246 National Geographic Magazine. 
which rendered national surveys and geodetic operations possible 
at a later period. 
With triflg modifications the instruments devised by Durer, 
Newton, and Gallileo are in common use to-day. 
Gradual improvements can be traced in the application of 
surveying to military and civil purposes, to mapping the cam- 
paigns of Louis XIV. and Marlborough, and laymg down the 
forfeited estates in Ireland by William III., until in 1729 the 
first national survey on a large scale, for public and private 
purposes, was commenced in Savoy and Piedmont by Victor 
Amadie II., whereon nine years were occupied. 
The method of large surveys obtained the name of Cadastre 
(Terrier map). It was suggested for France in 1763, but was 
only commenced in that country in 1793. The exact derivation 
and meaning of the French term “cadastre” are not free from 
dispute. Some authorities refer it to the verb “cadrer” to 
square or correspond with, all objects on a large scale, plan, or 
cadastre being shown in their true position and proportions, 
whereas in a mere topographical map similar accuracy is impos- 
sible, and certain features must need be exaggerated for the 
sake of distinctness. 
The Dictionaire des Dictionaires on the other hand derives 
cadastre (formerly capdastre) from - the medizval-Latin word 
capitastrum (from caput “head,” because formerly people were 
taxed, and afterwards property) and defines it as “a public regis- 
ter, containing the quantity and value of landed property, names 
of owners, etc., and which serves for the assessment of the tax 
on property in proportion to its revenue.” 
In the Recueil des Lois et Instructions sur les contributions 
directes, the cadastre is defined as “a plan from which the area 
of land may be computed, and from which its revenue may be 
valued.” 
This, there is no doubt, is the sense in which the word is used 
on the Continent, while in England it is taken as denoting gen- 
erally a survey on a large scale. 
It was not until long after the organization of the Ordnance 
Survey that it became a cadastral survey. Its organization at 
first was distinctly for military purposes, and the extension of its 
operations to cover all national needs only attained after years of 
discussion, and struggle for existence. 
