are enough to make one distrust the usual genetic classifications as indicators of

anything other than purely linguistic evolution. Nevertheless, they hold out a tantalizing yet realistic hope of new ways of regarding language that might make for much more fruitful

classifications of functional communities and subcommunities and fractional communities, and might enlighten us a great deal about relations among and within societies. Linguistic maps based on such principles should prove vastly more illunminating.

One of the relatively weak spots in these collections, though not in current linguistic work, concerns intercultural and intersocietal relations as affected by language. This may well

be the toughest enduring problem of humanity-the babel behind the bombs. Such questions as bilingualism, koines, and jargons, translation, degrees of interlanguage intelligibility, and in general what Uriel Weinreich has called "languages in contact" deserved more considera- tion.

The outlook is bright for making language tell us clearly things we always knew but

could never quite state, and for the disciplined, explicit interpretation of language usage as a

key to society and culture. The excellent bibliographies in Hymes's reader show how far the

effort has proceeded already. Clearly, we now know how to find out about language in

culture and society, and thereby how to find out more about culture and society.-PHILIP L.

WAGNER

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POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ECONOMIC UNDERDEVELOPMENT. With few

exceptions-among them Norton Ginsburg's "Atlas of Economic Development" (Chicago, 1961) and Sir Arthur Lewis's "Theory of Economic Growth" (London, 1955)-studies of economic development have seriously neglected the geographical distribution of the phenomena of underdevelopment. Recently a more general, but also a more political, view of the

geographical characteristics of underdevelopment has been presented by Keith Buchanan

(Profiles of the Third World, Pacific Viewpoint, Vol. 5, 1964, pp. 97-126), written around a series of nineteen cartograms. The base of the series is a cartogram in which the areas of countries are proportionate to their populations in the mid-195o's. Shadings of various in- tensities indicate characteristics of underdevelopment; for example, per capita gross national

product, food imports and consumption, percentage of population engaged in agricultural pursuits, diversification of exports, illiteracy, and degree of national integration. Particularly novel is a map of employment in service occupations (number of workers in tertiary occupations per hundred workers in industrial employment), which demonstrates the high degree of

tertiary employment in underdeveloped countries. Another map shows total aid per capita received by the underdeveloped countries in the late 1950's. In most countries aid does not exceed ten dollars per person per year and hence cannot do much to improve living standards radically and promptly. Together the series of maps permits geographical definition of the world's underdeveloped area-the "Third World"'-within a framework of population distribution.

The Third World is described as a "geo-political unity." Geographical definitions based on small-scale maps or, as in this case, on cartograms are open to serious criticism with respect to details or distortions. Such criticisms have been leveled against Mackinder and the

geopoliticians and can also be directed against Buchanan, who, however, is aware of these "very obvious weaknesses." Despite the significant homogeneity of the characteristics of

underdevelopment, no distinct personality emerges, and he stresses both the "protean" and the "inchoate" quality of the Third World.

From a purely economic point of view, the outlook for the underdeveloped countries

appears to be better now than that described by Buchanan. The West Indian economist Sir Arthur Lewis, relying mainly on United Nations statistical data, reports (A Review of Economic Development, Amer. Econ. Rev., Vol. 55, No. 2, 1965, pp. 1-16) that in the 1950's "gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 4.6 percent in Latin America, 4.2 percent in the Far East (excluding Japan and mainland China), 5.2 percent in Southern Asia, and 4.1 percent in Africa" (Lewis regards this last figure as probably too high). These rates definitely exceed the population growth, which was thought to be 2 percent per year but is "now accelerating disquietingly to 212 and 3 percent." According to Lewis, domestic- product growth rates exceeding 4.0 percent per year indicate that shortages of capital, en-

trepreneurship, skill, and foreign trade are not such formidable obstacles to economic growth in the underdeveloped world as many economists and politicians have believed them to be.

