TESTIMONY 
 
 FEOM 
 
 Prop. Arnold Guyot, Princeton College. 
 
 It is with unmixed feelings of pleasure that I hail your attempt to 
 make our great and excellent Ritter known to the American public by his 
 own works, and thus to give, in his own words, to the numerous lovers 
 of Scientific Geography in this country, the large and suggestive views 
 contained in the translated memoirs. 
 
 I am aware that, owing to Hitter's mode of thought and style, both so 
 eminently German, — as you remark yourself, — this work may not be des- 
 tined to become what is termed by our booksellers a popular book ; but I 
 think too well of the American mind and culture not to believe that it 
 will find its way to a large number of true scholars, by whose influence it 
 will largely contribute to foster a deeper and more philosophical study of 
 both Geography and History. 
 
 Having myself begun, many years «ago, to translate several portions of 
 Hitter's works into French, I can, perhaps better than many others, appre- 
 ciate the great difficulties that you had to overcome to give us his thoughts 
 in the clear and flowing English which distinguishes your translation. 
 For this success I sincerefy congratulate you. 
 
 I remain, dear sir, with sincere esteem, and cordially, yours, 
 
 Arnold Guyot. 
 
 Proe. D. C. Gilman, Yale College. (From the New Englander.) 
 
 By common consent, Humboldt and Ritter are regarded as the 
 founders of the department of Physical Geography. For its promotion they 
 labored, not unitedly, but harmoniously, during a longer period than is 
 appointed for the life of most men. While they differed widely in char- 
 acter, and exerted themselves in very different ways for the promotion of 
 
TE STIMONY. 
 
 their favorite study, their names will always be remembered together in 
 their works. The Cosmos and the Erdkunde will together be handed down 
 to posterity as an enduring monument of the extent to which the knowl- 
 edge of nature, and especially of its relations to man, has been carried 
 in the nineteenth century of the Christian era. 
 
 In contrast with the popular homage generously lavished upon Hum- 
 boldt, both in Europe and America, stands the equally honorable and 
 equally enduring reputation which the genius of Bitter has achieved, not 
 indeed among the multitude, but among his peers in the higher ranks of 
 intellectual culture. Yet we would not disparage the well-earned fame 
 of the author of the Cosmos, when we say that the author of the Erdkunde 
 was far more nearly his equal in genius, in learning, and in perpetual influ- 
 ence, than would be supposed by those who should judge them by their 
 present notoriety ; for the New Geography is almost equally indebted to 
 them both. It is not easy to say whether Humboldt or Ritter has done 
 most in this science, for they have labored by different methods and 
 in different departments, — Humboldt inclining decidedly to the study of 
 material science, in geologv, hydrography, orography, and terrestrial phys- 
 ics ; and Ritter in as marked a manner evincing his love for the study of 
 mankind, in history, ethnology and archaeology, and regarding the world 
 as a theatre for human progress. To define the relative value of their 
 services is happily as needless as it would be difficult. They acted and 
 reacted upon each other. 
 
 At the basis of all Ritter's writings lies the thought that each of the 
 grand divisions of the earth has its own peculiar character as really as 
 any person ; and that thus it is designed to fulfil a specific office in the 
 culture of mankind. This idea, promulgated and illustrated with such 
 eloquence and skill in the University lectures of Ritter, has already to 
 some extent pervaded the geographical literature of the day, and may be 
 traced in many of the school-books of Germany, which are based upon his 
 method. His principles are brought out in a volume composed of various 
 contributions to the Academy of Science, and other occasional essays, 
 which was published in Berlin in 1852. It is this volume which is now 
 first brought before the English reading public, no translation of it having 
 appeared in England. 
 

 
GEOGKAPHICAL STUDIES. 
 
 BT THE LATE 
 
 PROFESSOR CARL RITTER 
 
 OF BERLIN 
 
 fätunnlnüiö from t\z (friginal fötxmKn, 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM LEONHARD GAGE, 
 
 TRANSLATOR AXD EDITOR OF PROF. HEIKRICH STEFFINS'S 
 '• STORY OF MY CAREER," ETC. 
 
 Is it not worth while, for the sake of the history of men and of nations, to study the surface 
 of the earth in its relation to its inhabitants ? " 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 QOULD ANDLINCOLN, 
 
 59 WASHINGTON STKEET.' 
 
 NEW YORK: SHELDON AND COMPANY. 
 CINCINNATI: GEORGE 8. BLANCHARD. 
 
 1863. 
 
i 
 
 Wl 
 
 f u " 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by 
 
 GOULD AND LINCOLN, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 X*t$J I 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 The papers presented to the American public in the fol- 
 lowing work are so purely the product of German thought, 
 and retain, even in our own language, such distinct traces 
 of their source, that a translation becomes necessarily haz- 
 ardous. An eminent living writer has said that "every 
 great nation has a mode of expression and of thought pe- 
 culiar to itself, and with which its sympathies are intimately 
 connected. To introduce any foreign model, however admi- 
 rable it may be, is to violate this connection, and to impair 
 the value of literature by Hmiting the scope of its action." 
 Physical Geography, and the generalizations which it in- 
 volves, have been to so great an extent the fruit of German 
 soil, that its terminology has hardly forced itself yet into 
 other tongues, and its ideas are still colored with the nation- 
 ality of their origin. To cast the thought in an English 
 mould of expression has been a prominent object with me in 
 executing the translation, yet I am aware that the result has 
 been but imperfectly reached. The obstacle has been not 
 so much in the extremely involved style of Ritter (though 
 in this respect educated Germans grant that he has hardly 
 his parallel) as in the newness of his field of inquiry. 
 
 There are some pages of this work whose contents have 
 been presented heretofore to the American and English reader 
 
IV 
 
 in our standard treatises on Physical Geography ; and they 
 are here given anew mainly to show them in their first state- 
 ment, to bring them forward in the light in which they ap- 
 peared to the eminent discoverer. /But a large part of the 
 generalizations of this book are not as yet worked out : they 
 may appear loose and vague and unmeaning ; and yet they 
 had to their author, conversant as he was with the myriads of 
 geographical details, a distinctness of meaning which hardly 
 any one can see who has not read the twenty thousand pages 
 of Bitter's Erdkunde.. 
 
 Mr. Buckle has elaborated, in one of the opening chap- 
 ters of the History of Civilization in England, two or three 
 of Hitter's thoughts, and has applied them briefly to a few 
 countries; and while he goes to an extent to which Ritter 
 was ever a stranger, abusing the thought instead of using it, 
 that nations as well as individuals are modified by their geo- 
 graphical conditions, yet his chapter shows how wide a field 
 of application lies still open to the generalizations of the great 
 geographer. Ritter nowhere makes man subject, in silent, , 
 unresisting dumbness, to the influences of nature ; he allows 
 for results which issue from the mutual conflict of geograph- 
 ical conditions and the freedom of man's will ; but Buckle, 
 going far beyond Ritter, makes the former element all, and 
 reduces the latter to a cipher. 
 
 The Introduction to the Erdkunde, and the General Ob- 
 servations on the Fixed Forms of the Earth's Surface, are the 
 only portions of Ritter's great work, of any length, which 
 could be incorporated into this translation. The Erdkunde, 
 or Physical Geography of Asia and Africa (for the work 
 never went beyond these two continents), is a monument of 
 
translator's preface. V 
 
 genius as well as of research ; and yet the nineteen volumes, 
 with their twenty thousand pages, are not filled with general- 
 izations, — they are made up almost exclusively of details. 
 The Erdkunde differs from all preceding geographical works, 
 as diamond differs from charcoal: the details are not thrown 
 together in a hap-hazard way, but are organized into unity.. 
 The sciences of botany, geology, chemistry, astronomy, nat- 
 ural philosophy, and mineralogy are made subservient to 
 the great purpose of the work, and the results of all these 
 and kindred sciences are introduced and unified. The prin- 
 ciples that underlie the Erdkunde are found in the two papers 
 which are translated here, but, as the reader will see, the work 
 itself could not be to any great extent used. 
 
 The six lectures read before the Royal Academy of Science 
 at Berlin, in different years, from 1826 to 1850, are esteemed 
 the consummation of Hitter's geographical labors. Guyot 
 and the English geographers have made the public acquainted 
 with a part of their contents, yet some of them have not been 
 drawn upon at all. They will all repay study ; though it is to 
 be regretted that the turn of the German mind is so little 
 towards illustration of principles ; that it rolls out thought 
 after thought, keeping them in an abstract shape, instead of 
 casting them in that more concrete form which is characteristic 
 of the results of the French, English, and American mind. 
 
 Ritter, unlike Humboldt, seems to have paid no attention 
 to beauties of style ; and this although he had a poet's sensi- 
 bility, and was alive to every natural grace. The reader will 
 not fail to see, especially in the Introduction to the Erdkunde, 
 that its author had an imagination of rare strength, one which 
 threw a rich and warm glow over all that he wrote. But as 
 
VI TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. 
 
 for beauty of style, he had none of it. He fully illustrates 
 the truth of what has been said by an eminent living writer : 
 " The great German authors address themselves not to their 
 country, but to one another. They are sure of a select and 
 learned audience, and they use what is in fact a learned lan- 
 guage ; they turn their mother tongue into a dialect, eloquent 
 indeed and very powerful, but so difficult, so subtle, and so 
 full of complicated inversions, that to their own lower classes 
 it is entirely incomprehensible." 
 
 Of two pictures of Ritter in my possession, I present the 
 earlier one, taken at the height of his power. Although it 
 does not in any way represent his appearance as I knew him 
 in his advanced age, yet it is certified to as a very correct 
 likeness of him in middle life. 
 
 I cannot close without expressing my thanks to Mr. Bal- 
 four, of Dantzig, Prussia, for valuable hints and help in the 
 execution of this undertaking, and more especially for revis- 
 ing the entire translation, word by word, thus at once ensuring 
 and assuring its accuracy. 
 
 May this work, which in another language has already 
 given a new direction to Geography in all civilized lands, be 
 more fruitful of good, now that it can be read in the tongue 
 which will always be largely employed in diffusing its results. 
 
 WILLIAM LEONHAIID GAGE. 
 
 Portsmouth, N. H., March, 1861. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF PROFESSOR RITTER, 
 BY THE TRANSLATOR, 13. 
 
 ACCOUNT OF RITTER'S GEOGRAPHICAL LABORS, 
 BY DR. BÖGEKAMP, OF BERLIN, 33. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO GENERAL COMPARATIVE 
 GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 The study of Man as an individual preliminary to the study of the globe, 55. — 
 The norm of individual and national development, 56. — Sources of individ- 
 uality, 57. — Slow workings of nature, 58. — The earth the scene of all natural 
 phenomena, 59. — Natural life a resultant, 60. — Influences of nature, 60. — A 
 knowledge of God solving a thousand seeming contradictions, 61. — Impos- 
 sible that a single mind should compass the whole theme of this work, 61. — 
 The greatest triumph of the human mind to trace the influences which modify 
 man, 61. — Possibility that some may be able to forecast history, 62.— The 
 beginning of historical development a circuitous and rambling course, 62. — 
 All forms to be studied, 63. —Man must find his true locality to attain his 
 perfect development, 63. — General Comparative Geography in its 
 
Tili CONTEXTS. 
 
 Aim and Ob ject, 64. — Every observation on nature conducts from details 
 to their relation with the whole, 64. — Regularity in diversity, 65. — Illustra- 
 tions, 65. — Influences of periodic change, 66. — Contrast between east and 
 west, 66. — Contrast between the Old World and the New, 67- — Special 
 characteristics of Asia, Europe, and Africa, 68. — Influences active in the 
 western half of the globe, 70. — Advancement from the simple to the com- 
 plex, 70. — Africa as rightly the first field of study, 71. — The Continents as 
 Fined Forsts, 71. — Africa, Asia, and Europe, the natural order of study 
 in the continents of the Old World, 71. —These three continents contain all 
 leading types, 72. — Reason of the above order in naming them, 73. — Unity 
 of the Old World, 73. — Strict use of the term Old World, 74.— General 
 usage in the names Old and New Worlds, 74. — The Fluid Forms on the 
 Earth's Surface, 75. — The geographical elements, their laws, activity, 
 functions, and mediatorial agency, 75. — The Three Natural Kingdoms, 
 78. — Their relation to Man, 79. —Method or Arrangement, 81. — The 
 deductive system, 82. — Brief resume of authorities, 82. — Why called Physi- 
 cal Geography, 83. — Why called General, 83. — Excellence of a systematic 
 arrangement, 84. — Importance of hypotheses in geographical investigations, 
 85. — The union of all truths, 85. — Fundamental principles of this work, 
 87. — Geographical Authorities, 89.— Nat ure of the Authorities, 91.— 
 Ritter's personal observations, 91. — Books written by investigators them- 
 selves, 93. — Books written by others than the first investigators, 94. — Yalue 
 of maps, 95. — Specification of authorities, 96. — On the Features of the 
 Earth's Surface, 99. — Ritter's personal acquaintance with leading author- 
 ities, 100.— On Oceanic Forms, 104. — Contributions of British navigators to 
 science, 104. — Benjamin Franklin and American savans, 105. — On the 
 Atmosphere, 107. — The barometer and its historical development, 108. — 
 Labors of Von Buch, Humboldt, De Saussure, and Sömmering, 111. — On 
 the Subterranean Regions, 114. — Forces of fire and heat, 114. — Observations 
 on volcanic eruptions, 115. — Leopold Von Buch's investigations, 116. — 
 Scotch naturalists and Humboldt, 117. — Authorities in the Vegetable King- 
 dom, 118. — Authorities in the Animal Kingdom, 123. — Remaining Materials, 
 125. — Early geographical investigators, 125. — The agency of boards of trade, 
 missionary societies, and the like, in collecting facts, 127. — Tribute to Hum- 
 boldt, 128.— Universality of modern studies, 129. — The course of human 
 inquiry, 130. —Mission of nature, 130. 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE FIXED FORMS 
 OF THE EARTH'S SURFACE. 
 
 Sky, Sea, and Land, in their mutual relations and their inherent activities, 
 133. — Using the past to illustrate the present, 135. — Order of investigation, 
 135. — The Laud, 136. — Equipoise of continents, 136. — Southerly direction 
 of continents, 137. — Divisions of the Old World, 138. — Africa, Asia, and 
 Europe, in respect of form, 138. — Tlie Elevations of the Earth, 141. — Relative 
 and absolute elevation, 142. — General water horizon, 143. — Definition of 
 Mountain Banges, 144. — Chains of marine mountains, 145. — Watersheds, 
 146. — Mineral mountains, 150. — Inner formation of mountains, 151. — Illus- 
 trations, 151. — Incorrect use of the term "mountain," 152. — False use of the 
 -words " low " and " high," 153. — Establishment of Terms indicative of Eleva- 
 tion, 154. — Buil ding of the earth, 156. — Streams of Water, 157. — Course 
 of streams, 157. — River Systems and the Districts which they ivater, 159. — 
 Watersheds as a means of internal communication, 162. — Direction, Fall, 
 Upper, Middle, and Lower Course of Streams, 164. — The direction and fall 
 of streams, 164. — Their upper course, 166. — Middle course, 167. — Lower 
 course, 170. — The Terrace Lands of the Earth, 172. 
 
 THE GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND HORIZONTAL 
 EXTENSION OF THE CONTINENTS. 
 
 Progress in a knowledge of the globe, 177.— The earth as an organism, 178.— 
 The earth as the theatre of the forces of nature, 178. —The unequal division 
 of the earth into land and water, 179. — Conformations of the earth's surface, 
 179. — Contrast between the Land Hemisphere and the Water 
 Hemisphere, 180. — Exhibited in Australia, America, and Africa, 181. — In- 
 fluence of the oceans upon the atmosphere, 184. — The Grouping op the 
 Land Masses. 185— Breadth at the northern extremities contrasted with 
 that at the southern, 185. — Proximity of all lands around the JSbrth Pole, 
 186. — Uniformity of products in all Arctic regions, 187. — Diversity in unity, 
 188. — Rifting of the continents, 189. —Influence of internal seas and arms 
 of the ocean, 190- —The various districts of the earth brought into intimate 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 relations by the arts of navigation, 191. — Positions of the Separate 
 Continents, 191. — Of Europe, 192.— Figurative appellations of the conti- 
 nents, 193. —Position of America and Australia, 194. — Size oe the Conti- 
 nents, 195. —Its influence, 195.— Extension in Length and Breadth, 
 196.— The Conformation of the Continents and their Broken Out- 
 line, 199. —Conclusion, 208. 
 
 REMARKS ON FORM AND NUMBERS AS AUXILIARY IN 
 REPRESENTING THE RELATIONS OE GEOGRAPHI- 
 CAL SPACES. 
 
 The application of geometrical figures in geography, 212. — Use of numbers in 
 aiding to grasp relations, 219. — Want of accurate measurements, 221. — Hum- 
 boldt's method of description praised, 224. —Final use of measurements, 225. \ 
 — Application of numbers to shore-lines, 225. — Also to river systems, 228. — I 
 To mountains, 234. — Geographical labors which ought to be undertaken, 
 
 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN GEOGRAPHICAL 
 SCIENCE. 
 
 True scope of the geograpical sciences, 241. — The world the theatre of historical 
 development, 242. — Mutual relation of history and geography, 242. — The 
 former consciousness of this relation, 243. — Gradual improvement in text- 
 books, 243. — The union of all sciences, 246. — Sources of geographical science, 
 246. — Its field of study, 247. — Changes in places, times, and forms, 249. — 
 Objects formerly remote or inaccessible brought near, 250. — Fixed and fluid 
 forms, 251. — All natural forces made subservient to human uses, 252. — The 
 complete transformation of the earth, 252. — Difference between geography 
 and astronomy, 254. — Difference between geography and other natural sci- 
 ences, 254. — Changes on the earth, 255. —Victory of man over natural forces, 
 257. — Unprogressive notions have little influence over the aspects of nature, 
 257. —Effects in this regard of the configuration of surface, 258. — The Ural 
 chain as an example, 260. — Effects of all level regions to bring men together 
 
CONTENTS. XI 
 
 and to diffuse the results of industry, 260. — Effects of the progress of nautical 
 art, 261. — Influence of improved river navigation, 263. — All countries now 
 in virtual proximity, 265. — The longest way often the shortest way, 270. — 
 Favorable situations in relation to the sea, 271. — Conditions of nations of 
 former times, 273. — Change in the methods of descriptive geography, 274. — 
 Influence of incorrect astronomical data, 2~5. — Concluding remarks, 277. 
 
 NATURE AND HISTORY AS THE FACTORS OF NATURAL 
 HISTORY: OR, REMARKS ON THE RESOURCES OF 
 THE EARTH. 
 
 A knowledge of the resources of the earth an important part of geographical 
 science, 281. — Deficiency of standard treatises in this regard, 282. — Influence 
 of the diffusion of the gifts of nature, 283. — A thorough knowledge of the 
 theme yet wanting, 283. — A knowledge of natural history indispensable to 
 the full appreciation of geography, 284. — Relation between the mental state 
 of a people and its surroundings, 285. —Lack of data in geographical science, 
 290. —Efforts to reduce fragmentary facts to order, 292. — The relations of the 
 mineral kingdom to organized productions, 296. — Diversity in the geognos- 
 tic forms of the globe, 297.— The science of comparative natural history a 
 new one, 300. — Duties of a naturalist, 301. — Three questions preliminary 
 to an explanation of the laws of propagation on the globe, 302. — Diversity 
 leading to harmony, 307. 
 
 THE EXTERNAL FEATURES OF THE EARTH IN THEIR 
 INFLUENCE ON THE COURSE OF HISTORY. 
 
 The apparent confusion on the globe, 311. — Difference between works of nature 
 and works of art, 313. — Man's capacity of progress, 314. — Clear accordance 
 in all the relations of things, 315. — Influence of the wedge-like masses of land 
 in the Antarctic hemisphere, 316. — Contrast between the land and water 
 hemispheres, 316. — The great belt of coast-line, 317. — Influence of the 
 continental and oceanic divisions of the globe, 318. — The great volcanic 
 
Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 circle, 319. — Volcanic groups, 323. — Laws of volcanic activity, 325. — Laws 
 governing the direction of mountain chains, 325. — The cradle of history, 330. 
 
 — Significance of the continents in their relations to each other, 331. — 
 Ancient ideas of the Orient and the Occident of the globe, 333. — Under the 
 influence of navigation, old contrasts disappearing, 334. — Future conquests 
 of science, 335. — Characteristics of the separate continents, 337. — The island 
 formation of Europe, 344. —Absence of islands on the coast of Africa, 345. 
 
 — Products of various islands, 346. — Effects if the world were entirely insu- 
 lar, 347. — Favorable position of Europe, 348. — Connection between nature 
 and history, 348. —A secret principle of unity, 349. — Historical value of 
 each continent, 350. — America in this regard, 351. — Australia and Southern 
 Asia, 353. — The future greatness of the New World, 354. — Concluding 
 remarks, 356. 
 
A SKETCH 
 
 LIFE OF CAßL RITTEß. 
 
 The first day of October, 1859, witnessed a funeral in Ber- 
 lin, second only in the display of public sympathy and appre- 
 ciation of worth to that which was exhibited in May of the 
 same year, when Alexander von Humboldt was carried to 
 his grave in Tegel. I refer to the burial ceremonies of 
 Carl Ritter, the most eminent geographer in the world — the 
 man who not only gave the first impetus to the study of 
 physical geography, but also raised it to the dignity of a 
 science, and who remained till his death without a rival in 
 the branch of knowledge which he had created. This lan- 
 guage may seem unwarrantably strong, but it is not more 
 emphatic than that expressed by the savans of Berlin over 
 his grave. His influence is felt in America ; for such works 
 as Guyot's "Earth and Man," and Mrs. Somerville's trea- 
 tises, confessedly owe their origin to the teachings and dis- 
 coveries of Ritter. A brief memoir of so great and influential 
 a man cannot be misplaced as a threshold to his writings; 
 and though no full biography of Ritter has yet appeared, 
 yet the sketches of Kramer, Hoffmann, and Strauss, aided by 
 
14 SKETCH OF THE LIFE 
 
 personal recollections of his teaching, must suffice, in want 
 of more complete materials. 
 
 Carl Ritter was born at Quedlinburg, Prussia, 1779. The 
 time was most favorable, for it was then that the world was 
 beginning to be deeply moved by the great intellectual 
 struggles which preceded the French Revolution, and yet it 
 was late enough to perceive whither all the currents and 
 counter currents of opinion would run, if left to their own 
 self-direction. His father was a physician of skill and note. 
 Dying when Ritter was a mere child, he left a large family 
 utterly without means. Carl was the youngest child ; he was 
 then but five years of age. Through the kindness of friends 
 and the gentry of the neighborhood, three of the children found 
 homes immediately. Carl and another brother were cared for 
 in an almost providential way. It was just at that time that 
 Salzmann was founding his famous school at Schnepfenthal. 
 He was looking carefully around to discover some boy of 
 promise whom he might adopt in his sixth year, and bring 
 to manhood, applying his favorite system of moral suasion. 
 Salzmann accidentally learned of the death of Dr. Ritter, and 
 knowing of his large family, he thought that in it there might 
 be some promising boy whom he might adopt, and sent two 
 friends to Quedlinburg to make the proper inquiries. They 
 were so well pleased with Carl, and so well satisfied that 
 he would be a suitable subject for Salzmann's experiment, 
 that they proposed to his mother to surrender him to their 
 friend to be educated at his expense. She consented, after a 
 hard struggle, and accompanied her boy to Schnepfenthal. A 
 friend of the family went with them. She remained for some 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. 15 
 
 time with her son, and returned to her home, having conceived 
 the greatest respect for Salzmann and his system. Thus Carl 
 Ritter was the first pupil in the school which has since risen to 
 such eminence, the institution at Schnepfenthal. He remained 
 there eleven years, till his entering the university, and so this 
 pleasant place became his real home. And scarcely could a 
 better one have been found to develop a mind like Bitter's, 
 and fit it for the pursuit of such studies as he was to become 
 eminent in. Surrounded by the charms of a highly diversified 
 landscape, on the border of the Thuringian forest, looking out 
 on all sides upon a most fruitful plain dotted with cities and 
 villages, with meadows and mountains full in view, he was 
 not only able in all this beauty to penetrate to the goodness of 
 the Creator, but also to get glimpses of many geographical 
 forms, there thrown together, which in most other places 
 would be scattered. So to him Schnepfenthal became a 
 miniature Cosmos ; and I can easily see how his whole later 
 method of regarding the entire world in its cosmical unity 
 grew out of the blended unity and diversity in the midst of 
 which he passed from childhood to manhood. His education 
 was conducted with the most jealous care. Schnepfenthal was 
 one of the first schools where the languages of Greece and 
 Rome were pushed aside in favor of the modern tongues, 
 and where the attention of the teachers was specially directed 
 to the practical branches, and the formation of character. To 
 the latter Salzmann devoted most of his energies. To give 
 physical strength, and hardihood of nature, and ruggedness of 
 spirit, he much preferred to merely imparting the details 
 of learning. It is but just to say, that the religion taught was 
 
16 SKETCH OF THE LIFE 
 
 the rationalism of those times, of which Salzmann was a 
 prominent supporter ; but Bitter seems never to have been 
 affected by it. During the last days of his life, while he was 
 suffering great pain, his thoughts ran back to Schnepfenthal; 
 he sent a word of greeting to the home of his youth, and 
 expressed his thankfulness that God had made that school the 
 place where he had begun to enjoy the consolations of religion. 
 This institution still exists, and among the eight hundred men 
 whom it has sent into the world, Hitter stands incontestably 
 on the highest stage of eminence. 
 
 Eleven years spent in Schnepfenthal brought him to the 
 age of sixteen. He must be thinking of the future. He had 
 chosen no profession. He had a strong relish for study, but how 
 he should support himself during the years to be spent at the 
 university, he did not know. The way before him seemed 
 quite dark, as it had been to him, when a boy of five years, 
 at his father's death. But again Providence disclosed the 
 path that he should take. Mr. Hollweg, a wealthy merchant 
 of Frankfort-on-the-Main, and partner in business with the 
 same Bethmann whose name every visitor to Frankfort still 
 recognizes in connection with Dannecker's statue of Ariadne, 
 sent him, upon Salzmann's recommendation, to the university, 
 under the condition that after leaving it he should become the 
 private tutor of his two sons. So Ritter went to Halle. He 
 had then no special inclination towards geography, and entered 
 upon the study of finance. Halle was then the centre of the 
 intellectual life of Germany, as it now is of its religious life, 
 and, happily for Ritter, he soon found himself domesticated 
 in the home of one of the most distinguished of the professors, 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. 17 
 
 Niemeyer, who may be said to have been the most eminent 
 educator of his age. He had just published his first principles 
 of the pedagogic art, and was then at the height of his fame. 
 During the two years which Ritter spent in Halle, he was 
 brought under the daily influence of Niemeyer, and it is not 
 strange that it gave him not only a great bias towards the life 
 of a teacher, but an admirable knowledge of the principles 
 which underlie a teacher's work. In the year 1798, he en- 
 tered upon his duties as private tutor of the children of Mr. 
 Hollweg, of Frankfort. 
 
 It was a trying step for the youth of nineteen, who had 
 always moved in the most retired way, to enter at once the 
 family of a very wealthy man, in the richest city of Germany, 
 and to mingle freely with its aristocracy. Of course he found 
 a multitude of difficulties to overcome. But he set himself 
 in good earnest to his duty, and the result has followed as it 
 has to few teachers beside. One of the two little boys died 
 in the very freshness of childhood ; the other has grown up 
 to be first a contemporary professor with Ritter in the Uni- 
 versity of Berlin, and now to be the distinguished head of 
 medical, ecclesiastical, and educational affairs, — Baron Beth- 
 man Hollweg, — a man not only of the finest talents, but also 
 the great pillar of evangelical religion in Germany ; a man of 
 such exalted character and true influence that I cannot write 
 his name without a glow of enthusiasm. 
 
 There are few places which so call every quality of a 
 teacher into action — trying at every point, attainments, tem- 
 perament, judgment, disposition, and strength — as the post 
 of tutor in such a house as Ritter was called to, where there 
 
 2* 
 
18 SKETCH OF THE LIFE 
 
 are the most capable of children to receive, and the most capa- 
 ble of parents to judge. But Ritter went to his duty fully- 
 equipped. And the longer he staid, the more he was loved. 
 He was brought not only into daily contact with such men as 
 Sömmering and Engel, but with Leopold von Buch and Alex- 
 ander von Humboldt. Such acquaintanceship drove him 
 deeper into study ; and amid the advantages of a place like 
 Frankfort, with wealth, art, and books at his free disposal, 
 with friends to reward and stimulate his zeal, and in the midst 
 of an attractive country like the valley of the Main and the 
 Rhine, his mind was enriched with all the accomplishments 
 that could adorn it. 
 
 And all these advantages he appreciated and improved. 
 The time of his stay in Frankfort was a period of the most 
 diversified studies, to which not only his duties as teacher 
 invited him, but to which his own nature drove him. So, 
 among other things, he turned his attention to the languages 
 of Greece and Rome, which had been overlooked in his educa- 
 tion at Schnepfenthal, and read the most eminent authors in 
 Latin and Greek literature. It was at Frankfort, too, that 
 he turned his mind with special interest to geography and 
 history. The thought of devoting himself to these depart- 
 ments presented itself to him while a teacher in Mr. Holl- 
 weg's house. So he began his studies in this direction by 
 going over, first, all the most eminent works then written on 
 geography and its relations. The little excursions which he 
 made with his pupils into the environs, near and remote, of 
 Frankfort, aided him in collecting independent observations. 
 The happy faculty which he possessed of grasping, with per- 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. 19 
 
 feet ease, all the features of a landscape, was to him of great 
 service, and, by sketching them on his little journeys, he 
 rendered them forever his own. So, from every one of these 
 little trips he used to bring home a portfolio full of sketches, 
 which served him as the points to which important observa- 
 tions began by and by to attach themselves. It was in this 
 way, by studying in this minute and careful manner the mere 
 neighborhood of Frankfort, that he gained that thorough 
 grounding in geography which displayed itself in his first 
 publications. He began his career as an author by sending 
 to a paper for youth, published by his friend Engelmann, 
 these geographical studies of which I have just spoken. But 
 in 1806 appeared his six maps of Europe, and in 1811 the 
 Geography of Europe, in two volumes. In both of them can 
 be seen the singular capacity of his mind for grasping the 
 facts of geography and apprehending their relations. They 
 are the first efforts to express what lay in his soul. Many more 
 preparations were needed to ripen him for his great work. 
 
 In 1811 he began his series of short journeys, which 
 lasted through his whole life, by excursions with his pupils 
 into Switzerland and Italy. I do not need to speak at any 
 protracted length to make intelligible to my readers of what 
 never-ending significance the careful observation of these 
 two countries — the most perfect representatives of the most 
 important and weightiest geographical types which Europe 
 has to show — was to such a man as Ritter, whose mind was 
 so singularly sensitive to external impressions, and so well 
 adapted to trace the relations existing between the formative 
 features of a country and the character of its population. 
 
