TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 173 
| has published beautiful maps, both of the island of Sardinia and of the continental 
Fle 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 
territories, on the following scales, 5555500; 800,000, 500,000, 50,000, 50,000; 25,000." 
Germany has adopted the same method, although it has not yet obtained the full 
advantage of using the metrical system for commerce and other ordinary transactions, 
The kingdoms of Bavaria and Wurtemburg and the Electorate of Hesse Cassel, 
together with some of the neighbouring duchies, employ the General Staff of each 
country in executing maps on the same scale, which is that of 1 to 50,000. Thus the 
maps of these several governments fit one another like the dissected maps of our English 
counties, There is also a Topographical Atlas of Bavaria, the scale of which is 
Sa oa published in 1843. 
Spain and Portugal have decreed that the metrical system shall after a few years 
be exclusively employed for weights and measures in those countries; so that it must 
ere long be employed for the government maps, if it has not been adopted already. 
7 It thus appears that the whole of the west of the continent will shortly be described 
and delineated in maps and plans adjusted to one another and capable of easy com- 
parison, in consequence of being all projected with dimensions decimally related to 
_ the surface of the land. 
Of the scales employed in our own Ordnance Surveys, 1 inch toa mile and 6 inches 
to a mile, the former is the 63,360th part of the actual linear distance, the latter is 
the 10,560th part. It is very difficult and inconvenient to calculate by either of these 
numbers. On the contrary, the decimal method will be found easy in its application 
to this as well as all other purposes. Either a metre, or any other measure of length, 
_ which is decimally divided, may be applied to the map, and will show the real 
distance from one place to another with the greatest facility. Thus, if the scale be 1 in 
10,000, a decimetre on the map will represent a kilometre on the surface of the 
ground; and if it be 1th less, or 1 in 50,000, as is the case in many of the maps 
_ which have been mentioned, a kilometre on the surface of the ground will correspond 
to two centimetres on the map. 
__ Ifthe decimal scale has advantages as regards the maps of the British Isles, con- 
sidered by themselves, still greater benefit will arise when they are to be compared 
with maps of the neighbouring territories on the continent. We have already 
advanced so far towards uniformity as to sanction one scale for all England and an- 
other for all Ireland, and some persons think it would be well to apply the same scale 
to the whole of the British Isles. But why should not the principle of uniformity be 
carried further? If the decimal scale has great intrinsic advantages, it must be an 
additional reason for its application, that it would bring our maps into coincidence 
with those of our continental neighbours. 
In England the decimal principle has scarcely been applied at all to the construc- 
on of maps. There is, however, an exception to the universality of this remark in 
> case of Mr. W. Hughes, F'.R.G.S., whose ‘ Geological Map of the British Islands” 
| projected on a decimal scale, every line and every distance upon it being to the 
corresponding distance in nature, as 1 to 2,500,000. Its proportions are consequently 
goth of the proportions adopted in the national maps of Germany. 
ok Gran Carta degli Stati Sardi in terra ferma divisa in fogli 91, alla scala di = 1852. 
3 B 
Carta degli Stati di S, M. Sarda in terra ferma, ridotta all saeaa 1846. 
Government Map of Piedmont and Savoy, scale su 1841. 
Carta dell’ Isola e Regno di Sardegna, scale wae 1845. 
1 
2,000,000? 1845. 
A Report, which was presented by Dr. Farr to the International Statistical Congress at 
na, in August 1857, contains the following information :— 
onformément aux recommandations du Congrés de Bruxelles, le Gouvernement de sa 
lesté Britannique s’est determiné a faire dresser des cartes générales a l’échelle de 1000- 
, et des cartes des villes a l’échelle de 100-500, Déja les cartes de plusieurs comtés ef 
lusieurs villes ont été dressées sur ces échelles. Ce travail a été malheureusement 
ndu. Les avantages qu’offrirait une carte de Europe a une échelle uniforme sont 
dents: ils ont été démontrés 4 la Chambre par le Vicomte Palmerston; et nous croyons 
ils seront appréciés par la commission royale qui est chargée de l’examen de la question.” 
s oenaieemenine seemed 
Also small one of the above, scale 
