A National Atlas of Britain

Summary

PROPOSALS for a National Atlas of Great Britain and Northern Ireland were first put forward from Section E (Geography) of the British Association at the Cambridge meeting in 1938. They met with a warm response from several other sections, with the result that a representative committee got to work and was able to present a preliminary plan for the Atlas in the form of a report to the Association at its Dundee meeting, which has been already noticed in NATURE*. Just before the break-up of the meeting, a joint discussion of the report by interested sections took place, and it is here proposed to outline the ideas concerning the Atlas which emerged during this discussion. As will presently appear, many problems still await solution, but these can fruitfully be examined during the period in which more active steps must wait upon the national emergency.