20 SKETCH OF THE LIFE 
 
 In Switzerland he studied nature in her most stupendous 
 forms. Italy, which he traversed from north to south, gave 
 him an insight into volcanic activity, the relation of the land 
 to the sea, the effects upon climate, and of all geographical 
 features upon the character of a people. The riches of art 
 which Italy possesses as does no other land, laid the finishing 
 touch upon his most delicate and sensitive soul. And of not \ 
 less worth to him were the personal relations which he i 
 entered into on those journeys with the most eminent men of !; 
 the times. I mention Pestalozzi before all, whom he met in i 
 his excursions to Switzerland, and whom he repeatedly ' 
 visited ; the time which he spent with him and his coadjutors 
 iu discussing the method of instruction which Pestalozzi was 
 exhibiting to the world he used to look back upon as most [ 
 valuable and delightful. With Saussure and de Candolle — ' 
 names known to all my readers — he was on terms of intimacy, f 
 meeting them in the course of his Swiss journeys. "With his I 
 pupils he penetrated into every corner of this country, tarry- I 
 ing months at a time in places of special interest, as, for 
 example, at Geneva, the centre of the intellectual life of 
 Switzerland, and at the base of Mont Blanc, the point of the 
 greatest interest to the geographer. He tarried long at Rome, 
 too, not only on account of its manifold historical associations, 
 but because it was then the centre of attraction to men of world- 
 wide reputation; and while there he became intimate with 
 such artists as Cornelius and Overbeck, the painters, and Thor- 
 waldsen, the sculptor, — men whose gifts were not those alone 
 of a skilful hand, but of able minds, and new and rich 
 thought. With all the vast range of knowledge, with all the 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. 21 
 
 sharpness of his genius, with all the energy of his activity 
 and the strength of his intellect, the quality which most 
 endeared him to his friends was the sweetness of his nature, 
 his friendly mien, the cheerful, bright, child-like soul ; these 
 made a bond that could not be broken. This made them 
 almost forget at times that that noble intellect was, and would 
 remain, the basis of his fame. 
 
 Thus enriched by the fruits of all these journeys, he began 
 to lay his hand upon the work of his life. In 1814 he went 
 with his two pupils to Göttingen, for they were then ready to 
 commence their studies at the university. Here he could 
 associate freely with eminent men, and have the use of the 
 vast library which had been recently gathered there. He spent 
 two years at Göttingen ; thence he went to Berlin, and there 
 finished the first copy of his great geographical work, and 
 commenced printing the " Erdkunde." Like Niebuhr's " His- 
 tory of Koine," the first edition is but the basis of what stood 
 as the Erdkunde when he died. In 1817 the first part of 
 his life-work appeared. Its title, which I translate, hints plainly 
 at its character : * The Science of the Earth in Relation to 
 Nature and the History of Man ; or, General Comparative Ge- 
 ography as the Foundation of the Study of and Instruction in 
 the Physical and Historical Sciences.'^ In this work the true 
 treatment of geography has been fully unfolded and estab- 
 lished, and it has been raised to the place of a sister between 
 the natural sciences and history. It would be impossible to give 
 a characterization of this work in few words. Its Introduction 
 has done this fully ; but that is too extended to be reduced to 
 the dimensions of this sketch. The Physical Geographies 
 
22 - SKETCH OP THE LIFE 
 
 which have abundantly appeared in our country within the y 
 past ten years are the faint shadow, as they are the direct result- 
 ant of this work of Carl Ritter. Mrs. Somerville's books, and 
 Guyot's " Earth and Man," are the best representatives of the If 
 Erdkunde, but in size they are but miniature, compared with 
 Bitter's ponderous tomes. In this great work he has succeeded 
 in presenting the forms of the earth's surface in their hori- 
 zontal and vertical dimensions, embracing geology as well as 
 the mere description of the exterior ; in bringing all the facts 
 connected with geology proper and geography proper into di- 
 rect relations ; and in presenting, besides, a view of the entire 
 productions of the earth, the whole animated creation, and 
 more especially in grasping the development of races from 
 their surroundings. To have accomplished this immense un- 
 dertaking in a clear, and at the same time comprehensive way, 
 was a great service and a high praise ; and yet, perfect as 
 was the result, his hopes and attempts were directed to an 
 ideal as much higher than what he wrought out as the ideal 
 of an artist is raised above the actual result. But Ritter was 
 admirably fitted for his work. To enable any one to accom- 
 plish what Ritter did, there were wanting those varied qualities 
 of mind which had come to be his through the circumstances of 
 his youth, his later course of education, and the most pro- 
 tracted studies. And, added to these advantages, Ritter pos- 
 sessed the following in a manner that no man of our times or 
 past times has surpassed, — the union of a power of combin- 
 ing with a thoroughness which went unweariedly to the small- 
 est details ; a great fulness of scientific knowledge, with a com- 
 plete mastery of historical facts ; and the ability to present 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. 23 
 
 in a thorough and exhaustive way, and at the same time in 
 a picturesque and vivid manner. But it was this that struck 
 the deepest roots into Ritter's soul, and displayed itself as the 
 basis of his book — the search for the knowledge of the liv- 
 ing God in his works. It was from this that arose that well- 
 known, humble, and complete surrender of himself to his sub- 
 ject, making him never satisfied, yet not allowing him to shrink 
 back before so ponderous an undertaking ; it was from this 
 living spring that arose that ceaseless sprightliness of his, 
 which was not crushed by the immense accumulation of his 
 facts. His work was to him, as he once wrote of it in his diary, 
 his " song of praise to God." 
 
 During the printing of the Erdkunde he lived in Berlin. 
 Here work of all kinds accumulated upon his hands. He was 
 appointed, in 1819, Professor of History in the Gymnasium of 
 Frankfort, spent one year there in that capacity, during which 
 he married, and then obeyed a call to Berlin to become Pro- 
 fessor extraordinary of Geography in its university. On the 
 nineteenth of September, 1820, he entered upon his duties in 
 this new capacity. 
 
 With that event began the second half of his life, in which 
 all his scientific studies and his work as a teacher bore their 
 best fruit. There was indeed no place which presented so 
 varied attractions to a man of such attainments and abilities to 
 interest others, as Berlin. In the university he found an in- 
 tense scientific activity, sustained by men of world-wide re- 
 nown, into whose circle he at once stepped as an equal, and was 
 soon cherished as one of the chief ornaments. His lectures 
 were received with the greatest satisfaction; and his intimate 
 
24 SKETCH OF THE LIFE 
 
 acquaintance with such men as von Buch and von Humboldt, 
 and the vast scientific interests which are centred at Berlin, 
 constantly stimulated him to advance in his studies. So his 
 life, therefore, became not only full of delight to him, but in 
 the highest degree advantageous in the prosecution of his 
 labors. His former pupil, Bethmann Hollweg, had become a 
 professor also in the same University of Berlin. 
 
 His ceaseless activity now turned itself upon the issuing of 
 the second edition of his great geographical work, in so far as 
 his time could be spared from his direct duties as a teacher. 
 It soon began to appear, much enlarged ; yet his devotion to 
 that duty suffered many interruptions. His time was more and 
 more taken up with new demands. He was elected a member of 
 the Scientific Commission of Enquiry in Geography and His- 
 tory ; shortly after, was appointed Lecturer on History in the 
 War School ; and almost immediately thereafter director of the 
 studies of the corps of Cadets. Upon this followed the appoint- 
 ment of Ritter as the private tutor to Prince Albert of Prussia 
 in the department of history; and he was directed to read lec- 
 tures to the Prince Regent and a few noble friends during the 
 winter months. With these and kindred demands, his time was 
 largely taken up. He discharged them all with his wonted faith- 
 fulness and care, and yet had time — such was his physical 
 strength and unwavering activity — to devote a part of each 
 day to his great geographical work. In the years of which I 
 am now speaking, he founded the Geographical Society of 
 Berlin, in connection with friends, and remained its most 
 active working member, and generally its president, down to 
 his death. His place in that society is now filled by the dis- 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. 25 
 
 tinguished Dove ; his place as professor in the university, by 
 Kiepert, tbe well-known Cbartograpber. 
 
 Of the greatest worth to him in connection with his studies 
 were the journeys which he used to take in the long autumn 
 vacation. Twice they were so extended that they embraced 
 the largest part of the summer. These journeys served not 
 only to refresh him, but to give him an immense mass of 
 observations of the greatest importance to him in the prosecu- 
 tion of his studies. He made frequent visits to Vienna, Paris, 
 London, and other great cities. He repeatedly traversed Cen- 
 tral Europe, travelled through Greece, Wallachia, Bulgaria, 
 Hungary and Turkey ; crossed France in all directions, and 
 explored the Pyrenees ; visited Denmark, Norway, and Swe- 
 den ; and was familiarly acquainted with England. Germany, 
 Switzerland, and Northern Italy, were however his geograph- 
 ical homes, and with them he was the most familiar. His let- 
 ters home while on these travels are charming; for he was 
 open to impressions of all kinds, was introduced to the most emi- 
 nent men, and was, of course, one of the closest of observers. 
 Any one who has enjoyed the pleasure of hearing Ritter 
 lecture, would mark everywhere the results of those personal 
 wanderings. 
 
 But, after a succession of years spent in miscellaneous work, 
 obeying all the demands which were laid upon him, he found 
 that he must concentrate himself upon his great work, which 
 lay but imperfectly completed ; and in 1831 he had to give up 
 the private instruction of princes, and the delighting of select 
 circles with his wisdom, and devote himself entirely to the 
 " Erdkunde." The result of this new step was soon apparent. 
 3 
 
26 SKETCH OF THE LIFE 
 
 In 1832 began to appear the first of the volumes, and they fol- 
 lowed in rapid succession till the nineteenth was published, and 
 the great monument of his life was complete. They remain 
 now, and will long remain, the fullest encyclopedia of geograph- 
 ical lore ; and he who brought geography into the rank of the 
 sciences as an equal sister, is still at the head of the one he 
 loved so well. 
 
 With the advance of his work his fame advanced with equal 
 steps, his relations with naturalists extended into all lands, 
 and he became one of the central points of science, not more 
 known for the almost unparalleled extent of his knowledge 
 than for the soundness of his judgment, and for his sweetness 
 and patience in answering all questions put to him ; bearing 
 himself with unwavering " humanity," as the Germans say, in 
 his relations with all kinds of men. 
 
 In such ways it could not fail to follow that all manner of 
 honors should pour in upon him. He was elected member 
 of almost all the scientific societies of Europe, and numerous 
 orders were bestowed upon him. He received all these things 
 thankfully, but was far from valuing them beyond their worth. 
 In his journals is to be found scarcely any mention of them. 
 But he did prize the personal affection of the present king of 
 Prussia, and the familiar intercourse which he had with him, 
 and always regarded it as one of the things to be cherished, 
 that he had such private access to the affections of his king. 
 
 I have thus far spoken of Eitter as a learned man and an 
 author. But, eminent as is his rank in these relations, it is not 
 higher than his position as a teacher in the lecture-room. Very 
 few teachers have had the extended and lasting reputation 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. 27 
 
 which he enjoyed. When he came to Berlin in 1820, and 
 announced in the university his lectures on Universal Geog- 
 raphy, there were no hearers at the opening of the course, 
 very few at the close, and but a handful in the following course. 
 Yet still there was a gain ; and ever on went his success, till in 
 1823, only three years from the beginning of his labors as pro- 
 fessor in Berlin, he wrote in his diary : "Full lecture-room ; I 
 must have a larger." And so it went on, till the largest hall 
 in the university could hardly contain his pupils. It soon 
 began to be " the thing" to hear Ritter, and nearly every stu- 
 dent of the natural sciences was a daily attendant on his 
 course. When I was in Berlin, five years ago, Hitter's room 
 was still full ; more than three hundred young men were hear- 
 ing his lectures. He knew his art well. With almost womanly 
 tact, he seized upon those features which present circum- 
 stances made interesting, and culled out of the immense masses 
 of matter lying in his mind just what he could use with the 
 greatest profit. He illustrated freely by excellent maps, and 
 was a master in the use of the blackboard, sketching gracefully 
 and readily whatever made his subject clear. I shall not for- 
 get the patriarchal appearance of Carl Ritter in the lecture- 
 room in 1855. He used his notes about half the time, but 
 read them easily, and with great distinctness. Obscure and 
 involved almost without parallel in his written dissertations, yet 
 his style was simple in the lecture-room, and his clear articula- 
 tion and well-chosen emphasis, combined in a highly musical 
 voice, made it easy to follow him. He was a tall, finely-pro- 
 portioned man, with a noble head, a most sincere and earnest 
 manner, yet unusually quiet and simple. His dress was peculiar 
 
28 SKETCH OF THE LIFE 
 
 when an old man, and no one who frequented the famous Lin- 
 den-avenue of Berlin would fain to remark that tall and vener- 
 able figure, clad in a long blue cloak and broad-rimmed hat, 
 both half a century out of date. He used to wear a large roll- 
 ing collar, like that worn by a past generation of New England 
 grandfathers ; and that, together with the huge horn spectacles, 
 gave him a rusticity of appearance, and a simple friendliness, 
 which captivated every one who knew his learning, his talents, 
 and his heart. It was a characteristic of Ritter, that the ex- 
 ternal man was so penetrated by his inner nature, that the two 
 were inseparable and indistinguishable. He was such a one 
 that if you had looked upon his face you had read the whole 
 man ; and therefore he belonged to that class of minds which 
 always makes the same impression upon men of all conditions 
 and mental varieties. The cause of this uniform impression is 
 found in his natural humility, in the quiet peacefulness of his 
 inner life, which was more than mere tranquillity : it was the 
 holy calmness of a Christian. 
 
 Indeed, there has hardly lived a man of so great eminence 
 who has been of such purity of heart, simplicity of manner, 
 and strong personal sympathies as Carl Ritter. His loss is felt 
 in Berlin more as a personal calamity than as a mere break 
 in the list of scientific men ; for in all things which consti- 
 tute a still, pure, peaceful soul, loving home and loving friends, 
 Ritter was most eminent : a man who found his greatest delight 
 in serving those who loved him. He was absolutely free from 
 egotism and from personal vanity. Towards the close of his 
 life he made the assertion, which so few can make, that he had 
 never alienated an old friend, and that the remembrance of 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. 29 
 
 every one whom he had loved, and who had been removed by 
 death, was cherished by him through life. It was only natural 
 that this should be so, for Ritter's circle of sympathies knew no 
 bounds ; and, despite his retiring way, and the quiet of his dis- 
 position, he was an untiring helper of all who needed advice or 
 active assistance. In private he was benignant and fatherly — 
 were the word allowed, I should say grandfatherly — as I knew 
 him. I went to Berlin to study under his direction, and found 
 him most kind and gracious ; opening his hand, his library, and 
 his house to the young American, and attaching me to him by 
 a strong bond. I am most happy to be able to speak of him to 
 my countrymen, and testify to his greatness and his worth. 
 
 I must allude to another aspect in Hitter's character. He 
 was one of the foremost Christians in Germany. He cherished 
 from his schooldays a living faith in God and Christ, which 
 the loss of his wife, twenty years before his own death, only 
 strengthened. He was a Christian in the full sense of the word. 
 He was a man who spoke little of faith ; but it lay deeply at his 
 heart, and showed itself in his active cooperation in the great 
 Christian enterprises of the day. He was one of the most active 
 men in Germany in promoting church harmony; and when 
 the Evangelical Alliance met in Berlin three years ago, Ritter 
 was one of the greatest voices there. He was steadfastly op- 
 posed to all forms of strife in the church ; but he cherished, as 
 the chief joy of his life, his faith in Christ and the grace which 
 God had implanted in his heart. God's word was the light of 
 his steps ; and it was the great end of all his scientific labors 
 to confirm the truth of the Bible. Hoffmann, his pastor, the 
 eminent cathedral preacher of Berlin, uses these words in his 
 
 3* 
 

 30 SKETCH OF THE LIFE 
 
 address over Hitter's grave : " No one who lived in near inti- 
 macy with him will forget the bright glance of his eye when 
 the richness of God's grace was spoken of, nor that serious 
 earnestness of his with which he traced the hand of the Eter- 
 nal in his works ; no one will forget that venerable head and 
 that reverential face, as he sat in the house of God during the 
 hour of afternoon worship, nor the few but precious words 
 with which he proclaimed his peace in God through Jesus 
 Christ, and expressed his hope of future glory. No one could 
 approach him without feeling that the richness and vastness 
 of his knowledge were all subordinated to a desire for His 
 praise, by whom, and through whom, and for whom all things 
 have been created. The blessing of the meek was plainly his, 
 and no one could be with him even for a season and not feel it 
 to be so ; for he would note the universal peace of Ritter's soul, 
 and the humility of his nature, pictured in every feature of his 
 countenance. His was the face of a man whose labors, investi- 
 gations, and researches — whose collecting, arranging, and link- 
 ing together of facts, drawn from a field uninvestigated before 
 him, culminated in the study of the workings of God. Even 
 in the midst of the woes of life, and those bitter separations 
 which God's providence compelled him to meet, his head re- 
 mained unbowed ; for He whom he knew as his redeemer 
 from death was his redeemer from every evil." 
 
 Ritter carried his religion into his scientific studies. This 
 earth was to him not a mere dwelling-place for nations ; it was 
 the material out of which life is woven ; it was the garment in 
 which the soul clothes itself, the body wherein the spirit formed 
 by God must move. This was Ritter's central thought ; all 
 
OF THE AUTHOR, 31 
 
 his ideas illustrated, all his researches confirmed it ; through 
 the earth as his way he reached God as his goal. The globe was 
 to him but the place where God's kingdom should be founded ; 
 and in all his study of man, Christ became the middle point. 
 In his most valuable scientific writings the thought that under- 
 lies them all — whether his subject be mountain heights or dark 
 valleys, heaths or cities — is, that everything in the world 
 comes from the counsels of God, and has a relation to the king- 
 dom of Christ. This is the secret of those impressions which his 
 geographical writings produce. Free from all striving after 
 effect, his great aim was to show the workings of the living 
 God in the conditions of history. This was the reason why 
 he always expressed the purpose of his work in a manner 
 equally indicative of his humility and of the religious bearings 
 of science. In sending me a copy of his last volume, he wrote 
 in it with his own hand that it was another note added to the 
 harmony of that general song of praise in which all branches 
 of science must unite, if they will retain the honor which God 
 has lent to them, until the time shall come when they shall 
 raise the " gloria in excelsis " in still nobler notes. 
 
 A brief passage written by him in 1845, just on the eve of 
 his departure for the Pyrenees,, and found after his death, will 
 throw light on his faith. It runs thus : "Although now, in my 
 preparations for my departure to west France and the Pyrenees, 
 well and strong, yet my life lies in God's hand, whose grace 
 and compassion have already accompanied me so many years, 
 that in all my thoughts and actions I must give praise and 
 thanks to Him so long as I live. Should it please Him not 
 to send me back safely to my beloved ones and my work, but 
 
32 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 to take me to a place in his blessed kingdom, it is my request 
 that there be no sorrow over my journey home to him, for 
 what God does is well done. My Saviour, in his compassion, 
 will care for my eternal future. I am deeply conscious of my 
 weakness and my sin, and yet I trust him ; for I know that 
 God is everlasting love, and I know that my Redeemer lives, 
 who will make his believers participators in his eternal 
 grace." 
 
 Ritter died, at the age of eighty years. On the night before 
 his decease, as his pastor sat by his bedside and pressed his 
 hand, quoting the beautiful twenty-third Psalm, " The Lord 
 is my Shepherd," Ritter replied, " He has guided me thus far, 
 and he will not desert me now." These Avere among the last 
 words of that rare man, — rare for his learning, his talents, 
 his sweetness, and his Christian strength. In England and 
 America the men of loftiest powers and the widest learning 
 are the men most firmly persuaded of the truth and saving 
 blessedness of Christianity; while those who doubt or dis- 
 believe are now found almost wholly among the half-edu- 
 cated or the utterly neglected. But in Germany the order is 
 reversed. The lowest classes are those that are to be found 
 within the walls of churches, while the men of thought are, 
 to a great extent, disbelievers. Ritter stands, therefore, 
 more eminent for his grace than for his intellect. And as 
 Kant led the way in giving the Germans philosophy instead 
 of Christ, it may be that Ritter, a spirit of hardly less magni- 
 tude than his, may inaugurate the reign of Christian principle 
 among the future scholars of Germany. 
 
AN ACCOUNT 
 
 PROF. HITTER'S GEOGRAPHICAL LABORS. 
 
 DR. H. BOGEKAMP. 
 
 If the question be asked, In what spirit did Ritter investi- 
 gate geography, and in what way did he elevate it to the rank 
 of a science ? the answer can only be found by a perusal of 
 his great work, and the lectures which he delivered before the 
 Royal Academy of Berlin. The outlines of thought contained 
 in the Introduction to the Erdkunde are briefly these: As 
 every individual has received from God certain peculiarities 
 of character, and certain mental tendencies, so the nations 
 of the globe have an aggregate of such peculiarities and 
 tendencies, because nations comprise but a multiplicity of 
 individual lives. It is the student's task to trace the source 
 whence these peculiarities proceed, to ascertain the conditions 
 which form the character of nations. The individuality of a 
 nation — that which makes it unlike all others — is only to be 
 traced in its own inner nature, and in its relations to itself, to 
 its parts, and to its surroundings ; . and since no nation can 
 exist without state and country, — that is, without political 
 organization and localized position,— so the individuality of a 
 
34 bögekamp' s account of 
 
 nation is to be traced in its relations to neighboring districts 
 and neighboring political organizations. Thence arises the 
 influence which nature exercises upon a people,- — an influence 
 which, as Ritter remarks, can only be justly appreciated by 
 one of those calm, reflective minds, who delight to trace work- 
 ings which, though involving great power, are yet silent and 
 mysterious. Thus he leads the way to his favorite thought, 
 that geography and history have mutual influences upon 
 each other, — history not standing outside of nature and 
 natural influences, but in their very heart ; so that the histo- 
 rian only grasps a people's character with true perception 
 when he keeps in full view its position, and the influence 
 which its surroundings have wrought upon it. 
 
 Nor can the geographer dispense with history; on her 
 pages he has to read the tasks and destinies which have been 
 assigned to the various nations to fulfil. And this brings us 
 to the theoretical postulate of Hitter's method, which, as he 
 himself has told us, does not find truth in a single phase 
 of truth, but in the union of all truths, and thus in the domain 
 of belief. He rests upon an inward intuition which has been 
 gradually forming by contact with nature on the one side, and 
 with man on the other. In other words, a living God is at the 
 head of the physical and moral world. Mankind is a whole ; 
 but it is divided into peoples, which, in the counsels of God, 
 have their tasks to perform, — tasks apparently disunited and 
 different, yet linked together by a secret law of God, who 
 alone sees the accordance and unity of so varied results : the 
 earth itself a whole, divided into many parts, but all these 
 parts to be the field where the nations shall, each in its own 
 
hitter's geographical labors. 35 
 
 way, solve the problem of its destiny. Thus history is not a 
 lawless thing, — a shapeless, uncrystallized mass of mere details ; 
 its parts fit together jh a regular and beautiful connection. 
 The surface of the earth does not remain as something with- 
 out influence and relations; but the various districts have 
 mutual dependence upon each other, — all in harmony, like 
 the events of history, — making of nature no lawless chaos, 
 but a unit, an organism, a Cosmos. 
 
 Thus, as early as 1818, Ritter had grasped the conception 
 of the close inward connection between history and nature, 
 between a people and the country which it inhabits ; and it is 
 clear that no materialistic philosophizings could creep in with 
 this elevated thought. More sharply outlined and clearly ex- 
 pressed, this view is unfolded in one of Ritter's early papers, 
 written in 1826, entitled The Geographical Position and Hori- 
 zontal Extension of the Continents. The earth, he there 
 states, is not alone a member of the solar system ; it exists as 
 itself a system of phenomena ; and the division of its surface 
 into so many parts, and the apparently random manner in 
 which these different districts have been scattered, are not for- 
 tuitous, but in conformity to important laws : nor have these* 
 districts stood without any mutual play of action and reaction, 
 but they have powerfully influenced each other. So all the 
 countries of the globe are in immediate and direct connection ; 
 each, as an active member of the whole, has its own share in 
 the general result, and the individuality of the earth as a 
 "planet springs from the combined individuality of its parts. 
 
 In this result, which embraces animate and inanimate na- 
 ture alike, and which throws equal light upon nature and 
 
36 BÖGEKAMP'S ACCOUNT OF 
 
 upon history, there is another element present, one which 
 pertains exclusively to the earth, not as a planet, but as a sys- 
 tem of phenomena complete in itself. In a true, but by no 
 means in a loose, materialistic or pantheistical sense, the earth 
 as a whole is an organism ; and there is a certain principle of 
 life interfusing all its parts, bringing into crystalline regularity 
 its inorganic parts, and reaching all the activities of organized 
 life. We trace the workings of this mysterious force espe- 
 cially in the connection of history and geography. They two 
 have a unity not shared by any other two departments ; and 
 the former is not understood till the earth, the field where its 
 events occur, is regarded as the home, the place of develop- 
 ment for the human race. 
 
 The study of these activities is the peculiar task of science. 
 Every detail which meets the naturalist is seen to have its 
 connection with a universal law. There is no point, however 
 trivial, but it has relations with the entire system of phe- 
 nomena on the earth; and in a scientific light, the chain is 
 apparent which connects the entire round of facts, and shows 
 their relation to each other. 
 
 The earth is the field on which man is to gain his educa- 
 tion. As in the higher arrangements of all things, mere rude 
 force and the external aspect of greatness gain no lasting 
 sway, but only that greatness which is real and inwardly nour- 
 ished, so with the features of our globe. Ritter himself, in 
 his account of Palestine, writes : " Does not every garden spot 
 owe to the cherishing care of the gardener its influence over 
 the trees, the fruits which are in it, in their growth and fruit- 
 age ? And can any country in God's wider domain lie under 
 
RITTER' S GEOGRAPHICAL LABORS. 37 
 
 his active rule without affecting its people and the inhabitants 
 of the earth ? The historian has a vast field of inquiry yet 
 open to him ; and in the want of a full view of his field, he 
 has fallen into many false judgments. But this much is cer- 
 tain : history does not stand outside of nature, but wholly 
 within her domain ; she is truly a part of God's garden. 
 The activities of nature cannot hereafter be excluded from the 
 list of those agencies which God himself uses for the welfare 
 of the human race. Yet the activities of nature are as yet 
 far from being comprehended by us, in spite of that tone of 
 confidence which a false and presumptuous science not seldom 
 assumes, while nevertheless it is hardening in its own ground- 
 less delusion." 
 
 This, in general terms, was the groundwork of Bitter's 
 geographical conceptions. The forms of the earth's surface 
 are not disposed by accident ; on the contrary, they display a 
 wise plan which we are now able to grasp. The various dis- 
 tricts of the globe have been created for the life of connected 
 people ; and the world is as much fitted to be the home of 
 man as the body to be the habitation of the soul. It is* at 
 once apparent how full of life and interest a science must be 
 which traces these influences of nature on history, and how 
 widely the geographical method, founded by Ritter, differs 
 from what used to be called geography, namely, a lifeless 
 summary of facts about countries and cities, mingled with all 
 possible scientific incongruities. We have now to show how 
 Ritter not only established a new foundation for geographical 
 inquiry, but how he applied it in detail, and showed, as in the 
 4 
 
38 
 
 words quoted above, how to connect general principles with 
 accumulated facts. 
 
 Nature presents contrasts of every kind ; but the one which 
 is most apparent is that existing between the water, land, and 
 atmosphere. A mere glance at the surface of the earth leads 
 us to notice this contrast, and a more attentive consideration 
 of it shows us that these bodies cannot be without a strong 
 influence upon each other. The mutual action and reaction 
 of land and water is the one which becomes first apparent. 
 If we suppose what is technically called a great circle to 
 pass around the earth, traversing the west coast of Peru, 
 and running along the southern shore of China, and across 
 the island of Malacca, we have a north-eastern hemisphere 
 which is specially continental, and a south-western hemi- 
 sphere which is specially oceanic. England is the centre of 
 the first ; New Zealand of the last. The climate of the two 
 is widely different. The water takes warmth up slowly, and 
 slowly parts with it ; it easily maintains an equilibrium with the 
 atmosphere, and, so far as temperature is concerned, the two 
 do not widely vary. The land, on the other hand, takes up 
 warmth very quickly, and loses it as quickly again. The 
 temperature of the atmosphere overhanging the land passes 
 from one stage of heat or cold to another with great rapidity ; 
 and as uniformity is characteristic of the oceanic districts, so 
 diversity is characteristic of continental regions. A conti- 
 nental climate is marked by extremes ; hot days are followed 
 by cold nights, hot summers by cold winters ; whereas an 
 ocean climate has great uniformity between day and night, 
 summer and winter. The latter climate is moist, and favors 
 
RITTER' S GEOGRAPHICAL LARORS. 39 
 
 luxuriance of growth, but not a large number of species, 
 whether of plants or animals, if we except butterflies and 
 reptiles ; it has, too, a strong influence upon man, making him 
 lose his elasticity, and become enervated and unenterprising. 
 A continental climate, on the contrary, does not give luxuri- 
 ance, but a great variety of species ; its animals, too, have 
 more spirit, and man has more life and fire. 
 
 A second contrast is that of the Old and New World, or of 
 the eastern and western hemispheres. Here the Old World is 
 the continental, the New the water hemisphere. The contrast 
 in climate is the same as between the land and water hemi- 
 spheres, although not so sharply defined. Connected with 
 this is a contrast in the main direction of the continents. The 
 Old World belongs almost exclusively to the temperate zone, 
 and has its longest extent from east to west. The result of 
 this was that wandering tribes could pass from east to west 
 without experiencing a great change in climate, and in the 
 flora and fauna of the regions through which they should pass. 
 But the New World has its greatest extension from north to 
 south, from pole to pole. This occasions a great diversity in 
 climate, ranging from the icy cold of the extreme north to the 
 burning heat of the equator, and thence onward to the cold of 
 the south pole. A third contrast presents itself between the 
 northern and southern hemispheres. In the northern, the land 
 bears to the water the relation of one to one and a half ; in 
 the southern, of one to five. The former is characterized by 
 continental, the latter by oceanic forms. 
 
 But all these contrasts vanish in a higher unity, in the com- 
 pleteness of the earth as itself an organic whole. And l lie 
 
40 bögekamp' s account of 
 
 previous course of history allows us to see what part has been 
 assigned to each district to play in the grand universal drama. 
 Thus the Old World is subdivided into three great parts, which 
 stand to each other in varied contrasts, — Asia, Africa, and 
 Europe. Asia has been regarded, from the earliest times, as the 
 land where the human race began to be. In Asia all the germs 
 of culture are to be sought, while in Europe they have unfolded. 
 Africa is the Soudan of the earth. Says Ritter, in his highly 
 imaginative way, " If the morning and evening greeting be- 
 come to every man, even to the most wearied pilgrim on the 
 road of life, a heart-felt necessity, yet one which is not known 
 when the glaring hour of midday comes, the hour poorest in 
 hope of all, — then, from a like analogy, all the people of the 
 Soudan of the earth, in the peaceful possession of the bright 
 midday, seem bound only to the present, which no legend of 
 gray antiquity beautifies, which no care for the future dis- 
 turbs, and which no hope for that future ever bears on the 
 pinions of imagination endlessly away." To the Old World the 
 New stands in direct contrast, and offers its great Atlantic 
 slope as a field ready to receive the ripened results of Euro- 
 pean culture, but ready also, in consequence of its simple 
 structure and its uniform climate, to soften the strong con- 
 trasts and the tendencies to individualization manifest in the 
 Old World, and to produce the same uniformity in it which 
 characterizes the New. 
 
