392 



GEOGRAPHY. 



graphy, therefore, is commonly divided into mnthe- 

 matical, physical, and political. The two first, taken 

 together, are also called general geography. 



Mathematical geography is a part of applied ma- 

 thematics (q. v.) 



Physical geography comprises, 1. geology (q. v.); 

 2. hydrograpliics, which treats of the seas (their 

 depth, colour, temperature, motion, beds, downs, 

 cliffs, shoals, banks, bars), and of inland waters- 

 springs (their origin, nature, temperature), streams, 

 rivers (their sources, direction, falls, mouths, &c.), 

 lakes ; 3. meteorology, which treats of air and ether, 

 of the different regions of the atmosphere, of the 

 temperature of the air (limits of perpetual snow in 

 different climates), of the motions of the air, winds, 

 trade-winds, breezes, of meteors, &c. ; 4. a descrip- 

 tion of the kingdoms of nature, comprised under 

 zoology, botany, mineralogy ; 5. anthropology, or a 

 description of men. 



In political geography, the earth is considered as 

 the abode of rational beings, according to their diffu- 

 sion over the globe, and their social relations, as they 

 are divided into larger or smaller societies. Al- 

 though political geography, particularly since the 

 time of Busching, has been treated profoundly, yet 

 many things have obtained a place in it, that belong 

 exclusively to the science of statistics, which, in- 

 deed, was first reduced to a scientific form in the first 

 half of the eighteenth century. It is important, 

 however, to draw the boundary line between political 

 geography and statistics with exactness, and to re- 

 move from the former science all that belongs solely 

 to the latter. For, while statistics represents the 

 individual state, as a whole connected in itself, with 

 a perpetual regard to public law, politics, and policy, 

 because the constitution, administration, and political 

 relation of one state to the rest can only be explained 

 with precision through the medium of those sciences, 

 geography treats exclusively of the local relations 

 of a country. This science describes the individual 

 divisions, wherever it finds them ; it treats of the 

 departments, circles, and provinces of states and 

 kingdoms, and specifies the natural peculiarities of 

 the surface, mountains, rivers, the cities, villages, 

 the different means of subsistence and profit, and the 

 most remarkable curiosities, always with regard to 

 local situation. Probably the statistical remarks, in 

 which our geographical works have abounded, have 

 been received into them with the view to render the 

 study of geography more attractive to youth, or to 

 adapt the manuals and compendiums more to the 

 wants of readers of different stations. 



This error in geographical manuals and compendi- 

 ums, together with the continual changes in the 

 political condition of the European states and coun- 

 tries, with which the geographical works, notwith- 

 standing their rapid succession, and the repeated 

 editions of the same, could never keep pace, induced 

 several thinking men to propose and execute a pure 

 geography, so called, in which they took the natural 

 condition of the globe, as it is exhibited in seas, 

 chains of mountains, and rivers, as the foundation, 

 divided the surface of the earth according to these 

 natural boundaries, and endeavoured to produce in 

 this manner a complete system. But although this 

 mode of treating geography recommends itself by the 

 simplicity of its principle, as well as by its strict 

 exclusion of statistics, yet it is to be feared, particu- 

 larly if it should become the general method in the 

 instruction of youth, that the want of a well ordered 

 political geography will be sensibly felt. The expe- 

 riments which have hitherto been made, are not 

 sufficient for the establishment of the system. 



It is evident that political geography cannot be 

 the same in all ages ; it is divided, with respect to 



history, into ancient, middle, and modern. Ancient 

 geography, in its widest sense, comprises not only 

 the representation of the condition of the earth and 

 its inhabitants, historically known, from the first 

 creditable historical accounts, to the overthrow of 

 the Roman empire in the West, but also the single 

 traces of information of this kind, which may be 

 found in the preceding ages. It extends to all the 

 ancient nations. A part of it the biblical geogra- 

 phy necessary to a learned exegesis of the Bible, 

 has principally been cultivated by Bochart, Michae- 

 lis, Rosenmuller, J. Schulthess, Maiisfred, &c. To 

 these works may be added, Richard Palmer's Bible 

 Atlas, or, Sacred Geography delineated, in twenty- 

 six small maps, Lond. 1823. Middle geography, 

 which commences with the downfall of the western 

 Roman empire, reaches to the discovery of America 

 (from 476 to 1492). Modern geography comprises 

 the period from the discovery of America to the 

 present time. 



In the history of geography, the following periods 

 may be fixed : 1. The mythical period, from the 

 remotest times of tradition to Herodotus : the sources 

 of our information, respecting this period, are the 

 writings of Moses, Homer, and Hesiod. Most of 

 the events, that fall in this period, are wrapped in 

 darkness ; the accounts are few, and more of a 

 chorographical than a geographical nature. 2. The 

 period in which the detached accounts were collected, 

 from Herodotus to Eratosthenes, 270 years B. C. 

 Hanno, Scylax, Pytheas, Aristotle, Dicsearchus, fur 

 nish interesting accounts of different countries. 3. 

 Systematical period, from Eratosthenes to Claudius 

 Ptolemy, A. D. 161. Polybius, Hipparchus, Arte- 

 midorus, Posidonius, Strabo, Dionysius Periegetes, 

 Pomponius Mela, and Pliny belong to it. 4. Geo 

 metrical period, from Ptolemy to Copernicus, A. D. 

 1520. The longitude and latitude of places now 

 become fixed. Here we may distinguish (a) the 

 times before the Arabians (sources, Pausanias, Mar- 

 cianus, Agathemerus, Peutingerian table, Cosmas); 

 (b) times from the Arabians, from A. D. 800 (sources, 

 Al-Marun, Abu Ischak, Scherif Edrisi, Nasir Eddin, 

 Abulfeda, Ulugh Begh ; the sole Christian geogra- 

 pher is Guido of Ravenna). 5. Scientific period, 

 from Copernicus to our times. Now we find more 

 exact astronomical estimates, accurate accounts of 

 travels by land and by water, more trustworthy and 

 systematic topographies, more precise measurements 

 of countries, and the measures given in square miles, 

 besides scientific geographical systems and compendi- 

 ums. In this period, the first attempt has also been 

 made, with some success, towards a systematical 

 geography of the ancient world. Much more, 

 however, has been done in these times for the an- 

 cient than the middle geography. Christopher Cel- 

 larius here led the way. His work first appeared 

 at Leipsic, in 168G, 12mo. Geographia antiqua ad 

 veterum Historicorum faciliorern Explicationem ap* 

 parata ; revised Notitia, orbis antiqui, 2 vols. 4U>, 

 Leipsic, 1701. The latest edition appeared in 1773. 

 After him, John Dav. Kohler wrote an Introduction 

 to Ancient and Middle Geography, with 37 maps, 

 in 3 vols. (Nuremberg, 1730). The Manual 

 Ancient Geography, by d'Anville, in 5 vols., was 

 revised and enriched with very valuable additions, 

 by several German scholars (Nuremberg, 1800, 

 et seq., 12 maps). Conrad Mannert wrote a val- 

 uable geography of the Greeks and Romans, drawn 

 from their writings, in eight parts (the two first 

 have appeared in a new, entirely revised, edi- 

 tion), 1788 1820. Valuable researches on subjects 

 of ancient geography are contained in Heeren's Ideas 

 on the Policy, Intercourse, and Commerce of the 

 principal Nations of the ancient World (4th edition, 