Each of the critical factors in economic growth listed above is analyzed by Lewis to account for this amazing development. Although the analysis is not concerned with geographical features or distributions, many observations of interest to geographers emerge. For example, in the 1950's, although the overall efficiency of capital (in terms of capital/ output ratios) increased substantially, the ratio of gross domestic saving to gross domestic

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product fell in Latin America as a whole (from 16.8 to 15.2 percent) but increased in Jamaica (from 12.2 to 16.1 percent), and, most important, in populous India (from about 6 percent net to about 8 percent net). Other underdeveloped countries appear to have only maintained past ratios; for example, Nigeria (between 8 and 9 percent). Entrepreneurship benefited generally from a more favorable "climate" than in previous decades and was aided by the spread of the knowledge of economic development theories, which helped, for instance, to explain external economies resulting from the geographical concentration of some economic activities.

Like Buchanan, Lewis criticizes the excessive growth of some towns in underdeveloped countries, especially in Africa. This urban growth he explains as "compounded by errors of

policy in industrial location and by concentrating development expenditures on these few

large towns, making them much more attractive than the villages and the small country towns in terms of water supplies, transportation, schools, . . and opportunities for unem-

ployment relief." Again like Buchanan, Lewis is concerned with the prices obtained for the exports of underdeveloped countries. He reports that the terms of trade for primary products, the main export of these countries, averaged higher in the 1950's than at any time in the preceding eighty years. Although these terms of trade deteriorated during the second half of the 1950's and until 1962, even in 1962 they were 5 percent higher than in 1929, the

year that preceded the great depression. Since 1962 terms of trade have again improved substantially in favor of the underdeveloped countries.

Although overall progress has been slow and highly uneven geographically, there is no doubt about the Third World's general economic advance. Indeed, with the development techniques now known, and described in such works as H. W. Singer's "International De-

velopment" (New York, 1964) and Paul Alpert's "Economic Development" (New York,

1963), greater advances than in the 1950's can be expected in the 196o's. Economic progress in the Third World may therefore prevent the evolution of another "geopolitical bloc," with its potentially disastrous consequences for mankind.-ALEXANDER MELAMID

GEOGRAPHICAL NEWS

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR QUATERNARY RESEARCH (INQUA). The campus of the University of Colorado in Boulder was the meeting place for the Seventh

Congress of the International Association for Quaternary Research, August 30 to September 5, 1965. The host institution was the University of Colorado, in cooperation with the Uni-

versity of Denver, the Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University, Colorado

College, the University of Wyoming, the United States Geological Survey, the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists, and the Colorado Scientific Society. The Congress was sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council. More than

seven hundred persons were registered for the Congress, representing forty-six countries. Outside the United States the greatest number came from Canada (59), and large groups came also from France (49), West Germany (36), the Soviet Union (31), England (21), and

Italy (20). A General Assembly opened the sessions, with Dr. Richard F. Flint, president of the

Congress, presiding. The members were welcomed on behalf of the United States, the State of Colorado, and the local host institutions, after which a short business meeting was held.

During the plenary session that followed, which ended the General Assembly, key addresses

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were delivered, by Dr. Flint, Dr. W. W. Bishop of Uganda, Dr. I. P. Gerasimov of the

Soviet Union, and Dr. C. G. Stephens of Australia. Section meetings, symposia, business transactions of the eight commissions constituting

INQUA, local field excursions, and a program of special tours and events rounded out the week. More than four hundred papers were given in the section meetings and the symposia, and one hundred additional papers made up the programs of symposia held during field conferences before and after the Congress. In the seventeen sections papers were grouped under "Present Environments and Processes," "Quaternary Regional Environment and

History," and "Inter-Regional Interpretations," and the subject matter touched on all phases of Quaternary study, among them Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary, paleomagnetic techniques in Quaternary correlation, Paleolithic cultures of northwestern Africa, climatic record in Red Sea cores, and Pleistocene tectonics in Schleswig-Holstein. The symposia were equally diversified. The eight organized for Boulder were "The Pattern and Cause of Pleistocene