 In this way we pass from contrast to contrast, as the anato- 
 mist does when he dissects the body and shows the functions 
 of the several members. 
 
 The varied position of the separate continents is occasioned 
 
RITTER' S GEOGRAPHICAL LABORS. 41 
 
 by the contrasts between the land and water hemispheres, th6 
 Old and New World, and the northern and southern hemi- 
 spheres. " Europe," as Ritter remarks, in a lecture given 
 before the Royal Academy, in 1826, — " Europe, the smallest 
 of the continents, surrounded by the others in a broken ring, 
 and Australia, the largest island, surrounded by the open 
 ocean, are the regions which in the north and south respec- 
 tively hold the middle place in the land hemisphere, the conti- 
 nental side and the oceanic side of the globe. This position 
 gives Europe, in preference to any other of the continents 
 which are linked together, the right to be called the most con- 
 tinental of all ; for it is the highway of all, and the link that 
 binds them all. So the classical soil of the west of hither 
 Asia, and the lands of northern Africa, have largely affected 
 the world's history, for theirs is a great part of the coasts of 
 the Mediterranean. The influence of this section of the world 
 on the whole course of human culture is confessedly great, 
 and is produced by a combination of causes which can hardly 
 be repeated in any other spot, — an indisputably favorable 
 arrangement in the elements of position and form. In any 
 other part of the globe the careful student could see in the sur- 
 roundings, if he looked at them in their analogies, that it would 
 need a longer time, and that greater limitations and difficulties 
 must be met, before the needed conditions should evolve equally 
 perfect results. And so, too, the old strugglings after a higher 
 culture in other places, as in India and China, which, with all 
 other helps, yet lacked the true position for attaining to a de- 
 velopment which should embrace the earth, yet show that as 
 everywhere the unseen only works itself out through the seen, 
 
 4* 
 
42 bÖgekamp' s account of 
 
 so the development of the inhabitants of the world stands in 
 close relation and harmony with the organization of the earth 
 to which they directly belong. 
 
 " A harmonious and general arrangement of the various con- 
 tinents of the earth, in their relations to light and heat, and 
 to the rising and setting of stars, has, from the earliest times, 
 awakened the interest of man, and in the course of history 
 has received a variety of appellations, which have, in a mea- 
 sure, been indicative of the character of the continents to which 
 they have been applied, and which can still be used in a wider 
 sense, and one more adapted to our modern needs. From the 
 earliest times men considered Asia as the land of the morning, 
 and Europe as the land of the evening ; and they indicated 
 the contrast thus conveyed by the terms Orient and Occident, 
 which find their fitting application in all the phenomena of 
 these two continents. Between these, more to the south, lies 
 Africa, divided exactly by the equator, the true south of the 
 globe, which is not to be sought at the south pole, but at the 
 place of greatest light and heat, the bright midday, to use the 
 old figure, between morning and evening. 
 
 "America forms, in consequence of its remote position, the 
 entire western arc of the great land circle ; and since Europe 
 has for all the past been the Occident of the Old World, and 
 has fulfilled its mission in being the place of transition for 
 the whole globe, America must become the latest goal for the 
 efforts and activities of men — must be the New World, the 
 land of the evening, in contrast to the Old World, which has 
 already become the land of the morning. 
 
 " None of these historical relations, with the mass of phe- 
 
RITTER' S GEOGRAPHICAL LABORS. 43 
 
 nomena connected with them, could be shared with Australia, 
 in consequence of its position. Continent though it is, in its 
 isolation it is like an island of the sea, and seems to be con- 
 nected with the land hemisphere merely as the great conti- 
 nental form of the oceanic world. 
 
 " To this cosmical arrangement of the continents there cor- 
 respond those relations of nature and history which are in 
 part displayed in the course of human development. But the 
 position of special places also gives rise to subordinate charac- 
 teristics ; and the formative influence which special places 
 have exercised, especially where they have been the field for 
 the most marked transfer of different races across them, on 
 the development of man and the course of affairs, is a subject 
 worthy of the most careful study." 
 
 In a masterly manner Ritter has applied these generaliza- 
 tions to the smallest countries on the globe. I refer, for 
 example's sake, to Palestine. In one of the volumes of the 
 Erdkunde he writes : " Palestine was from the beginning an 
 isolated land, as Israel was an isolated people, and therefore, 
 for thousands of years, both have been unintelligible to the 
 world at large. No great highway led through Palestine from 
 people to people ; aJJ. passed by it, and not over it ; all its 
 coast was without favorable harbors. No one of the pagan 
 states of antiquity could come into close geographical, mercan- 
 tile, political, and religious relations with a people existing 
 under the sway of Jehovah. All the nations around Canaan 
 were kept aloof from it by the theocratic circle of ideas which 
 had the supremacy among the Hebrews." 
 
 Palestine forms a part of the great district of Syria, 
 
44 BÖGEKAMP'S ACCOUNT OF 
 
 between the Isthmus of Suez and Arabia on the south, and 
 extending to the middle plateau of the Euphrates, where its 
 turbulent waters break through the narrows of the Taurus 
 range. 
 
 Syria is bounded on the west by the Mediterranean, and 
 on the east by the desert of what is in the widest sense 
 Arabia. Separated thus from Orient and Occident alike, 
 and left by itself, having its longest course from north to 
 south, and being quite narrow from east to west, it formed a 
 natural bond between the Armenian highlands of Taurus and 
 the lowlands of Egypt ; and the characteristics of its popula- 
 tion must correspond to the conditions amid which they are 
 formed ; and people must be found there who had come from 
 the regions of inner Asia, and others who had left the culture 
 of Egypt for a home in Syria. And thus, from the very 
 beginning of human history, the position of Palestine has been 
 such that it has served as a bridge, parting a sea and a desert 
 waste, and connecting the Euphrates and the Nile. It has 
 been, too, an appointed home for culture in the very centre of 
 hither Asia, and at the same time it has remained isolated and 
 unaffected by external influences. No other land on the globe 
 lies like Palestine, in this respect. T^he northern half of 
 Syria has not so favorable a location, for, traversed as it is by 
 the great highway from Asia Minor to Assyria, it was subject 
 to the influences of foreign travel from the earliest times. 
 But Palestine lay surrounded by populous countries, and yet 
 isolated from them. In the midst of six of the greatest na- 
 tions of antiquity — the Babylonians, the Assyrians, Medes, 
 Persians, Phenicians, and Egyptians — it was yet separate from 
 
RITTER' S GEOGRAPHICAL LABORS. 45 
 
 them all. This allowed it to maintain its contrast with them, 
 — to follow its appointed course of development, and not to lose 
 its monotheism. It seems to have been placed equidistant 
 from all three continents of the Old World, and near five great 
 seas, that it might be a central point whence the gospel of 
 Christ could be sent at once to all parts of the known world. 
 
 In characteristics of such prominence as these, — character- 
 istics which have had a great influence over the destinies of 
 millions of beings, — is there not seen, asks Ritter, "the hand of 
 a higher Power ? Or are they to be attributed to mere chance, 
 to the activity of nature, to an upheaval promoted by water or 
 fire held within the bosom of the earth, where mountain chains, 
 devoid of regularity in form or direction, are thrown up by 
 the irresponsible forces of nature, and where the waters of the 
 sea run in to fill the new-formed hollows? If we are in a 
 position to trace the forces which have the most weight in 
 giving order and harmony to the destinies of nations, — forces 
 which act intensively where they act, and which yet reach 
 over large fields, — can we not see the workings of a superior 
 Mind in the arrangements of the world, manifest not only in 
 effects existing before our eyes, but in actual progress ? And 
 can science account for the spiritual activities which are mov- 
 ing over the face of the earth, if she does not see in the globe 
 itself an organism, and loses sight of those vital relations 
 which exist between its parts ? In a hundred places which 
 have already exerted a strong historical influence, a close and 
 scrutinizing study will disclose the functions of the earth as an 
 organism; and the places which have not yet become the 
 scenes of historical events will fulfil their destiny in the course 
 
46 
 
 of time not less faithfully than those which have been the 
 theatres of classic story." 
 
 Next in importance to the position of the various countries 
 on the surface of the globe, Ritter pays special attention to the 
 relations which grow out of the superficial dimensions of the 
 continents, and the proportion of the coast-line of different 
 lands to their internal extent, and the proportion of the area 
 of peninsular formations to that of the main body. 
 
 " In these regards," says Ritter, " Africa presents the sim- 
 plest forms. It is distinguished palpably from the other con- 
 tinents by its almost insular position, connected as it is with 
 western Asia by a mere strip of land, and that probably of re- 
 cent formation — the Isthmus of Suez. In its close and com- 
 pact form, and very regularly outlined coast, it resembles an 
 ellipse, although its diameters are of about equal length, and 
 although the climatic features are nearly the same on both 
 sides of the equator, advancing as far as the thirty-fifth paral- 
 lels of north and south latitude. Having no great sea inlets, 
 its entire circuit is only about seventeen thousand miles in 
 extent, and is the simplest coast-line of all the continents. 
 Africa has, therefore, in spite of its insular position and its 
 great area, relatively the shortest as well as the most uni- 
 formly regular and simple coast of all the great divisions of 
 the earth, and in consequence of this meagre outline its in- 
 terior has the least contact with the ocean. 
 
 " Asia, washed on only three sides by the sea, unites with 
 Europe in the formation of a common trunk, and thus com- 
 pletes the vast range of territory extending from east to west. 
 Its eastern and southern coasts abound in far-projecting penin- 
 
ritter's geographical labors. 47 
 
 sulas and half-insular forms, which are all to be regarded as 
 the more or less scattered limbs of an immense body. From 
 the peninsulas of Tschuktschan and Kamskatka, round the 
 continent, over Corea, China, the two Indies, Arabia, and so 
 west to Asia Minor, these projecting forms, wholly wanting 
 to Africa, embrace a vast extent of territory. And even the 
 Siberian coast, although, in itself considered, small and espe- 
 cially unfavorably situated, is more extensive and more pro- 
 vided with sea inlets than the whole shore-line of Africa. 
 Yet there remains, notwithstanding, in the interior of Asia a 
 district very large and broad which is not brought in contact 
 with the seas that partly penetrate the continent, and which 
 so greatly modify all things within their reach ; and this inner 
 region is the true trunk of the whole. This central district 
 does, indeed, preponderate in respect to area over that in- 
 cluded in all the projecting peninsulas: But Africa is a trunk 
 without any limbs. The great influence of so large and so 
 complex a coast upon the wealth and the variety of all natural 
 gifts is evident at a glance ; its entire shore-line has promoted, 
 in consequence of the projections which it occasions, not only 
 individuality, but also an increase of influence with reference 
 to Asia, and the rest of the world besides. 
 
 " Europe, the smallest of the three continents of the Old 
 World, is, in its superficial form, the most varied, and rifted, 
 and divided up of all. Its most remarkable characteristics are 
 its broken form, and the individuality not only of its coast 
 outlines, but of the countries which these enclose. For its 
 main body, which, long though it is from east to west, is yet 
 relatively very small, diminishes constantly in breadth towards 
 
48 BÖGEKAMP'S ACCOUNT OF 
 
 the west, and is divided by the numerous arms of the Atlantic 
 into several peninsulas of greater or smaller size, some of 
 which again are subdivided in the same way, as, for instance, 
 the very peculiar and remarkable conformation of Greece, 
 which seems to have reached the last degree of complexity in 
 its coast outline. Not. only on the east and south, like Asia, 
 but also and in as marked a degree on the north, this subdi- 
 vision in Europe goes on, so that there its projecting forms, 
 relatively to the whole area so great, enclose, in entire con- 
 trast to the northern coast of Asia, two large inland seas — 
 the North and the Baltic. As the result of this marked char- 
 acteristic of Europe, its shore-line, measured in all its sinuosi- 
 ties, is of very great length. The area of its enclosed seas is 
 equal to nearly half of its true territory. Although its superfi- 
 cial contents are three times smaller than Africa, yet the ex- 
 tent of its coast is far greater — twelve times the length of its 
 land boundary between itself and Asia. The shore-line of Asia 
 is, indeed, about a third longer than that of Europe ; but the 
 area of Asia is more than four times greater. Thus Europe 
 is the continent with the greatest relative coast-line, and with 
 the most varied conformation of the lands which lie on its 
 outer limit ; it is therefore the continent most approachable of 
 all from the sea." 
 
 After the influence of position and of superficial extents had 
 been established in this way, Ritter advanced to the study of 
 vertical distances. Naturally, it is not a matter of indifference 
 whether a land rises to the dry and cold regions of the atmos- 
 phere, like the table-land of central Asia, or whether it is 
 sunk to the level of the sea. The most superficial glance dis- 
 
RITTER' S GEOGRAPHICAL LABORS. 49 
 
 cerns this. Had the land of the Indus and the Ganges the 
 elevation of the plateau of Thibet, it would not be the luxu- 
 riant tropical clime that it now is. Had the terra caliente of the 
 Mexican plain the height of the terra templada, — the home 
 of a perpetual spring, — it would not be the home of fearful 
 fever which it now is. Even, further, were the north of Asia, 
 Europe, and America mountainous, the south, on the contrary, 
 a low plain, instead of the north being level, as is really the 
 case, the south mountain land, our earth would never fulfil 
 the mission which it has fulfilled. The north would lie in 
 perpetual ice ; the south would sicken under the blaze of a 
 tropical sun. Even more apparent is this division into high 
 land and low land, if we follow it into the details of continents 
 and separate countries. The Old World displays itself as the 
 land of mountains and high lands ; the New "World, as the 
 land of plains. Five-sevenths of the area of Asia belong to 
 the mountainous region and the plateaus ; two-sevenths to the 
 low lands. Two-thirds of Africa are elevated; one-third is 
 low. In the New World, on the contrary, two-thirds belong to 
 the districts which are level and not high, while one-third is 
 elevated. In those parts of Europe which have been the 
 scenes of history, the mountain forms prevail ; but if we add 
 Russia, then three-fourths of the whole are low lands. Only 
 the east is uniform in its geographical features — uniform as 
 is its history ; the west, on the contrary, as varied as is its his- 
 tory. What a rich historical part has the south, — the coast 
 of the Mediterranean Sea ! Here was the theatre of ancient 
 history, — here the domains of the Egyptians, Hebrews, Phe- 
 nicians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Gauls, Iberians, Cartha- 
 5 
 
50 BÖGEKAMP'S ACCOUNT OF 
 
 ginians; and when the Roman Empire was shattered, the 
 Mediterranean coasts still continued to be the field of modern 
 history. We need but refer to the Crusades, the wide rule 
 of Eome, Venice, and Genoa. America was discovered by- 
 Spain; and then the great march of history turned to the 
 north-west, exchanging the localities of the early nautical en- 
 terprises for the Atlantic, — for the art of voyaging was then 
 able to use the ocean as its field. Here navigation unfolded 
 itself to an extent that made the whole earth accessible, and' 
 that drew all countries within the domain of history. 
 
 What has been said may suffice to convey a tolerably per- 
 fect conception of Carl Hitter's leading thought, and his appli- 
 cation of a new method to geographical science. It is. hardly 
 necessary to add that his study did not content itself with the 
 mere position of the continents, and with matters of vertical 
 heights and depths, and of superficial dimensions. From these 
 things he advanced to climate, conditioned by them as it is ; 
 and at last, passing from the animal world, he came to man, to 
 the state, to the nation, to history, — seeing in all the working 
 of divine laws, and the active and constant presence of God. 
 Only a few have followed the great naturalist in all his 
 researches ; and yet the gold which was gained from the earth 
 by him, now transformed into available coin, runs everywhere, 
 and passes freely even into the hands of our children at the 
 schools. Upon the last point Ritter laid great stress. It 
 went against his soul to see geography regarded as a confu- 
 sion of incoherent details; it went against his soul to find 
 geographical treatises but medleys of all possible things. He 
 thought that this was unjust to the science which he regarded 
 
ritter's geographical labors. 51 
 
 as a kind of mediator between all the sciences, — as the one 
 which gathers up and uses all the fruit of the sciences. 
 Geography, he held, if it lacked an inward germ capable of 
 unfolding, would never render other sciences fruitful, nor en- 
 rich life. Born dead, it would remain lifeless, and only bear 
 the semblance of being animated by the illusions of art. It 
 would then have no claim to be considered a means of disci- 
 pline in the attainment of culture, and it would merit no place 
 in the ranks of the constructive sciences. But he would have 
 geography be a brief statement of all divine laws, a revela- 
 tion of God in nature and history, to be used in instructing 
 youth to see and to trace the manner of working which the 
 Deity follows. He therefore hailed all books written in this 
 spirit, although he did not live to see the day in his country 
 when the popular teachings of the science which came in with 
 his own researches were largely used, either in oral instruc- 
 tion or in the most noted text-books. 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 
 
 GENERAL COMPARATIVE GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 5* 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL STUDIES. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 
 
 TO 
 
 GENERAL COMPARATIVE GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 [WRITTEN IN 1818.] 
 
 The introduction of an effort to exhibit the collec- 
 tive natural sciences in an inwardly united, more 
 scientific whole, demands, before a statement be made 
 of plan, methods, and sources, an exposition of their 
 connection with Man, for whose sake indeed they in 
 great part exist and become a desirable object of 
 study. But here we shall only briefly state the rela- 
 tion of Nature to History, of the Country to its People, 
 and in special of the Individual to the Globe, in order 
 to direct the reader's attention to the ultimate object 
 of our undertaking. 
 
 If it be confessed that every moral being who would 
 be wholly true to his vocation and fill up his entire 
 measure of right action, must be completely conscious 
 of the extent of his power, and conscious, too, of the 
 
5<0 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 influence of his surroundings and of his relation to 
 them, then it is also clear that every association of 
 moral beings, in one word every people, must be fully 
 aware of its strength, both internal and external, and 
 of the strength of neighboring peoples ; conscious, too, 
 of all influences which are moulding it from without, 
 in order not to lose sight of its true aim and destiny. 
 
 It is not a blind striving nor mere unintelligent de- 
 siring that give a man, with all his zeal and effort, the 
 power of attaining right being and right action : the 
 striving must be directed, the desire must be intelli- 
 gent, and correspondent with his abilities, and then, 
 uniting clear views with a truthful aim, he can attain 
 to those fair and great and memorable deeds whose 
 influence is eternal. It is not the confused number 
 of loose, unbridled powers, but the sight of measure 
 and law in the limitless fulness of God's power, 
 which impresses us irresistibly in the moral world 
 with the conviction that the Maker's hand is there. 
 A right will in man, and the recognition in all his 
 surroundings of what is supplementary to his own 
 peculiar powers, come only from a deep and thorough 
 knowledge of himself, and from the observation of 
 men, and of everything which has been disclosed in 
 the history of Man. 
 
 Now, as not every man is fitted by his training for 
 every place, or called to every post, so it is not every 
 people that can attain to the crown of glory and of 
 fortune. It is characteristic of human nature that in 
 every man some peculiarity is lodged, his own alone, 
 
THE ERDKÜNDE. 57 
 
 through whose unfolding he can become a complete 
 being. This is true of every nation, also. In the 
 perfect development of this peculiarity lies the moral 
 greatness, and indeed all the greatness of man ; in this 
 development, too, the nationality and individual great- 
 ness of nations. It is this which cheers and illumines 
 the present as well as the future, and throws far out its 
 glancing rays over the entire realm of national life as 
 it is and of history as it is to be. 
 
 Individuality is not a thing that a people can coin 
 for itself, any more than it is what a man can make for 
 himself: all that they can do is to preserve it. Indi- 
 viduality springs from a higher and a more permanent 
 source than from the nature of short-lived man. All 
 that man can do is to become aware of the peculiar 
 nature and the true direction of his powers ; for with- 
 out this knowledge he will not accomplish the mission 
 of his life. And the individuality of a people can only 
 be perceived in its own nature, in its relations to itself, 
 to its members, to its surroundings, and — since no 
 people can exist without a country and without the 
 state — in its relations to both of these, and in the rela- 
 tions of country and state to neighboring lands and 
 to neighboring governments. And here is displayed 
 the influence. which nature exercises over nations, and 
 that in a far higher degree than over individuals, 
 because here masses work upon masses, as it we're, and 
 the individuality of a people rises far above that of 
 single beings. This influence is well known, and has 
 been at all times a weighty subject of investigation in 
 
58 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 the history of nations, government, and man ; and in 
 our times, too, it is a theme of general consideration. 
 But nature always works only gradually, and much 
 more in secret than in the open day. The seed ger- 
 minates beneath the earth, and, veiled in the bud, is 
 going on the preparation for the creation of a new 
 harvest. A.nd just so are the relations and influences 
 of nature everywhere deeper than they appear to be, 
 simpler than in their first manifold variety they seem, 
 and widely reaching out and winning large results. 
 And the still power which nature exerts demands a 
 like peaceful soul 1 to watch its workings, and see that 
 even to the very heart of its activity it always moves 
 conformably to law. It often demands, in order to dis- 
 cover such a soul, only some sign which is recognizable, 
 such as a right view, or some inwardly spoken word, 
 because like always understands like. But nature 
 does not now at least stand so conveniently near to 
 man ; she has become a hidden and unknown existence 
 to him, and yet she refuses to be studied except in 
 the great mutual play of all her powers, in the connec- 
 tion of all her manifestations. Only when thus studied 
 does she irradiate with life and light all the paths which 
 human activity dares to tread ; only when so studied 
 does she become a constellation of such dazzling light 
 that we cannot bear all its fullness ; only thus studied 
 does she illuminate all the relations of that creation 
 
 1 What confirmation do this and the following sentences find in the 
 author himself, of whom no friend speaks but as the mild, calm Ritter ! 
 — Translator. 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 59 
 
 which we are wont to call the world of animate and 
 inanimate nature, and give us clear convictions about 
 all things which we investigate, and, above all, about 
 man. 
 
 Ought it not to repay our trouble, for the sake of the 
 history of man and of nations, once to take our stand 
 on a side hitherto little regarded, on the place of their 
 united activities, and consider the earth in its real rela- 
 tion to man ; that is, to view the surface of the globe as 
 the type of life, in as close and pointed a manner as 
 special agencies will permit ; to study these agencies in 
 their unity, and to trace the course of the simplest as 
 well as the most diffused geographical laws in results,' 
 some vf which are settled and permanent, some chang- 
 ing, some living and organic ? 
 
 Independent of man, both without him and before 
 him, the earth has been the scene of the occurrences 
 of nature. The law of their working does not proceed 
 from him. In a science of the earth, the earth itself 
 must be questioned regarding its laws. The monu- 
 ments erected by nature upon it, and their hieroglyph- 
 ics, must be observed, described, and deciphered. Its 
 surface, its depths, its heights must be measured, its 
 features arrayed in accordance with their real charac- 
 ter, and the inquirers of all times and people must 
 be listened to and understood in the purport of that 
 which the study of these things has revealed to them. 
 And the facts which are freshly brought out by such 
 observations, as well as those which have long been 
 known, must be brought forward ; and though they, in 
 
60 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 their number, variety, and unity, have been kept out 
 of sight and well-nigh forgotten, they must be rear- 
 ranged as a clearly-seen and harmonious whole. 
 
 Thus from every single feature of the earth, and 
 thus from every group of features, a resultant truth 
 appears, whose existence manifests itself in the phe- 
 nomena of nature, and then is carried over and repeated 
 in the life of those nations whose individual peculiarity 
 coincides • with this or that group of formative influ- 
 ences. For nations, like men, are formed under a law 
 superior to themselves, and they become a part of the 
 great circle of the world's life by being woven by the 
 activities of nature as well as of mind out of physical 
 no less than out of spiritual elements. Every organism 
 forms itself in accordance with its inner nature and 
 its modifying surroundings, and thus the formula of 
 its existence is read in the law imposed on it and 
 in the mould in which it is found ; both of these con- 
 dition it : in no way is it subject to chance or accident. 
 
 Nor is it alone of the narrow vale or the mountain 
 range, of one people or of one state, but it is everywhere, 
 on plains and high lands, among all peoples and in all 
 states, that external agencies condition history, from 
 primitive eras up to the latest times. They all« exist 
 under the influence of nature ; and although the fact 
 may not always appear, yet it is just as certain that 
 nations are formed under this influence, and that it has 
 everywhere and at all times penetrated to the very 
 heart of history, as it is that God, although unknown 
 to the ancients, yet was always and everywhere pres- 
 ent. 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 61 
 
 And of the Divine Being we can see that although 
 in earlier days he was recognized and reverenced only 
 in his special workings, even when no mortal eye had 
 looked upon him, yet that even when this step had 
 been taken, this small knowledge been gained, all at 
 once the contradiction in a thousand scattered and 
 seemingly antagonistic powers was solved, the veil 
 which concealed their internal unity was removed, and 
 the unity of nature became one of the ideas of the 
 human mind. 
 
 By confidence in the principles already laid down, 
 every effort, however weak, to comprehend the workings 
 of nature in their mutual relation may be of service ; 
 and only when regarded from this point of view can an 
 essay like the present be regarded with favor by con- 
 temporaries, and its contents become a vital part of 
 knowledge. But it is not in the compass of a single 
 mind to entirely exhaust a theme to which every man 
 of more than common power must contribute some 
 share of labor and research, if its depths are to be pen- 
 etrated. The solitary investigator must join himself, 
 with all the ability which has been intrusted to him, to 
 all other inquirers, and trace with them, in the true 
 method of historical research, the unity of law among 
 a variety of phenomena. 
 
 The palm of glory is awarded to those students of 
 nature, as it is to the heroes of history, who, furnished 
 with great keenness of sight and strength of charac- 
 ter, are able to eliminate human nature from a mass 
 of events, from the ordinary channel of ideas, from the 
 
62 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 external history of the individual, or of the nation, or 
 of the group of nations ; and, having grasped and held 
 firmly to the nature of man in the midst of so many 
 things which modify it, are able to illustrate it and 
 throw light upon it in its entire range, from its deepest 
 abasement up to its noblest heights ; and who, through 
 their teachings on the law of individual development 
 from simple beginnings to the highest national and 
 moral greatness, become the immortal instructors of all 
 nations of men. 
 
 And it is not impossible that the time may some time 
 come when such great minds as these, when they shall 
 have compassed the world of nature as well as of morals 
 and mind, shall be able, sending their glance back- 
 wards and forwards, to determine from the whole of a 
 nation's surroundings what the course of its develop- 
 ment is to be, and to indicate in advance of history 
 what ways it must take to attain the welfare which 
 Providence has appointed for every nation whose direc- 
 tion is right and whose conformity to law is constant. 
 
 To reach a goal so glorious and so striven for, the 
 highest limit of statesmanship — a result which in its 
 entire grandeur is hinted at nowhere but in the bursts 
 of song to which the prophets gave utterance when in- 
 spired with deep intuitions of the significance of nature 
 and history — to reach again such a goal, needs such 
 helps from science as I shall briefly sketch in this 
 essay. 
 
 At the beginning, then, of a course of historical de- 
 velopment, the path or course, at first very rambling 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 63 
 
 and circuitous, leads from its starting-place just in the 
 direction to which, speaking in the common way, it 
 happens to be turned ; and although in this irregular 
 wandering it is not approaching its final goal, yet the 
 points of observation which it brings to view, and the 
 fragments of knowledge which it throws up, are not in 
 themselves insignificant. Without losing itself in the 
 maze of special phenomena, it leads on step by step 
 from experience to experience, and at last resolves itself 
 into the curve which expresses the universal law in 
 which various results and materials find their formula 
 and become available for high uses. 
 
 Pursuing the same figure, in tracing the course of 
 historical development we must subject to our observa- 
 tion not alone the universal law of one set of forms, 
 but^of all, both where nature works on the largest 
 scale over the entire surface of the earth, and where it 
 works on the smallest scale in insignificant localities ; 
 for it is only from the perfect blending of the general 
 laws in the inanimate as well as in the animate crea- 
 tion that the harmony of the entire world of phenomena 
 can be conceived. 
 
 And if it is true, as we have already hinted, that the 
 idea of a human race cannot be grasped without a con- 
 ception of the earth as its habitation, then is it also 
 true that man as an individual, and that nations (being, 
 as they are, far more dependent on the earth than the 
 state, as such, is upon its surroundings), cannot attain 
 to perfect harmony with themselves before they find 
 their true place to live and develop what is in them. 
 
64 INTBODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 Or, in other and simpler words, it is this harmony 
 between people and country, this relation of the state 
 to nature and to the life of man, and so to politics and 
 philosophy, which has given, through the course of his- 
 tory, prosperity and renown to peoples and states. 
 
 And if, in the less advanced ages of the past, this 
 harmony has been imperceptible, if in the organic de- 
 velopment of nations it has not been marked, then, 
 in these our times, the law which controls this har- 
 mony, its never-failing source, must be sought with all 
 the aids which science gives, and must become a part 
 of human knowledge. 
 
 GENERAL COMPARATIVE GEOGRAPHY IN ITS 
 AIM AND OBJECT. 
 
 Every observation on man and nature conducts us 
 from details to their relation with the whole, from 
 what is apparently accidental to what is really the 
 result of law. But it is to be remarked that the com- 
 plete knowledge of the whole does not result from the 
 study of details, if we begin without some recognition 
 of the whole. Through the whole we sometimes come 
 to a knowledge of a part ; and it is at times the case in 
 the course of our studies that the working of law 
 throws light on details, and conducts us from the 
 whole back to the specific and individual. We may 
 illustrate this by the fact that the course of the earth 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 65 
 
 through the heavens is learned from the working of 
 the solar system, and that from a conception of the 
 world as a planet and globe the arrangement of its 
 divisions and their mutual relations is understood. 
 
 Whenever a conception of the unity existing be- 
 tween the whole and its parts becomes a matter of 
 clear consciousness, then regularity appears in the midst 
 of diversity; but whenever there seems to be only a 
 striving after this unity, and whenever it appears that 
 there can never be more than a striving after it, it is 
 only because the conditions of order are not complete. 
 The details are yet to be marshalled into regularity, 
 and some full and simple truth to be evolved. 
 
 Thus the establishment of an equilibrium in the 
 attracting and repellant forces of the earth in the» di- 
 rection of its axis produced a conformation in the 
 relation of north and south that was soon mathemati- 
 cally outlined ; and in the contrasts of north and south 
 a way was opened to the discovery of a contrast in all 
 the activities of animate and inanimate nature. The 
 establishment of this equilibrium and its supplement- 
 ary influence has produced characteristic and uni- 
 versal effects, yet they have ever been more striking 
 on the purely physical side and in the lower stages of 
 development, and more remote and hidden, yet always 
 present and indeed powerful, in that which has life and 
 spirit. 
 
 But in the direction from east to west we do not yet 
 discover that the forces towards and from the earth's 
 centre have exerted so great an influence over the 
 
 6* 
 
m INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 physical conformation of the globe, or even have deter- 
 mined the existence of a settled and absolute east and 
 west. To this, indeed, they se"em to be tending ; but 
 we must regard these forces as yet in a state of de- 
 velopment, and it is even possible that the earth in its 
 daily revolution is seeking its equilibrium, its final 
 poise. 
 
