422 TRANSACTIONS OP SECTION 3. 



existed, so that, after all is over, our present maps and atlases will be out of 

 date, and the publisher will find himself called upon to produce new ones. 



It therefore appears to me that this is a suitable occasion for taking stock 

 of our position, and I will endeavour to give you : 



(1) A brief general summary of what has been done in the past towards the 

 mapping of the earth's surface; 



(2) a sketch of how things stand at the present time ; and 



(3) finally add a few remarks upon future work, specially as regards 

 instruments and methods. 



You will perceive at once that this is a large subject, and in the time at my 

 disposal I shall only be able to deal with it in the briefest possible manner. 



The acquirement of knowledge has always been progressive, sometimes 

 moving slowly, at others more rapidly, but ever advancing; and this is specially 

 true of the subject we have to consider. Our present knowledge of the earth, 

 its form, size, the configuration of its surface features, their measurement and 

 representation on maps as we see them to-day, are the result of many centuries 

 of strenuous endeavour and conquest over obstacles, and at times almost insur- 

 mountable difficulties, the record of which constitutes a striking monument to 

 indomitable courage and perseverance such as cannot be excelled in the history 

 of mankind. 



Of all branches of human research and discovery that of geographical 

 exploration and representation of the surface features of the earth is doubtless 

 one of the oldest ; in fact, it is difficult to imagine a time in the history of 

 intelligent man when it did not in some manner or other exist. The earth's 

 surface is, by the nature of things, man's present dwelling-place, and, however 

 high and far he may eoar in imagination and thought, as to his bodily presence 

 his movements and operations are restricted to the crust of the comparatively 

 small planet he inhabits. By his very nature man is an adventurer and a restless 

 wanderer; and, since his physical constitution does not permit of his travelling 

 more than a comparatively few feet vertically, his only chance of expansion is 

 laterally or horizontally ; and geographical investigation and measurement 

 became a natural consequence. 



From the earliest days there would arise the need of some sort of plans and 

 maps ; there would soon be boundary questions to settle, and the limits of 

 pasture-lands, and irrigation rights, mining-claims and other matters would call 

 for maps of some kind, however rough they may have been ; so it is quite 

 impossible to say when surveying commenced. It certainly must be one of the 

 oldest departments of knowledge, and, like all others, has slowly advanced as 

 the centuries have passed and greater accuracy was required until it has reached 

 the refinement and precision of the present day. 



Probably the earliest attempts were those which naturally resulted from the 

 necessity of representing in some kind of plan the limits of private property, 

 and several interesting examples of this have been brought to light during 

 archseological investigations and discoveries in Egypt and other ancient sites. 



A careful reader of the account of the dividing of the land of Canaan 

 among the tribes of Israel can hardly fail to come to the conclusion that Joshua 

 had some sort of a map of the land before him when he proceeded to apportion 

 the various districts, the boundaries of which are so minutely and carefully 

 described ; and it is also more than probable that he and others who had been 

 sent beforehand to spy out the land ' had in view quantity ae well as quality,' 

 as Grore says in his ' Geodesy,' which implies some kind of rough survey and 

 sketch map. 



At a later period we have the vision of the man with the measuring line in 

 his hand, measuring out his thousands of cubits, apparently much as a chainman 

 does his work to-day. 



So long as the district concerned was of no great extent there could have been 

 little difficulty about making a rough plan or map of it. For lineal measure- 

 ments the most natural units would be the lengths of various parts of the human 

 body, the cubit, the pace, the foot and the span were evidently amongst the 

 earliest standards of all, and most of these have remained in use until this day. 

 With these, and an elementary knowledge of some of the simpler geometrical 