Extinction," "Pre-Ceramic Archaeology of the American Quaternary," "Causes of Climatic

Change," "Late Cenozoic History and Environment of the Bering Land Bridge," "Quater-

nary History of the Ocean Basins," "The Making of the Pedologic Record of the Quater-

nary," "Arctic and Alpine Environments," and "Nile Valley Prehistory." Ten other symposia made up the programs of the field conferences, and, for the most part, these were cen- tered on various aspects of the regions in which the conferences took place. For example, the

symposium for the Upper Mississippi Valley Conference was "Relations of the Late-Wiscon- sin Vegetation History to the Glacial Sequence in the Great Lakes Region." A few conferences scheduled symposia of broader scope, exemplified by that on "Loess and Related Eolian De-

posits of the World," which was part of the joint Central Great Plains Conference and Upper Mississippi Valley Conference.

Seven field conferences preceded, and four followed, the general sessions in Boulder. Most ran for about two weeks, and only two lasted less than twelve days. Guidebooks printed for the conferences and distributed to all registrants of the Congress proved to be valuable and informative to participants and nonparticipants alike. The descriptions of the carefully planned routes, points of interest, and places of lodging, and the pertinent literature, maps, and stratigraphic sections for the stops, many of which represented classic localities, make the

guidebooks a noteworthy outcome of the Congress. The conferences and their respective guidebooks encompassed many sections of the United States, including central and south- central Alaska, and adjacent parts of Canada. In the conterminous United States points of

Quaternary importance were visited in New England-New York State, the central Atlantic coastal plain, the Mississippi Delta and the central Gulf Coast, the upper Mississippi Valley, the central Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, the Great Lakes-Ohio Valley, the arid

Southwest, the northern Great Basin and California, and the Pacific Northwest. The Pacific Northwest Conference, jointly run by United States and Canadian leaders,

can be cited as exemplary. With approximately thirty registrants, it originated in Portland,

Oregon, on September 5 and terminated in Seattle, Washington, on September 18. The

itinerary included stops on Mount St. Helens, Mount Rainier, the east side of the Cascades between Yakima and Snoqualmie Pass, in the Puget and Fraser Lowlands, and in British Columbia as far north as Kamloops. Emphasis was on Quaternary events, particularly mud- flows, ashfalls, and glacier features. The schedule of field excursions was interrupted at the

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THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

close of the first week by a day-long symposium at the University of Washington on late- Pleistocene environments of the region.

Mention should be made of the thirteen one-day field conferences that originated in Boulder. These took into account the glacial geology, geomorphology, economic geography, hydrology, pedology, plant ecology and geography, and archeology in the environs of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains and adjacent areas to the east.

An official review volume, "The Quaternary of the United States," edited by Dr. H. E.

Wright, Jr., of the University of Minnesota and Dr. David G. Frey of Indiana University, was published for the Congress by Princeton University Press, and a copy was presented to each member upon registration. In its fifty-five papers the volume "provides a broad sample of American scientists and disciplines involved in the study of the Quaternary in all of its manifestations." Other publications commemorated the Congress by devoting issues to it

(Anierican Journal of Science, Summer, 1965; Geological Society of America Special Paper 84, "International Studies on the Quaternary").

The general sessions concluded with a banquet at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver, at which Dr. Gerald M. Richmond, secretary-general of the Congress, received a standing ovation for his effective role in the organization of the Congress. Appreciation was also ex- tended to Dr. William C. Bradley, chairman of the Local Committee, and to the other

principal figures who played essential parts in making the Congress altogether stimulating, rewarding, and memorable. The Eighth INQUA Congress is scheduled to meet in Paris in 1969.-CALVIN J. HEUSSER