 But subject to this influence of periodic change, 
 which is most apparent in the daily rotation of the 
 globe, everything is placed which comes and goes 
 upon the surface of the earth. But this influence is 
 less marked than that which attends the relation of 
 north to south, because it has more sway on the in- 
 tellectual than on the physical side, and because in 
 its contrasts of east to west it acts more on the plains 
 of higher development than in organic and undevel- 
 oped nature ; and yet it always exerts power, espe- 
 cially in the yet unfixed forms of plastic elements. 
 
 And because this relation of east to west is not 
 more fixed, and exhibits itself in a formative state, in 
 whose process of unfolding man himself is embraced, 
 — just from this cause would the contrast between 
 east and west appear, according as controlled by the 
 relations of times and circumstances, a constantly 
 changing and formative contrast. Nor indeed have 
 we attained to the knowledge whether what appears to 
 us to be changing in the physical world may not have 
 elements at its foundation which are constant, whose 
 vast reach the great land systems of both hemispheres 
 might indicate, yet whose prevailing influences we 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 67 
 
 might have to seek in the east, whence the earlier and 
 higher development of the life of the earth appears to 
 have proceeded. 
 
 But since the time when the discovery of the New 
 World on the western half of the globe revealed its 
 true contrast to the old continent which had hereto- 
 fore divided itself into a minor east and west, the 
 efforts of man have taken a new direction in seeking 
 to grasp all that is now required for a complete study 
 of the structure of the earth. And if the physical 
 world had existed from the beginning as a whole, 
 which had resulted from a certain mutual trial of 
 forces between north and south, east and west, yet it 
 is only now that it can be comprehended by man as it 
 is. Now, first, can the relations of the Old World be seen 
 in its contrast to the New, and what is peculiar to both 
 hemispheres be understood. Thus the great divis- 
 ions of the earth have come to be viewed as so many 
 wholes more or less severed from nature, and we have 
 to regard them in a general way as the great indi- 
 vidual features of the globe. The Old World will there- 
 fore rightly be the first subject of our study. 
 
 In the east the sun rises, and passes with radiant 
 curve through the heavens to the far west, and thus 
 this great cosmical relation displays itself at the very 
 beginning; nature's first division of the earth's sur- 
 face commencing with the sun itself, the source of all 
 life. 
 
 In the east is Asia, the portion of the globe whose 
 real character is expressed in the widest sense of the 
 
68 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 word Orient. Europe has been in all times, and is 
 characteristically its Occident, contrasted with it in 
 every part of its nature, and on every page of its his- 
 tory, notwithstanding that there is, in the broadest 
 view, a subordinate lapping of one over upon the other, 
 which, though subordinate, is not insignificant. This 
 contrast is not only expressed in the countries them- 
 selves, their skies, their productions, and their ani- 
 mals ; the voices of all their nations express it in the 
 whole course of their history, in their songs, religions, 
 philosophies, and languages. Truly, says an eminent 
 writer, " The nations of the east and of the west are 
 turned from each other : the former, with face towards 
 the rising of the sun, the morning ; the latter, with 
 face towards the setting sun, the evening. The for- 
 mer sacredly guarding the unchanged seat of the 
 primitive past, the latter ever seeking through all the 
 changing forms of existence for a glorious future." 
 
 But between both, on the south, in the bright mid- 
 day, lies Africa, the Soudan of the earth, the land over 
 which the sun follows a uniform course ; the land 
 where the changeable and startling phenomena of Asia 
 and Europe are not seen : where the climate, from 
 spring to winter, does not know inconstancy and per- 
 petual change ; where do not exist this strongly con- 
 trasted sinking and rising as we look at past and 
 future ; and where, through a want of contrast between 
 nature and man, there is no effort to add to the 
 wealth of nature, or to quicken and stimulate man 
 with the thought of eternity and another world. 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 69 
 
 If the morning and evening greeting become to 
 every man, even to the most wearied pilgrim on the 
 road of life, a heart-felt necessity, yet one which is not 
 known when the glaring midday comes, —-the hour 
 poorest in hope of all, — then, from a like analogy, all 
 the people of the Soudan of the earth, in the peaceful 
 possession of the bright midday, seem only bound to the 
 present, which no legend of gray antiquity beautifies, 
 which no care for the future disturbs, and which no 
 hope for that future ever bears on the pinions of 
 imagination endlessly away. 
 
 And in yet another direction, where there is no 
 daily sunrise and sunset ; where a clear, warm mid- 
 day does not leave the world, as in the south, in peace- 
 ful stillness ; where the heat quickens no burning 
 passions ; beneath the polar star extends the north, 
 whose wider, flatter, and more intersected area sur- 
 rounds the pole like a disk,'and seems like the realm of 
 night, which, dark as it is, yet has gleams of bright- 
 ness that beautify the earth like a dream. In that 
 region the day wholly vanishes, as it were, with all its 
 variegated attendant train ; and when it does appear 
 with sudden glimpses, it is no real day, but rather the 
 flashings of a great meteor in the long night. 
 
 Thus, stating in one word the result of what we 
 are expressing in the language of metaphor, Asia 
 represents the morning ; Europe, the evening ; Africa, 
 the midday ; and the cold regions of the north the 
 night. 
 
 In like manner, this same cosmical law is repeated 
 
70 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 in the western half of the globe, only subject to other 
 limitations, because there the atmosphere, — which 
 from its dryness exercises a most definite influence 
 upon the eastern half, — floating above the oceanic 
 regions, becomes saturated with moisture, especially 
 near the surface. The water, as a geographical ele- 
 ment, has a tendency adverse to individualization ; and 
 so in the western hemisphere the contrasts which exist 
 in the whole are fewer and less sharp, and the entire 
 mass falls more into the attitude of a uniform group. 
 Its nature can therefore only become completely clear 
 after a subsequent study of its contrast with the Old 
 World, since the latter has so early and so powerfully, 
 by means of its more perfected culture, struck in with 
 the working of nature, partly modifying it, partly 
 furthering it. 
 
 As we now enter on the observation of individuality 
 in these divisions of the globe, or rather on an investi- 
 gation of their basis, and progress towards the position 
 which nature itself proclaims that they sustain to the 
 world, it will be more conformable to the course of 
 the most natural development, where relations are 
 various, to advance from the simple to the complex. 
 Through this course, the inquirer is often rewarded by 
 meeting a gleam of light, which sometimes penetrates 
 into the most intricate labyrinths. 
 
 As in the observation of the inorganic world the 
 nature of attraction to a centre in contrast with the 
 attraction of opposite poles is studied first as the sim- 
 pler ; as cohesion in contrast with chemical affinity is 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 71 
 
 studied first for the same reason ; as in the world of 
 plants the examination of cryptogamous forms, and 
 in the world of animals the examination of polyps and 
 organisms more simple yet, are antecedent to subtler 
 investigations ; as in the processes of life inquiries 
 into the nature of simple activities must precede, if we 
 would be rightly taught, our deeper questionings ; — so 
 here, in the field of geography, as conditioned by the 
 external form of the earth, our course must be from 
 the simple to the complex. 
 
 Now Africa, which lies in what I have called a con- 
 stant midday, is, par excellence, the most compact and 
 unrifted continent of all. Africa has the most simple 
 coast-line, the most equal division into high and low 
 land, the slightest inequality of uniformity in its 
 surface, and, in one word, does not exhibit contrast 
 and diversity as a salient, but as a subordinate fea- 
 ture. Through these conditions are developed the 
 remarkable uniformity which in Africa distinguishes 
 nature and the world of plants, animals, and men. 
 Therefore Africa rightly opens the series of observa- 
 tions which are devoted to the characteristics of the 
 continents. 
 
72 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 PART FIRST. 
 
 THE CONTINENTS AS FIXED FORMS. 
 
 The first part of a general comparative geography 
 will embrace primarily Africa, Asia, Europe, then the 
 other continents. We proceed from the earth, taken 
 as a unit, or rather we begin with high land, which, 
 like a ruin of the primitive world, even yet locked 
 against us by the power that reared it, rises in the 
 midst of every great division of the earth as many iso- 
 lated features, or as one vast plateau, and gives char- 
 acter to the continent, as if its lower lands were strewn 
 with sundered fragments, or with loose debris. The 
 rivers of the earth, in their systems and chief water- 
 courses, then conduct us through those large regions, 
 of medium elevation, whose limits are so well defined 
 by cataracts and rapids and swollen floods, and which 
 are, in a special degree, favored by nature and culture, 
 until at last we are conducted down to the lowest 
 lands of all. 
 
 These low lands reach out in vast extent, and are 
 the mediators, if I may so speak, between the high 
 lands on the one hand and the oceans on the other, 
 influenced, each in a manner peculiar to itself, by the 
 mountain chains and elevated plateaus of the conti- 
 nent, and by stagnant morasses, banks of sand and 
 the neighboring islands of the sea. 
 
 And as the three great divisions mentioned above — ■ 
 Africa, Asia, and Europe — embrace all of these ele- 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 73 
 
 ments, mountain ranges, lands of medium elevation, 
 and low, marshy regions, we can find in them, therefore, 
 all leading types of animal life contained in this entire 
 earth. But these are only discovered after the most 
 refined investigation of all characteristics of the conti- 
 nents, and after the most painstaking measurement of 
 their horizontal and perpendicular dimensions. And 
 the tracing of the outlines of our globe, as they have 
 been determined by the plastic hand of nature, instead 
 of degenerating into a mere mechanical task, will be- 
 come even a high necessity, if we regard them as the 
 real basis of the whole living creation. 
 
 And it is just on this account that these three divi- 
 sions which we are now considering — Africa, Asia, and 
 Europe — do not come before us in their mere external 
 limitations, a knowledge of which, fixed as it is by 
 careful surveys, is presupposed, but in the place they 
 hold in relation to the whole earth, or, we might say, to 
 nature and the history of man. Therefore they appear 
 in the order given above, as Africa, the Soudan of the 
 globe ; Asia, the land of morning ; Europe, the land of 
 evening, figuratively, and in reference to the advance 
 of civilization ; and, coming to the other divisions, the 
 northern continent, and the New World, by the dis- 
 covery of which the entire Old World has again become 
 an Orient, as it were, to this new land of the evening. 
 
 If by the name Soudan of the Libyans and Ethiopians 
 we understand to-day the larger half, — to speak in a 
 loose but common manner of the division which we 
 call Africa, — then it is exactly the Soudan which, in 
 
 7 
 
74 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 the history of the world and of human culture, has exer- 
 cised the larger half of influence in that great conti- 
 nent of which we speak. 
 
 Thus closely linked are geographical characteristics 
 and historical phenomena. They constitute together 
 a necessary unity, and therefore it is not by accident 
 that we find, in coming to the study of the Old World, 
 as well as to a study of the past, that geographical 
 characteristics and historical phenomena rest upon the 
 same basis. 
 
 The name Old World belongs, in its strictest sense, 
 only to those limited regions where whatever is great- 
 est and highest in human history has been formed, 
 from the primitive wisdom of the inhabitants of India 
 down to the latest products of kindred races. 
 
 So far as all which lay outside of this limited thea- 
 tre of great historical events remained long unknown 
 as the* extreme northern, eastern, and southern ex- 
 tremities of the old continent, the name of New World 
 was as fitly applied to such as it was to the lands of the 
 western hemisphere. And yet, when we had the well- 
 known Old and comparatively unknown New exist- 
 ing in lands almost or quite contiguous, this distinction 
 was lost ; all took the name of the Old World, in con- 
 trast with the regions newly discovered, and separated 
 by intervening oceans, properly called the New World. 
 
 But since seas often bring the great continental 
 divisions more nearly together than lands interposed 
 would do, so in the course of our investigation it will 
 appear how much the New World is now narrowed 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 75 
 
 in consequence of natural conditions, now enlarged, 
 reaching over into the Old ; and that the latter, on 
 the other hand, under different conditions, has already 
 usurped, and still seems to usurp, a place in the New. 
 Thus the close of this first part of the present work, 
 after characterizing each of the continents in its essen- 
 tial features, and their influences upon nature and his- 
 tory, displays the combinations and reciprocal relations 
 which grow from the physical formation of the earth, 
 and thus we begin to comprehend how a limitless 
 variety is marshalled into symmetry in the great whole. 
 
 PART SECOND. 
 THE FLUID FORMS ON THE EARTH'S SURFACE. 
 
 A sharply-defined individuality in natural features 
 does not indeed wholly disappear in this second part, 
 but the fluid forms are distinguished by broader and 
 more general relations. 
 
 The name elements is often applied to these, not in 
 its exact chemical sense, but in the language of com- 
 mon life, or, rather, in accordance with the former 
 usage of words, caught as it were from nature herself. 
 In the movable fluid forms the earlier physicists used 
 to find the representatives of nature's method of work- 
 ings ; but we shall consider them here in their charac- 
 teristics, in their uniformity, and in their influence, as 
 they meet us in the indistinct and impalpable forms of 
 water, air, and heat, or fire. 
 
76 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 These follow in their working the primitive laws of 
 expansion, inertia, and gravitation, and they are to be 
 regarded as the supple, hundred-armed, skilful, un- 
 ceasingly busy carriers and servants in the household 
 of nature. They have a mediator's office, too ; for they 
 unite heights, depths, and common levels in friendly 
 relations, bring north and south, east and west, to- 
 gether, and soften that alienation which exists between 
 the sharply-outlined and widely-sundered continents, 
 by interposing their mild voice. 
 
 They are water, air, and fire : water, as existing in 
 oceans, seas, rivers, as well as in vapor ; the air, as a 
 veil encompassing the earth, — the element especially 
 modified by its relations with sea and land, where it 
 comes in contact with them, and thus the storehouse of 
 climatic influences ; and, thirdly, the fire, which exists 
 in the heart of the earth, always living and reappear- 
 ing, and which, although buried beneath the earth's 
 surface, cannot lurk there secret and unknown, but in 
 the shocks of earthquakes and the eruptions of vol- 
 canoes often brings death and destruction in its train. 
 
 All these three elements are in constant activity; 
 they all seem to have but random relations to the earth, 
 and to exist independently of laws ; and yet, with all 
 their freedom, they are held within their bounds en- 
 tirely in conformity to law. We shall not be able to 
 examine them in their specific characteristics, but 
 only in their connection with the earth's surface as a 
 whole. Thus alone can the fact be discovered that 
 their course is fixed and uniform, not devious and 
 
THE ERDKÜNDE, 7« 
 
 changeable ; thus alone can their unceasing influence 
 upon the animate and inanimate creation be seen. 
 
 This still, constant, often unseen and secret working 
 of the elements, is, beyond comparison, more subtle 
 and deep and true, and a worthier object of study 
 when we are observing nature as a whole, than the 
 passionate and rare moments of their fearful outbreak- 
 ing, when their balance is lost. These may, indeed, 
 now alarm and afterwards deeply stir us, but they do 
 not best open to us the hidden things of the world's 
 laboratory. 
 
 It is the fluid elements, everywhere met, and com- 
 passing heights and depths alike, which have the 
 highest significance in relation to the globe. Yet, 
 from the lowest forms up to the grade of civilized man, 
 their influence is more apparent in a general view 
 than by looking at details. The significance of the 
 fluid elements was not unknown to antiquity, for Hip- 
 pocrates, a careful student of natural phenomena, has 
 sketched with masterly clearness the influence of 
 climate upon the political conditions of states. 
 
 At the same time, these elements, whether con- 
 sidered in large or small masses, become, in conse- 
 quence of their ceaseless motion, mediators between 
 organized and unorganized bodies. Thus the water 
 seems not only in geology and vegetation, but in the 
 history of animals and nations, to be the first condi- 
 tion of increase or improvement, from lands well 
 watered by rivers, coast regions, and internal seas, up 
 to the great union of the world by oceans. 
 
78 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 PART THIRD. 
 
 THE FORMS OF THE THREE NATURAL KINGDOMS. 
 
 The third part of General Comparative Geography 
 is devoted to the chief forms of the three natural king- 
 doms, so far as those forms have had influence on the 
 earth's surface as a whole. They are adduced, accord- 
 ing to their genera, first from the mineral, then from 
 the vegetable, and lastly from the animal kingdom. 
 
 In the first part, all which was stated with regard to 
 these kingdoms was given merely to characterize the 
 continents or fixed elements ; they now appear, so far 
 as they belong to the province of General Geography, 
 as independent forms, having their special peculiarities, 
 and related in their threefold way to the earth's sur- 
 face and to human history. 
 
 These kingdoms are first viewed in their conforma- 
 tion as leading types of some one spot on the earth, 
 selected because nature has given it a degree of indi- 
 viduality, and thus they appear as representatives of 
 certain localities on the globe. Their natural home 
 and the law of their geographical appearance are 
 traced in the second place over the entire earth. This 
 involves of course the investigation of the extent of 
 their activities. In the third place the mastery which 
 the working forces of nature and man have gained 
 over the rude material of the earth must be exhibited 
 geographically and historically. 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. T ( J 
 
 Thus in every representative feature of the three 
 natural kingdoms the individual is found to be linked 
 to the' whole. One series of living forms is seen to be 
 resting upon another, and receiving from it its char- 
 acter. In like manner, when a thorough study of 
 climates has gone before, a correspondent climate will 
 be found in all cases to mirror itself in every one of 
 these forms, so that, by the observation of climatic con- 
 ditions alone, its own place, in relation to the animate 
 world, can be determined for every spot on the earth. 
 
 The belts which serve to show the regions especially 
 characterized by the unorganized bodies of the mineral 
 kingdom lead us to certain general geological phe- 
 nomena, which, where they have been made subservient 
 to the uses of man, conduct us at once to the history 
 of art, and to the earliest culture of fixed races. On 
 the other hand, the lines which indicate the home of 
 the most useful vegetable productions and animals 
 seem to throw some light upon the history of man dur- 
 ing its infancy and development. Man naturally fol- 
 lowed where these led the way for him to enjoy them ; 
 and as these productions and animals changed their 
 home or increased their bounds, the history of man 
 moved in parallel course. And. when nations wan- 
 dered from their old haunts, these sources of subsist- 
 ence flourished without men's care, and waited for 
 some new-coming people to again enjoy them. 
 
 Thus these and other results arise from the close 
 connection of the history of man with nature. In one 
 view history is inevitably dependent upon nature, 
 
80 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 and all the more, the lower man stands in respect of 
 culture, and the more like wild hordes the nations live. 
 In another view, however, there is seen a constantly in- 
 creasing freedom from this dependence, and as culture 
 advances, the outward conditions of country and na- 
 ture lose their power. While the inhabitants of great 
 cities can, through an artificial supply of all their 
 wants, live wholly apart from nature, having neither 
 connection with her nor dependence upon her, man, 
 even if alone, and in whatever place, is able to raise 
 himself above her, if the ideal of the genuine philoso- 
 pher is present in his life, as the divine Plato has 
 represented it in his Theatetos. And it is interesting 
 to remark incidentally, and as a confirmation of the 
 close connection between man and nature, the great 
 value set by all nations upon their native land. The 
 Germans recognize this connection in every utterance 
 of Fatherland. 
 
 In the path which we only open through this great 
 field of interest, we get some glimpses of the way in 
 which diversity in detail is yet in nature ruled into 
 perfect unity, even if the whole of this great truth 
 shall remain veiled to us. 
 
 •+■ 
 
 Man. 
 
 Man is the highest subject in nature. Through him 
 she becomes complete, and attains her full significance. 
 Man is the thread which leads us through the mazes 
 of the labyrinth. All types culminate in him. He 
 becomes the mirror of nature, to reflect her secrets 
 and make them intelligible. 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 81 
 
 It is in this general manner that we express what 
 are those relations of nature subject to which nations 
 are placed, and from which proceed all the progres- 
 sive developments that nature conditions. 
 
 Were it now in human power to trace all the influ- 
 ences of nature, one phase of general history would 
 take a great step forwards ; for the active working of 
 exterior natural conditions upon the advancement 
 of man, a subject which has given much light to the 
 investigators of ancient history, would be more clearly 
 understood than even now. There would then »remain 
 still another province of inquiry, — that subtle action 
 of nature, when viewed in a purely spiritual light, and 
 not as seen and measurable, upon man, nations, and 
 states. This field would be found not less exalted, 
 and no less fruitful in profitable results. 
 
 METHOD OF ARRANGEMENT. 
 
 The title of the present work indicates that it falls 
 within the province of the historical or experimental 
 sciences, whose advancement can only progress at an 
 equal pace with the course of experience, and will, 
 therefore, be more and more marked as age follows 
 age. 
 
 The section following this shall be devoted to the 
 leading sources whence we draw our experimental 
 knowledge, while the present shall delineate some of 
 the chief features in our mode of arrangement. 
 
 The method which will be followed in the study of 
 
82 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 this special department of science will be the deductive ; 
 our object being to exhibit the base-type of geograph- 
 ical forms, and thereon to ground a true system, fol- 
 lowing out all the relations which are inherent in the 
 very being of nature. The whole arrangement must, 
 therefore, be widely different from that of those excel- 
 lent earlier works which treated of the same science 
 under the names of Geography, or a Physical Descrip- 
 tion of the Earth, according to the method of classifica- 
 tion, and for the needs of other sciences, not for their 
 own department as specially worthy of attention or 
 existence. 
 
 So, then, Eratosthenes, of Cyrene, in developing the 
 first astronomical geography, Herodotus and Strabo, 
 the first geographical history and historical geography, 
 and among the moderns, Cluver, the first ancient 
 geography, Bergmann, the first geographical physics, 
 Biisching, the first application of geography to politics, 
 were all, by these elaborate preparations and the con- 
 stantly advancing knowledge of natural phenomena, 
 laying the foundations for a thorough system of Physi- 
 cal Geography. Werner first stated all the facts, so 
 far as science reveals them, of the creation of the 
 earth ; Saussure, De Luc, and Humboldt, the connec- 
 .tion of the earth and the atmosphere; BufFon, the 
 connection of animate and inanimate nature. Zim- 
 imermann first showed the relation of animals to the 
 surface of the earth ; and Blumenbach gave his obser- 
 vations upon the races of men to the science of Phys- 
 ical Geography. 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 83 
 
 The naturalists have thus opened the way for such a 
 Physical Geography as is here attempted, which, how- 
 ever, in order to reserve all its strength for what is 
 strictly within its own sphere, disclaims to treat of 
 relations which have always been considered foreign to 
 it, those which are only commensurate with the uni- 
 verse, and those that are. strictly political, growing out 
 of the constitutions of states. All these may be found 
 in the special works devoted to them. 
 
 The science is called physical, because the theme is 
 the forces of Nature, in so far as they work in the 
 world, conditioning forms, and ordaining changes. 
 Nor can we confine ourselves to mechanical and 
 chemical forces. We have to study those which are 
 organic and less known, those which time gradually 
 reveals, and which enter into rational and moral 
 natures. Therefore, the common term, Physical Ge- 
 ography, is too meagre to express the whole signifi- 
 cance of our work, while another, and one more exactly 
 conveying it, Physiological Geography, is too harsh, 
 and capable of being misunderstood. From the two 
 expressions taken together the real nature of our work 
 can be gathered. 
 
 This geography is called General, not because it 
 strives to communicate everything known, but be- 
 cause, without giving special prominence to any single 
 feature, it aims to portray, with equal care and accord- 
 ing to its true character, every part of the earth, and 
 each of its forms, whether in the waters or on land, 
 whether in distant regions or in our own country, 
 
84 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 whether in the home of the world's culture or on bar- 
 ren wastes ; for only from the types which form the 
 basis of geographical forms can a true system spring. 
 
 It is called Comparative in the same sense in which 
 that word is applied to other leading branches of 
 science, as, for example, Comparative Anatomy. 
 
 In studying special localities on the globe, we should 
 take our place upon that point from which we may 
 practically institute comparisons of analogous forms 
 and influences. Herodotus it was, the keen observer, 
 as well as extensive traveller, who first suggested this 
 method and its use in geography (n. c. 33), and in 
 the same place he has largely used the Niger and the 
 Danube in drawing a comparison between Northern 
 Africa and Europe. 
 
 The bringing of small things into a systematic 
 arrangement is preferable to the mere collecting of 
 details which have no inner unity, and which the 
 memory has to retain singly, if these small things only 
 show a relation to great laws and groups, to ideas and 
 wide-reaching views. What gain for science can pro- 
 ceed in all directions from this source, has been shown 
 by Alexander Yon Humboldt, the founder of Physical 
 Geography. He has opened a new field for this 
 science, which we, with our weak powers, shall try to 
 till. The fruit, when it shall in the future be ripe, 
 will be a Universal Geography. 
 
 The arrangement of all the facts collected in this 
 work must, in order to lead to a methodical and 
 natural system, have an ideal background, a point of 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 85 
 
 departure. Only in this way can what is empirical 
 come into a digested statement, and what is manifold 
 attain that unity which would be wanting were nature 
 but a lifeless form. Without this imaginary back- 
 ground, hypothesis, theory, — call it what you will, — 
 let it be, or let it not be, a matter of consciousness, 
 and you will gain no view of a perfect whole. For 
 even a sure conviction, in the absence of any other 
 background to aid you, is, in truth, as Playfair has 
 said, in itself the first of theories. The absence of a 
 preconceived theory does not guide one to the truth, 
 nor guard from partial views. A knowledge of the 
 history of philosophy and of the sciences, care in the 
 application of thought, and the devout striving after 
 truth, are all that can help human impotence, and 
 justify the expression, " an impartial view," which 
 every naturalist so freely employs. 
 
 That ideal background which the author of this 
 work sets up as his point of departure does not lie in 
 the truth of a single conception, but in «the union of 
 all truths, and thus in the domain of belief. An in- 
 tuition of this union has gradually been forming dur- 
 ing his study of nature and of man. Through con- 
 versation with one of the great men of the age it came 
 to the author's consciousness, and it is the grand prin- 
 ciple on which he builds. Did we know the whole of 
 truth, this intuition would become general. And 
 smce these things are thus, the science which forms 
 the theme of the present work does not admit of the 
 sharpest definition at the outset, nor does it allow that 
 
86 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 its bounds be rigidly set ; this can only be done when 
 the whole is before our eyes, and when the completion 
 of our undertaking is just at hand. 
 
 And here we remark, in passing to the fundamental 
 principles of our science, that, in comparing an intui- 
 tion with a sharply-defined comprehension, the former 
 seems especially adapted to that process of combining 
 and constructing by which the whole form of the 
 present work has been shaped. 
 
 A few general principles of arrangement can now be 
 more definitely determined, by the aid of which to 
 look through our edifice with a more critical eye. 
 
 The fundamental principle which can conduct us to 
 truth in the study of our subject as a whole, is to ad- 
 vance from observation to observation, and not from 
 opinion or hypothesis to observation. Hard and uncom- 
 mon as it is to remain perfectly true to this principle, yet 
 men always come nearer and nearer to the bearings of 
 a result as the throng becomes numerous and varied of 
 the most accurate observers and the most accom- 
 plished naturalists of all times, far and near, and of all 
 lands, distant and remote. Therefore, in the establish- 
 ment of every point, the best authenticated proofs from 
 all nations and ages should be summoned, if not to be 
 brought into harmony, yet to be compared. They 
 should be quoted as much as possible in the language 
 of the original statements, which generally retain a 
 characteristic individuality. Thus, what seems in one 
 view to be lost, in consequence of a diversity of color- 
 ing and a want of being understood, is, in view of the 
 
THE ERDKUXDE. 87 
 
 whole, brought out as unquestionable truth. Then 
 the special theory links itself to our view of the point 
 under study, and to the expression which conveys it, 
 and even becomes the winged genius to aid in further 
 search. Thus hypothesis finds its place, and, once in 
 a while, can be in advance of its age, as when it pro 
 ceeds from a Halley, a Leibnitz, a Lucas, or a Frank- 
 lin, and a thousand years in advance, as when a theory 
 of the planetary system springs from a Pythagoras. 
 
 The fundamental principle which gives character to 
 the exposition of our science is the same which condi- 
 tions the forms of the earth. We have first to view the 
 world according to length and breadth, which we call 
 the geographical dimensions, and then according to 
 height and depth, which we call the physical dimen- 
 sions. The former are determined most accurately 
 and conveniently from the stars, the latter from the 
 atmosphere. It is much to be regretted that in early 
 times these physical dimensions, in great contrast with 
 the other class (which, indeed, had more relations 
 with the world, as a unit, than with political divisions), 
 were entirely left out of consideration, and can, to- 
 day, be followed with rigid exactness over only a small 
 portion of the earth's surface. The study of this class 
 of dimensions has, therefore, brought forward the 
 science of comparative physical geography, and with 
 the study of that class all our observations have to 
 begin. As much as solid measure differs from long 
 and square measure, so much does the present form 
 of this science differ from that which it formerly had. 
 
88 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 The fundamental principle which ensures progress 
 to the whole, and gives its use to every detail, is to' 
 pass from the simple to the complex, from the sides to 
 the centre, from diversity to unity, from the rule to its 
 exceptions, and thus to do in all departments of the 
 earth's relations. Thus, for example, from heights to 
 plains, from river sources to mouths, from water vege- 
 tation to land vegetation, from the frigid and torrid 
 zones to the temperate, from mechanical, chemical, 
 and organic influences to living bodies, from nature to 
 man, from general to special characteristics, from the 
 universal to the individual. 
 
 A subordinate law, which aids in gaining greater 
 clearness, is the grouping of things similar and related ; 
 another, which gives us an insight into the various 
 designations and conceptions of different epochs, comes 
 from the effort to trace them back to their beginning, 
 and in their progress to see their development, and to 
 distinguish them geographically from one another ; a 
 third is, that of the superiority of intenseness in every 
 phenomenon to its mere extent. The drift of them all 
 is aid in the subjection of mere matter to the sway of 
 universal law. 
 
 Where there is a failure in the execution of what we 
 have now briefly sketched, the fault must be laid upon 
 the want of materials, and upon the manner in which 
 the writer discharges his part ; but it may not be laid 
 upon the method, which, with many weak points in 
 the execution, will yet accomplish some part of what it 
 promises. 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 89 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL AUTHORITIES. 
 
 All the special authorities need not here be cited 
 which have been used in the preparation of this work. 
 They are to be found in the libraries, and the judg- 
 ment of the learned world has, as a general thing, 
 decided their worth ; and, besides, a volume would 
 hardly suffice even to briefly characterize what has 
 been done by those who have gone before me. 
 . Yet, needless as it may seem, the most conscien- 
 tiously prepared list of authorities is essential in a 
 branch of the historical sciences which heretofore has 
 not received careful examination. And it becomes 
 especially serviceable in a treatise in which the state- 
 ments may be made to appear in other relations, or in 
 a different light. Only by such a list is the disclaim- 
 ing, in the province of geography, justified, of new 
 methods of representation, and facts which time has 
 not sanctioned, or which are but newly ascertained, as 
 of uncertain character, or contrary to the truths of 
 nature. 
 
 But since we shall not occupy ourselves with partial 
 views of the earth, but with the general facts of nature, 
 there will be, if possible, no link in the connected 
 chain considered as a thing by itself and out of its rela- 
 tions, but as each theme comes before us we shall seek 
 its origin, and what is its hold upon our general sub- 
 ject as a whole.. 
 
