Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/187

Rh read a thesis entitled Propositions sur la monstr'ztosité, con- sidérée ch63 l’komme et les animach ; and in 1832—37 was published his great teratological work, Ilistoire générale ct pm'timlz'érerdes anomalies dc. l’organisation c/zez l'lzomme et [cs am'maux, 3 vols. 8vo, with 20 plates. In 1829 he delivered for his father the second part of a course of lectures on ornithology, and during the three following years he taught zoology at the Athenée, and teratology at the Ecole pratique. He was elected a member of the academy of sciences at Paris on April 15, 1833, was in 1837 appointed to act as deputy for his father at the faculty of sciences in Paris, and in the following year was sent to Bordeaux to organize a similar faculty there. He became successively inspector of the academy of Paris (1840), professor of the museum on the retirement of his father, inspector general of the university (1844), a mem- ber of the royal council for public instruction (1845), and, on the death of Blainville, professor of zoology at the faculty of sciences (1850). In 1851 he founded the Acclimatization Society of Paris, of which he was president. He died at Paris, November 10, 1861.

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EOGRAPHY is the science which describes the earth, the term being derived from two Greek words yr“), the earth, and ypquw, to write. By means of geography the surface of the earth is delineated and described, bOundaries are deﬁned, areas are exactly measured, and the relative positions of places are determined. Geography thus em- braces a wide range of subjects, and it has been found necessary to divide its study into several distinct sections.|1}} I.Comparative Geography traces the history of discovery, and records the changes which have taken place in land and sea in historic times. II.Mathematical Geography explains the ﬁgure, magnitude, and motion of the earth, teaches how to determine the positions of places on its surface, and shows how the whole or any portion of the earth may, on the principles of projection, be delineated on a map or chart. III.Physical Geography is the description of the actual state of the earth’s surface in its three great divisions—land, sea, and air. IV.Political Geography describes the earth as divided into countries, occupied by various nations, and improved by human art and industry. The following article is limited to a view of the progress of geographical discovery, an explanation of the principles of mathematical geography, and a synopsis of physical geography. For details relating to political geography the reader must consult the descriptive articles under their particular headings.

Four main causes have led to geographical discovery and exploration, namely, commercial intercourse between different countries, the operations of war, pilgrimages and missionary zeal, and in later times the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, which is the highest of all motives.

The Phœnicians are the earliest commercial people of whose discoveries we have any correct accounts. They first explored the shores of the Mediterranean, and eventually extended their voyages through the Straits of Gibraltar, and visited the western shores of Spain and Africa, planting colonies and Opening wider ﬁelds for their commerce by instructing the natives in their arts and improvements. They also monopolized the trade with India ; and their chief emporium, the rich city of Tyre, was the centre whence the products of the East and West were distributed. The trade of the West was brought from the port called Tarshish in Scripture, which is probably identical with Carthage, where the ships arrived from Spain, Africa, and distant Britain. Concerning the far eastern land reached by the Phoenicians, called Ophir in Scripture, there has been much dispute. The voyage to Ophir, we are told, occupied three years thither and homeward, and the cargo consisted of gold, ivory, apes, peacocks, and “algum” wood (1 Kings ix. 26, and x. 11). The following reasons lead to the conclusion that Ophir was the Malabar coast of India. In the Hebrew the word for apes is [cop/e (without any etymology in Semitic tongues), in Sanskrit Icaﬁ. Ivory in Hebrew is s/zen-lzabbim ; in Sanskrit ill/ta is an elephant. Peacocks is in Hebrew tol-l-i-im from togci, the name still used on the Malabar coast, derived from the Sanskrit. Algum wood, or almug, is corrupted from valgu (ka), sandal wood from Malabar. Thus the Phoenicians were the ﬁrst great carriers of the ancient world, extending their commercial operations from their central mart of Tyre on the Syrian coast to the tin- yielding isles of the Cassiterides in the far west, and to the ports of India in the east.

The great Phoenician colony of Carthage retained in full vigour the commercial spirit of the parent state. The Carthaginians traded on the coasts of Spain and Gaul, and extended their discoveries southwards along the coast of Africa, and to the Fortunate Islands, now known as the Canaries. Herodotus relates how the Phoenicians, setting sail from the Iled Sea, made their way to the south, and when autumn approached they drew their vessels to land, sowed a crop, and waited till it was grown, when they reaped it and again put to sea. Having spent two years in this manner, in the third year they reached the pillars of Hercules and returned to Egypt. But the most celebrated voyage of antiquity, undertaken for the purpose of discovery, was the expedition under Hanno, ﬁtted out by the senate of Carthage with the view of attempting the complete survey of the western coast of Africa. Hanno is said, in the Peripl'us IImmonis, to have set sail with a ﬂeet of 60 vessels, and the extent of his voyage has been variously estimated as reaching to the river Nun, to a little beyond Sierra Leone, and even as far as the Gulf of Benin, Another famous navigator, who sailed from the Carthaginian colony of Massilia (Marseilles) in about, was Pytheas. He steered northwards along the coasts of Spain and Gaul, sailed round the island Of Albion, and stretching still further to the north, he discovered an island known to the ancients as Ultima Thule, which may possibly have been the Shetland Isles.

The conquests of Alexander the Great, by making known the vast empire of Persia, materially enlarged the bounds of geographical knowledge. Although the course of his ‘expedition was mainly by land, the mind of the conqueror was also intent on commerce and maritime discovery. In Alexander led an army of Greeks down the valley of the Cabul river into the Punjab, and his expedition