702 REPORT— 1901. 



Tlie great merits of Carpenter's treatise are bis firm grasp of the relation of cue 

 part of geography to another, his slrilful blending of the solid part of the work of 

 Aristotle and Ptolemy with that of the explorers and investigators of bis own 

 generation, and the wholesome common-sense that dominates bis reasoning. His 

 definition is comprehensive and precise. 



' Geographic is a science which teacheth the description of the whole Earth. 

 The Nature of Georivaphio is well expressed in the name : For Geofjraphie resolved 

 according to tlie Grcekr Etymologie signifietb as much as a description of the 

 Earth ; so that it differs from Cosmofjraphie, as a \>ivct from the whole. Foras- 

 much as Cosmographie according to the name is a description of the whole world, 

 comprehending under it as well Geographic as Astronomic Howbeit, I confesse, 

 that amongst the ancient Writers, Cosmor/rajihie has been taken for one and the 

 self-same science witli Geographie as may appeare by sundry treatises meerely 

 Geographicall, yet intituled by the name of Cos7nograp/iic.' 



The differences held by I'tolemy to distinguish geography from chorography 

 Carpenter shows to be merely accidental, not essential, and as to geograpliy be says 

 ' It is properlj' tearmed a Science, because it proposeth to it selfe no other end but 

 knowledge ; whereas those faculties are commonly tearmed Arts, which are not 

 contented with a bare knowledge or speculation, but are directed to some farther 

 work or action. But here a doubt seems to arise, whether this Science be to be 

 esteemed Phydcall or Mathematicall? Wee answer, that in a Science two things 

 are to bee considered : first, the matter or object whereabout it is conversant ; 

 secondly, the manner of handling and explication : For the former no doubt can 

 bee made but that the object in Geographie is for the most part Fhysicall con- 

 sisting of the parts whereof the Spheare is composed ; but for (he manner of 

 Explication it is not pure but vii.vt; as in the former part MathematicccU, in the 

 second rather Historicnll ; whence the whole Science may be alike tearmed both 

 Mathematicall k Historicall; not in respect of the sw/;/ec^ which we have said to 

 be F/igsicall but in the manner of Explication.^ 



Although somewhat diffuse in expression, the meaning of these statements is 

 clear and sound, and to the British public as new now as it was in the days of King 

 Charles. The book treats of mathematical geography and cartography, of 

 magnetism, climates, the nature of places, of hydrography, including the sea, 

 rivers, lakes and fountains, of mountains, valleys and woods, of islands and 

 continents, and at considerable length of people and the way in which they are 

 influenced by the land in which they live. Whether Dr. Carpenter lectured on 

 geography in Oxford I do not know, but his book must have acquired a certain 

 currency, for a second edition appeared in IGoo, and it seems probable that it was 

 known to Varenius. 



Varenius and Ncioton. 



Varenius, a young man who died at twenty-eight, produced in Latin a single 

 small volume published in ItioO, wJiich is a model of conciseness of expression and 

 logical arrangement well worthy even now of literal translation into English. So 

 highly was it thought of at the time that Sir Isaac Newton brought out an 

 annotated Latin edition at Cambridge in 1672.' The opening definition as 

 rendered in the English translation of 1733 (a work spoilt in most places by a 

 parasitic growth of notes and interpolations) runs : — 



' Geography is that part of mi.ied mathematics which explains the state of the 

 Earth and of its parts, depending on quantity, viz., its figure, place, magnitude 



' Dugdale, in the introduction to the English translation published in 1733, 

 states explicitly that Newton produced his version for the benefit of the students 

 attending his lectures ' on the same subject' from the Lucasian chair; but we have 

 been unable to find any more satisfactory evidence that Newton actually lectured on 

 Geography at Cambridge. 



