Physical Atlas. 2243 



The Physical Atlas* 



This elaborate work, which is just finished, conveys to the mind a greater quantity 

 of information than could he gained in any manner equally expeditious. As a glance 

 at a map gives a more complete and correct idea of the figure of a continent or island 

 than could he expressed in words, so do the maps of facts in this Atlas give a more 

 thorough insight into physical phenomena than could he gained by any amount of 

 reading. Where the body of facts is so immense, and the description of information 

 so diversified, it follows almost as a matter of course that errors should occasionally 

 creep in and omissions now and then occur. A few such might perhaps be detected ; 

 but I notice this simply for the sake of asserting that a careful and critical examina- 

 tion of several of the maps in detail has convinced me that the greatest care has been 

 taken in making them as perfect as possible: and I have great pleasure in pro- 

 nouncing the ' Physical Atlas ' an inestimable treasure to the man of science ; and in 

 recommending it most cordially to the readers of the ' Zoologist.' 



I quote the prospectus in order to give a better idea of the undertaking than any 

 description I could draw up for the occasion, and I advisedly pronounce that the 

 work itself fully bears out all that the publishers say in its favour. 



" For imparting information, or for retaining what may already be possessed, those 

 means are calculated to be most successful which readily commend themselves to the 

 eye. Hence ordinary Geographical Maps convey more rapid and accurate knowledge 

 regarding the positions of places, and their relative distances from each other, than 

 can be done by the most elaborate verbal description ; but the inventive genius of 

 Professor Berghaus has imparted a significance to symbolical representation, transcend- 

 ing all the anticipations which have been formed regarding the capabilities of the art. 

 The contents of the many volumes which formerly were the sole depositories of infor- 

 mation regarding the different kingdoms of nature, have been condensed and repro- 

 duced in a graphic shape, in his ' Physical Atlas,' with a conciseness, precision, com- 

 pleteness, and promptitude of expression altogether unattainable by any agency 

 previously employed. And not only has this been the case in the reproduction of the 

 reading matter contained in books, but the process has been extended to the transmu- 

 tation of the masses of statistical data expressed in the Tabular enumerations of works 

 of reference. The elegant substitute of Linear Delineation registers the most com- 

 plicated results in a perspicuous form, and affords inexhaustible facilities for recording 

 the continued advances of science. In the emphatic language of the late President 

 of the Royal Geographical Society, * Professor Berghaus has made the progress of 

 science visible ' — he has mapped out the length and breadth of philosophic research, 

 and shown what it has done, and what it has left undone, in expounding the physical 

 constitution of the Globe. 



" The Physical Atlas has been the labour of many years ; and in addition to sci- 

 entific qualifications of the highest order, and an intimate acquaintance with the 

 writings and discoveries of Brewster, Sabine, Jameson, Whewell, Greenough, Hum- 

 boldt, Von Buch, Arago, and other distinguished names in modern research, Professor 



* * The Physical Atlas, a Series of Maps illustrating the Geographical Distribu- 

 tion of Natural Phenomena. »By Henry Berghaus, LL.D., and Alexander 

 Keith Johnston, F.R.G.S. Edinburgh : Johnston. London : Saunders. Glas- 

 gow : Lumsden.' 



