i895. THE SIXTH GEOGRAPHICAL CONGRESS. 243 



in their place, which is necessarily fixed, but on a journey a full 

 record of wind direction and force, and of cloud types and movements, 

 with "weather notes," would be infinitely more valuable, and not half 

 the trouble to keep. And yet few travellers know how to make the 

 observations. 



In the matter of geographical education, which only came 

 before a Section, the discussion was more one-sided, this country 

 being so far behind most of the others represented at the Congress. 

 It was evident, however, that we have begun to move in the right 

 direction, and the speed may increase geometrically ; for it is only 

 by geographical education we can learn that what is for the most part 

 at present taught as such, is not geography, and, until we learn that, 

 geographical education will probably remain more or less defective. 



Another general meeting considered ancient maps, and for the 

 benefit of future congresses an excellent resolution was passed 

 pointing out to all cartographers and map-publishers that the value 

 of their productions was greatly increased when they bore the date of 

 their publication. Historical maps were rather a specialty of the 

 Congress, by reason of the quite exceptional merit of Mr. Ravenstein's 

 exhibition illustrating the rise and progress of cartography. This 

 collection contained specimens of no less than thirty of the fifty-three 

 known editions of Ptolemy, beginning with the " Geographia in terza 

 rima," published at Florence in 1478, besides such treasures as the 

 Queen's Leonardo da Vinci maps, the Mollineux globe from the 

 Middle Temple Library, the " Henry H." map belonging to the 

 Earl of Crawford, and endless others. 



In the sectional meetings one had, of course, more opportunity of 

 seeing " how it was done," and of being impressed with the variety of 

 special subjects which legitimately fall within the range of geography. 

 Surveying, like everything else, has become indebted to photo- 

 graphy. Dr. Schlichter's application of it to the measurement of lunar 

 distances is already well-known, and a modification of his method, 

 which Captain Hills described, excited some interest. In drawing 

 maps the uses of photography promise to be endless, and several very 

 ingenious instruments have already done practical work, notably a 

 combined theodolite and camera described by Mr. Schrader, and a 

 "panoram" for producing photographs of the whole horizon, invented 

 by Colonel Stewart and exhibited to the Congress by Air. Coles. If 

 we bear in mind, as Mr. de Dechy pointed out, that photography must 

 always be mixiliary to triangulation, there seems no reason to suppose 

 that a map constructed from a few fixed points and a number of 

 photographs should contain serious errors. Indeed, Mr. Coles has 

 already proved that it need not, by his map of parts of the Caucasus, 

 founded almost wholly on such data. 



Geodesy is one of those subjects in which even a moderate 

 amount of progress represents an enormous quantity of work. The 

 papers by General Walker and Mr. A. de Smidt, late Surveyors 



s 2 