 In this way alone will it be possible to replace the 
 
90 - INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 weak parts, whose number is greater than we are wont 
 to think, with stronger, and to give to science, as an 
 inalienable possession, a chain incapable of being 
 broken, or to disclose, by a careful examination, want 
 of coherence, and thus, for the good of science, again to 
 sever it. 
 
 It will often be important, as has already been 
 hinted, when disputed points arise, to adduce all the 
 authorities of any weight, in order to give the clearest 
 insight into first sources. For so many errors have 
 crept into geographical science, that one who has 
 grown up with a knowledge of the truth has to wonder 
 exceedingly at the learned nonsense which the world 
 contains in such abundance. The story is told of the 
 eminent Abyssinian, Abbe Gregory, that in a company 
 of savans, in the heart of Germany, he burst into loud 
 laughter, and expressed the sensible wish that nothing 
 at all should be printed rathef than lies ; he was speak- 
 ing of his own country at the time. And yet we con- 
 fess that it is very rare that geographical accounts are 
 purely false. As a general thing, they are only unskil- 
 ful or incomplete presentations of views which are 
 one-sided, limited, and narrow, or they result from 
 false and perverted views. They may all bear, sub- 
 jectively, the stamp of truth, but they are far from 
 being measured with the standard of objective reality. 
 And therefore it is not unimportant to know whether 
 it is Tacitus, iEneas Sylvius, or Petrarch who has 
 painted the land of the Germans, or whether it be a 
 Reissner, a Frundsberg, a Frank, or a Kinkelback por- 
 traying his native land. 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 91 
 
 Just as necessary is it to know whether it is a Vene- 
 tian, Marco Polo, an Armenian, Haiton, a Byzantine, 
 Procopius, a Persian, Scherifecldin, an Arabian, Ebn- 
 Hankal, an inhabitant of India, Abu Fazil, a body of 
 Chinese savans in the emperor Kang-hi's geography, 
 modern European naturalists, or the histories of the 
 ancients, which are the leading authorities on the 
 nature of the Asiatic Highland. 
 
 Nor is it a matter of indifference to know whether 
 an inhabitant of coast regions or of the interior, of high 
 lands or of low lands, an experienced scientific inqui- 
 rer or a man of mean mind, has discovered and com- 
 municated this or that fact. For only a few, among 
 many, possess that gift of faithful description, of sharp 
 delineation, and of childlike simplicity in style, of 
 which the father of history, Herodotus, has given us an 
 enduring example. 
 
 NATURE OF THE AUTHORITIES. 
 
 The nature of the sources where our facts are re- 
 corded are widely diverse in another respect, according 
 as they result from personal observations, from the in- 
 vestigations and documents of others, or again from 
 the digests of those documents, among which we in- 
 clude also drawings and charts. 
 
 This work would never have been undertaken with- 
 out some personal investigations of the surface of the 
 earth, and acquaintance with its most significant forms. 
 Under favorable circumstances, many facts connected 
 
92 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 with the most important geographical relations of Ger- 
 many and its inhabitants, from the Oder to the Rhine 
 and Danube, have been ascertained and confirmed by 
 personal observations. The entire valley of one of 
 the largest streams in Europe, the majestic Rhine, from 
 its source to its mouth, with a large share of its 
 branches, was, during many years' wanderings, the sub- 
 ject of our special study. One of the leading lakes 
 of Europe, Lake Lenian, was studiously observed in all 
 seasons of the year, and in all its relations to nature 
 and to natural influences. So the extensive Alpine 
 region, which gives character to the whole of Europe, 
 was explored by us, during three different years, and 
 in all directions. By more than a year's sojourn at 
 the foot of its highest summits, and months' sojourn 
 on its icy heights, we have felt the influence of those 
 gigantic masses, extending from Mont Blanc to the 
 Brenner, and have confessed that it is great enough 
 to reach far away and exert a controlling force upon 
 surrounding natural forms. 
 
 On the other hand, a visit to the extremity of 
 Italy made us acquainted with the nature of vol- 
 canic activity, and with that classic land, as a type of 
 high intellectual culture, and with the general coast 
 formation of the Mediterranean Sea. There too we 
 learned to perceive some of the relations between sea 
 and land, and between the three natural kingdoms and 
 men. Regarding this relatively small portion of the 
 earth, the sources have, therefore, been in a measure 
 personal observations, which sometimes have been 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 93 
 
 joined with the results of others' inquiries, now com- 
 municated" orally, at other times by writing ; and thus 
 results which personal research has first gained, and 
 which others have corroborated, have become the most 
 valuable standards in judging of other parts of the 
 earth. It is in this way that a true foundation is laid 
 for a knowledge of the various relations of the surface 
 of the globe, and that maps become serviceable in a 
 further study of physical geography. 
 
 These contain but seldom the personal observations 
 of the naturalist himself, brought together under his 
 own eye, although they always assume an authoritative 
 form. Among such as are the works of the investiga- 
 tors themselves, whose names they bear, we mention 
 La Condamine's and Humboldt's Charts of Peru and 
 Mexico, Rennell's Map of Bengal, Yon Hermilin's At- 
 las of Sweden, Cassini's Map of France, Rizzi Zanoni's 
 of Campagna Felix, Peter Anion's first Map of Tyrol ; 
 as a masterpiece among all the smaller special maps, 
 the Carte de Chasse of Louis XI Y., and among larger 
 works, Green's Bavaria, Amman's and Bohnenberger's 
 Swabia, Le Coq's Westphalia, and many others. 
 Among those which present natural forms with con- 
 siderable fulness, and which are the direct fruit of 
 personal observations, are Humboldt's view of the 
 Mexican plateau, Lichtenstein' s Essay on the terraces 
 of South Africa, Marsigli's and Yon Wiebeking's 
 courses of the Danube and the Rhine, Yon Riedl's 
 charts of the Bavarian lowlands, bogs and lakes, 
 Reinke's view of the mouths of the Elbe and Weser ; 
 
94 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 of those giving the sea-bottom, Heather's chart of the 
 North Sea and the Baltic ; of volcanic regions, Borg's 
 Map of the Isle of Bourbon, and Frey cine t's of the Isle 
 of France ; of the Alpine chain, the most important 
 views in Weiss' s chart of Switzerland. Yery lately 
 Salzburg and Karnthen have issued admirable maps 
 to represent the formation of mountain ranges ; these 
 owe their origin to a German archduke. Fluider' s 
 maps of the coast line of Australia are equally fine in 
 representing that feature. 
 
 These, and similar ones, certainly appearing but sel- 
 dom, which afford material for enlarged and compre- 
 hensive study, must be termed leading authorities in 
 every respect. Many excellent maps and works, as, for 
 instance, those of D'Anville, Arrowsmith, Lapie, Sotz- 
 mann, Mannert, Streit, Reimann, Reichard, Schmidt, 
 Klöden, and others, who have made the most assidu- 
 ous use of astronomical and historical researches, but 
 without personal observation of the countries which 
 they portray, have their value, a value great indeed, 
 but not to be specified here, because for a knowledge 
 of physical geography they are all liable to mislead, 
 and must be used with caution. They convey the 
 truth only, so to speak, symbolically or hieroglyphic ally. 
 "While all are thus erroneous as guides in the science 
 which claims our attention, that of Gutsmuth is to be 
 specially designated as so. 
 
 If an attempt be made to represent the nature of a 
 country on a chart, it ought to be executed in a full re- 
 membrance of that background of hypothesis of which 
 
THE EKDKUNDB. 95 
 
 we spoke a few pages back. This has been done by 
 Buache, Gatterer, Zimmermann, Schnitz and Reichard, 
 and not without advantage to science. By Zenne it 
 has been accomplished in a very complete manner. 
 Bnt in consequence of the blind theory of imitators, 
 who work without this hypothetical background, the 
 advantage is often lost again ; and instead of a repre- 
 sentation of nature, a caricature appears, which physi- 
 cal geography rejects as summarily from the rank of 
 her authorities as physiognomy spurns a badly exe- 
 cuted silhouette. 
 
 But the best maps even are related to the study of 
 General Comparative Geography as collections of 
 preparations are to Physiology, whicTi are of no value 
 so long as the physiologist sees only lifelessness in the 
 dry trunk, the injected heart, and in the sundered 
 limbs. Should the geographer use the valuable aid of 
 maps for the prosecution of his science, as many have 
 done in their systems, he must fall into greater errors 
 than the physiologist who seeks in the dead fo#m the 
 living heart and the centre and mystery of life, for the 
 former would only have at command a distorted and 
 reduced drawing of the dead mass. 
 
 If many of the foregoing remarks do not harmonize 
 with, or directly contravene, that which characterizes 
 the great body of our maps of the earth's surface, then 
 it is plain that the reproaches still hold good which 
 Ludolf, that critical and most accomplished man, 
 brought against the map-makers, when, a full century 
 ago, he published the first and the best map of the 
 unknown land of Abyssinia. 
 
96 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 Advancing now, in onr indicating of authorities, to 
 the second general division of them, we remark, that 
 if in the first the poverty of observations on the world 
 considered as a unit is confessedly great, in this the 
 wealth of observations and treatises is extraordinary. 
 
 Although pure gold does not run from all, although 
 in many there lies some ore unquarried, and in but 
 few is a wealth of treasure to be found, yet we owe a 
 great burden of thanks to our predecessors, and we 
 have gratefully to remember that the eighteenth cen- 
 tury was so rich in men who spared not their means 
 nor their strength to promote the growth of this sci- 
 ence freely and widely, and to cherish its bloom and 
 its fruit for the good of coming ages. The result has 
 been entirely reached which the first modern physical 
 geographer, the great Scheuchzer, prophesied, in a poor 
 age for science, a century and a half ago : " Should 
 men continue in the same right course of observa- 
 tions which has been adopted within a few years, the 
 learned world will reap more advantage from it in 
 the next hundred and fifty years than in thousands 
 heretofore." He gave to the world a treasure in his 
 observations made in the Alpine region ; and to him, 
 as to an active member of the London Society, the 
 great profit in investigating the laws of the entire 
 world of phenomena was clear. He saw the connec- 
 tion between every fact and the whole ; between the 
 universal law and all that follows from it in the entire 
 round of sciences ; and he said, most fitly, in speaking 
 of barometrical measurements : " Every truth gleams 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 97 
 
 with its own special radiance ; and as one light height- 
 ens another, so one truth imparts its brightness to 
 another. First truth is a rich spring, from which 
 other truths flow ; and again, every special truth is 
 like an abounding river, which branches off in count- 
 less little streams." 
 
 The greatest number of physical truths is unques- 
 tionably found in the volumes, extending over a period 
 of more than a century, of the London Society of Sci- 
 ence, in the Philosophical Transactions since 1660, and 
 in the Memoirs of the Academy of Paris. These, as 
 well as the valuable Acts of the Societies of Turin, 
 Petersburgh, Berlin, Stockholm, and of other places, 
 are of the first degree of usefulness to the student of 
 Geography. 
 
 At the commencement of the eighteenth century 
 there were two men born in the same year, 1707, Lin- 
 neus and Buffon, who, in a wide and philosophical 
 spirit, devoted their lives to the same department of 
 study, although in opposite ways, and therefore, per- 
 haps, with the greater advantage to science. Since 
 the middle of that century their labors, being sec- 
 onded by many others, have given a new life to the 
 investigation of nature. With the beginning of the 
 second half of the century scientific efforts were more 
 unitedly undertaken, and the newly-awakened interest 
 called out three great undertakings, widely different 
 from each other, and taking very diverse courses, but 
 which have become perennial springs to the study of 
 physical geography. 
 
 9 
 
98 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 We mention first the valuable and protracted scien- 
 tific journeys of members of the Petersburgh Academy 
 through the great Russian Empire, from the Baltic to 
 the northwest coast of America, and from the North- 
 ern Ocean to the Caucasus and the Altai mountains, 
 whose rich results the unwearied G-meline, Pallas, 
 Georgi, Steller, Guldenstadt, and others, mostly Ger- 
 mans, have collected, and thus made general a knowl- 
 edge of the North. 
 
 At the same time Captain Cook, called the Discov- 
 erer,' sailed three times round the earth between 1768 
 and 1779, and enlarged our knowledge of the globe in 
 all directions. Through his means, and that of his 
 associates, Banks, Solander, Sparrman, and the Fors- 
 ters, father and son, we have gained our knowledge of 
 the oceanic world. 
 
 At the same period, 1774, Werner, in the mountains 
 of Saxony, and De Saussure, 1772-79, through the 
 study of the Alps, in his native land, had found the 
 soil and the roots of a new branch of physical geog- 
 raphy, which, though yet in its youth, is heavy with 
 fruit, and which shall yet, a royal tree, raise its top to 
 the heavens. 
 
 The most civilized nations of Europe vied with the 
 learned societies in India (Asiat. Research., Calcutta, 
 1778) and in North America (Transac. of the Amer. 
 Soc. of Philadelphia, and Mem. of the Americ. Acad.) 
 in furthering these varied discoveries. 
 
 All these good results have been attained, in part, 
 by individual observers, but more by men closely 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 99 
 
 bound together by friendship, struggling, side by side, 
 after truth. What physical geography owes to Joseph 
 Banks, senior, can hardly be overstated. And what 
 he did in Great Britain and its vast empire, J. F. 
 Blumenbach did in Germany, through his writings, 
 his collections, and yet more by his living word as a 
 teacher. Others have done the same in Brunswick, 
 Berlin, and Vienna. In France, Delametharie and 
 Cuvier have labored; in southern Europe, Bonnets 
 and Saussure' s accomplished pupil, companion, and 
 friend, M. A. Pictet, whose name is held in so high 
 esteem in his own country. 
 
 The sum of the facts established, by means of this 
 wealth of authorities, is the more important in conse- 
 quence of their being traced in special fields. But 
 even here we can only allude to the leading author- 
 ities, those from which the weightiest facts are ad- 
 duced, while all others will appear in the places where 
 we shall need to employ them. While we shall follow 
 the connection of the ideas which generalize our whole 
 theme, we shall name the works from which those 
 ideas are taken, and thus avoid, in this place, the un- 
 necessary length to which a list of books would run, 
 which have become known, indeed, for other reasons 
 than from their bearing upon the science of geography. 
 
 Werner discovered, by following the indication of 
 fossil forms, the first universally intelligible language, 
 
100 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 descriptive of the countless myriads of bodies which 
 are buried in the earth. From accepting various 
 earlier and later, general and partial deluges, and 
 the theory of the precipitation of different deposits 
 from these, he sought to understand the masses of the 
 surface, hitherto regarded as chaotic, and without rela- 
 tions to law in their formation. He then advanced to 
 all the facts which offered themselves to him in his ex- 
 amination of the Ertzgebirg, and those which came to 
 him, as the great teacher of Ms time, from distant lands, 
 with detailed accounts and specimens, until the idea 
 dawned upon him of homogeneousness in the creation 
 of the parts of the globe ; and thus his mind threw out 
 the first plan for deciphering the process of the earth's 
 formation. By the numerous pupils of this great man 
 his thought was widely diffused, and almost all new 
 facts relating to this subject are described with little 
 deviation from his language. 
 
 At the same period, the genial De Saussure had ex- 
 amined in all directions the extensive chain of the Alps, 
 — whose formation seemed clear, — had questioned 
 its nature, and had received perplexing answers about 
 its characteristics, the number, the course, and the im- 
 portance of all its subdivisions, whose hidden signifi- 
 cance neither the older theories nor his own genius 
 could unfold. Yet, while he gave to physical geog- 
 raphy the whole treasures which he had won and 
 recorded, with the greatest care, in his work, he also 
 gave a language which makes intelligible the whole 
 outer surface of the earth ; and in this language 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 101 
 
 science still continues to teach. By these two men's 
 labors the earth found a tongue to express her secrets 
 and her varied relations. 
 
 Alexander von Humboldt was the first to trace the 
 working of universal forces, the law of mountain eleva- 
 tion, and the law of continental extents. He widened 
 the knowledge of this whole domain by bringing into 
 view the analogies in the different features of the 
 earth, and showed the relation between the New and 
 the Old World. He has been one of the greatest bene- 
 factors of physical geography. 
 
 Leopold von Buch introduced into science the idea 
 of local and general mountain formations, understood 
 how to outline more sharply what was known before, 
 to characterize it, to disclose its nature, and to enrich 
 it still more. He observed every local feature accord- 
 ing to its inner and its outer qualities, in its individu- 
 ality, and in its relation to the whole. Studying the 
 formation of the earth's surface according to its physi- 
 cal dimensions, that is, by height and depth, every step 
 brought him to some new fact in nature ; and the pre- 
 sent work is largely indebted to him for his instructive 
 additions to scientific knowledge, and for the spirit 
 which encourages its appearance even in an incom- 
 plete form. 
 
 Through the combined efforts of these two eminent 
 friends the geognostic relations of the earth's surface 
 were carefully examined, — the tropical regions, in the 
 direction of the parallels of latitude, by Humboldt, and 
 the northern hemisphere, in the direction of the merid- 
 
 9* 
 
102 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 ians, by Yon Buch, from the southernmost point of 
 Italy, through the heart of Europe, to the North Cape, 
 — and the beginning made possible by both of a strict 
 comparison. It has been for the great furtherance of 
 geography that they both employed the comparative 
 method. What a gain would still accrue to it if these 
 naturalists, carrying their mode of inquiry to the 
 Asiatic plateaus, would there institute their compari- 
 sons and researches, and thus complete our knowledge 
 of the entire surface of the earth, studied in this way. 
 
 Meantime, the third man of the youthful party of 
 geognostical friends, J. C. Freiesleben, in his more 
 limited field, collected the material for his work on the 
 copper formations of Thuringia, — as the venerable 
 Heim had done before, in preparing his account of the 
 Thuringian Forest Mountains, — and, in that model 
 of scientific investigation, he arranged all his facts in 
 their mutual relations. The works of these three men 
 show how the present scientific efforts, springing from 
 youthful friendship, not only are more earnest on that 
 very account, but that they, in every case, attain 
 higher and more valuable results for the world. 
 
 At the same period J. G. Ebel, in his classic work 
 on Switzerland, which speaks to the solitary traveller 
 in every place there like a wise friend, and has become 
 a people's book, was showing how to communicate the 
 vast richness of the whole Alp system, because a rich 
 soul was in the man himself. Therefore he took his 
 first step in the work of elevating and instructing the 
 people in the exalted regions of geography and history. 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 10 3 
 
 So, too, the larger part of the cultivated travellers who 
 yearly stream to that attractive country, to enrich 
 themselves with its magnificence, was humanized yet 
 more by being led by him to Nature, and to her work- 
 ings in the solemn silence of the Alpine heights. So, 
 animated in this, as in all things, with a ceaseless in- 
 terest in behalf of the enrichment of men's minds, 
 incessantly toiling for this end, his second work took a 
 scientific form ; he exhibited the combinations of the 
 many classes of facts which nature made him ac- 
 quainted with, and that idea of uniformity in the 
 formation of the strata, and in the reproduction of the 
 primitive types, which Hausmann had discovered at 
 the -same time in the North ; he showed the universal 
 connection in nature, passed from a new view of the 
 mountain system as a whole to its scattered members 
 and their forms, and thus conveyed that settled con- 
 ception of a highland of the earth which Humboldt 
 had traced on the other hemisphere, and introduced it 
 within the domain of physical geography. The pre- 
 sent work is indebted to an intercourse of many years 
 with Ebel for what of warmth and life it may possess. 
 
 Already, before the epoch of these active discoveries, 
 the Swedes, Gahn and Hauy, had traced, with their 
 peculiar mathematical keenness, the laws of the crystal- 
 lizations exhibited in the working of the forces at the 
 poles of the earth. 
 
 The modern chemists, in their observations on the 
 atmosphere and in the laboratory, were carried through 
 a diversity of paths to the discovery of elective affinities, 
 
104 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 whose conformity to laws Berzelius first employed in 
 the use of mathematical symbols. 
 
 Thus, after observing this varied activity in the inor- 
 ganic world, after an analysis and a synthesis of the 
 formative conditions inherent in them, and after noting 
 too the beautiful coherence of them all, the concep- 
 tion arose of an inorganic class of forms, and of all 
 the relations which spring from such a class. The lat- 
 ter were traced by Hausmann through the whole inor- 
 ganic kingdom, even to its very confines. From this 
 view was developed a great wealth of truths and gen- 
 eralizations for all departments of natural science. 
 The citation of some of them, communicated to me 
 orally by this valued friend, in so far as they are appro- 
 priate to the uses of the present work, may compen- 
 sate for many other imperfections ; and let me here 
 record a word of the deepest thankfulness to this 
 unwearied seeker after truth, this most enthusiastic of 
 teachers. 
 
 OCEANIC FORMS. 
 
 The extraordinary progress which has been made in 
 the knowledge of the sea and of oceanic forms we owe 
 almost exclusively to the British. What has been 
 done in this department, up to the present time, by 
 other nations, the Portuguese, the early Spaniards, 
 along the coasts and within the tropics, and what has 
 been accomplished by the French, Marchand, Fleurieu, 
 and La Peroiue excepted, is easy to pass in review ; 
 even Kxusenstürn's journey round the world is really 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 105 
 
 to be ascribed to the British. The Americans, though 
 they have become rivals for the mastery of the deep, 
 and their sails whiten every part of the Sonth Sea, 
 have, unfortunately, so far as we know, 1 cared more 
 for their own gam than for the advancement of sci- 
 ence ; but they have compensated for this in giving 
 the great name of Benjamin Franklin to the world. 
 
 The British, on the other hand, — only to name the 
 mere outlines of what they have done, — have sought, 
 in behalf of science, to reach both poles, through Cap- 
 tain Cook's endeavors, and especially the northern one 
 through the exertions of Captain Phipps ; they have 
 not only discovered and given to the world a knowl- 
 edge of the youngest of the continents, by the agency 
 of a long succession of voyages, which have been 
 recorded in Zimmermann's Australia, but they have, 
 through the careful investigations of Flinders, sur- 
 veyed, with the utmost exactness, the entire coast of 
 the mainland of New Holland. Thus the nature of 
 the sea has taken entirely new relations to the surface 
 of the globe. 
 
 The researches of those naturalists who devote them- 
 selves to the botany and zoology of the sea, — Ellis, 
 Lightfoot, Turner, Mertens, Donati, Forskai, Müller, 
 DeBosc, Peron, Tilesius, — have brought the life and 
 activity of those depths to light. Merely from Capt. 
 Baudin's unfortunate expedition to Australia, Peron 
 brought home, as the result of his own and his friends' 
 
 1 The date of the writing of this Introductory Essay will be borne in 
 mind by the reader, as he meets these and kindred remarks. — Tr. 
 
106 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 activity, 18,414 specimens, of which there were, accord- 
 ing to the statements of the savans of Paris, 1400 new 
 specimens from oceanic zoology. More remarkable still 
 are the observations upon the life of the organized 
 forms, of which Tilesins collected so many during his 
 journey round the world. Those which yield gener- 
 alizations relating to the oceanic economy will be given 
 in their place, as we have received them from his own 
 mouth. 
 
 The observations of Peyssonel, Benjamin Franklin, 
 Captain Cook, Charles Blagden, Bladh, and Marchand, 
 upon the local movements of the sea, awoke the atten- 
 tion of navigators. La Place completed his theory of 
 a universal oceanic motion ; Lamotherie threw out an 
 hypothesis to explain the local currents which Romme 
 has observed. But Fleurieu, Rennell, Humboldt and 
 Krusenstern, enriched this new field with the most 
 definitely determined facts, showed the changes in the 
 course of these currents, their limits, and their average 
 velocity. Rennell and Humboldt made them a special 
 object of study, in order to increase the safety of human 
 life, and to trace their historical influence in promoting 
 ready communication between seafaring nations. 
 
 They first drew Franklin to that study of the sea's 
 temperature, which, since his day, has at extreme 
 depths, and near the surface, led to the most remarka- 
 ble facts. By means of the measurements of Irving 
 and Forster, near the North and South poles, and of 
 Peron, Humboldt and Horner in the equatorial seas, 
 our knowledge of the diffusion of the inhabitants of 
 the sea lias received much enlargement. 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 107 
 
 THE ATMOSPHERE. 
 
 In the domain of the atmosphere, viewed without 
 reference to its cosmical and chemical relations, the 
 efforts of observers, from the last half of the past cen- 
 tury on, have been very marked, and their works, 
 based almost invariably upon facts, have become rich 
 sources for General Comparative Geography. 
 
 Not only have astronomers like La Place, Olbers, 
 Brandes and Benzenberg, striven to determine the 
 upper limits of the atmosphere, by the study of the 
 laws of refraction, but the strongest efforts to ascertain 
 its dimensions have also been made by the ascent of 
 the highest mountains by De Saussure, De Lucs, Hum- 
 boldt, and others, as well as by penetrating the surface 
 and the depths of the earth. Others, like Robertson, 
 Jungius, Gay Lussac, and Biot, have made long jour- 
 neys, that they might study the atmosphere as the lab- 
 oratory where climates and climatic characteristics are 
 formed. 
 
 But especially weighty have the facts become which 
 barometrical observations, and yet more the efforts to 
 determine heights with the barometer, have established. 
 Even Pascal, who first (1648) saw at the Puy de Dome 
 that the Toricellean vacuum is of the greatest signifi- 
 cance for the comparison of distant levels, could as 
 little suspect as Scheuchzer, who first (1709) made 
 an application of this discovery in a series of observa- 
 tions, imperfect indeed, among the Alps, to what 
 varied results the now perfected barometer would lead, 
 
108 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 as used by mathematicians, physicists, naturalists, and 
 artists. Without this instrument, comparative geogra- 
 phy would be still in an unsettled state ; our knowledge 
 of vegetation and our knowledge of climates would still 
 be isolated branches ; while now, still further estab- 
 lished by the hygrometer and the thermometer, each 
 of these branches finds, even in its minute subdivisions, 
 its exponents in the other, so that the round sum at 
 least of their diversities could be divided into its fac- 
 tors. 
 
 Every step forwards in the history of this remarka- 
 ble instrument has become, through contemporaneous 
 discoveries on the earth and in the atmosphere, rich in 
 facts illustrating the physical nature of the globe. The 
 barometrical investigations set on foot by Townley, 
 and conducted by Mariotti and Boyle, led to a knowl- 
 edge of the variance in the density of different layers 
 of air ; from the study of this varying density Halley 
 drew his barometrical formula. * 
 
 Since De Luc's journey through the Alps, in 1795, 
 portable barometers have come into general use, and, 
 through his corrections of barometrical formulas, our 
 knowledge of atmospheric conditions has become favor- 
 able to our understanding what pertains to the whole 
 domain of nature. 
 
 By means of M. A. Pictet's first and long-protracted 
 investigations, at Cartigny, 1778, into the temperature 
 of the atmosphere directly above the earth's surface, in 
 layers of from half an inch to five feet, and so on to 
 seventy-five feet in perpendicular thickness, important 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 109 
 
 additions were made to our knowledge of general vege- 
 tation, especially of facts relating to evaporation, the 
 formation of dew and clouds, the direct and reflected 
 warmth of the sun on plains and in the soil, and par- 
 ticularly the relation of this warmth to shade. From 
 his investigations, too, sprang the first generalizations 
 on the remarkably unequal and yet constant relation 
 of warmth to light in the daytime and twilight of every 
 revolution of the earth. To an acquaintance with this 
 skilful naturalist among the Alpine valleys, and to 
 communications from Ms lips, this work is indebted for 
 many an important thought. 
 
 De Luc's contemporaneous observations on the state 
 of the barometer, taken at fifteen points of observa- 
 tion on the Saleve, and Sclmckburgh and Le Roy's 
 applications of those observations, led to important 
 knowledge relative to the advantage of a moderate 
 temperature to vegetation, and to the expansion of the 
 air as connected with winds and their dependent 
 phenomena : thus incorporating these topics into phys- 
 ical geography, which was yet further to be enriched 
 with the important facts and applications of De Saus- 
 sure. 
 
 Ramond's exact and full barometrical observations 
 at six stations of various absolute heights within the 
 range of small horizontal distances, led to a mathe- 
 matical certainty of a medium state of the barometer, 
 and assisted in reaching an understanding of the rela- 
 tions of absolute heights to the level of neighboring 
 seas and oceans. 
 
 10 
 
110 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 M. A. Pictet's contemporaneous barometrical obser- 
 vations over greater horizontal distances, but at the 
 same absolute heights, afterwards followed further, 
 and with the most scrupulous care, by the acute Wahl- 
 enberg, between Vienna, Casmark, and the Carpathian 
 range, illustrated by the vivid drawings of J. F. Pictet, 
 and applied most advantageously by Pfaff to the theory 
 of climates, led to remarkable generalizations on the 
 contemporaneousness and succession of atmospheric 
 phenomena over large districts, and sometimes over 
 entire continents. 
 
 These continued observations from the same stand- 
 point taught — through the agency of the curvilinear 
 tables of Studer, in Berne (continued a whole life 
 long) , the works of so many Academies, and the com- 
 parisons of La Cotte, Gronau, and others — that nature 
 does not move in cycles of a quarter of a century each, 
 or even of a whole century ; and they also showed 
 that a man who always argues a 'priori with regard to 
 the course of nature, reasoning outwards from some 
 stand-point purely subjective, may make great strides 
 forwards, but to no purpose. Meantime, all unex- 
 pectedly, the finest and most neglected features of 
 nature were examined by French naturalists in the 
 heights of Quito, by the English on the plains of 
 Bengal, by Mutis and Humboldt on the coast of Ca- 
 raccas, and the universal and constant currents in 
 the atmosphere of the tropics were discovered, as they 
 had been by Chiminelli in Padua, Ramond in Au- 
 vergne, and Von Buch in Germany, as existing in the 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. Ill 
 
 temperate zone, and by Horner for the sea. Flinders 
 went so far in his barometrical observations, during 
 his voyage round Australia, as to trace the influence 
 of sea and land winds upon the weight of the atmos- 
 phere, and to prepare a table to show the mariner how 
 to employ this fact in determining his distance from 
 the shore. Thus, this little quicksilver tube has even 
 become an instrument to make men feel at home upon 
 the ocean, as upon the land it has undertaken the 
 duty of determming for us all heights and depths. 
 
 The barometer, too, brought into light the weighty 
 difference between relative and absolute heights, and 
 afterwards the differences in plains. These things had 
 before formed no part of the science of geography, for 
 the former method of scientific study was to search for 
 the most striking phenomena ; and men who followed 
 that method were content with measuring and won- 
 dering at the stupendous height of the loftiest moun- 
 tains. 
 
 What a mass of efforts must precede in order to 
 exhibit in numbers the series of facts regarding the 
 altitudes so fully given in Miltenburg's comprehensive 
 collection ! Only he who has made researches of his 
 ovn upon the Alps knows how to prize the worth of 
 every name recorded there. 
 
 These collections of measurements and observations 
 were first turned to the profit of geography by De 
 Saussure, Humboldt, Yon Buch, and their pupils, by 
 yielding the means for comparing general, climatic, 
 geologic, and botanic relations. To Yon Buch be- 
 
112 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 longs the credit of bringing out, following in the path 
 of De Saussure, the characteristics of mountain passes, 
 driving many errors from the science of Physical Ge- 
 graphy, and of establishing many truths ; since it is the 
 mountain passes, and not the extreme tops, which are 
 the stand-point of observation for all travellers through 
 such regions, in the east and west of the earth. 
 
