1838.} 



Progress of Geography in 1836-7. 



445 



by it, without any fresh survey— which could not, it is believed, be 

 effected with the existing maps in any other country in the world. 



The maps of ten counties, comprising 560 sheets, are published, and 

 the work advances rapidly. Combined with this map a series of me- 

 moirs is publishing, which will make it as complete as can be expect- 

 ed in a work of the kind. Would that such a work were possessed 

 by, or in progress in, every nation in Europe ! 



In concert with the land-survey the hydrographic department, under 

 the zealous and enlightened superintendence of Captain Beaufort, is 

 extremely active. Parts of the east and west coasts of Eugland, the 

 Irish Channel, the east coast of Scotland, the coast of Wales, and 

 the northern coast of Ireland, have been accurately examined, and 

 are still in progress. Added to this, a minute and beautiful chart 

 of the North Sea, executing by Captain Hewett, and showing, with the 

 greatest accuracy, all the undulating features of the wide but shallow 

 valley — in no part exceeding 100 yards in depth— which separates our 

 island from Holland and Europe, are gratifying proofs of the acti- 

 vity displayed by the government in the advancement of physical 

 geography. 



At length we may venture to boast of a work, worthy of the sub- 

 ject, on the Physical and Political Geography of the British Islands, 

 forming part of the Library of Useful Knowledge, in which the phy- 

 sical features which mark the true face of the country are traced with 

 a master's hand. 



On general geography, with the exception of some articles in the 

 EncyclopcEdias, and especially in the Penny Cyclopaedia, no work has 

 been published in England during the past year;* yet is the harvest 

 so thoroughly gathered that nothing is left for the gleaner ? Has the 

 subject of the geographical distribution of man, of animals, and of 

 plantsf met with attention ? Has ethnography, or the classification 

 of mankind according to language — or its classification according to 

 religions, been studied ? Is there a traveller's manual, or a table of 

 l)ositions, or a general gazetteer, or dictionary of geography, worthy 

 of the name, in our language ?X It is to be feared we ask in vain. 



* The valuable researches of Mr. Whewell and Mr. Lubbock, on the subject of tides, 

 form an honourable exception; as do also the useful printed Tide Tables, published by 

 the Hydrographic Office at the Admiralty. 

 + Mr. Watson's Sketch of Geography of Plants is an exception. 



t It is a singular fact, that in the Index to the Reports of the British Association, 

 and in that to the Magazine of Popular Science, the word Geography is not to be found ; 

 er if perchance, found in the former, it refers to nothing. 



