750 GEOGRAPHICAL LATITUDE. 



among savages this conception seems to be lacking. But as soon as one 

 forms an idea of the whole and begins to comprehend its vastness, 

 there arises the necessity of systematic division, in order to avoid men- 

 tal confusion. Even among fairly educated people of to-day, there ex- 

 ists frequently no adequate conception of the size of the various conti- 

 nents, not to speak of the earth as a whole. Thoughtful men at an 

 early period recognized this necessity of division and hit upon a rude 

 method for establishing one ; but there was a long distance between 

 the first crude trials and the marvellous accuracy of the methods, in- 

 struments, and results of the present. From the conception to the at- 

 tempt at pictorial representation was a step which was certain sooner 

 or later to be taken, and progress in the art of map-making has held 

 equal pace with the advance of geographical science. 



Sphericity of earth. — As the theories of the orientals as to the form 

 and nature of the earth generally rested upon fantasy, and not upon a 

 scientific basis, they may be neglected in the consideration of the sub- 

 ject in hand, and the attention beat once directed to the Greeks,^ who 

 created the science of geography. 



The beginnings of astronomy and geography were very closely con- 

 nected; not as now, when the earth is recognized as a mere atom in 

 the immensity of the universe, but considering the earth as the very 

 center, toward which all was attracted ^ and around which the uni- 

 verse revolved.^ As to who first taught the dochrine of the sphericity 

 of the earth it is difficult to decide. To Thales,^ Parmenides,* and 

 Pythagoras,^ respectively, this honor is ascribed. However that may 

 be, there was scientific proof of the doctrine lacking till the great 

 minds of Aristotle and Archimedes took the subject in hand.^ Before 

 scientific grounds were arrived at, various reasons were given by the 

 several j^hilosophers for their opinions. The well known one of the 

 Pythagorean school, that the earth, being the center of the universe, 

 must have the most perfect form, viz, spherical, is perhaps as good as 

 any. Strabo, although much later, considers it sufficient to maintain 

 that the spherical form of the earth follows, as a matter of course, from 

 the construction of the universe.^ 



' Delambre, Astron. ancienue, i, ix. " C'est done chez lea Grecs, et chez eux seuls, 

 qu'il uous faut chercher I'origine et les inonuments d'une science qu'ila ont cr66e et 

 que seuls ils out eu les moyens de cr6er." 



Lelewel, vii. " Ils [les Grecs] ont pu voir et examiner les cartes 6gyptienne8, pb6- 

 nicienues et des orientaux: mais 11 u'y tronvaient rieu pourleur scheme, qu'ils61abo- 

 raient sur leur propre terrain." 



UJrosskurd's Strabo, lib. ii, Abt. iv. s^ 2. Vol. i.' p. 180. 



^Maunert, i. 98. 



■• Delambre, Astron. aucienne, i, 14. 



i^Sprenger, Ausland, 1867, p. 104.'). 



•^Miidler, Gescb. d. Himmelskuude, i. 38,39. 



^ Giintber, Geopbysik, i. 130. , 



^Forbiger's Strabo, lib. i. cap. iii. ^ 3. p. 77 78, 