 By the agency of the two naturalists, Yon Buch and 
 De Saussure, who have merited so much of science, 
 and with the signal help besides of the equally inde- 
 fatigable Wahlenberg, in the different flora of Lap- 
 land, Carpathia, and Switzerland, the climatic charac- 
 teristics, as limits of vegetation in the vegetable world, 
 were compared with those of the tropics ; and through 
 the completeness of their treatment of the heat of the 
 earth, gained by a large acquaintance with the facts of 
 temperature, the perfect order and beauty and consist- 
 ency in the arrangements of the earth's surface, espe- 
 cially on the side explored by them, were exhibited in 
 detail. Meanwhile, the efforts of these men, stimu- 
 lated by the early investigations of Scheuchzer, Tour- 
 nefort, De Saussure, Bamond, Townson, and the 
 calculations of Kirwan, had really determined, by the 
 help of barometrical observations, from the North Cape 
 to the southernmost point of Europe, as well as upon 
 the heights of the torrid zone, the limits of vegetation, 
 and had showed that the line of eternal snow is the 
 border of the living creation. 
 
 The special influence of the investigations which the 
 barometer has served, like a wanderer's staff, in the 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 113 
 
 confused world of phenomena, must here be particu- 
 larly referred to, since it is the soul of the whole 
 arrangement of the present work. And yet the first 
 efforts to leave the earth, and to penetrate to the very 
 heart of a knowledge of the atmosphere, that is, to 
 compass the whole secrets of meteorology, have in no 
 way been satisfied, nor have all results been subjected 
 to a strict analysis. Every prognosis seems to be un- 
 favorable to science, and to be more a matter of 
 egoistical curiosity than of pure and earnest striving, 
 because it lacks humility and confidence in Divine 
 Providence ; so there seems to be no suitable reward 
 held before the zeal which does not grow from a 
 worthy root ; but every disinterested effort after truth 
 has already been often crowned, by being led back to 
 certainty and the living God. 
 
 Thus, from what has now been said, without any 
 more specific citing of authorities, the bearing appears 
 of all these results upon an understanding of the laws 
 which control the whole world of life. If, here and 
 there, in the present work, an interesting view holds 
 the reader's attention, and charms him into patience, 
 the author extends his thanks for it to a long, instruc- 
 tive, and, with pride be it said, intimate acquaintance 
 with a noble man, S. T. Sömmering, the ornament of 
 his age and nation ; for his spirit imparted to others 
 glimpses into those depths of nature which his own 
 genius had penetrated to their most secret recesses. 
 10* 
 
114 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 THE SUBTERRANEAN REGIONS. 
 
 If we now pass to the third element, to the workings 
 of the forces of fire and heat, we find that the pro- 
 tracted efforts of men who have studied ocean charac- 
 teristics, and those who have studied volcanic phe- 
 nomena, have awakened a lively interest to overthrow 
 something old, or to establish something new, and 
 have ever been making these researches more keen. 
 If they have not satisfied themselves, yet their efforts 
 have enriched Comparative Geography with a treasure 
 of unquestioned facts regarding the details and the 
 extent of subterranean and marine phenomena. 
 
 Only the latest times have taken the first important 
 steps towards the settlement of that old vexed question, 
 whose symbol the primitive wisdom of India used to 
 represent to the people as the lotus flower, with a boy 
 in the garden by, and flames licking the corolla, — the 
 question which the gods of Greece renewed in their 
 strife with Poseidon, Athene in Attica, Helios in 
 Corinth, and Here in Argolis, and whose heat the 
 divine Plato seems to have kindled among mortals, by 
 his story of Tartarus on the earth, recorded in the 
 Phädon. At last the happy settlement of the question 
 has confirmed the truth of the old motto, that every- 
 where error, as well as truth, has been the instructress 
 of men. 
 
 At first, the inhabitants of Campania and of Sicily 
 at the South, and of Iceland at the North, recorded 
 carefully in their annals the eruptions of the neigh- 
 
THE ERDKÜNDE. 115 
 
 boring volcanoes ; then P. Bonguer, la Condamine and 
 Aut. Ulloa, explained volcanic formation, and brought 
 out the fact that even more constant activity was mani- 
 fested in the volcanoes of the New World. The earth- 
 quake of the first of November, 1755, which was so 
 powerfully felt in the southwest of Europe, carrying 
 destruction from the Escurial to Lisbon, did not spend 
 its force there, but rolled along the Atlantic shores, from 
 Madeira, over Morocco, Tetuan, and Algiers to Tunis ; 
 shook Corsica and Valais, and all the lakes of central 
 Europe ; passed from Zurich down the Rhine to the 
 Netherlands, over the North Sea to the British Islands as 
 far äs Loch Ness, in Scandinavia even to Falun, and Abo 
 in Finland, and filled all Europe with fear. But when, 
 from all sides, the accounts of Wolfall, Sachetti, Ulloa, 
 Stoqueler, Foroke, Heberdeen, and many others, came 
 in, with the tidings of a violent commotion of the sea 
 at the Antilles taking place at the same time, and 
 the report of a fearful earthquake occurring but two 
 days later at Java and Sumatra, all together filling 
 an entire volume of Transactions, naturalists came to 
 an insight into these phenomena, and hypothesis fol- 
 lowed hypothesis, explaining them all on physical or 
 physico-theological principles. First, Stuckeley, and, 
 after the earthquakes in Italy, Yivencio and Dol- 
 mieu, and after them Williams, Mitchell, and Frank- 
 lin in North America, sought to form a theory from 
 the numerous facts, and so drew men's thoughts not 
 only to the phenomena of earthquakes, but to their 
 periodical recurrence. Hamilton described volcanic 
 
116 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 eruptions ; Dolmieu and Ferrara observed them as 
 naturalists, in respect to their phenomena, Breislack 
 in respect to their results and chemical causes ; and all 
 these framed interesting hypotheses connected with 
 them. 
 
 Leopold Von Buch was the first who was able to 
 separate the exceptional from the essential in volcanic 
 phenomena ; to indicate the means of determining the 
 great periods of upheaval and sinking ; to designate 
 the chief elements of every period in the preliminary 
 earthquake, — the throwing out of lava, the smoke, 
 and the belching of ashes. In the course of his 
 repeated wanderings through Italy, he grasped the 
 idea of volcanic construction, inward and outward ; 
 described volcanic products ; and indicated the subma- 
 rine district of tufa strata at Epomeo, and in the classic 
 soil of Rome itself. He propounded a bold hypothesis 
 regarding the peculiarity of the formation of Auvergne, 
 which, indeed, is not now much regarded, since Weiss 
 at Yiveray has given more satisfactory explanations. 
 And Von Buch, too, first established a definite and 
 universally intelligible language for this department 
 of science. 
 
 What his keen search has elicited from a solitary 
 volcano, doubtlessly, indeed, admirably calculated . for 
 study, the ever active Vesuvius, was traced on another 
 side of the earth, at the isles of France and Bourbon, 
 in the Indian Ocean, by Bory St. de Vincent, in the 
 nicest detail. There he studied volcanic groups, and 
 confirmed and added to all that had been taught by 
 Von Buch. 
 
THE ERDKÜNDE. 117 
 
 At the North, too, the Scotch naturalists, unbeknown 
 to him, gave the hand of welcome to the ideas which 
 he had originated. The renowned hypothesis of Hut- 
 ton, founded upon the granite courses of Cornwallis, 
 and developed in a better method, with yet greater 
 acuteness, and with a more masterly group of facts, by 
 Playfair ; the chemical experiments of Hall, upon vol- 
 canic products, so far as they had been formed under 
 the influence of pressure from above, enriched physi- 
 cal geography with views and conjectures, which 
 appear to have been reached not only in Iceland by 
 Olafsen, and later still by Mackenzie, but at almost all 
 the volcanic formations of the Alantic Ocean. 
 
 Alexander Yon Humboldt not only enriched the 
 whole field with a vast mass of measurements and 
 facts, drawn from his own researches, but, while he 
 compared the familiar details of the Old World with 
 the analogous or different features of the New, he 
 threw much light upon the widely various character- 
 istics of both continents, as well as upon phenomena 
 which are coextensive with the world. Leopold Von 
 Buch turned his inquiries to what is truly continen- 
 tal in the oceanic forms ; and, while his sharp search 
 was thus directed, islands were rising above the sur- 
 face of the Atlantic and Pacific, as it were, to do him 
 honor. 
 
 And so, perhaps, the time is not distant when the key 
 shall be found to the perplexing and gigantic ridges of 
 basaltic rocks, which break through the heart of India 
 and of Europe, in colossal courses, from a coast bor- 
 
118 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 der even to the extremities of great peninsulas, and are 
 everywhere rich in grottos and pillared caves. 
 
 Only that man who is most deeply skilled in the 
 secrets of nature will be able to make this discovery, 
 which in truth is only the prelude to one yet greater. 
 There is something magical in the mysterious lines, 
 once good and useful, but now worse than useless, 
 which men drew over our globe, lines which were 
 dragged from mathematical to physical uses, but men 
 can no more proscribe and banish them than they can 
 draw the stars from their courses in the heavens. 
 
 THE VEGETABLE WORLD. 
 
 The study of the vegetable growths, after its reäni- 
 mation by Tournefort, Jussieu, and Linneus, spread 
 over the earth more rapidly than any other, and called 
 out everywhere active scholars. A long list of dis- 
 tinguished names might be given of men who have 
 enriched science with new facts. But only those could 
 be valuable authorities for general comparative geogra- 
 phy who have either contemplated their science as a 
 whole from the side of nature, and thus stood ele- 
 vated, as it were, above the level of science, or who 
 have considered certain portions of their theme in 
 special connection with the surface of the earth. 
 
 Thus the works of Gmelin, Pallas, and Willdenow, 
 written after the manner of Linneus, have called our 
 attention to the flora of mountains, in contrast to that 
 of plains. Pallas, for example, has explored exhaust- 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 119 
 
 ively the flora of eastern Europe, Siberia, and the 
 Taurus, while Haller, Scopoli, Wulfen, Römer, Hoppe, 
 Suter, and others, have made great additions to our 
 knowledge of the flora of the Alps. Desfontain first 
 investigated the growths of the Mediterranean and the 
 Atlantic coasts ; Cavanilles devoted himself to the bot- 
 any of Spain, and Decandolle to that of France. 
 
 Willdenow was the first to call attention to the char- 
 acteristics of the collective flora of all the continents, 
 and to establish in Europe a flora of the North, a 
 Swiss, an Austrian, a Spanish flora, and a flora of 
 the Apennines. Lamark, while he sought for a cer- 
 tain centre to every botanical order, believed that he 
 had discovered eight leading flora on earth, the Vir- 
 ginian, the West Indian, the African, the Australian, 
 the Antarctic, the Northern and the Asiatic, and in 
 these again, with equal ground, various special floras ; 
 he thus enriched physical geography with all the facts 
 which the natural system of grouping employed by 
 French botanists offered. Decandolle carried the idea 
 of special floras through his whole researches in France, 
 with the greatest persistency, and found, from the prev- 
 alence of growths in different districts, five great regions 
 which are characterized by distinct physical natures. 
 
 On the other hand, George Forster had already thrown 
 his penetrating glances upon the nature of vegetable 
 growths, while Humboldt, in his Ideas on Botanical 
 Forms, had established the existence of sixteen char- 
 acteristic varieties in the torrid regions, and exhibited 
 the richness of tropical vegetation by that vast array 
 
120 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 of facts which he knew how to exhibit with the skill 
 of an artist. So, too, Wahlenberg, by his exceedingly 
 close observations, set the polar floras in a new light ; 
 he did the same with the Swiss, displaying it from his 
 own standpoint, and in addition he enriched science 
 with a highly characteristic flora, — the Carpathian, — 
 which, as the noteworthy link between the vegetable 
 forms of Europe and of Asia, has led to the most val- 
 uable results for comparative geography. It was Wah- 
 lenberg, too, who first ascertained definitely the influ- 
 ence of a continental climate upon vegetation in con- 
 trast with an oceanic climate, and their mutual action 
 and reaction in continental flora. Aubert du Petit 
 Thuars had already showed the union of the natural 
 floras of two continents — America and Africa — upon 
 the oceanic island of Tristan d'Ancuna, in the torrid 
 zone ; while Zoega, Mohr, Hooker, and Mackenzie had 
 displayed in the frigid zone the poverty of the island 
 flora of Iceland, in contrast with continental polar 
 floras. 
 
 Tournefort's view, which occurred to him more than 
 a hundred years ago, as he ascended the Armenian 
 highlands and Mount Ararat, of the decrease of veg- 
 etation with the increase of absolute height, and the 
 thought of comparing this reduced vegetation with 
 that of plains in the colder zones, became a hundred 
 years later, under the able guidance of the naturalists 
 whom we have named, and others, one of the most 
 fruitful storehouses of facts for geography. 
 
 The partly practical, partly historical and antiqua- 
 
THE ERDKUNUE; 121 
 
 rian, works of Linneus, Arthur Young, Pallas, Georgi, 
 Michaux, Yon Buch, Wahlenberg, Heyne, Sprengel, 
 Durean de la Malle, and others, have informed us 
 regarding the spread of imported growths through the 
 northern countries of the earth, during ancient as well 
 as modern times ; the Forsters, father and son, have 
 treated thoroughly of the flora of the South Sea 
 islands. Raynal, Sprengel, Edwards, and others, have 
 discussed the growths of colonial lands. Bory and le 
 Dru, and before them the Spanish botanists, seized the 
 idea of a general flora in the climate of the islands of 
 East and West Africa. Bernier in Cashmere, B,ei- 
 neggs, Güldenstadt, and Yon Biberstein in Caucasus, 
 the Portuguese missionaries in Abyssinia, Poncet and 
 the Spaniards in the New World, have exhibited the 
 rich vegetation of terrace formations, but their vast 
 resources were reduced to a scientific form by Hum- 
 boldt. Through the aid of these men, Link has delin- 
 eated the topography of Spain. The almost complete 
 banishment of a native flora by imported growths in 
 the Nile valley has been described by Forskal, Browne, 
 Girard, and others. 
 
 The Chinese agriculturists, the great masters in 
 their department, had for a long time established the 
 principles governing the influence of situation upon 
 the productions of a given district, when the English, 
 French, and Germans were beginning to study the facts 
 of their own experience in the same light. De Saus- 
 sure wished to show by chemistry the relation of the 
 animate to the inanimate forms in the vegetable world. 
 11 
 
122 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 Leslie demonstrated the diversified influences upon 
 the native growths of a power, resident in the soil, of 
 absorbing moisture. Pallas treated of the flora of 
 salt steppes, Humboldt that of sandy regions and des- 
 olate heaths. A new field was opened by the study of 
 the cryptogamous plants in their broadest relations, 
 and thereby our knowledge of the north of the earth 
 became more sharply characterized. In the lichens, 
 whose formation is clearly conditioned by their sur- 
 roundings, and which appear to stand in the lowest 
 grade of plants not aquatic, Hausmann discovered a 
 first principle relating to the favorable influence of 
 inorganic upon organic forms, and the disintegrating 
 influence of organic upon inorganic forms. Neeb 
 showed how the power which plants have of drawing 
 their food to them compensates for the power of motion 
 which animals possess. Through the comparisons 
 instituted by Florke between the cryptogamous forms 
 of Kamskatka and Europe, their uniformity through 
 the northern hemisphere appeared, while a further 
 comparison of these with the flora of the island of 
 Bourbon and the Isle of France revealed uniform- 
 ity still between the cryptogamia of the North and 
 of these isles. This marked exception to the diversity 
 of the higher forms of vegetation, as existing in dif- 
 ferent parts of the world, displays uniformity in the 
 cryptogamus plants of the northern and southern hem- 
 ispheres, which, by their countless varieties, show the 
 infinite diversity of which nature is capable. 
 
THE ERDKÜNDE. 123 
 
 THE ANIMAL WORLD. 
 
 The geographical relations of animals have long 
 been known in a general way, and have long formed 
 a part of human knowledge. In their most danger- 
 ous as well as in their most useful classes their haunts 
 have been near the homes of men, in their leading 
 forms they have been open to view ; and, since zoology 
 is the centre, as it were, of natural history, they have 
 been studied in their most prominent and character- 
 istic features. Almost every writer of antiquity has 
 given us accounts of them, and what modern times 
 have added, as contained in the writings of Buffon, 
 Zimmermann, Blumenbach, Cuvier, Treviranus, was 
 known and worked out by the ancients, and stands 
 recorded in their works as our authority. May the 
 general relations of those minor classes of the animal 
 world, whose relations to nature and to man have not 
 yet been traced, be yet more clearly taught and better 
 known. 
 
 Those results which the restless activity of that sig- 
 nal benefactor of Physical Geography, Count Hoff- 
 mannsegg, has deduced from numerous facts, his daily 
 observations and comparisons, as they are exhibited in 
 his systematized geographical works, would of them- 
 selves alone give a new aspect to the relation between 
 vegetation, climate, and all natural influences, and the 
 forms and life of animal organizations, as well as the 
 world of birds and insects, in its entire extent. Some 
 facts bearing upon this might, to advantage, be ad- 
 
124 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 duced in their proper place, and would manifestly be a 
 part of a system of General Comparative Geography. 
 Meanwhile, the study of the remains of a world, 
 once full of life, now buried in the heart of the earth, 
 whose myriads of forms have astonished ancient and 
 modern times alike, has first attained its true signi- 
 ficance, and the vast number of species, fully known 
 or only partially understood, has been reduced to sys- 
 tem by Blumenbach, that veteran in the domain of 
 animate nature. Through him and J. Kant, the con- 
 ception of the archaeology of the earth has been intro- 
 duced into physical geography, which now, with this 
 vast accession, seems to rejoice in a new creation. If 
 it was long a matter of astonishment to see what a 
 vast store of bones of colossal creatures, like in kind, 
 lay hidden in the North, not less wonder did it cause 
 to have discovered the most varied genera of a lost 
 animal world in a single spot on the earth, the gypsum 
 deposits of Montmartre. By the most exact study of 
 the Testacea, the widely diffused formations of the 
 primitive world have been brought to light, so far as 
 regards the uppermost strata of the earth's surface, and 
 the most limited tracts ; as, for example, before the gates 
 of Paris, outside of Berlin, and in other places, hundreds 
 of the most varied species have been found side by side. 
 The observations and discoveries which the works of Oli- 
 vier, Brougniart, Parkinson, Daudebard, Schlottheim, 
 Merk, Sömmering, Pallas, Fortis, Faujas, Peale, Jeffer- 
 son, Torrubia, Humboldt, Link, and others, contain, have 
 yielded such a mass of facts as make the mind giddy 
 in looking back into the ages of the primeval world. 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 125 
 
 REMAINING MATERIALS. — CONCLUSION. 
 
 Thus we come to the close of our summary of author- 
 ities which have been our chief guides, and which 
 have given not only our material, but also, in still 
 higher degree, the form pervading this entire work ; 
 they having been what we may call the organizing 
 instruments which have shaped it. 
 
 Through what was done by Aristotle and his follow- 
 ers in the Alexandrian school, — Eratosthenes, Hippar- 
 chus, and others, — a net-work was so thrown over the 
 earth, for the establishment of mathematical geogra- 
 phy, that every spot in the old known world, or in the 
 new world to be discovered, might be represented in 
 its true place, according to the determination by degree 
 and minute of its latitude and longitude. The object 
 in this was to ascertain the relation of every spot to 
 the earth's surface as a whole, and to secure, for the 
 present and the future, all the facts which have any 
 connection with it. 
 
 So too that honored band of men of the last cen- 
 tury, and especially of the last quarter of a century, 
 who have united the observation of nature with a 
 mathemathical method, in order to attain to the clear- 
 est views, have disclosed an invisible net-work, like- 
 wise enfolding the globe, and woven by the laws of 
 nature. In its leading strands, nature herself reveals 
 it, by the facts brought to light in the heart of the 
 earth, by the movements of the elements, by the life of 
 the organic world, so that short-sighted man, by follow- 
 11* 
 
126 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 ing the lines which lead from one point to others related 
 to it, and ascertained by comparison with it, finds a re- 
 flection of himself in the richness and variety of nature. 
 
 After the era of Alexander the Great, there was 
 indeed many a planet revealed in the heavens, and yet 
 the ground of the division which had been made, and 
 which lay in .truth, remained fixed, and will remain 
 fixed to the end of time. And even now there are but 
 few leading points ascertained of the physical life of 
 the globe and the organic conditions of the earth as a 
 planet ; and many a star is yet to appear above the phys- 
 ical horizon, and gradually dawn upon our full under- 
 standing; but as certainly as they all belong to the 
 same solar system, so certainly, if their grand princi- 
 ples lie in truth, a knowledge of them may be end- 
 lessly increased, but their nature can never be dis- 
 owned and rejected. If the main lines of the net-work 
 are correctly drawn, and the manner of construction 
 is appreciated by the understanding, then all the facts 
 of physical geography find in it at once their true 
 and determined place. Everything which we have 
 thus far said aims at conveying this ; and this essay has 
 for its purpose to show how all geographical materials 
 are related, and all belong to a system whose deficien- 
 cies will soon be made good. 
 
 It would not be desirable to cite all the authorities 
 which have been employed in the preparation of this 
 work ; they shall all be specified in the places where 
 they are employed. It would indeed be impossible to 
 state them all, much as we hope to attain to complete- 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 127 
 
 ness in our work ; but none of the most important 
 shall be wanting here which have to do with the work 
 as a whole. 
 
 We have not spoken in this essay of what we owe to 
 the geographical and historical systems of the Greeks 
 and Romans, the Arabians, the learned men of the 
 middle ages, as well as to those of the very latest years ; 
 nor have we named those instructive books of travel 
 which, from the wanderings of Ulysses down, have 
 enriched our knowledge of the earth and its peoples. 
 Many of them are very valuable, and have been used, 
 where it has been possible, in the languages in which 
 they were written, and not in the rarely unmutilated 
 translations, in which, only too often, the scientific por- 
 tions have been omitted, as heavy and uninteresting 
 reading. This has been done even with works of 
 prime importance, as, for example, Flinder's Researches 
 on the youngest of the continents. 
 
 We have made no mention of the share which entire 
 organizations have had in the opening of sources to us ; 
 such as boards of trade, missionary societies, scientific 
 institutes, as the African Society in England ; nor of 
 the share which great powers have exercised in the 
 same direction, such as Alexander the Great, Timur 
 Beck, or the Russian Czars and the Chinese Emperors, 
 in opening the interior of Asia ; nor of that which the 
 histories of the wars of the world have had in opening 
 a knowledge of the earth to us. Nor have we showed 
 how much the masses of population have contributed, 
 century after century, towards our understanding 
 
128 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO 
 
 general physical relations, as, for example, the hordes 
 which have wandered from East to West, the pressing 
 of the inhabitants of mountains into the vales, the 
 armies of Crusaders thronging to the Orient, the fleets 
 of the Portuguese along sea-coasts, the Spaniards in the 
 track of the trade-winds, the struggles of the British 
 after dominion in Hindostan. 
 
 The phenomena^ appearance of one single traveller 
 shall here make an exception, and the name of Alex- 
 ander Von Humboldt be cited yet again at the close of 
 my list of authorities, because it is to him, who united 
 all the knowledge of an Academy of Sciences with a 
 grasp of what is the basis of all phenomena, that the 
 present work owes its whole form ; without him it 
 would never have been brought to its completion. 
 
 The extraordinary progress which has accrued to 
 the system of General Comparative Geography through 
 Humboldt's personal researches, — as well as through 
 the ideas which have been propounded by him, and have 
 been resisted or accepted through the whole of culti- 
 vated Europe, — appears to lie, speaking in general 
 terms, in this: that he, endowed with the spirit of 
 antiquity and with a mathematical method, passed 
 through the entire domain of physics, as far as astro- 
 nomy, geology, and a third science, — which the last 
 century has carried almost to its height, — physiology, 
 and employed his method as the measuring rod of the 
 world. Moreover, he caught glimpses of nature on 
 another and not measurable side, in its still hidden, 
 higher, organic life, even in its connection with his- 
 
THE ERDKUNDE. 129 
 
 tory (for its connection with the general order of the 
 world had been traced before) ; and so he searched for 
 the workings of this higher life, and its results in its 
 most exalted domains, and endeavored, in every direc- 
 tion, to strike to its very centre. Thus, through this 
 happy league of union between all the kingdoms of 
 science and nature, and the free scope which it gave to 
 man to trace more than simple bonds between them, — 
 to look deeply and see their hidden connections, science 
 became enlarged in its grasp, and was invested with 
 new charms. 
 
 Yet the influence of this man, who, as he himself 
 says, has stood not alone, but in the midst of co- 
 laborers, seems to be only one of the indications of the 
 position which the scientific inquiry of our times has 
 specially established, and which exhibits the greatest 
 possibilities for the next hundred years. 
 
 Earlier times gave themselves more exclusively to 
 the forms, phenomena, and facts which are general, 
 and which lie loosely and at random in each one of the 
 natural. kingdoms. The present times study what is 
 universal : men now reach to the farthest extremes, 
 come to the places where different regions encroach 
 upon each other, or else exist in a continued state of 
 action and reaction, measure the world according to 
 length and breadth, height and depth, as well as by 
 more subtle measurements of organic and intellectual 
 conditions, and seek to penetrate to the living heart of 
 the whole. 
 
 This characteristic, already apparent in what we 
 
180 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY TO THE ERDKUNDE. 
 
 have written, will appear more fully in the body of the 
 work, and will indicate that contrast between the 
 efforts of man and those of nature, which the words 
 striving and being plainly suggest. Man advances in 
 his domain only through ideas which spring from his 
 most inner self, ideas to which external activity had 
 been subjected even before results had been proved 
 from the testimony of facts ; he extends the bound- 
 aries of his knowledge only step by step ; extraordi- 
 nary minds make advances, at long intervals, for the 
 use of all, or else each man works out his facts for 
 himself alone, and thus a fitful and irregular progress 
 is made. But wherever Nature is unveiled to human 
 sighE, we see her steadily working, from her centre to 
 her circumference, from circumference steadily back 
 to centre ; not from one living point outwards, but in 
 her great kingdom, everywhere so full of life ; not at 
 broken intervals, but with unvarying force, and mys- 
 tery, and vastness, through all time. 
 
 And thus Nature was appointed by God to be the 
 constant and the near friend, mentor, and comforter 
 of mortal man ; to be his guardian spirit, calling him 
 to unity with himself; — with himself as an individual ; 
 with himself as a race. As the earth is the mother of 
 all human beings, so ought Nature to be their awak- 
 ener from careless and thoughtless slumbers ; she ought 
 to be the steps on which they mount to nobler life ; 
 she ought to be the organizing power of humanity, 
 ever making it more exalted, and preparing it for the 
 final contemplation of the unseen and the eternal. 
 
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 
 
 FIXED FORMS OF THE EARTH'S SURFACE. 
 
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 FIXED FORMS OF THE EARTH'S SURFACE. 
 
 [FROM THE FIRST VOLUME OF THE ERDKUNDE.] 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 SKY, SEA, AND LAND. 
 
 The sky completely envelops the globe, one part of 
 whose surface the waters cover, while the other or 
 fixed portion is ever dry. In contrast with the two 
 movable forms, which we call atmosphere and sea, the 
 fixed portion is termed the land. 
 
 Sky, sea, and land are formed from a variety of ele- 
 ments, as their components, which we need not ex- 
 amine here in detail, either in respect to their extent, 
 or in respect to their functions ; that is the care of 
 other departments of science. It is for us to consider 
 the forms which sky, sea, and land take in relation to 
 the globe, and to discuss, even more thoroughly still, 
 what is dependent upon them. The forms we are to 
 examine in detail, i. e., their parts, and the mutual 
 
 relation of these ; what is dependent upon them we are 
 12 
 
134 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 to consider in a general light, striving to reach its 
 essential nature. The collective body of all these 
 forms, or the study of the globe as such, we must pre- 
 suppose in our investigation, since the detailed treat- 
 ment of the world in that light is the proper province 
 of astronomy. On the other hand, the investigations 
 of what is dependent upon these forms, if we should 
 seek to follow them into details, would lead us into 
 the province of mechanics, physics, chemistry, physi- 
 ology, and other sciences, whose truths, so far as they 
 have been traced, and can serve us as helps, must be 
 presupposed, and used as results, without our going 
 out ourselves on the path of those who study them 
 exclusively. 
 
 The forms which are the special subject of our 
 present inquiry are, of course, material, and, being 
 material, cannot exist without inherent forces ; sky, 
 sea, and land cannot be without certain activities, 
 working on one another, in one word, without mutual 
 relations. The root of this system of relations is the 
 play of the constraining and formative powers of 
 nature ; and in all the alternations and changes which 
 they induce, these forces appear moving, in short, 
 periodically recurring, or in ever-widening circles, 
 between which certain periods of equipoise are appa- 
 rently interposed. 
 
 It is not the history of these changes and modifica- 
 tions that we have here to trace ; this is the province 
 of physics and of archaeology. Nor is it ours to in- 
 vestigate the laws of these changes. The chief object 
 
135 
 
 of our inquiry is their external phenomena, the rela- 
 tion between the forms of the earth's surface, and the 
 fixed element in these changes. 
 
 Certainly, in the incomplete and constantly advanc- 
 ing condition of the science of Comparative Geog- 
 raphy, it will be often necessary to call in the past to 
 help us understand the present, and sometimes we 
 shall even have to consult subordinately in the inter- 
 pretation of the world its primitive state. In this 
 view, we embrace all that period which the history of 
 man covers as belonging to the present, in contrast 
 with that period of formation and change in the earth's 
 surface which precedes our records. The account of 
 the workings of natural forces, which have been in any 
 age remarked by man, is historical ; but in the begin- 
 nings of things, in the ages which antecede history, 
 theory has to be our guide. 
 
 All the changes and alternation to which we have 
 alluded above will only be referred to here in as far as 
 they are grounded in the diversity and the mutual re- 
 lations of sea, sky, and land, in their superficial extent, 
 and in their heights and depths. 
 
 In the present investigation of the relations of these 
 three forms, various ways open. Why we choose the 
 course leading from solid to fluid forms has been 
 hinted above. Besides, it seems most natural to fol- 
 low this course, because man himself, from whom all 
 observation proceeds, has made his home upon the 
 fixed form, and because this is the most distinctly out- 
 
136 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 lined, and therefore the most definite ; the other forms 
 being, in some respects, subordinate to it. 
 
 The chemical arrangement would be capable of a 
 more exact treatment, since in it the advance is made 
 from liquid to solid or concrete forms : every begin- 
 ning of things is in the fluid state. Therefore, since 
 we are delineating the progress of development, we 
 shall enter in the second part of this work, in what we 
 shall have to say of the elements, upon a stricter treat- 
 ment of relations than in this first part, which con- 
 cerns itself with what has at last become fixed, without 
 reference to the manner how. And so we come di- 
 rectly to our theme. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 THE LAND. 
 
 In early times men's knowledge did not go farther 
 than to embrace a single continent, with the islands 
 belonging to it ; but within the last three hundred 
 years Columbus has brought into view the western 
 continent, in contrast with the older or eastern. 
 
