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GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND PROGRESS FOR 1874. 



Jewish literature. He had not yet received 

 his doctor's degree at Bonn, when he wrote 

 his essay, "What has Mohammed horrowed 

 from the Jewish Religion ? " which was award- 

 ed the philosophical prize of the university, 

 and was published by order of the Philosophi- 

 cal Faculty. In 1835 he commenced the pub- 

 lication of the Journal of Jewish Theology, 

 which has been from the first the ablest ex- 

 ponent of religious thought among the Israel- 

 ite scholars of Germany. His other principal 

 works are: " Melo Chofnajino " (1840), and 

 " Hite Haamanim " (1847), two interesting 

 monographs ; " Studies on Moses-ben-Maimon " 

 (Maimonides, the Jewish philosopher, theolo- 

 gian and legislator of the twelfth century 

 (1850) ; " Concerning the Defense of the Israel- 

 ites against the Attacks of Christians in the Me- 

 diaeval Period," two vols. (1851-'52) ; "Isaac 

 Troki, the Apologist of Judaism at the Close of 

 the Sixteenth Century " (1853) ; a " Translation 

 of the Divan of Castillan of Abul Hassan Juda 

 ha Levi," with a commentary and a biograph- 

 ical notice (1817) ; and " A Manual of the 

 Dialect of the Mishna " (1845). For some years 

 past Dr. Geiger had resided in Berlin. 



GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND 

 PROGRESS FOR THE YEAR 1874. The 

 achievements in the domain of geographical 

 science for the year 1874 bear witness to the 

 more careful and scientific spirit which marks 

 the exploratory enterprises of late years. The 

 visions of wealth and the glory of conquest 

 which have, down to the latest times, impelled 

 adventurous spirits to strike out over untrav- 

 eled ways have now but small influence upon 

 the minds of explorers. 



The unknown region lying between the 

 colonies of South and East Australia has been 

 crossed in two directions within the year. 

 The seldom-visited portions, of Central Asia 

 are being made known through the efforts of 

 recent explorers. In our own country the un- 

 explored expanse in the "Western Territories is 

 now for the most part not only carefully ex- 

 amined but accurately surveyed, and the na- 

 tion has been made acquainted with lands of 

 extraordinary worth and promise. The open- 

 ing of new commercial routes is now the most 

 valuable material benefit to be looked for as a 

 result of geographical research ; and govern- 

 ments which are, by ancient prescription, the 

 principal road-builders, originate many of the 

 most important explorations and extend the 

 aid of contributions of money and protection 

 to others. Projects are 'on foot, promoted by 

 powerful states, for the establishment of great 

 highways through the centre of Asia in differ- 

 ent directions, across the British possessions, 

 and over new ocean-routes. The South Amer- 

 ican Continent has recently been brought into 

 communication with Europe by an ocean tele- 

 graphic cable ; and the plan of .the Pacific ca- 

 ble between the United States and Japan is 

 ripening, so that the time may soon arrive 

 when the globe will be girdled with telegraphic 



wires, and the most remote countries brought 

 into daily and hourly intercourse. The agency 

 of science in rendering natural wealth avail- 

 able as well as in demonstrating the absolute 

 value of the knowledge of Nature and of hu- 

 man history, finds more and more recognition. 

 No marine or topographical survey of any im- 

 portance is conducted without the cooperation 

 of scientific investigators. The natural history 

 and geology of many regions, of the islands ot 

 the Pacific, of broad mountainous and remote 

 inland tracts of Asia and Africa, of the lands 

 which lie in the frozen Northern seas, and even 

 of considerable portions of our own Western 

 plains, plateaus, and mountain-summits, are now 

 undergoing the careful and thorough scrutiny of 

 accomplished scientists. The hydrography of 

 the Pacific, the courses of its currents, and the 

 contour of its bottom, which have been here- 

 tofore but vaguely known, will henceforth be 

 familiar, not only to our scientific men, but to 

 the more intelligent of our officers of the na- 

 val and commercial marine, after the inves- 

 tigations of the Challenger and Tuscarora. 

 The question of an open polar sea may soon 

 be, if it is not already, determined ; in any 

 event the expeditions which are about setting 

 out from England and Austria will bring back 

 a fuller knowledge of the chorography and 

 natural history of the polar regions. The 

 next most mysterious portion of the globe, the 

 great African Desert, may yet be traversed and 

 all its secrets unfolded. The device employed 

 by Rohlfs of carrying a supply of water in 

 metallic vessels enabled him to accomplish a 

 thirty-six days' journey through a waterless 

 part of the Libyan waste, where the longest 

 passage of the caravan has never exceeded 

 seven days. 



A favorable circumstance to the geographi- 

 cal explorer is the spread of European man- 

 ners and the softening influence of the West- 

 ern civilization among savage and superstitious 

 nations. The fanatical peoples of the inner 

 Soudan, who within a few years have slain 

 daring travelers who ventured within their 

 borders, received not inhospitably the coura- 

 geous Dr. Nachtigal. 



In this as in former years several travelers, 

 while engaged in geographical explorations, 

 have been overtaken by death, either from 

 deadly malarious fevers, protracted exertions, 

 with insufficient food, or the treachery and bar- 

 barity of the savage nations whose territory 

 they were exploring. Dr. Stoliczka, the able 

 geologist of the Forsyth expedition to Kashgar, 

 died on the passage of the mountains on the 

 19th of June, at a point on the Shyok River, 

 above the Lasser Pass. The death of Henry 

 Grinnell is mentioned elsewhere (see GEINNELL, 

 HENRY). Mr. Grinnell, who was the first 

 president of the American Geographical So- 

 ciety, was succeeded in that office by Chief- 

 Justice Daly, who has imparted to it a new 

 energy. A memorable loss from the ranks of 

 the followers of geographical pursuits was that 



