The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1903-02-18
MAKING MAPS A FINE ART.
A Novel Method Which Has Been Do
vlsed by a Bostonlan.


nomlcs department at the Massachu-
setts Institute of Technology, has de-
vised simple and interesting method
Of building up statistical maps that Is
likely to make popular a good deal Of
curious Information which has been
neglected In the past because there
was no inexpensive way Of putting II
on paper intelligibly and entertaining.
".
The old.fashioned method of max.
ing graphic maps, as they are called,
was to print them In dleffrent colors
or In different shades Of the same COL
or by the lithographic process-which
involves a separate printing for each
shade and is altogether q costly thing
to do. A modification Of the principle
of the lithographic map was Prof. Rip
ley's idea. Instead of printing this
map in outline first and then printing
each shade or color upon 1t separate
ly, he pasted the various tints repre-
sented by shadings In black and white
upon his outline foundation and then
made plates Of the resulting patch
work.
The idea is SO interesting and is ca
pable Of so manyapplicatlons which
are both entertaining and instructive
that II is worth describing. The nec-
essary equipment for building the
maps is simple-a good map to use as
a model, a sheet Of tracing paper, q
carbon copying sheet and some "stip-
pleboard," which is kind of paper
ruled In fine parallel black lines on q
sort Of corcuroy surface SO that 1t has
a grayish tint. Scraping the stipple-
board gently with sharp knife chang
es the black lines to dots, SO that the
shade Of gray appears lighter, and
rubbing 1t lightly With carbon or cray.
on brings out cross lines on the whole
sheet. BY sufficient scrapiag or car
born rubbing stippleboard can be
made pure white or dead black.
Suppose. for example, a student
wishes to depict In such way that
the meaning shall be evident at a
glance how public health is dependent
upon the quality Of the water supply,
and how important a factor a good
system of water works Is. Having set
tied on the range of percentages which
his shades of color must represent.
and having divided the statistical fig-
ures-which are so meaningless to
many people-in accordance with this
plan, he first traces from an atlas the
outline of the United States with its
various subdivisions on his transpar-
ent paper and then by means of car
bon sheet transfers 1t to piece OF
stiff cardboard, which is the basis Of
his final map. Beginning up In one
corner of the country, with the state
Of Washington, he would transfer the
outlines Of the state to stippleboard
and shade it by erasures OF by black
ing so as to express his statistics OF
the Washington water supply in &C.
cordance with scheme of tint grada-
ticns, each state having its special
tint.
Then he would cut out its northern
and western boundaries with the scis-
sors, letting the south and east sides
go untrimmed, and paste 1t down in
its proper place on the cardboard
with Oregon and Idaho-except that
they must each be of different shade,
of course, In accordance with their
special fgures--he would stick them
down so that they overlapped the un-
trimmed edges of Washington, just as
shingles overlie one another on root.
and thus keep on in the same way un-
til he has shingled the entire map
down to Florida, which, being the last
piece to take its place, must be cut
out on all sides. Rivers and the coast
line are drawn in with ink, and where
ever the shingles" overlap into the
ocean they are scraped white with q
penknife.
II the range of figure is very wide
1t may be necessary to supplement the
four or five shades which 1t is possible
70 produce by means Of the stipple-
board with intermediate tints. and for
this purpose paper is specially printed
In the required gradations. The in
terest that can be got out Of this sim.
Pile paste-and-scissors process Of
graphical statistics by the amateur,
the student, the scientist or author is
almost without limit for there is hard.
ly any series of facts that cannot be
thus pictured. A great advantage ofthe
process-apart from its simplicity-ds
its inexpensiveness for reproduction.
PHILADELPHIA Record.