 Soon the conception arose that there must be an 
 equally large continent in the south, to give equipoise, 
 and this held its ground till Cook, the discoverer, in 
 the last half of the past century, showed the groundless- 
 ness of such an idea, by exhibiting the outlines, not of 
 one, but of many lands, coasts, and islands in the son'h, 
 to which, also, the latest discovered, New South Shot- 
 
FIXED FORMS OF THE EARTH'S SURFACE. 137 
 
 land (between 55° to 6b° west of Greenwich, 62° to 63° 
 south latitude) , appears to belong. 
 
 The conception of a great continent towards the 
 South Pole was a result of the rational supposition 
 that the largest mass of lands, surrounded by water, 
 both of the Old and the New World, lay, in the north- 
 ern hemisphere, in such vast extent around the North 
 Pole, that the promontories jutting out from them 
 approach within a few miles of each other. For 
 towards the south the continents all have a pointed, 
 wedge-like form, the points being very widely apart ; 
 and three promontories alone, running far down 
 towards the South Pole, and parting the waters of the 
 southern seas, are the sole representatives of three 
 mighty continents. 
 
 All that pertains to the southern portion of the great 
 land divisions is easy to determine ; but towards the 
 north there are so many difficulties in the way of find- 
 ing a passage, and discovering all that is to be known 
 about the regions there, that we have by no means 
 reached the limits of what is yet to be learned. 
 
 Instead of encroaching upon our space with any 
 theories of the origin of these continental forms, with a 
 numerical statement of their special divisions, with 
 outlining their boundaries, giving their superficial con- 
 tents, and other familiar facts, we advance at once to 
 the general study of the forms themselves ; and in the 
 first place, on grounds already indicated in the Intro- 
 duction, only in relation to 
 
 12* 
 
138 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS OX THE 
 
 THE OLD WORLD. 
 
 A mere glance at the globe reveals to us the Old 
 World in its external, mathematico-physical form, 
 which, measured according to its superficial dimen- 
 sions, is a simple, great, coherent land-mass, divided, 
 however, into three leading subordinate parts. These 
 parts are so disunited that we can get no very definite 
 conception of them as related to each other ; and the 
 very naming of them continents conveys an indefinite 
 idea to the mind. Nevertheless, if we look at them 
 historically, we see plain marks of individuality in 
 them, psychological characteristics running through 
 the human family in them, and physical characteristics 
 in their surface. 
 
 Africa forms, in consequence of its sea border on 
 every side, a nearly isolated whole ; and thus comes 
 the nearest of all to being in itself complete and inde- 
 pendent. 
 
 Asia, sharply outlined on three sides by the sea, 
 makes, with Europe, one common trunk, as it were ; it 
 being much more connected with Europe than with 
 Africa. 
 
 Europe, in consequence of its many projecting forms, 
 and its enclosed arms of the sea, is more multiform 
 and complex than any other grand division of the 
 earth, and is more and more broken into subordinate 
 members as it recedes from the long line of its Asiatic 
 boundary. 
 
 Africa appears like a body without limbs, Asia as a 
 
FIXED FORMS OF THE EARTH'S SURFACE. 139 
 
 body with linibs, indeed, on three sides, but of dispro- 
 portionate size compared with the vast trunk, and 
 Europe as a body divided into countless limbs, in 
 combined importance vastly preponderating over the 
 continent itself. 
 
 Equally unlike are the three in form and in what 
 regards physical dimensions, i. e., heights and depths. 
 
 Africa is subdivided into two almost equal parts, 
 the southern of which is largely highland, the north- 
 ern being the level portion of the continent. The 
 boundary between them is a straight line running 
 almost due east and west, and upon this line (if we 
 except a few scattered points and sea-coasts) occur all 
 the combination of contrasts, all the varieties of de- 
 velopment, and even all the action and reaction of the 
 relations of nature and man. A greater uniformity in 
 the union of two leading forms cannot be pointed out 
 in the world. 
 
 Asia, not so equally divided into halves, is dis- 
 tinguished by its immense highlands, formed from 
 two terraces, a higher and a lower. Its great table- 
 lands do not lie at one extremity, but centrally, and 
 sink away towards the four cardinal points, till they 
 are lost in the lowlands (of which Africa has but one) 
 which, wide and varied, surround the elevated central 
 plateau. On these lowlands, again, are found scattered 
 groups .of smaller highlands (of which Africa displays 
 but one), in various directions around. From the 
 combination of these manifold relations result equally 
 manifold phenomena, ^hile the simplicity in Africa 
 
140 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 induces an equally marked uniformity. There is no 
 part of the earth in which Nature works on so grand 
 a scale as in the Orient of the world. 
 
 The prevailing form which characterizes Asia and 
 Africa repeats itself but once in Europe, and that in a 
 very small measure, as exhibited in the Spanish high- 
 land. In the central portion of this continent, which 
 is so much less in mass in proportion to its extremities, 
 and in every respect so much more rifted and broken 
 into fragments by the branches of the sea than the 
 other two, there is wholly wanting the disunited, inac- 
 cessible form of the highland; Only here and there 
 mere types are found of the plateau formation. In 
 Europe that vast mass no longer appears which in Asia 
 and Africa form widely extended regions of elevated 
 plains. Instead of great superficial areas, we have in 
 Europe scattered points towering to the sky, and rich 
 in precipices and glancing sides. The great Alp-land 
 is the characteristic form of central Europe. With the 
 loftiest elevation, with the greatest diversity of produc- 
 tions upon the smallest amount of surface, broken 
 through everywhere with water torrents and with val- 
 leys, it possesses a greater closeness of connection 
 between its northern and southern approaches, and a 
 greater accessibility, than any leading form of the other 
 two continents. On every side it sinks away into level 
 tracts, which again, through the mediation of lakes, 
 are broken up and separated from mountain lands and 
 highlands of the lowest grades. 
 
 Thus, in the fine subdivision of a country of limited 
 
FIXED FORMS OF THE EARTH"' S SURFACE. 141 
 
 extent, in the large variety of fixed and fluid forms, 
 and in the clearness with which the relations of nature 
 and man are seen in the lapse of brief periods, the 
 peculiar character of Europe shows itself, through 
 which that continent seems to have been, from the 
 beginning, shaped for a different function from those 
 with which it is connected in a manner equally 
 peculiar. 
 
 Yet, in order to read these general sentences in a 
 comprehensive manner, and to be able to assign to 
 every spot on the earth its uses for science and for life, 
 a thorough and protracted inquiry into the details of 
 every great feature on the globe is needed. This shall 
 be the task of the first part of the present work. 
 
 We must, at the outset, come to an understanding 
 about the usual expressions which designate the course 
 of formation in the earth's surface. Their whole signi- 
 ficance is only fully felt after personal observation, or 
 from what exposition of them we shall be able to 
 make in the future course of these investigations. No 
 theory shall, therefore, now be laid down, but only 
 just so much of the prevailing views and opinions 
 given as will serve to indicate what is most important 
 to help us grasp true conceptions afterwards. 
 
 EXPLANATION FIRST. 
 THE EARTH'S SURFACE : MOUNTAINS, PLAINS. 
 
 The earth's surface is considered as consisting of a 
 multiplicity of forms, all rising above the level of the 
 
142 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 sea, and may be conveniently called the land, which, 
 with countless heights and depths, reaches from sea to 
 sea. The manner of division into those heights and 
 depths gives to the greatest continent, as well as to the 
 smallest tracts, their limitations and their areas, and 
 thus the conformation of the whole. 
 
 The elevations of every kind, in so far as they can 
 be observed from a lower standpoint, are called hills 
 and mountains ; the tracts intervening, valleys. 
 
 So, too, those elevations, important so far as we know, 
 which rise above the level of the sea, have also been 
 called mountains, in contrast with the depths which 
 surround them, although, of course, no one has been 
 able to look at them from a standpoint lower than 
 themselves. 
 
 Thus the same expression indicates two wholly dif- 
 ferent relations, namely, absolute height and the con- 
 trast between height and depth, a circumstance which 
 has occasioned nearly all the great confusions and 
 errors in geography, so that we, from the very outset, 
 have to be on our guard against similar ones. For 
 whoever knows to what conditions, taken generally, the 
 various portions of the earth's surface have been sub- 
 jected in the warfare of forces, will readily perceive 
 that it cannot be a matter of indifference whether 
 great continents rise above the sea's . level into the 
 atmosphere or not, and whether it be with some a few 
 hundred feet more or less than with others. 
 
 According to that same double use of speech, the 
 mountains are now called gigantic, now insignificant ; 
 
FIXED FORMS OF THE EARTH"' S SURFACE. 143 
 
 and worse yet with the valleys, which are collectively 
 viewed, in almost all cases, as depths. 
 
 In the most careful maimer we have to consider 
 these two relations : firstly, the relative relation of 
 heights and depths to their surroundings, and secondly, 
 their absolute relation to the level of the sea. Only 
 after protracted study, and a course of investigation 
 extended through entire continents, can we attain to a 
 correct knowledge of the earth's forms, and view the 
 world as in relief. This method alone leads us to see 
 what is common in diversity, and so to trace a unity in 
 the whole. 
 
 By comparing mountains and plains with this abso- 
 lute standard of the sea's level, we discover their rela- 
 tion to one another, and their height considered by 
 themselves. For on the supposition of the surface of 
 the sea being uniformly distant from the centre of the 
 earth, and uniformly diffused over the globe, we accept 
 it as a general water horizon. It gives us the natural 
 base of measurement, the zero point of the scale, to 
 reckon upwards and downwards, and compare the ele- 
 vations and depressions of the earth's surface. Hence 
 arises this first law of the arrangement of all heights 
 and depths according to their relation to the earth as 
 a whole. 
 
 The second law follows this directly, of the relative 
 arrangement of heights and depths in their relations 
 to the separate continents ; „ the hidden connection 
 between each grand feature of the globe, considered 
 as a unit, and its subordinate parts. 
 
144 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 Our task, therefore, will be to investigate these two 
 permanent relations of height and depth ; to view the 
 earth's surface in respect to its two great forms or 
 types, the mountain system and the valleys of the 
 earth, as well as all their modifications, and the results 
 which they condition. 
 
 By such a course of research, we shall soon learn 
 how all diversity in the organic world results from the 
 combination of both these forms ; firstly, from this, 
 where and how they find their limits, and secondly, 
 with what they are in contact. 
 
 EXPLANATION SECOND. 
 DEFINITION OF MOUNTAIN RANGES. 
 
 If under the term mountain range we imply, in an 
 orographical sense, that feature which brings the ele- 
 vations and depressions of the earth's surface into pal- 
 pable contrast, and if we mean the aggregate of quali- 
 ties in mountains grouped together, submitted to a 
 certain arrangement, subjected to certain laws, and def- 
 initely founded, we obviate, at the very outset, many 
 troublesome misunderstandings in geography. For 
 under the term mountain range the most various, as 
 well as the most similar, features have been embraced ; 
 or, if there has been an effort to express any common 
 quality, the character of what is common has been 
 drawn from what is special and peculiar. Or, in one 
 word, as the child thinks all mountains are like the 
 hill on which he plays, so geography has, up to the 
 
FIXED FORMS OF THE EARTH' S SURFACE. 145 
 
 present time, supposed an equal uniformity to exist in 
 the relations of mountain chains to the level regions 
 of the earth, and has developed those relations in a 
 wholly one-sided manner. And yet there is an indi- 
 viduality in the forms of the earth's surface which, by 
 personal observation alone, must win its place in sci- 
 ence before we can treat of general classifications. 
 And, therefore, in order rapidly to touch upon a few 
 points (for these appear in their individual character- 
 istics, each in its own place) , a hydrographical, geognos- 
 tical, miner alogical conception of mountain chains must 
 be freely blended with what is purely orographical. 
 
 1. Chains of Marine Mountains. — In 1752, the 
 hydrographer Buache published his Physical Plani- 
 sphere and his Memoir on the Mountain Chains of the 
 Globe, in which he considered them all as connected 
 features, which break the continent up into certain 
 divisions. These features he traced through the deep- 
 est oceans, far and near, finding them in island groups, 
 rocks, and shallows (que je regarde comme les som- 
 mets de la suite des montagnes marines). But the 
 fact that the volcanic groups of the Atlantic rise 
 abruptly from vast depths, shows that this theory does 
 not rest upon a broad induction of facts ; so far as we 
 can see, there exists no real proof, but only a faint sus- 
 picion of a submerged continent (the Atlantis) ; and 
 where shallows are found, confirmations of this 
 hypothesis are equally wanting. The division of the 
 ocean into huge basins by these chains of marine moun- 
 
146 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 tains has no real existence in nature, and is merely a 
 pleasing view from a theoretical standpoint. 
 
 There are, it must be confessed, in special districts, 
 such sub-marine continuations of mountain chains, as, 
 for example, in inland seas ; but where this is the case 
 there are other and decisive reasons for it, as in the 
 Aleutian Isles, those of the Greek Archipelagos, and 
 the Straits of Sicily. 
 
 The systems of elaborate mountain net-work, moun- 
 tain equators, mountain meridians and parallels, are all 
 artificial, superinduced upon nature, and in no way 
 appertaining to her. 
 
 2. Watersheds. — Altogether different from these 
 are Buache's chdines de Montagues terrestres, — those 
 continental chains which have been pointed out by 
 him, as designated by the sources of rivers, cataracts, 
 and the courses of streams. 
 
 If such a watershed does really exist (and its existence 
 is hinted at in classical accounts of the connection 
 subsisting between all elevations), it divides the earth's 
 surface in the most definite manner possible, and this 
 division affords observations of the utmost interest ; 
 and yet, although it draws over all the lands of the earth 
 a real and permanent net-work, it is not able to reveal 
 the inner nature and reason of the earth's formation 
 as a whole. These are only displayed in collective 
 masses, which, because independent of the mere lav- 
 ing of those streams, whose power to shape and fashion 
 is slight, exhibit in the contrasts of absolute heights 
 
FIXED FORMS OF THE EARTH' S SURFACE. 147 
 
 and depths the relations which characterize the differ- 
 ent features of the earth. There must first exist a 
 sharp and clearly discernible form to every great natu- 
 ral division of the globe, before we can trace the sub- 
 ordinate working upon it of water, whether in the 
 primitive action of the sea, or the later action of rivers. 
 Thus the present system of watersheds only exhibits a 
 very recent tertiary modification of the earth's surface, 
 often indeed widely changed from the primary form, 
 and therefore well worthy of careful study, even if it 
 does not reveal the true reason of the conformation of 
 the great natural divisions of the earth. From the 
 interchange of the most varied relations, hereafter to 
 be traced over the entire globe by careful observations 
 and measurements, many unfounded generalizations 
 early arose, which crowded themselves into not a few 
 general geographical descriptions and systems, and in 
 particular this, that a watershed must always coin- 
 cide with a mountain range, and be one with it. It 
 is a great exaggeration of the truth to suppose that 
 where a watershed is there must be a mountain chain 
 also. 
 
 But this seductive view has contaminated the later 
 geography ; and instead of assigning to the continents 
 a system of highlands, it has covered them all over 
 with mountain chains, which exist, only too abun- 
 dantly, in the mere imagination of the designers of 
 atlases and the writers of school books. 
 
 It has therefore become necessary to revert every- 
 where to the first sources and primitive documents, 
 
148 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 from which all that follows has been drawn, and of 
 which it is a continuation. 
 
 In the first place, a real mountain range does not 
 always form a line of Avatershed, even in a wide and 
 level district, as, for example, the Hartz, in this respect 
 so isolated ; the whole chain lies outside of the water- 
 sheds ; and if these are the necessary condition of ex- 
 istence to a mountain system, all that does not pertain 
 to them has but a secondary and subsidiary importance. 
 
 In the second place, in case that watershed and 
 mountain range coincide, yet the course of the water- 
 shed is not unfrequently entirely different from the 
 course of the mountain range, as in the whole Pyre- 
 nees and Alps. Often the highest peaks of a mountain 
 chain are wholly outside of the watershed, which may 
 extend to only a very moderate elevation ; as, for exam- 
 ple, Mount Perdu, of the Pyrenees, lies aside of the 
 watershed, and not in its course. Often the watershed 
 lies on the plain, hard by a high mountain range, as in 
 the country south of the Carpathian chain, between 
 Hernad and Poprad, where the waters of the Baltic and 
 Black seas divide upon the uniform plains of Teplics 
 and Canoes, eighteen hundred and sixty feet above the 
 sea, and not upon the highest ridge of the Carpathians 
 themselves. 
 
 In the third place, there are large districts on the 
 earth's surface where the waters divide, and yet where 
 there is no mountain range. This occurs where great 
 absolute height coincides with a plateau formation, 
 and where relative heights are therefore lost. We look 
 
FIXED FORMS OF THE EARTH'S SURFACE. 149 
 
 for this coincidence between high ranges and between 
 important river systems, as, for example, the district 
 north of Lake Constance, where the waters of the 
 Rinne and the Danube divide, and which neither con- 
 tains a mountain ridge, nor indeed any chain whatever 
 of prominent elevations, false as our atlases are in 
 representing it thus. So the. low range of hills, hun- 
 dreds of miles in length, which runs through Poland and 
 Russia, between the Gulf of Bothnia and the Northern 
 Ocean, and the greatest portion of the watersheds of 
 North America, as well as of northern and eastern 
 Siberia, appear on our maps as extensive ranges of 
 mountains, rivalling the Alps in importance, and yet 
 having nothing in reality which entitles them to the 
 name of mountains. 
 
 And, in the last place, there is often a wholly pecu- 
 liar combination of watersheds and mountain ranges, 
 out of which there is formed, as in Spain, a complex 
 system. Here the watershed is wholly separated from 
 the mountain range. Not the chain of the Pyrenees, 
 but the main watershed, has been the political bound- 
 ary of this peninsula, between it and the continent, 
 since the treaty of 1660, for the watershed is an 
 imaginary line, while the mountain range is sometimes 
 a hundred miles in breadth. The division into prov- 
 inces, too, is based upon the lines of watershed, and 
 these run over elevated plains. This comes in conse- 
 quence of the very curious windings of mountain 
 ranges on Spanish maps, while their general course, as 
 far as they are distinguishable, is parallel from east to 
 
 13* 
 
150 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 west, entirely independent of those windings. There 
 is an opinion that rivers always rnn along by the side 
 of mountain chains, when, in point of fact, as in Spain 
 itself, and all over the world, they often break directly 
 through such ranges. The Euphrates is an instance. 
 It rises in the high plains of Armenia, and breaks 
 through the important chain of Taurus, which obstructs 
 its way, — a circumstance which has led Rennell into 
 error, and which has had its effect upon the generaliza- 
 tions of ancients and moderns. 
 
 3. Mineral Mountains. — The miner's use of the 
 word mountains to designate all places where ore is to 
 be found, has misled geography, and has caused writers 
 of travels and makers of maps to represent them as 
 real mountains wherever they occur. Yet Freyberg 
 itself lies between mere hills, rich in metal ; and the 
 highest parts of the so-called Erzgebirge, or mineral 
 mountains, in Saxony and Bohemia, are only elevated 
 plains. Schemnitz, in the gold mountains, lies in level 
 Hungary ; and so many other ranges, as the Ural, the 
 Altai range, the mineral mountains of South America, 
 appear on the maps as true Alps, while nature gives no 
 ground for such an exaggeration, only the general use 
 of the term mineral mountains to indicate the source 
 of the metals, whether it be in plains, Mils, or veritable 
 mountains. 
 
 4. The Geognostical Yiew of the inner formation 
 of a mountain range can only be fully presented later 
 
FIXED FORMS OF THE EAKTH'S SUKFACE. 151 
 
 in our work. Meantime it may be serviceable to re- 
 mark that we gain much, in coming to a consideration 
 of this side of our general subject, if we regard every 
 mountain system as composed of members, even if 
 these are only externally related to the entire system. 
 This is a new theme in the study of the geography, 
 i. e., the exterior, of the earth. But there may not be 
 in our study, if it have a truly scientific character, any 
 collision between what is exterior and what is interior 
 to the surface of the globe. 
 
 If, with a certain degree of reason, the Neptune 
 Mountains, and those of Cape Peloro, in Sicily, be con- 
 sidered as a true continuation of the Apennines, since 
 they have the same direction and materials (granite 
 and gneiss) with the mountains in Calabria opposite, 
 yet, on the other hand, it is a wholly false assumption, 
 resulting from a glance at maps, rather than from the 
 study of natural phenomena, to treat of the mountains 
 of Sardinia and Corsica as a continuation of those of 
 Genoa* That the granite Cape Corte, of Corsica, is a 
 continuation of the Genoese Cape delle Malle, promi- 
 nent indeed, but composed of black transition calcary- 
 rock, sounds as singularly, says a great student of 
 mountain formations, 1 as if the Vosghes Mountains 
 should be treated, as is often lightly done in the 
 geographies, as a continuation of the Jura chain. 
 
 On the other hand, to separate anew what really 
 belongs together as a perfect whole, as, for instance, the 
 
 1 L. von Buch. 
 
152 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 Asiatic highland and the African highland, would, on 
 the orographical side, be just as arbitrary, just as 
 adverse to the observing of the earth as a whole, and 
 just as barren of results as heretofore. Our views of 
 geographical features as connected have certainly 
 come to us gradually, and the nations and peoples of 
 all kinds, who live and wander over the earth, in a 
 state of constant warfare and contention, have seen 
 little but diversity on the globe; and yet no true 
 observer has yet failed to trace, in all special and 
 separate forms, some characteristic common to all. 
 
 5. Incorrect use of the term Mountain. — The 
 custom which has become quite general, and which is 
 met in almost all level countries, of calling hills and 
 slight elevations mountains, of taking everything 
 which bears the name of mountain as equally im- 
 portant, and, to go still further, of representing every 
 rough country, like Hesse and Transylvania, as filled 
 with mountain chains, which upon the map seem to be 
 of Alpine height, has introduced many errors into 
 physical geography, and in special the opinion that all 
 the high ranges of the earth, or even of a continent, 
 must stand in solid phalanx. 
 
 The Carpathian chain extends from the Sudetes 
 Mountains, in Bohemia, in a great circle of about five 
 hundred miles extent, entirely around Hungary. The 
 highest part of the range is but about forty miles across ; 
 the rest is of such moderate dimensions, that the 
 loftiest peaks would only be called hills in Switzerland. 
 
FIXED FORMS OF THE EARTH'S SURFACE. 153 
 
 Townsend, the traveller, was deceived in Hungary by 
 the word mountain, which the Germans employ so 
 loosely, but for which other nations use nicely graded 
 expressions, coteaux, collines, montagnes, hillocks, 
 hills, mounts. 
 
 In just as arbitrary a way are the Alps and the Pyr- 
 enees, in southern France, united by mere rows of 
 hills, and by hilly land, and thus treated as one vast 
 cohering system, although the factitious union is en- 
 tirely untrue to the character of both of its members. 
 
 The very general custom, on the other hand, of calling 
 all level countries plains, whether their position is low 
 or absolutely high, has led to the separation of what, 
 according to its formation, belongs together, and to the 
 oyerlooking of a true connection where there seems to 
 exist real separation. The elevated terraces of Spain, 
 for instance, really existing in entire unity, have been 
 described as separate ; while in Germany great num- 
 bers of low mountain ranges have been cited as if 
 existing independent of each other, and the common 
 basis of relation has been overlooked ; and so, with 
 the exception of the most striking instances, this fact 
 has been unnoticed, or at any rate only touched upon 
 in geography. Although it has been confessed to be 
 a subject worth attention, its widely reaching influence 
 has not been studied, and in our special treatises there 
 is no recognition whatever of this very weighty fact ; 
 and notwithstanding that Humboldt long since called 
 attention to it, it has hitherto exerted very little influ- 
 ence to the advantage of science. 
 
154 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 EXPLANATION THIRD. 
 
 ESTABLISHMENT OP TERMS INDICATIVE OP ELEVATIONS 
 OF THE EARTH'S SURFACE. 
 
 It is our first and special duty to grasp firmly and 
 look fairly at the essential characteristics of the leading 
 forms on the globe, and to weigh the most important 
 relations which exist between the highlands and the 
 lowlands of the earth's surface. 
 
 Those elevations above neighboring plains, or above 
 the sea's level, which plainly belong together in a 
 cohering mass, which are large and unbroken by any 
 river forcing its way through them, which have com- 
 mon characteristics, and are scattered over a wide 
 reach of territory, are called mountain systems or pla- 
 teaus. They may appear as plains, as terraces, or in 
 knob-like form ; they may lie at various degrees of 
 absolute height, may themselves bear up other moun- 
 tains, or be in the fullest sense elevated plains. Those 
 of great length and height, but of comparatively small 
 breadth, having definite and discernible ranges (see 
 Explanation Second), are termed the great mountain 
 chains of the earth ; these appear as girdles to bind 
 the world together ; sometimes they may be called 
 the framework of highlands, and, considered by 
 themselves, are, with strict propriety, designated as 
 mountains. 
 
 Where we find a number of mountains standing 
 together, forming a collective mass not long in propor- 
 
FIXED FORMS OF THE EARTH'S SURFACE. 155 
 
 tion to its breadth, we treat it as a mountain group, the 
 name by which in orographical language it is generally 
 called. A more intimate acquaintance with mountain 
 systems alone can help us to indicate with exactness 
 the characteristics of these mountain groups, for their 
 forms are various, their relations numerous, complex, 
 and as yet unstudied with a view of drawing valuable 
 results from them by personal observation. We need 
 remark no further on them now. Suffice it to say, that 
 our present knowledge of them will lead directly from 
 the facts which we now have to those broader results 
 which will follow. The absolute height of all these 
 forms above the level of the sea is the starting point 
 in a scientific treatment of them, and that will help 
 us to future exactness. 
 
 All collective elevations of more than four thousand 
 feet above the level of the sea we will designate as 
 highlands of the first or highest grade, and below that 
 of the second grade ; all between we will call of an 
 intermediate degree, or intermediate terraces. Single 
 heights of one to two thousand feet altitude we will 
 designate as hills ; from three to four thousand feet, as 
 mounts. There is not much dependent upon a very 
 nice discrimination of these subordinate elevations. 
 Mountains of the second class may be ranked between 
 four and six thousand feet, while those of six thousand 
 feet upwards are mountains of the first class. Those 
 above ten thousand feet are exceptional and gigantic. 
 
 From this it can be readily determined what is 
 meant by hilly country, mountainous country, and the 
 
156 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 like ; although in using these terms we can refer to no 
 scientific and exact standard, because the poverty of 
 measurements thus far made does not allow us to 
 speak with certainty of the whole world. 
 
 Remark. — Building of the Earth. — If we employ 
 at times the term building of the earthy it will indicate 
 nothing connected with the supposed fixedness and 
 cohering unity of the globe, but only convey a hint 
 that at the base of its exterior form lies an inner con- 
 structive force, which must yet be investigated and 
 ascertained. 
 
 Buache first introduced the expression Charpente 
 du Globe, and Desmarest changed it to Ossature du 
 G-lobe, which makes a skeleton or a scaffold of bones 
 out of the earth. Scheuchzer rightly named the moun- 
 tains, taken collectively, the frame-work of the earth, 
 and called special attention to the process of moun- 
 tain formation. The expression " mountains of the 
 globe " has a narrow meaning, while the expression 
 " building of the earth " hints at an internal as well as 
 an external arrangement, and has been employed, there- 
 fore, by Alexander Yon Humboldt. Yet the term, 
 building of the earth, belongs really to the department 
 of geology, and has introduced some evils into phys- 
 ical geography. 
 
 After what was said in the Introduction regarding 
 our general course, and what has been said in these 
 remarks upon geographical nomenclature, we may 
 advance at once to an explanation of special features. 
 
FIXED FORMS OF THE EARTH'S SURFACE. 157 
 
 Gaining thence an ample treasure of observations and 
 generalized results, we shall work our way back to the 
 system which includes them all. But till we attain 
 this, we allow ourselves, in the most vivid conviction 
 of our personal ignorance and blindness, to be lost in 
 the wealth of forms and forces which the earth har- 
 bors, hoping to come from the special, and the com- 
 parison of the special, to the universal, and to exhibit 
 oiu* results in a scientific method. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 STREAMS OF WATER. 
 
 In accordance with natural laws, streams take their 
 course from high lands to the low ; the effects of their 
 descent are manifested in a great variety of ways. This 
 variety must correspond with all the combinations 
 which on the one side arise from the quantity of water 
 and the time of its wear upon the soil, and on the 
 other side from the number and kind of resistances 
 brought against it. The inexhaustible diversity thus 
 produced is subdued into that harmonious blending of 
 natural objects which we term landscape. The land- 
 scape will always and everywhere exercise a charm 
 over all who live surrounded by it ; and so it becomes 
 a marked basis of all organic life. 
 
 We are accustomed, too, to think of the effects of 
 
 streams as something everywhere the same, because 
 
 everywhere carried to the same point, and to overlook 
 
 the fact that there is a constant development going on 
 u 
 
158 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 in their work. This false view creeps in, because wo 
 are in the habit of considering the whole earth as 
 everywhere uniform, like some work of man, from 
 which the master workman has withdrawn his hand, 
 and which can now, in its completeness, be measured 
 with absolute exactness. But the study of nature pre- 
 vents any such idea of river systems, shows us that 
 their effects are only partly ended, that their distribu- 
 tion over the earth is not uniform, and enables us to 
 see, even in the present state of our knowledge, that 
 many of them have their characteristic peculiarities. 
 
 In the region where rivers find their sources, there 
 is at one time so little individuality in each, that they 
 exist without any distinct watersheds separating one 
 from another, but have in the first part of their course 
 a common channel, the whole year through, as often 
 occurs in northern countries, or only a part of the 
 year, the rainy season, in the tropics, as in the highest 
 probability is the case with the Nile and Niger in 
 Africa, and many others. 
 
 Where rivers break through mountain chains, the 
 constantly changing condition of their channel reveals 
 itself in the succession of wastes and of beds of peb- 
 bles, as in Africa ; or, elsewhere, by a series of lakes 
 stretching along, which are commonly regarded as 
 true enlargements of the rivers, connected together by 
 rapids, cataracts, and rocks rising above the surface. 
 This feature is displayed in the more depressed polar 
 countries, and also in the most elevated regions of 
 southerly latitudes, where mountain lakes are formed, 
 
159 
 
 which elsewhere are entirely wanting. The swampy 
 districts, which are almost uniformly found where 
 river systems escape from a mountainous country, also 
 furnish a proof that the channels of the streams have 
 not reached a perfect and settled condition. 
 
 As rivers draw towards the lower portion of their 
 course, their channels become fixed, certain, and easily 
 traced ; frequently, indeed, filled up again in some 
 rivers, as in the Nile, the Ganges, and the Euphrates, 
 but less observably so in others, as the Niger, and the 
 American and Siberian rivers. There are even cases 
 of a cross stream connecting two river systems, as 
 the Cassiquiare, in South America, the lake above 
 Martaban between the Ava and the Pegu, in Annam, 
 between the Siam and the Camboja, and the Tarando 
 between the Tornea and the Calix. 
 
 And here, in order to make intelligible what is to 
 follow, we must insert a few remarks. 
 
 EXPLANATION FIRST. 
 RIVER SYSTEMS, AND THE DISTRICTS WHICH THEY WATER. 
 
