Sept. II, 1879] 



NATURE 



473 



surface of the globe, and to delineate the varied features of that 

 surface. This great work has been proceeding from the first 

 dawn of civilisation, and it will probably be centuries longer 

 before it is completed. Geographers and explorers, surveyors 

 and geodesists, of each generation, work their allotted time, 

 gradually increasing the stock of human knowledge, by enabling 

 other sciences and other branches of inquiry to make parallel 

 advances. For they are all dependent on the accurate measure- 

 ment and mapping of the earth. Locality is the one basis upon 

 which all human knowledge must rest. Arts, sciences, adminis- 

 tration, commerce, depend upon accurate geographical know- 

 ledge ; and as that knowledge becomes more extensive and more 

 exact, 50 will every other human pursuit gain increasing light 

 and tnithfulness. 



We are still very far indeed from an accurate scientific geo- 

 graphical knowledge of even the most civilised countries, while by 

 far the largest portion of the earth's surface is inadequately 

 surveyed, and a smaller, though far from inconsiderable, part is 

 unsurveyed or entirely unknown. In the division of labour, the 

 geodesist produces the accurate large-scale maps which are 

 necessary in thickly populated countries, the topographical sur- 

 veyor furnishes less exact maps of more thinly peopled and less 

 civilised regions, while the trained explorer forces his way into 

 the unknown parts of the earth. 



From the labours of these three classes of workers we, in this 

 generation, and our descendants for many generations to come, 

 must be content to derive our knowledge ; but in the fulness of 

 time the whole earth will be measured and delineated as Hallam- 

 shire is now. It is to the furthering of this great work that the 

 geographers of each age devote their energies, and its advance- 

 ment will increase in rapidity, because, as men become better 

 instructed, there will be more geographers. 



The construction of large-scale maps on rigorously accurate 

 principles has as yet made inconsiderable progress. It is only 

 in the countries of Europe, and India, and some of our colonies, 

 and in the United States, that it has been commenced. But it 

 is very far from being completed anywhere, and the people of 

 Sheffield have had this fact brought home to them within the last 

 year ; for the Memoir on the Yorkshire Coal Field, published by 

 the Geological Survey in 1878, was obliged to stop short with 

 the limits of the county, an artificial and inconvenient line which 

 leaves the southern portion of the field undescribed, entirely 

 because the six-inch survey had not yet been extended over 

 Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. This circumstance strikes us 

 in two ways. It reminds us that geographical work is far from 

 being completed even in the most populous and civilised parts of 

 our own country ; and it also brings the fact home to us that the 

 progress of other sciences is dependent upon the advance of 

 geography. 



Where the trigonometrical surveys have not been commenced, 

 we have only those maps which are based on positions fixed by 

 astronomical observations, on cross-bearings and chained distances, 

 and which I call (to distinguish them from the results of trigono- 

 metrical surveys) the topographical maps. One of the oldest and 

 most interesting of these maps is the famous atlas of the Chinese 

 Empire constructed by the Jesuits between 1708 and 1718. But 

 we are also dependent on such maps for our geographical know- 

 ledge of all Asia except India and Palestine, of the Eastern 

 Archipelago, of all Africa and South America, and of the greater 

 part of North America. 



Accurate maps are the basis of all inquiry conducted on 

 scientific principles. Without them a geological survey is 

 impossible ; nor can botany, zoology, or ethnology be viewed in 

 their broader aspects, unless considerations of locality, altitude, 

 and latitude arc kept in view. Not only as the basis of scientific 

 inquiry, but also for the comprehension of history, for operations 

 of war, for administrative purposes, and for the illustration of 

 statistics, the uses of accurate maps are almost infinite. M. 

 Quetelet, in one of his well-known letters, declared that such 

 graphic illustration often afforded immediate conviction of a 

 point which the most subtle mind would find it difficult to per- 

 ceive without such aid. Maps both generalise and allow of 

 abstraction. They enable inquirers at once to detect and often 

 to rectify errors, which, if undetected, would affect results and 

 throw calculations into confusion. As an example of the use of 

 maps for administrative purposes, the series constructed by Mr. 

