166 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



of the Mediterranean was not dreaded, and that their geo- 

 graphical knowledge of the western end of the sea was 

 probably fairly complete. That there were local difficulties 

 and dangers which rumour and distance unduly magnified 

 was probably expressed by the popular saying in Pindar,* 

 '■ Neither wise man nor fool gets beyond the Pillars of 

 Hercules." 



It is not necessary to go into the curious fancies of the 

 Ionian school of philosophers concerning the form of the 

 earth. Pythagoras and his followers seem to have been 

 acquainted with the idea of the spherical form of the earth, 

 and it is believed that they adopted this view from the inter- 

 course which enabled them to learn the astronomical informa- 

 tion possessed by the Chaldeans and Egyptians. 



Scientific inquiry began to emerge from the mists of philo- 

 sophical speculation, and about four hundred and fifty years 

 before the present era we find a more scientific spirit animat- 

 ing the literary men of the day. At this period appears 

 Herodotus, of Halicarnassus, a great name among the writers 

 of antiquity, who, besides his more common titles of the father 

 of history — and lies — may be regarded as the founder of the 

 science of physical geography. Here in his writings we get 

 tlie opyvid, the sailor's measure, the fathom, as the measure 

 of both length and depth. In his writings the circumfluent 

 ocean disappears, and he says, "I cannot help laughing a little 

 at those who undertake to describe the contours of the lands 

 without any facts to guide them ; for example, who represent 

 the ocean as embracing the entire world in its course — who 

 make it round, as if drawn with a pair of compasses."! 

 In both his historical and geographical work he seems to have 

 preferred drawing from the living fount of oral tradition, but 

 without perceiving the necessary shortcomings of such a record. 

 In the matter of his credibility, it is necessary to distinguish 

 between the trustworthiness of the historian himself and the 

 trustworthiness of his authorities. As to the former, there is 

 no occasion for doubting his personal good faith, or for dis- 

 believing his assertion that he reproduced faithfully all that 

 he heard. He exercises no scientific criticism of his autho- 

 rities, nor does he allow for the weakness of oral tradition. 

 But, w'hile we may believe that Herodotus repeated what he 

 had heard, it is impossible to have the same confidence in his 

 authorities. Modern research has shown that he has been led 

 into many mistakes by ignorant or malicious informants, and 

 in his historical writings a distinctly Periclean bias is visible. 

 Further afield were the voyages of Scylax, of Caryanda, down 

 the Indus and into the Persian Gulf ; and the expedition sent 



* Olymp., iii., 80. t Herod., iv., 36. 



