Geographical Maps and Sailing Charts. 251 



serviceable working instrument, for in order to bring it to any- 

 thing like perfection there was needed some cheap and strong 

 transparent material, such as celluloid, on which to print or 

 engrave it. 



Historical. — Before proceeding to a discussion of maps it 

 will be well to consider briefly the history of the stereographic 

 projection. It is said to have been invented by the astronomer 

 Hipparchus, who lived at Rhodes about 150 B. C. It is also 

 said that Ptolemy, sometimes called the father of geography, 

 who lived at Alexandria about 150 A. D., employed the pro- 

 jection in making maps of the then known world. Almost 

 the best description of the projection which the writer has 

 seen appears in a publication entitled "A New and Complete 

 Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, Illustrated with Copper 

 Plates engraved by Mr. Jefferys, Geographer to his Majesty. 

 By a Society of Gentlemen." Printed in London in 1764. 

 It may be owing to Mr. Jefferys' connection with the editorial 

 staff that the article on maps is rather more elaborate than one 

 finds generally in such publications. At all events, the princi- 

 ples of the projection and methods of making maps are admir- 

 ably set forth, and figures are introduced of the northern and 

 southern hemispheres, and of a hemisphere on the plane of the 

 horizon of London. In discussing the maps, attention is called 

 to the distortion which they exhibit, and the statement is made 

 that " the course and distance between places is neither with 

 ease or exactness found in this projection." The Encyclo- 

 paedia Britannica in its article on geography gives an admirable 

 account of the stereographic projection, but closes the discus- 

 sion somewhat abruptly as follows : " Notwithstanding the 

 facility of construction, the stereographic projection is not 

 much used in map making." This, as far as the writer has 

 been able to discover, is a correct statement. Prior to one 

 hundred years ago the projection was generally used, while of 

 modern publications the writer knows only of a few school 

 geographies in which the hemispheres are in stereographic pro- 

 jection, while for maps of limited areas it is seldom if ever 

 used. 



There seems to be a want of exact information concerning 

 maps by those who teach geography, as well as lack of appre- 

 ciation of those features which count for so much in maps, 

 namely, facility of construction, combined with accuracy. In 

 several treatises on Map Projection of quite recent date which 

 have been examined, the stereographic projection is passed 

 over hurriedly, as though it had no special value for map mak- 

 ing, while it will be one of the chief objects of this communica- 

 tion to demonstrate that, all things considered, it is by far the 

 best of all projections for geographical maps. 