 Edward A. Prinsep, in India, is worthy of notice. They showed 

 the agricultural tribes of a special district arranged according to 

 occupancy of land, political and fiscal divisions, physical features 

 and zones of fertility, productive power as influenced by rain or 



aided by irrigation, different kinds of soils, acres under different 

 kinds of produce, and lines of traflic. Another most instructive 

 series displays the State irrigation canals acting on improvable 

 waste lands, the depth of wells, the rainfall and zones of 

 drought, and the parts of the country already irrigated. As 

 another noteworthy instance of the use of maps for statistical 

 illustration, I may mention the interesting "Carte agricole de la 

 France," by M. Delesse, which not only shows the extent of 

 arable, meadow, and vine lands, and of woods, but the relative 

 value of lands by shades and contour lines of equal revenue. 

 The idea has been adopted by Mr. Ralph Richardson in his map 

 of Mid-Lothian showing the annual rentals by colom-s ; and of 

 course the colours also indicate the positions of barren moun- 

 tains, of fertile valleys, and of centres of population. Such 

 maps ought to be far more extensively used than is now the 

 case, for in no other way can economic and industrial facts be 

 so lucidly and clearly, as well as so rapidly, impressed on an 

 inquirer's mind. 



The third division in which geographical delineation is classed 

 is that comprised in the labour of pioneer-exploring and discovery. 

 This branch of our subject excites the most interest, because the 

 heroic devotion and gallantry of our travellers is a source of just 

 pride to the nation ; and because their perils and hardships, theb 

 adventures and discoveries surround them with a halo of romance. 

 Yet these romantic associations are not confined to the pioneers 

 of geography. Though less known, they equally belong to the 

 more scientific geodesist. In the whole range of exploring 

 narrative there is nothing more calculated to excite admiration, 

 nothing more touching, than the devotion of Colonel Lambton, 

 the first superintendent of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of 

 India, the old man who was absorbed in his great work for half 

 a life-time, who wasted away from exposure and hardship, but 

 who, to the last, brightened up to renewed animation and vigour 

 when the great theodolite was before him, and who died at his 

 post in a wild part of Central India. This was sixty years ago, 

 but quite recently the equally heroic death of Captain Basevi was 

 recorded. At I7,CX50 feet above the sea, in a temperature below 

 zero, and protected only by a light tent, this martyr to science 

 was engaged in the delicate operation of swinging the seconds 

 pendulum. One morning, when gallantly striving to rise from a 

 bed of suffering and to recommence work, he died. Nor do these 

 names stand alone. Assuredly, the more scientific surveyors run 

 equal risks, and deserve equal recognition with their exploring 

 brethren. Still the interest justly attaching to new discoveries 

 naturally commands most popular applause, and the impor- 

 tance of opening up an unknown country cannot well be 

 exaggerated. 



In this glorious field there are still harvests to be reaped 

 through the bravery and endurance of future travellers. In spite 

 of all that has recently been done in Africa, there is a vast unknown 

 tract to be discovered. In Asia, in New Guinea, in Sumatra 

 and Borneo, in South America, wide regions also remain unex- 

 plored. Aljove all, the greatest problem of this age awaits 

 solution in the far north, and will call forth the best scientific 

 ability, and all the highest qualities of our naval explorers. 



Every year new regions are brought within our knowledge, 

 and we are able to welcome the adventurers home, and to add 

 them to the list of geographical worthies. But, with regard to 

 many explorers, there can be no doubt that much more valuable 

 information might be obtained than is now the case. Men, with 

 various avocations, traverse unexplored or little known countries, 

 who, from want of previous training are unable to lay down 

 their routes or to observe with scientific accuracy and intelligence. 

 There are naval and military officers, missionaries, consular 

 agents, colonial officials and planters, engineers, telegraphers, 

 collectors, and sportsmen or persons merely travelling for pleasure, 

 many of whom are led, by business or curiosity, to penetrate 

 into regions of which little is known. It is most important that 

 there should exist, in this country, the ready means of furnishing 

 the necessary training to such explorers ; and the subject has 

 recently received serious consideration from the Council of the 

 Royal Geographical Society. 



It 'has been resolved that a course of instruction shall be 

 supplied by the Society to all who are 'about to visit unknown 

 or little known countries, and who desire such training. As a 

 preliminary measure, the present arrangement is to give such 

 instruction as will enable the pupil to fix positions by astrono- 

 mical observations, and to lay down his route ; but this is only 

 a beginning, and it is to be hoped that, in due time, such a 

 course of instruction will be provided as will enable an intelligent 



