HOW MAPS ARE MADE.* 



By W, B. Blakie. 



The subject on wliicli I am deputed to address you to-uight is wliat, 

 ill the slaug of the day, may be described as "a very hirge order." 

 Tiiough the title seems simple euough, the subject itself is so large and 

 it spreads and ramifies itself through so many arts and sciences, that 

 the temptation to go off from tlie distinct line of my subject into the 

 different branches that introduce tliemselves is great, and all these 

 branches are to me so interesting, that 1 have found great difficulty in 

 confining myself strictly to the story of how a map is made, I have 

 forced myself, however, to stay on tlie center line of map-making, and 

 i hope, before the evening is over, to give you a clear and distinct idea 

 of the principles on which a map is made, for the subject of my paper 

 is not "How maps are drawn," but "How maps are made;" and I 

 will attempt to show you the naked machinery of the process. 



I have often been amazed at the popular ignorance of what would 

 seem to be the very first principles of geography and of map-making, 

 and this has induced me to begin at the very A B C of the subject. 1 

 intend throughout this paper to avoid technical phrases and mathe- 

 matical terms. I have nothing new to tell you; much that 1 am about 

 to say is known to every j)erson here present, and I ask you to bear 

 with me if occasionally I seem childish in my descriptions. 



One thing more I should like to premise, and that is, that in this 

 paper I do not propose to go into any great detail, or to confuse any- 

 one here with the numberless scientific corrections and modifi.catious 

 that have to be made in all scientific calculations. 1 will speak only 

 on general principles; those who know the science thoroughly will 

 understand the modifications necessary, while those who have not the 

 same advantage will, I trust, be able to grasp the principles of what is 

 shown. 



My intention tonight is to show (1) how a spectator finds his position 

 on the earth's surface; (2) how he defines and records that position; 

 (3) how he makes a map from the information he has found; (4) how he 

 fills up the details of that map; and (5) briefly to describe how the map 



* Read at meetings of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in l-^diuljurgh and 

 Glasgow, April, 1891 {Scottish Ocofjrapliical Magazine, 1891; vol. vii, pp. 419, 434). 



419 



