Apropos of the Adriatic question discussed in to-day's leading article one wonders whether as an outcome of the war people will take to' studying geography more than they did before it. Half the troubles of the world and more than those of the peace. conference arose through ignorance of the map. It is rumoured (not without some reason, they say) that when the name of Dalmatia was mentioned at Versailles, one member of the august Council of Five wanted to know where it was. Teschen, a matter of vast importance to the Czechs, was terra absolutely incognita to. the Supreme Council and much offence was caused thereby. It is quite certain that Versailles never really tang. Now we have the new Baltic understood the geography of Shan-
states of Esthonia, Latvya and Lithuania, replacing the old Estland, Livland and Courland, the geographical and consequently political importance of which how many appreciate? During the War we all became familiar with such famous unpronounceabilities as Przemysl and Szezyezyn. How many of us now could point confidently to them on the map? An English public school education involved learning how. to draw maps frou memory of ancient Greece and portions of the Roman Empire. But if any of the boys had been asked suddenly to say where the Straits Settlements were, ther would have been dumb. Even the old catch about which lies further east, Edinburgh or Liverpool, sets many guessing; and people who complain of the day time heat in August at Weihaiwei do not stop to think that it lies further south than Naples which no one would look on as a summer resort. We may add that we know no zoography ourselves. and have only "smugged up" a few places on the map for Feb. 27,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.