New-York tribune., 1877-03-10
THE BRITISH BOOK WORLD.
HOW A GAZETTEER WAS REVISED.

PARTISAN STATISTICS UNCHANGED BY YEARS
PUBLIC BUILDINGS MIsNAMED.
(FRoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT or THE TRIBUsEI
LONDON. Feb 21.-Messrs. Longmans have just
published new edition of JohnstOns " General
Dictionary of Geography" which they call thor
oughy revised" The name Of its distinguished
author is retained upon the title page but the Alex
andcr Keith Johnston who did in his timcsomething
to redeem English geographical science from the re-
proac that Justly rests it, died nearly SIX years
ago. The present edition seems to have been pre-
pared by a Mr.. J. H. Lamprey. who signs the preface
to it, The old prefaces have been suppressed, Dut
Mr. Larnprey tells in his that the Gazetteer mas
been corrected up to the latest date III respect OF
the statistics of all the States OF all the civilized
world. whether as regards population, hnahces'
shipping. industry, trade, and commerce." Ana ne
hopes that his efforts will maintain if not increase the
high character Of the book II the truth must ne
told il never had, or, at any rate, never deserved
a very high character. 1t has been popular because
it was so far as | know, the best Dictionary OF
Geography in a single volume accessible To the Eli
glish public As this edition has not been reprinted
from old stereotype plates, there was an opportunity
to improve it in many important particulars; putthe
opportunity has been neglected. II is true that
good deal of recent information has been embodied
''|'-
added. It would hardly he possible to reissue
Gazetteer and take no notice of recent changes III
the map of Europe But the work of revision has
been done mechanically and most imperfectly, OF
which it may he well to give an example or two
Take Washington. What sort of a notion OF the
capital of the United States will the InquiriDg
Brion who consults this Gazetteer getY The account
is something half a column long. and mistakes
are discOyeraDle in il, even on hasty reading FOR
the Anacesta we have AnacOOta. The Capitol IL de
scrlbed having several dOes, and as having been
greatly enlarged in 1851, the fact being that the
enlargement was begun in that year and not COM
pleted till 1867. The grounds about the Capitol
are reckoned at % acres, instead OF 5ll2 ana III
these % acres the Smithsonian Institution is To-
catedw The area of the navy-yard Is given as IL
instead of 81 acres Of the III churches in the
citv the Gazetteer recognizes only 80, but ii makes
up for this in a measure by completing the Washing
ton Monument, which with a temple at the base
and shaft in all COO feet high has been erected by
public subscription" The article concludes thus:
Mount Washington, the principal peak OF the
White Mountains in New Hampshire is G,2S8 feet
high. President Lincoln was assassinated at Wash
iugton, April IA, 1863. Alt of obs, 6,2S5 feet"
This is what Mr.. Lamprey means by careful
revision" The whole article Is nearly verbatim
reprint of that in the edition of 1867, which was
itself reprint of that published in 1864 from the
oil plates the line about President Lincols assassi-
nation having then been squeezed in at the end,
where though the whole paper has since been reset.
it remains in all its grotesqucness leaving the reader
to doubt whether Booth did not fire his fatal shot
from the top of the principal peak of the White
Mountains. The careful revision has consist' d III
the insertion of the words "P. QS7O 100, l99,' and
substituting 27l, 800 for $4,000 as the number OF
books in the Congress library.
Take Ncw-York. A list IL gwen in the Gazetteer of
=" elegant public streets" They "Greenwich,
East Broadway, Henry, Madison, BECKER and
Bond-sts and the. Bowery" The Merchant Ex-
change is in Wall-st. and built of granite, but
new Custom house has been discovered OF white
marble fav0rite material with the reviser for his
" new pOst-Oiiice" is constructed OF the same ma
teral. The only hotel he knows by name is the
Astor; though he is aware in a general way that
there are several other vast hotels" You VIII be
Glad to hear that the suspension bridge over the
East River is finished. The date of the figures for
the export Of breadstuffs is 1868. An account is
given of the Croton Aqueduct, the cost Of which Is
stated at $l5O00,O00. The cost was, IN
fact. up to 1875. $25,000,O0O. The ca
pacity of the Fifth Avenue Reservoir is
rightly put at 2O,OOC,G COO gallons, but the capacity
of the receiving reservoir in Central Park 150 000
coo gallons, is not stated and we hear nothing Uf
the retaining reservoir above, which holds 1,030,-
O0O. 900 gallons. Besides the Croton Aqueduct and
Greenwood Cemetery, the "Other' public institu-
tons are the New-iork Hospital, Dfrrnary. deaf
mute and lunatc asylu;ns, and Long Island Farms,
n fund for provision OF destitute children" those
and no others whatever unless banks, theaters,
studios, and many large storehouses' are to be
accounted such The whole article is meager and
lNlr Anna NOT
consider New-York as belonging. to any State
of the civilized" world, so let us look at a
European subject Before quitting America | may
add that YOU will hunt in vain for West Virginia as
separate title though its existence as State is ac-
kuowledged under Virginia :" that Colorado is de-
scrbed at the beginning as State, but at the end
still sends one delegate" to Congress- which is all
the more mysterious because in The edition OF 1867
Colorado had already been made to figure as State
and even a date for Its admission to the Union,
1850. invented that Nebraska undergoes still more
extraordinary treatment the date of its admission
as State, 1867 being correctly given, but the old
territorial organization depicted in full force, and
the reader being assured that "the Government
officers are all appointed by the President of the
United States"
Now for glance at Paris through Mr.. Lampreys
spectacles Its population has undergone some luc-
tuations in different editions Of the Gazetteer"
In the edition of 1864 Paris said to possess IN the
year 1861, G9G, III inhabitants. The present edi-
ton reduces the population that yearto 800 l29.
Taking the latter as the revised and more correct
figure you will be struck by the fact that while in
1872 the population had increased by more than
SOC, ,OO0-in 1872 there were 1851 1872 inhabitants
other statistics remain unaltered. In 1861, there
were about 10000 master tailors shoemakers, hat
ters, furriers, dressmakers. and millners. In
1877 the number is the same. In 1861
these master talors and master dressmak-
ers, &C., employed exactly 10000 men and
women and they employ exactly 10000 men and