SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— E. 37i 



scales ; to make any gridded map a comprehensive topographic index to 

 any larger-scale series ; to ensure that the grid co-ordinate reference of a 

 point shall be unique without specifying also the scale or series. Necessity 

 for decimal subdivision of the grid to facilitate plotting and to allow for 

 more precise referencing on the larger scales (up to the natural scale of the 

 basic triangulation) by simple addition of extra co-ordinate figures. 



The optimum size of grid square to allow easy decimal subdivision by 

 eye ; to reduce to workable limits the effect of paper distortion ; yet not 

 to obscure the detail of the map. 



Choice of co-ordinate unit for the grid — the link, foot, yard or metre ? — 

 in view of the foregoing considerations, and in addition to ensure per- 

 manence, to result in brief unit references, and to facilitate use for surveys 

 of different types. Change in the nature of the problem introduced by 

 the proposal to grid maps on all scales (particularly the basic 1/2,500 scale) 

 in the same system. 



Mr. G. H. Kimble. — The influence of Church and State on Renaissance 

 cartography (12.15). 



Renaissance cartography bears testimony to two main kinds of influence : 

 (a) traditional and (b) political. The influence of tradition — mainly eccle- 

 siastical — is seen in : (1) The persistence of erroneous ideas in the 

 face of new knowledge. (2) The distortion of new facts to fit old theories. 



(3) The conflict of loyalties, e.g. classical versus ecclesiastical scholarship. 



(4) The portrayal of myths and legends. (5) The reluctance to accept 

 facts incompatible with accredited theories. 



Under such a regime maps could have no real value. Hence the need for 

 a practical map-science and the rise of the Portolan Chart. Undeterred, 

 however, the schoolmen began ' harmonising ' the old and the new. 



With the beginning of Portuguese overseas enterprise, cartography 

 became subjected to a new influence — political. Successive Portuguese 

 governments maintained a 'conspiracy of silence ' whereby they endeavoured 

 to suppress information calculated to damage their foreign interests. This 

 is attested by : (1) The reticence of official chroniclers concerning the 

 course of discovery after 1450. (2) The entire absence of Portuguese maps 

 in the fifteenth century and their scarceness in the early sixteenth century. 

 (3) The indifferent quality of certain fifteenth-century maps purporting 

 to give the African discoveries. (4) The time-lag between discovery and 

 mapping. 



Afternoon. 



Excursion to Fylde farms (2.0). 



Lecture to school children by Brigadier H. S. L. Winterbotham, 

 C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., on How maps are made (3.0). 



Saturday, September 12. 



Excursion to Fleetwood and the Lancashire coast (9.0). 



Sunday, September 13. 



Excursion to Ribblehead and Pennine Dales (9.0). 



