The growth of commerce has been in di rect ratio to the extent and rapidity of geo graphical discovery. Some of the conditions which are favorable or unfavorable to trade are quite obvious. An indented continental out line and navigable rivers reaching the interior are most desirable features. In these respects Europe and North America are fortunate. Asia also is penetrated by arms of the sea, but her largest rivers, like the northern streams of North America, are practically useless, be cause they arc tributary to an inhospitable frozen sea. Africa has no breaks in its con tour and its rivers reach the sea by dropping from a plateau. Though lying next to Europe it baffled both the curiosity and the greed of her adventurers until the latter half of the 19th century. South America is not wanting in inlets and her river systems are remarkable, yet very little is known of some portions of the interior. It becomes evident that latitude is an important factor in the case of both Africa and South America. The torrid heat, the burning desert and the deadly fever were obstacles which the African explorer dreaded. The stag nation of Amazonian regions in South Amer ica is also explained when their tropical posi tion is considered. Aside from topography and climate, the character of the inhabitants has much to do with the success of commercial intercourse.
Commerce has expanded because man has been able to meet and to overcome natural ob stacles. He has to a great extent eliminated
time and distance by cutting canals through isthmuses, by connecting the shores of the oceans by continental railroads, by the substi tution of steam vessels for those propelled by the wind and by girdling the globe with the telegraph. He has modified climate both as to rainfall and healthfulness by the planting or removal of trees and by drainage of the ground. By irrigation he has made the afid waste productive and fruitful. At the begin ning of the 19th century, the merchant was obliged to visit the region in which he desired to purchase his commodities and to carry with him the money for payment. Now, by the aid of a cosmopolitan system of credit, he may within a few hours buy in part of the globe and sell in another without leaving his office, Bibliography.— Charnult, P., 'Des Bases Methodologiques de la Geeoographie Humaine) (Revue de Philosophic, Paris 1914); 'Grande Geographic Bong Illustree' (Paris 1911-14) ; Markham, C. R, 'The History of the Gradual Development of the Groundwork of Geographi cal Science (Geographical Journal, London, 1915); Mill, H. R., as editor, 'The Interna tional Geography,' by 70 authors (New York )912) ; Suess, E., 'La Face de la Terre' (Was Antlitz der Erde,> trans. and annotated by Exnm. de Margerie, Tome III, 2° partie, Paris 1911, and other parts and dates).
F. B.• Gan" A.M., Former Sec. Geographical Soc. of Philadelphia.