OBITUARY

CHARLES CARLYLE COLBY (1884-1965). Although Charles Colby is recognized as a

leading figure of American geography in the first half of this century, his impact on the pro- fession is harder to measure than that of most of his contemporaries. For, though almost

every one of his publications is noted for its contribution to geographic thought, his most

lasting imprint was made on the minds of his students and colleagues, not on the pages of the professional journals. His greatest gift was his ability to stimulate the minds of others to think and to inquire. His lectures brimmed with his enthusiasm for geography, and the student was rare who was not swept away by it. He presented material sharply and clearly and offered exciting questions rather than pat answers. He had an abiding concern for students and the rare ability to discover the strong points of a person or a term paper. Thus his students

regularly accomplished more than even they felt capable of doing. Fortunately for geography, Charles Colby's skill as a teacher was localized for thirty-two

years at the University of Chicago in one of the country's major departments. There he directed more theses and dissertations than any other staff member. Consequently, his stu-

dents, as teachers and researchers, provided a major base upon which American geography since 1920 has developed.

As a result of his training under Mark Jefferson at Michigan State Normal College and his early teaching posts at the Minnesota State Normal School, Winona, and the George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Colby maintained an interest in the teaching of

geography at all levels at a time when this was not fashionable in graduate schools. He was active in the National Council of Geography Teachers and in 1931, with Alice Foster, wrote the standard economic geography used in high schools for more than twenty years.

close of the first week by a day-long symposium at the University of Washington on late- Pleistocene environments of the region.

Mention should be made of the thirteen one-day field conferences that originated in Boulder. These took into account the glacial geology, geomorphology, economic geography, hydrology, pedology, plant ecology and geography, and archeology in the environs of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains and adjacent areas to the east.

An official review volume, "The Quaternary of the United States," edited by Dr. H. E.

Wright, Jr., of the University of Minnesota and Dr. David G. Frey of Indiana University, was published for the Congress by Princeton University Press, and a copy was presented to each member upon registration. In its fifty-five papers the volume "provides a broad sample of American scientists and disciplines involved in the study of the Quaternary in all of its manifestations." Other publications commemorated the Congress by devoting issues to it

(Anierican Journal of Science, Summer, 1965; Geological Society of America Special Paper 84, "International Studies on the Quaternary").

The general sessions concluded with a banquet at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver, at which Dr. Gerald M. Richmond, secretary-general of the Congress, received a standing ovation for his effective role in the organization of the Congress. Appreciation was also ex- tended to Dr. William C. Bradley, chairman of the Local Committee, and to the other

principal figures who played essential parts in making the Congress altogether stimulating, rewarding, and memorable. The Eighth INQUA Congress is scheduled to meet in Paris in 1969.-CALVIN J. HEUSSER

OBITUARY

CHARLES CARLYLE COLBY (1884-1965). Although Charles Colby is recognized as a

leading figure of American geography in the first half of this century, his impact on the pro- fession is harder to measure than that of most of his contemporaries. For, though almost

every one of his publications is noted for its contribution to geographic thought, his most

lasting imprint was made on the minds of his students and colleagues, not on the pages of the professional journals. His greatest gift was his ability to stimulate the minds of others to think and to inquire. His lectures brimmed with his enthusiasm for geography, and the student was rare who was not swept away by it. He presented material sharply and clearly and offered exciting questions rather than pat answers. He had an abiding concern for students and the rare ability to discover the strong points of a person or a term paper. Thus his students

regularly accomplished more than even they felt capable of doing. Fortunately for geography, Charles Colby's skill as a teacher was localized for thirty-two

years at the University of Chicago in one of the country's major departments. There he directed more theses and dissertations than any other staff member. Consequently, his stu-

dents, as teachers and researchers, provided a major base upon which American geography since 1920 has developed.

As a result of his training under Mark Jefferson at Michigan State Normal College and his early teaching posts at the Minnesota State Normal School, Winona, and the George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Colby maintained an interest in the teaching of

geography at all levels at a time when this was not fashionable in graduate schools. He was active in the National Council of Geography Teachers and in 1931, with Alice Foster, wrote the standard economic geography used in high schools for more than twenty years.

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