HOW THE EARTH WAS EXPLORED IN 1876. 553 



And so the history goes on, geographical facts being mingled with 

 fable, superstition, ancient mythology, and modern theology, until the 

 era of maritime discovery, inaugurated by adventurers like Columbus, 

 who discovered a new continent, and Magalhaens, who first circum- 

 navigated the globe. From that period the advance of geographical 

 knowledge has been in a great measure freed from the embarrassments 

 of superstition, and has been steady and rapid in all the various fields 

 of exploration. 



-- 



HOW THE EARTH WAS EXPLORED IN 1876. 1 



FROM JUDGE DALY'S ADDRESS. 



FROM the mode of regarding the earth entertained in old times, 

 let us now pass to the modern method, and what has been accom- 

 plished by geographical investigation in a single year. No better 

 illustration can be found of the great change which science has 

 wrought in the mental habits of man than the contrast between the 

 empty speculations of the olden time, and the immense and positive 

 results of observation and exploration by which our geographical 

 knowledge has been augmented, in even a single year. Judge Daly's 

 annual resume of the previous year's work in geographical inquiry, 

 given before the society of which he is president, is so careful, so 

 ti*ust worthy, and so complete, that it is looked for with eagerness 

 by many readers. By his kind permission, we avail ourselves of the 

 discourse, condensing some parts and quoting others. Those who do 

 not like this mangling of an author's work had better get the dis- 

 course in its full text, which will be issued in pamphlet form. 



We are informed that the past year has been marked, not only by 

 investigations and discourses, but by the establishment of several new 

 geographical societies, and a large increase in the membership of the 

 old. Having their origin in the " Society of the Argonauts" founded 

 in Venice in 1688, there are now thirty-eight such societies in exist- 

 ence. Physical geography, to which I shall first refer, is a line of 

 inquiry in which there has been great activity during the past year, 

 as shown by the number of works that have been published, and the 

 papers that have been read upon the various branches of this great 

 subject. 



"At a meeting of the British Association at Glasgow, last Septem- 

 ber, Sir William Thomson considered the subject of the interior of 

 the earth. He said that the greatest depth that had been reached in 

 observations of underground temperature was scarcely one kilometre 



1 Condensed from the annual address of Chief-Justice Charles P. Daly, President of 

 the American Geographical Society, delivered January, 1877. 



