TRANSACTIONS OV THE SECTIONS. 123 



Geography was not studied : the teaching of geography was then little more than a 

 dry catalogue of places and countries, sketched on plane surfaces. The geography 

 that is now taught in schools is a description of the physical condition of all the 

 surface of the earth. In way of illustration of this progress, draw a comparison 

 of an old school map of 1841 with one of the hest forms of school maps recently 

 produced hy Stanford. Physical Geography is now looked upon as an essential 

 work in the routine of ordinary education. The geographers of the present day, 

 whilst appreciating the marvellous achievements of our great travellers, com- 

 monly deplore the deficiency of scientific training which blinded the observation 

 from perception as to the value of many treasures in nature for scientific purposes. 



Geographical science has of late years received considerable impulse from the 

 establishment of new societies on the Continent, and most especially from the 

 inauguration of International Congresses, which are destined to renew in a v. ide 

 field of action all that has been so auspiciously established within the British 

 Islands by our own Association. The movement was inaugurated in the renowned 

 city of Antwerp in 1871, the native place of Mercator, and was marked by a great 

 success. A second International Congress of geographers was held in Paris in 

 1875, which was equally satisfactory in its results. The first fruits that have 

 been already gathered from the effect of international cooperation have been the 

 discussion of unsettled problems, the establishment between nations of a common 

 interest in the great expeditions of discovery, the improvements of instruments 

 adapted to the particular needs of travellers and navigators, and of the methods of 

 delineation adopted for maps and charts. Amongst the distinguished foreigners 

 who have taken a leading position in the diffusion of geographical knowledge, 

 there is no one who deserves a more grateful recognition at our hands than 

 Dr. Augustus Petermann, of Gotha, the now somewhat venerable editor of the 

 ' Geographische Mittheilungen,' which has for so long a period poured its streams 

 of valuable information over the world. 



It will be fresh in the memory of many assembled here, how excellent an oppor- 

 tunity of comparing the position and methods of the past with those of the present 

 day, in all that relates to geographical investigation, was afforded by the Loan 

 Exhibition of scientific instruments and appliances which was established at South 

 Kensington last year. The visitor to that Exhibition was able to compare the 

 astrolabe of Sir Francis Drake and of the mariners who steered the Spanish 

 Armada to the coast of England, the back-staff of John Davis, the quadrant of 

 Hadley and of Captain Cook, with the finished specimens of the sextant of this 

 day ; the compass of Galileo with the standard compass of the Admiralty, cor- 

 rected by the Astronomer Royal, for use on board iron ships, and with the light 

 multiple-needle of Sir William Thomson. The collection of maps, charts, and 

 models which were exhibited effectually demonstrated all that has been said con- 

 cerning the advance of geographical science. Here was to be seen a copy of the 

 chart of the coast of America discovered by Columbus on his second voyage, 

 made by the pilot who accompanied him ; a chronometer which belonged to 

 Captain Cook, and was taken by him to the Pacific in 1776, and was again taken 

 to the Pacific by Captain Bligh in the ' Bounty,' 1787 (it was taken possession of 

 by the mutineers atPitcairn's Island, and was sold in 1808 by Adams to a citizen 

 of the United States at Chili, where it was purchased by Captain Sir Thomas 

 Herbert, R.N.). The manuscript maps of Livingstone, together with the instru- 

 ments used by that great African traveller on his last journey, were exhibited ; and 

 what was of personal interest to me was " the first traces ever found of the 

 Franklin Expedition," discovered by Captain E. Oninianney, II.M.S. ' Assistance,' 

 on 23rd August, 1850, at Franklin's first winter quarters near Beechey Island. 

 But of all the inventions of interest to the navigator was " the bathometer," pro- 

 duced by the genius of Dr. Siemens, for measuring the depth of the sea without 

 sounding-lines. By means of this instrument, which can be placed in the cabin, 

 the mariner can record with the same ease as reading off the barometric pressure 

 the depth of the sea beneath him at a moment's glance. 



In the year 1841 the triangulation of the British Islands was in progress ; the 

 great base-line on Salisbury Plain, which was to be made the test of the accuracy 



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