NA TURE 



{August 9, 1877 



among the local investigators in the district to the south 

 of Vienna, which the author delights in caUing that 

 "sliickcht'H Erdrindc," the book must at once take rank as 

 a storehouse of actual facts never to be over appreciated. 



The value of the memoir is much enhanced by the long 

 bibliographical list with which Dr. Karrer opens the 

 work, and which is brought up to date in the appendix. 

 This list contains the titles of 566 books and papers 

 relating to the region traversed by the Agiiedtict, and 

 arranged, as all such lists shojld be, in chronological 

 order. The first paper cited is one by Wolfgang 

 Anemarinus, on the Baden springs, and dates as far back 

 as 15 1 1. 



From what we have said it will be seen that no labour 

 has been spared to render this report as perfect as it 

 could be made. One serious omission, however, must 

 be called attention to. There is no index. The late Sir 

 Roderick Murchison was wont to deplore that many of 

 the details contained in his "big books" remained un- 

 known and buried within them. But books like the 

 "Silurian System" are certain to be consulted, index or 

 no index. To publish a work so local in character, albeit 

 so complete in its execution as the one under review, as 

 Dr. Karrer has done, without a key to the endless facts 

 it contains, is deliberately to court non-recognition. 



Before concluding we would note the excellent geo- 

 logical map of Vienna and its immediate neighbourhood, 

 by Th. Fuchs. This map was first issued in 1874, and is 

 conveniently reproduced in the present memoir. 



G. A. Lrbour 



A CENTURY OF DISCOVERY 

 The Discoveries of Prince Henry the Navigator, and 

 their Results ; being the Narrative of the Discovery by 

 Sea, within One Century, of more than Half the World. 

 By Richard Henry Major, F.S.A. Portraits, Maps, 

 &c. (London : Sampson Low and Co., 1877.) 

 Ceschichte des Zeitalters der Entdeckungen. Von Oscar 

 Peschel. Zweite Auflage. (Stuttgart : J. G. Cotta, 

 1877.) 



THESE two works practically refer to the same period, 

 which nearly coincides with the fifteenth century, 

 and deal mainly with the same events. Mr. Major's work 

 centres round Prince Henry as the initiator of the re- 

 markable series of discoveries which were made during 

 the century referred to, while that of the late Oscar 

 Peschel deals with these events as forming a remarkable 

 era in geographical discovery, and is considerably more 

 detailed than the work of Mr. Major. Both works are 

 virtually second editions. In its present form Mr. Major's 

 is somewhat more popular than when first published, the 

 discussion of certain points interesting only to the student 

 having been omitted ; Peschel's work, first published 

 about twenty years ago, is practically unaltered. Both 

 works are valuable contributions to the history of one of 

 the most eventful centuries of our era ; Mr. Major's is a 

 worthy record of the life and work of a noble-minded 

 prince, while Peschel's is a standard authority on the 

 geographical work of the fifteenth century. 



Prince Henry, aptly styled "the Navigator," was the 

 fifth child of King Joao L, of Portugal, and his Queen 

 Philippa, daughter of " old John of Gaunt, time-honoured 



Lancaster," and was born in 1394. He was carefully trained 

 by his English mother, and after having distinguished 

 himself at Ceuta, took up his abode on the promontory 

 of Sagres in Algarve, of which kingdom he was made 

 governor in perpetuity. It was from here that during the 

 rest of his life he initiated and directed those discoveries 

 with which his name will be ever associated ; to Prince 

 Henry, there is no doubt, the rapid progress of geogra- 

 phical exploration during the fifteenth and sixteenth 

 centuries is mainly due. But not only in this way did he 

 encourage the advance of knowledge ; by providing pro- 

 fessorships, and in other ways, he did much to foster the 

 progress of science such as it was in his time ; his own 

 favourite subjects of study were astronomy and mathe- 

 matics. 



It is with Africa that Prince Henry's name is chiefly 

 associated. Before commencing his great work of ex- 

 ploration he took every means in his power of ascertain- 

 ing all that was known about Africa, though that was not 

 much. Cape Blanco he knew, though vaguely, but all 

 the coast south of that was practically a blank. The in- 

 terior was known much farther southwards, and not a 

 few details of Timbuctoo had reached Europe by the 

 beginning of the fourteenth century. It does not seem to 

 be known whether Prince Henry had the means of 

 making himself acquainted with the work done by the 

 Phcenicians and Carthaginians ; the narrative of Hanno's 

 famous coasting voyage would have been a treasure to 

 him, but the likelihood is that he was totally ignorant of 

 the work accomplished by these pre-Christian explorers. 

 Nor is it likely that he had heard of the Norse discovery 

 of America, though he may have heard of the famous 

 voyages of the brothers Zeni ; if he had it does not seem 

 to have suggested to him the existence of a great con- 

 tinent far beyond the horizon which bounded his outlook 

 from Sagres. Prince Henry set about the work of African 

 exploration with intelligence, his clear object apparently 

 having been to trace the African coast to its southern- 

 most limit, and even discover by rounding it a practical 

 sea- route to India. 



" Very few details are left us," Mr. Major writes, " of 

 the astronomical instruments used in the time of Prince 

 Henry. The altitude of a star was taken by the astro- 

 labe and the quadrant by means of an alidade, or ruled 

 index, having two holes pierced in its extremities, through 

 which the ray passed. The quadrant hung vertically 

 from a ring which was held in the hand. We do not 

 know how these instruments were graduated, but it is to 

 be presumed very roughly. The astrolabe, the compass, 

 timepieces, and charts, were employed by sailors in the 

 Mediterranean at the beginning of the fifteenth century. 

 It is quite certain that the needle was used at sea before 

 Prince Henry's time, for he himself speaks of it when 

 urging on one of his navigators to the rounding of Cape 

 Bojader." During the lifetime of Prince Henry the 

 African voyagers stuck closely to the coast, except when 

 by accident they were driven from it. 



The Prince's enthusiasm and generosity drew to him 

 most of the adventurous spirits of his time, and thus it 

 was that after his settlement on Sagres scarcely a year 

 passed that he did not send out one or more expeditions 

 to carry on the great work which he had set himself to 

 accomplish. The first fruit of Prince Henry's enterprise 



