The Cairo bulletin., 1907-07-04
N FACTs'ABOUT MAPS.
Germany the Great! Source OF Them
N Methods Of Manufactures.

y -~~NIetIlOuS vi NhNnUENatuHC.
Germany has the largest and most
famous map amalSing establishment
In the world. 1t vas founded by a
| poor map maker named Perthes In
the little town OF Gotha more than
l2o years ago
The equipment OF the establish
ment now is surprising. The geo
graphical library Of this house com
| tains over 200 volumes 1t is
4 about twice as large as any similar
library in America. and every book is
4 so fully indexed by the card system
that all the best information about
every mountain, river, cape or other
geographical feature that has been
described may be obtained in few
minutes
This establishment has also q col
lection OF over ! so 900 maps 1t has
all the route surveys Of explorers
and all the sheets Of topographic and
other surveys which the nations have
produced.
This Gotha house is mentioned
here merely because It heads the list
OF the great map houses. There are
number of others, especially in
Germany, France. Scotland, Austria
Iand Holland which approximate, IL
| they have not entirely attained, the
highest standard OF the Gotha house.
II we should inspect any of these
map plants and see the corps OF
geographers compiling data for new
maps and the busy rooms where the
steel and copper engravers, the
| photographers. the photographers. the
| hand colorists, the bookbinders and
others perform their daily tasks we
should be impressed with the fact
that the production of first-class
maps requires a large variety of sci
enttic talent and highly trained tech
nical skill
The wax process OF map produc-
tion used In nearly all American map
houses IL not employed in any Of
the leading European establishments
They do not regard it as a medium
through which they can attain the
best results.
We need not infer that these map
makers ever produce an absolutely
perfect map A photographic product
without blemish was never made.
The reason Is that single misspell-
Ing or the slight misdirection of
line IS a bunder One sheet may con-
tain the essence OF many books and
many maps. and the best that hui
man nature can do Is to take every
possible precaution. within the limits
Of its frailty to tell the truth.
There are famous geographers
who study maps more than they do
books. Dr.. Wagner, the professor of
geography In the university of Gott-
ingen, has never been great travel
Ter but lie is celebrated for his
knowledge of regional geography
while ago he wrote a very large
book on the geography of the earth,
In which he said that he had derived
the greater part of the material for
the book from his study 81 nsa,as lIn
was able to do this because in the
past half century cartogra aphers have
developed to a high degree of per-
fection the art of presenting clear
and vivid picture of all the geograph-
ical conditions of the regions con
cerned
A first rate map is Il short road TO
geographical knowledge Suppose
we wish to learn something of the
history OF the exploration Of Africa
which. hundreds OF explorers have
gridironed with their routes. How
MANY scores of volumes we should
have TO examine II we were TO f@ek
this information In books!
But there is a map of Africa In
eight large sheets which gives the
route OF all the explorers who had
contributed TO our knowledge of
Africa up to the time the map was
prepared. We see all the discoveries
they made, and the colors show the
nature Of the various regions
through which they passed. This
map gives II bird's-eye view of the
whole great subject of African eX-
pioration.
Bat many maps are very poor. and
the public would not buy them II
they knew how Inaccurate and mis-
leading they are. They are usually
the output of craftsmen who work
without geographical supervision
There will he less demand for such
misinforming products when more
school children are taught to distin-
guish between good and a poor
map.