222 



REPOET 1884. 



The mode of issue varies greatly, and therefore the exact titles of the 

 publications are given, as far as possible. 



For information upon Topographical Surveys reference may be made 

 to the ' Notes on the Government Surveys of the Principal Countries of 

 the World,' prepared at the Intelligence Branch of the "War Office, 

 London, and published in 1883 (price 6s.). This gives the scales of all 

 the chief maps ; plates, with descriptions, of the various signs employed ; 

 full tables of all measures of length and surface, with their English equi- 

 valents. Brief mention is sometimes made of the Geological Surveys. 



In the following pages the natural scale of maps is given, this being 

 the method almost universally adopted on the Continent. The following 

 table gives the equivalents, in English inches, of the scales referred to : — 



The meridian adopted for the maps varies much. 1 As a rule it is that 

 of the capital of the country. The exceptions to this are the maps of 

 Germany and some of Norway, where the meridian is Ferro, and Switzer- 

 land, where it is Paris. Paris has been taken as the meridian for the 

 map of Europe, now being prepared by a committee of the International 

 Geological Congress ; scale 1 : 1,500,000. This map, in 49 sheets, will 

 be based upon those of the Geological Surveys hereafter described. 



The International Geodetic Congress at Rome in 1883 recommended 

 the adoption of Greenwich as the universal meridian. The Congress 

 met at Washington' in October 1884, when the provisional resolution 

 passed at Rome was confirmed. 



On the Continent a large number of official and semi-official publica- 

 tions have been made by Government mining engineers and others ; but 

 these are not here included unless they form part of a systematic survey 

 or give the main results of such survey. 



The earliest detailed survey is that of the United Kingdom, 1832. In 

 all its essential characters this is now much the same as when left by its 

 founder, Sir H. de la Beche, and probably no other survey yet rivals it 

 in the variety and completeness of its publications. Many of the more 

 important Continental surveys have been commenced during the last 15 

 years. 



Much difficulty has been felt in deciding what small general maps 

 should be mentioned. The Catalogues already referred to give the 

 titles of many of them. For the most part those only are here mentioned 



1 The relations of the Meridians to that of Greenwich which are given in this 

 Eeport, are taken from the Notes on Government Surreys referred to above. 



