Page:1899 The Growth of Cities in the Nineteenth Century.djvu/32

4 degree of refinement. In other words, when does a dwelling centre cease to be rural and become urban?

One method of studying the spatial relations of men and communities to one another is by measuring the density of population; the more human beings to the square mile, the closer together must be their habitations. The limitations upon the use of this method are, however, very considerable. Given two districts of equal population and territorial extent, there will be equal density; but in one case, the population may be scattered in small communities, and in the other congregated in a few large centres. In the latter case the average density will not be a true average; for example, to say that the average number of persons to the square kilometer in the province of Brandenburg, including the city of Berlin, is 112, is to give a ratio that is true neither of the rural part of the province (70) nor of Berlin itself (26,456). And when it is said that in California there are 7.78 persons to the square mile, in New Hampshire 41.81, it does not follow that in California the people are scattered and in New Hampshire agglomerated. On the contrary, 41 per cent. of the Californians dwell in towns of 10,000 or more inhabitants, and in New Hampshire only 25 per cent. Or compare