 If the range of elevations which we trace near the 
 sources of all streams as the watershed indicates the 
 line where the fall in their course begins, then the 
 channel far down in the valley is the line of ending ; 
 for at the mouth of the river all motion ceases, the 
 level of the sea is reached, and both bodies come into 
 equilibrium. 
 
 This absolutely lowest channel, in a narrow sense 
 
160 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 called the stream, and all the district which the line 
 that passes from spring to spring encloses, is called, 
 in a general sense, the source. All waters which are 
 tributary to the main stream are called right or left 
 branches, and the entire system which all form is not 
 unlike the arterial system of the human body. 
 
 The district watered is the region which pertains to 
 the stream, and which is in direct relations with it, as 
 circumference is to centre ; while the entire body of 
 land and water, conceived as in unity, and having 
 mutual dependencies, is known by the general term 
 river system. 
 
 The comparison of streams according to their 
 breadth and depth determines the size and impor- 
 tance of their main currents, while the comparison 
 according to length and the number and size of the 
 branches gives the extent of their influence. After these 
 points had been settled, matters connected with the 
 use of maps of rivulets, brooks, and rivers, might be 
 determined. Yet this would hardly reward the toil, 
 for such maps will always differ in scale according as 
 they present their objects as relative to the entire globe, 
 or to a single part of it. Yet there are happily words, 
 local indeed, yet significant, which designate the 
 smaller class of rivers of the world ; such are the 
 wadys of Arabia, the ulastus of the steppes of Tar- 
 tary, the weds of Barbary, the barrancos of all Por- 
 tuguese possessions, the creeks of North America, the 
 elfs in Sweden, the gangas of Hindostan. To arrange 
 all such in a mathematical scale, according to relative 
 
FIXED FORMS OF THE EARTH'S SURFACE 161 
 
 rank, would be in great measure unfruitful of valu- 
 able results ; at all events, it would not be more prof- 
 itable than the severe divisions of Chinese geography, 
 in which provinces, cities, and mountains are named 
 according to their relative greatness ; and thus the 
 very titles of Chinese rivers, such as Kiang, Ho, Choui, 
 express their relative importance. 
 
 Our method is to arrange river systems according 
 to their length and to the superficial area which they 
 drain (including the district where their sources lie), 
 and to consider them, whether taken in relation to a 
 single continent or to the whole earth, as river systems 
 of the first, second, or third rank. 
 
 But a stream which, in view of the whole globe, is 
 insignificant, is of much importance to the local district 
 to which it belongs. The little Bavarian Isar receives, 
 between its source and its mouth, eight hundred and 
 sixty tributaries on the left side, among which are 
 forty-four small rivers ; on the right side, four hundred 
 and thirty-three, running into it through fifty-nine 
 channels ; on both sides, one hundred and thirty-one 
 lakes, and five branches of importance, empty into it. 
 In the whole, it is fed by a hundred and thirty-six 
 lakes, and twelve hundred and ninety-three tributaries, 
 which enter it through a hundred and three channels. 
 But the Isar is only one of the thirty-four branches of 
 the Danube, which in relation to the great river sys- 
 tems of the earth can only be classed in the third rank. 
 
 Not the size merely, but the entire combination of 
 elements which enter into the composition of a river 
 
 14* 
 
162 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 system, indicates its characteristic individuality. There 
 lies a certain unity at the base of them all, a ground 
 principle which can be mathematically expressed, and 
 which a comprehensive view of them as a whole 
 reaches and grasps. For an example, look at the great 
 river systems of the East, the Ganges and the Indus. 
 The word Mabar, i. e. the great frith, signifies in the 
 East Indies the collective body of land extending from 
 the Bay of Bengal, along the Ganges on both sides, up 
 to the Himalayas, and corresponds completely to our 
 conception of a river system. We may mention that 
 the people of North America have traced, with great 
 care, the boundaries of their river systems, and learned 
 the bearing which they have had in the historical 
 development of their country. 
 
 Remarks. — Watersheds as a Means of internal 
 Communication. — The watershed indicates always the 
 beginning of a river system ; the sources of a stream 
 are, in every case, to be found there. The waters 
 which are to flow to oceans, remote from each other, 
 here are brought almost together. On the watershed 
 of the Rocky Mountains, the sources of the Missouri 
 and of the Columbia are not a half mile from one 
 another ; but they empty indirectly into the Atlantic 
 and Pacific, which are widely separated at the north- 
 ern part of North America. The watershed of the 
 Black and Baltic seas lies between Teplics and Canoes, 
 on the Carpathian table-lands. The Caucasians indi- 
 cate the streams that flow to opposite seas by the 
 
FIXED FOKMS OF THE EARTH"' S SURFACE. 16o 
 
 name Rioni ; the Buraetes, in Siberia, call them Dogno, 
 as, for example, all which flow from the watershed 
 between the China Sea and the Arctic Ocean ; the 
 streams running northerly into the Lena, they call 
 Aru-Dogno ; those which belong to the upper course 
 of the Amur, Urbu-Dogno. The Mongolians pay hon- 
 ors to the elevations which serve as watersheds, erect 
 heaps of stones or stations for prayer upon them, and 
 the Tungneses never go by such stone heaps without 
 casting a cedar branch upon them, in order, as they 
 say, that the holy mountains which part the waters 
 may not diminish, but always increase. Underlying 
 this usage is the correct observation that watersheds 
 are not to be regarded as absolute boundaries, that the 
 river courses are, at the place of their beginning, work- 
 ing backward, eating their way slowly but surely, and 
 in the fall of trees and rocks carrying change, some- 
 times destruction, in this retrograde advance. 
 
 On the wide plains of the northern part of North 
 America the watersheds are used as means of commu- 
 nication and of transport ; in the Russian steppes, 
 they are known as wolocks, the word itself being sig- 
 nificant, wolocsit meaning in Russian, to carry, and the 
 people themselves have been named from this word 
 Tschudi transvolocani. There are only two such 
 wolocks in Russia between the Black Sea and the Arc- 
 tic Ocean, the one at Zarizyn, between the Don and 
 the Yolga, the other above Tcherdin, between the 
 Kolwa and the Petschora. In Hungary they are called 
 haetz, as, for instance, Themeskaetz, between the 
 Themesch and the Marosch. 
 
164 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS OX THE 
 
 Watersheds are found in the different continents 
 variously apportioned, and not of uniform significance. 
 America has nine important ones between the Atlantic 
 and the Pacific. Europe has ten, which are note- 
 worthy, between its sea-basins of the North and of the 
 South, and, in consequence, is more readily traversed, 
 a fact not unnoticed by Charlemagne. Asia and 
 Africa, on the other hand, are remarkable for their 
 meagreness in those forms, which, acting as water- 
 sheds, must be presupposed to condition a means of 
 communication between the interior of every continent 
 and its borders. 
 
 The leading watersheds divide the surface of the 
 earth into five basins of the largest size, sixteen of the 
 second, and twenty-six of the third ; the consideration 
 of which will engage us at another place. 
 
 EXPLANATION SECOND. 
 
 THE DIRECTION, FALL, UPPER, MIDDLE, AND LOWER COURSE 
 OF STREAMS. 
 
 The main or normal direction of a river is condi- 
 tioned in part by the amount of water and its fall, 
 and in part by the barriers which mountain ranges and 
 masses of earth and rock form to check its course. 
 The law of the parallelogram of forces is often very 
 apparent, but only seldom, or perhaps never, does the 
 course of a stream proceed purely from the conflict of 
 two bodies of water. The always varying district 
 through which it has to pass creates a resistance, which 
 
165 
 
 has a powerful influence upon the direction of a river. 
 The slight deviations from a general course are often 
 caused by mountain barriers. This is strikingly the 
 case in the Rhine, between Bingen and Kaub, in the 
 upper Ticino, and in the Swedish Dal, where the 
 causes of deviation are readily marked. 
 
 From an angular zigzag line of short, unbroken 
 courses, running this way and that way, and all in a 
 perfectly and painfully regular manner, if the stream 
 passes through a compact, thoroughly stratified, and 
 completely crystallized district, it softens down to a 
 gentle, wave-like line if it enters a district where the 
 rock is easily disintegrated, and where the soil has 
 been formed by deposit. The practised eye can judge 
 with tolerable correctness, from an accurate delinea- 
 tion of a river's course, what are the general charac- 
 teristics of the soil through which it makes its way. 
 
 It is the common law that streams break through in- 
 tervening obstacles in those directions in which they 
 find the least resistance. In the case of mountain 
 barriers, where the strata are perpendicular, the river 
 course is made as nearly parallel with it as the fre- 
 quent occurrence of cataracts can effect it. Where 
 the strata are horizontal, rivers always take their 
 course through the most marked clefts which lie in 
 their way. Where the mountain barriers are of hetero- 
 geneous composition, the streams choose their course 
 where different elements come together, and thus, as 
 is so often the case in the Alps and the Pyrenees, keep 
 upon the borders of all, without running directly 
 
166 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 across any. This is probably the great reason often- 
 times of the sudden bending of a river where it 
 emerges from a mountain range (according to Heim, 
 the attraction of the river to the mountain) , which not 
 only appears in small streams, as, for example, those 
 which flow out from the Hartz, but also on the largest 
 scale in the great rivers of India; the Indus, the 
 Ganges, the Chinese river systems, and others from 
 the Asiatic highlands, apparently demonstrating this 
 feature as a general one. From all these things we 
 see that' rivers neither form their channels where and 
 as they will, nor do they take possession of courses 
 which have been always formed, but which have before 
 been, res nullius, the property of none. 
 
 The rapidity of streams depends upon the amount 
 of water, upon the friction occasioned by different 
 kinds of soil and bottoms, upon the pressure from 
 above, and upon the fall. It must, therefore, be 
 widely various. In passing through or from moun- 
 tains the fall is greater, the pressure from behind less ; 
 in the valleys the pressure behind is greater, and the 
 fall less. Rapidity is hindered by the accumulation of 
 waters where they run into and are resisted by the 
 sea and by the levelness of their course, but it is in- 
 creased by receiving auxiliary streams. Rapid streams 
 pass in a second over a space varying from three to 
 seven feet, slow ones far fewer, torrents far more. 
 
 1. Upper Course of Streams. — In mountainous 
 tracts the waters plunge rather than run, and so they 
 
FIXED FORMS OF THE EARTH'S SURFACE. 167 
 
 are known by appropriate names in different lan- 
 guages: torrents with us, wildbaeche in Germany, 
 aehen in Switzerland, gaven in Spain and Portugal, 
 elfs in Norway. In the Pyrenees the fall of the 
 gaven, or mountain streams, is an inch in every foot ; 
 here and there occur cataracts of two to three feet, and 
 sometimes more, which are very beautiful. We meet 
 this feature in all mountainous „districts, and on the 
 sharply defined crests of polar regions. Even the 
 mountain lakes have often a considerable fall, as, for 
 instance, Lake Maggiore, above Milan, between Maga- 
 din and Arona, where, in so inconsiderable a distance, 
 there is a fall, according to the measurements of Count 
 Morozzo, of fifty-two feet. 
 
 2. Middle Course of Streams. — The descent be- 
 low the mountain country and the lakes where rivers 
 rise is far less, and far less, too, in streams which 
 have in the main but a slight grade, as, for instance, 
 the Neckar, which, from its source to Heilbronn, a dis- 
 tance of one hundred and fifty miles, has a fall of only 
 thirty-two feet to every three miles, and to every thirty- 
 two feet a fall of an inch. Still less is it in the grade 
 of the Oder, and less yet in the Danube from its source 
 to Presburg, there being only seventeen hundred feet 
 to nine degrees of longitude. The general very slight 
 fall of streams has already received some attention 
 from observers, and ought not to be lost from sight by 
 us in the course of this work. 
 
 By the term bed of the stream is meant its entire 
 
168 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 width, which, of course, varies with the height of the 
 water, as, for instance, the Mississippi, at Natchez, is 
 a mile wide at low water, while at high water it is 
 thirty miles wide. The Orinoco, at St. Thomas, is 
 ordinarily three miles wide, but at the time of the 
 floods it is, according to Dupons, nearly ninety miles 
 in width. 
 
 The channel of a river is different from its bed ; it 
 is the channel which gives life and motion to the whole 
 mass of water, the beating artery, as it were, of the 
 stream. In the upper course the channel and the bed 
 mostly coincide, but in the middle course the channel 
 becomes distinct, and indicates the direction, slope, 
 and rapidity of the river. It does not ordinarily lie in 
 the middle of the stream, but follows the general fall, 
 drawing, however, in its greatest depth near the 
 steepest rocks which form the banks. By the influ- 
 ence of the channel the windings of streams, as they 
 pass through level lands, are increased ; these* wind- 
 ings check the onward motion, the serpentine or 
 meandering current is increased, and becomes a char- 
 acteristic of the middle course of rivers. Here and 
 there islands and meadows are formed, but with few 
 exceptions none of the lakes which characterize the 
 upper course of rivers. At the same time the low 
 intervale lands abundantly indicate that they are at 
 present only broad and dry basins of old lakes. 
 
 This last feature is observable in the Rhine from 
 Schaf hausen to Bartberg, below Strasburg, and again 
 from Ladenburg to Bingen. It is to be seen, too, in 
 
FIXED FORMS OF THE EARTH' S SURFACE. 169 
 
 the course of the Danube from Ulm to the Narrows, 
 
 at Kloster Neuburg, above Vienna, and from there the 
 same feature appears several times above Pesth, and 
 below Semlin, in the rapids of Orsova. It is also ob- 
 served in the Granges, the Indus, the Euphrates, and 
 the American rivers. In the yet imperfect river sys- 
 tem of the St. Lawrence the series of lakes is seen still 
 existing, forming many separate basins, one emptying 
 into another, and thus all constituting the stream ; and 
 nowhere else can the different steps in the process of 
 river formation be observed on so great a scale as 
 there. 
 
 The passages through which the running waters 
 force their way from the higher of these dry sea-basins 
 to the lower, are in almost all streams yet visible, more 
 or less characterized by defiles or narrows, often by the 
 accumulation across the river-bed of former banks, 
 rocks, slopes, and shallows, producing frequent eddies 
 and rapids, and, in America especially, cataracts. Not 
 to go farther than examples in Europe, there are the 
 Saltor de Lobo of the Guadiana, the rapids above 
 Monte Corvo in the Duero, the swift current below 
 Saragossa in the Ebro ; the rapids of the Rhone be- 
 tween the granite banks of Pierre Encise below Lyons, 
 the rocky shores of the Loire at Iguerando, those of 
 the middle Rhine, below Strasburg at Bingen Loch, 
 at St. Goar, and below Andernach ; those of the Elbe 
 at Leitmeritz, Aussig, Rauhe Ford, Klingler, and Meer- 
 schützen Ford, below Meissen. There are the whirl- 
 pools of the Danube at Grein, the rapids at Kloster 
 
 15 
 
170 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 Neuburg, the rocky passes at Tachtali, Demirkapi, 
 Orsova ; in the Dnieper, there are the fifteen rapids 
 (porogs) below Katharinoslaw. We might easily adduce 
 others. They are characteristic of streams in all the 
 continents, and the study of them will yet lead to im- 
 portant results in our knowledge of river formations. 
 They impede shipping everywhere, or stop it entirely. 
 They are not, of course, to be confounded with real 
 cataracts. The latter, and the sharply-defined rocky 
 outline, are the characteristics of the upper course of 
 a stream as it makes its way through the high lands ; 
 the rapids, the broad, level sea-basins, and the winding 
 course, on the other hand, indicate the middle course 
 as it passes through the shelving lands. Below the 
 last rapids, the river spreads out over *the low and level 
 districts, where the third class of characteristics appear. 
 
 3. Lower Course. — The beds of the upper and 
 middle courses, as they lose by degrees their redun- 
 dance of water, become dry ; the barriers which impede 
 rivers near their beginnings are broken through only 
 to allow their lower channels to be more abundantly 
 filled. This indicates, in a word, the history of all 
 river formations. 
 
 The fall of the lower courses is often unobservable \ 
 as, for instance, that of the Senegal, according to Adan- 
 son, from Podor to the ocean, a distance of sixty 
 leagues, is only two feet and a half; the fall of the 
 Amazon, according to Condamine, for two hundred 
 miles is only ten feet and a half, — for every thousand 
 feet but one-sixth of an inch. 
 
171 
 
 The pressure of immense masses of water behind, 
 the antagonistic pressure of the tide, and the yearly 
 floods, create, before an equilibrium is adjusted, a con- 
 stant strife of the elements, whose result will, of course, 
 vary with the region exposed to it. 
 
 The body of water carried down the channel of riv- 
 ers sometimes seeks to find a level by dividing or fork- 
 ing near its mouth, as the Nile does at Cairo ; the 
 action of the stream upon the land, and the resistance 
 which the sea gives, occasion the alluvial deposits, which 
 when remaining below the surface of the water are 
 called bars, and when above the surface, deltas. Thus, 
 for instance, in the Granges, Indus, Euphrates, Nile, 
 Rhine ; briefly, in fourteen of the main river systems 
 of the earth. The contrary form, the wide estuaries 
 not filled up, called negative deltas, or inlets of the 
 ocean, are to be seen in nine leading river systems, 
 such -as the Obi, Genesee, St. Lawrence, and Colum- 
 bia ; in short, mainly in northern parts of the earth, 
 and noticeable even of the small elfs and creeks. 
 
 Another peculiarity of the lower course is the ex- 
 tremely frequent change of the channel, and therefore 
 the wandering of the river-bed from one side of the 
 plains through which it flows to another, which, when 
 historically traced in the Ganges, Indus, Euphrates, 
 Nile, and Rhine, is so remarkable. 
 
 In the lower course of rivers begins the annually 
 recurring general inundation of the low districts, 
 common to all tropical regions, and this gives rise to a 
 new deposit of alluvium, the result of what Herodotus 
 called 7roTa/xo? ipyartKo^, or stream forces. 
 
172 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 According as rivers are brought in conflict with the 
 resisting waters of an inland sea or the tides of the 
 ocean, the whole nature of the lower course is affected. 
 This is shown, for instance, in the. river systems of 
 the Nile, the Danube, and the Yolga, that triad of 
 systems which do not run into the ocean, on the 
 one hand, in contrast to those, on the other, which are 
 exposed to the highest waves of the ocean, as the great 
 streams of China, India, and eastern America ; and in 
 contrast, too, to those which are only one degree less 
 affected by the waves beating in, such as, in general, 
 those mouths of rivers looking towards the west and 
 north, in opposition to those looking to the east and 
 south. 
 
 EXPLANATION THIRD. 
 THE TERRACE-LANDS OF THE EARTH. 
 
 It follows from the brief indication of the leading 
 peculiarities of river systems now given, if they are 
 compared with each other, and if, too, they are viewed 
 in relation to the highlands and the lowlands of the 
 earth as a whole, that they have three main forms, 
 which gradually appear as the observer passes down 
 their whole course from the most elevated to the lowest 
 point. 
 
 In reference to the stream, we indicate these forms 
 by the expressions upper, middle, and lower courses ; in 
 reference to the area of the entire river system, we can 
 
FIXED FORMS OF THE EARTH'S SURFACE. 173 
 
 indicate them as the three terraces, and the lands 
 thought of in this connection as the three terrace-lands 
 of the earth. For the same laws which show them- 
 selves in the main channel of a stream repeat them- 
 selves, though in less degree, in all its ramifications, 
 and pervade the entire river system. It is not, as in 
 vegetation, the working out of certain forces from the 
 root, and going from below upwards ; it is just the 
 reverse, — a gradual formation and conditioning pro- 
 cess from above downwards ; an old bursting of the 
 barriers which confined the waters of the earth to the 
 highest places on the earth's surface, after which they 
 forced their way downwards, working out channels, 
 and spreading a net-work over the world, as a tree 
 daily throws out new branches from its central trunk. 
 And as the vital forces of a tree occasion an intri- 
 cate system of ramifications, so does this moving of 
 water from mountainous regions give rise to an intri- 
 cate system, whose development, it is to be remem- 
 bered, is ever downwards, and whose ramifications are 
 not fortuitous, coming from this point and that, run- 
 ning this way and that, but are the result of a singu- 
 larly constant law running through all such systems, 
 that common effects must be referred to common 
 causes. We do not dwell here upon single excep- 
 tions. But the uniformity with which this law 
 works «occasions this constant and natural division 
 into three grades of land between the sources and 
 the mouths of rivers, which we have already quite 
 fully indicated. 
 
 15* 
 
174 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON FIXED FORMS. 
 
 Monographs on the river systems will yet further 
 disclose how various natural divisions can come in, 
 and how the peculiarity of every leading river system 
 is modified by them. 
 
 These observations assume a yet greater importance 
 in Comparative Geography when we think that some 
 nations have reached the highest grades of elevation 
 only within the limits of great river systems, and that 
 the pulsation of the great veins of the earth, if I may 
 call the rivers such, conduces to the activity of the 
 human race, and calls states and nations forth, and 
 stamps them with conscious individuality. 
 
THE 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION 
 
 AND 
 
 HORIZONTAL EXTENSION OF THE CONTINENTS. 
 
 [READ BEFORE THE ROYAL ACADEMY OE BERLIN.] 
 
THE 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND HORIZONTAL 
 EXTENSION OE THE CONTINENTS. 
 
 [READ DECEMBER 14, 1826.] 
 
 Since the method arose of viewing the Earth, not 
 in a purely mathematical light, but physically, as a 
 body moved by the forces of nature, as Newton led 
 the way in showing, the greatest progress has been 
 made in a knowledge of the globe in all its divisions. 
 This later method has already given a new direction 
 to mathematical inquiries, and it will serve as a step- 
 ping-stone to all future mathematical investigations. 
 The most. varied phenomena on our planet now find 
 their solution in the great yet simple laws of attrac- 
 tion. These phenomena display themselves as the 
 results of very manifold, although harmoniously united 
 influences of the members of the solar system, — 
 members largely unlike ; here, nearly joined ; there, 
 widely sundered; yet only in appearance divorced 
 from each other, and constantly and regularly having 
 a controlling power over the earth, and mutual influ- 
 ence over one another. 
 
 The earth, a mere member of the solar system, exists 
 
IT 8 THE POSITION AND 
 
 in itself as a complete system of phenomena, under 
 the influence of which the sundering of its parts, their 
 scattered position in one place, and their compact close- 
 ness in another, have, in a variety of ways, affected the 
 surface. And so, too, every one of the earth's divisions 
 gives rise to special effects : each does not merely lie 
 separated hy chance from other, but they are all closely 
 related to the whole. Each is a needed and rightful 
 link in the perfect chain ; and the peculiarity of the 
 globe, considered as a planet, grows out of what is 
 special and distinct in the arrangement of all its divis- 
 ions. This arrangement generates special relations. 
 
 In this arrangement, which has a connection with 
 the nature and history of the earth considered as in 
 itself a system, there is a real though peculiar ele- 
 ment, — an element having to do with the earth alone, 
 embracing all lands, whether devoid of or teeming 
 with life, — an element directly concerned with the 
 earth as a unit, and carefully to be distinguished from 
 any force which acts in scattered countries, or in the 
 earth when not regarded in its wholeness. You grasp 
 this when you view our planet as itself an organism, 
 which, having higher functions than the mere filling 
 of space, or the lying idle in unorganized forms, pene- 
 trates the realm of vegetation, influences life, and 
 even reaches with a formative and controlling hand 
 into the sphere of spiritual activities. 
 
 This higher system of agencies reveals itself in all 
 the phenomena of history, exhibiting the earth as the 
 theatre of the forces of nature ; as, in a certain sense, 
 
EXTENSION OF THE CONTINENTS. 179 
 
 the mother of races ; as the home and the temporary 
 field of development for man. 
 
 The analysis of this general relation to its nicest 
 details is the task of science; every minor relation 
 gains thereby its significance, as standing between and 
 connecting what is individual with what is universal ; 
 and thus causes apparently insignificant are seen to 
 give rise to large and complex results. Among these 
 causes belong unquestionably matters of distance and 
 space, following their natural divisions ; and of those 
 we shall be allowed here to say a few words. 
 
 The unequal division of the earth into land and 
 water has long been remarked ; and the relation, in 
 respect to quantity, of what is fixed to what is unstable, 
 has been ascertained with approximate exactness ; as 
 to mere area, we have a knowledge of the extent of 
 the globe. But less attention, it seems, has been paid 
 to the conformations of the earth's surface, and to the 
 mutual relations of the parts to the whole ; and this 
 in spite of the fact that from the beginning there have 
 lain in those conformations the very germs and condi- 
 tions of these developments, whether already realized 
 or yet in progress, which give nature her force, and 
 which cover our planet with organized life. Besides 
 the striking climatic differences, upon which these 
 diversities of the globe have a great effect, and which 
 ought never to be overlooked, there is also a direct 
 system of action and reaction in time and place ; 
 that is, a certain correspondence between the confor- 
 mations of the earth's surface and the phenomena of 
 
180 THE POSITION AND 
 
 history, — a correspondence growing out of contact, 
 separation, or changes, and which, in one word, is de- 
 pendent upon nearness and distance in point of place, 
 and has a parallel development in the events of time. 
 It is indisputably certain that to every physical condi- 
 tion there answers some result in the course of things ; 
 every cause in nature has its correspondent develop- 
 ment in history, influencing what is hidden or appa- 
 rent, what is special or general. 
 
 We will here consider merely some of those relations 
 which lie in horizontal dimensions and extents ; later 
 we will study the relations of vertical dimensions, — a 
 topic which has heretofore called out much observation, 
 but which has never been rightly viewed, excepting far 
 enough to correctly establish fundamental principles. 
 
 I. CONTRAST BETWEEN THE LAND HEMISPHERE AND 
 THE WATER HEMISPHERE. 
 
 Some observers have already called attention to the 
 unequal division of the earth's surface into land dis- 
 tricts and water districts, and have also showed that 
 the former lie more around the north pole than the 
 south, and that they are more compacted towards the 
 east than towards the west. 
 
 From the double system of relations which this 
 division of the earth's surface occasions, there arises 
 naturally an arrangement as regards the fixed and 
 fluid forms of a northeasterly land hemisphere and 
 a southwesterly water hemisphere, forming together 
 
EXTENSION OF THE CONTINENTS. lSl 
 
 the greatest contrast, probably, on the globe. The 
 system of relations arising from the mutual action of 
 these on each other may be indicated by the contrast 
 once supposed to exist between the circle of land (in 
 the sense of the ancients) and the circle of water, 
 which were together thought to cover the vast plain 
 of the earth's surface. We may speak, therefore, of a 
 continental and of an oceanic side of the earth. The 
 boundary of these two hemispheres of land and water 
 is not indicated by a mere line, but by a broad belt, 
 which, spanning tracts of water and coasts of seas, is 
 readily traced, passing round the globe as it does, and 
 crossing the equator northeast of the Mozambique 
 Channel, and in the neighborhood of the coast of Peru, 
 at an angle of somewhere near forty-five degrees. 
 In the heart of the northern, or land hemisphere, lies 
 Europe, surpassing in its perfected civilization all other 
 countries, brought into the greatest possible contact 
 and connection with the other continents, in the centre 
 of the greatest activities, and at the head of all the high- 
 est and noblest developments which history exhibits. 
 
 The shores and island groups of Australia, situated 
 at the middle of the water hemisphere, were always 
 external to a natural, inevitable, and, even in early 
 times, important contact with the great land hemi- 
 sphere ; and hence the people inhabiting them, antipo- 
 des to .us, could only be brought within the sphere of 
 our influence after the art of navigation should be far 
 advanced, and after many centuries had rolled away. 
 The mere position of Australia was the cause of its 
 
 16 
 
182 THE POSITION AND 
 
 entire want of development, just in the same way that 
 the wonderful capacity exhibited by Europe of assimi- 
 lating the peculiarities of all surrounding countries, 
 and the consequent early maturity of its culture, — 
 occasioning as it did a powerful reaction and a gen- 
 eral diffusion of the gains reached by itself, — were 
 the result of Europe's central position in the land 
 hemisphere. 
 
 Entirely different from the position of the scattered 
 and remote lands of Australasia is that of other conti- 
 nents apparently equally separated, such as America, 
 Africa, and a great portion of eastern Asia. Belong- 
 ing to the land hemisphere, they lie, in point of dis- 
 tance, far nearer to the common centre ; favorable 
 connections of both land and water, in every form, 
 unite them in the progress of time yet nearer to the 
 great theatre of life and activity, which would natu- 
 rally arise and assume importance first in the midst of 
 the land hemisphere, — the field of the world's early 
 history. Therefore, almost all the countries of the 
 land hemisphere show, in their productions, popula- 
 tions, old sayings, monuments, and traditions, the tra- 
 ces, at least, of this ancient connection of the parts 
 which make up the whole, and show them the more 
 the nearer they lie to the common centre. They show 
 them, on the other hand, less, but in every respect 
 more individualized, the more removed they lie from 
 the centre of the land hemisphere, and the nearer they 
 approach its limits ; and in the islands which have no 
 connection with the main land, excepting those which 
 can be called neighboring islands, they wholly fail. 
 
EXTENSION OF THE CONTINENTS. 183 
 
 In this respect the southern extremities ©f South 
 America and South Africa are to be reckoned with the 
 isolated tracts of Australasia, not merely because they 
 extend beyond the boundary line into the region where 
 the oceanic form is predominant, but because the 
 advantages of a general connection of countries do 
 not, to any marked extent, accrue to them, in conse- 
 quence of their solitary, very remote position, and the 
 unfavorable nature of their surface. And if they do 
 not wholly partake of the character of oceanic islands, 
 they yet belong to that belt or zone of coast lands 
 which separates the land hemisphere from the water 
 hemisphere, — a belt of various widths, sometimes 
 partly or wholly sundered, — of disunited and isolated 
 continental extremities and islands, forming the outer 
 periphery of the land hemisphere ; a circle which has 
 in its entire extent but two breaks of different lengths, 
 — one where it comes nearest to the south pole, in the 
 space between Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, 
 and again in the short distance intervening at Behr- 
 ing' s Straits between Northeast Asia and North- 
 west America. In the uniform position of this belt 
 of coast lands, the only one of its kind in the world, 
 in relation to the water hemisphere, lies the fact 
 that it is in its characteristics more allied to this than 
 to the land hemisphere ; that though the place of trans- 
 ition forms, yet it partakes more of the water than of 
 the land. And yet, uniform as is its relation to the sea, 
 it has climatic differences notwithstanding. Yet these 
 are but slight, and their relation to the general charac- 
 
184 THE POSITION AND 
 
 teristics «of the entire belt is like that of species to 
 genera. Within this circle of coast line fall the 
 southerly portions of South America, southern Africa 
 and Madagascar, southern India, with the isles of 
 Sunda, the volcanic groups along the eastern coast of 
 Asia, Japan, Kamskatka, Alaska, Northwest America, 
 California, and the volcanic shores of South America, 
 back to the southern portions of this continent again. 
 
 The contrast in the relative position of these vast 
 land and water hemispheres appears to have just as 
 great an influence on the organization of the globe as 
 the mathematical contrast between the north and 
 south at both poles, and as the climatic contrast which 
 is indicated by the terms tropical and polar regions. 
 
 The first of these intersecting and mutually influen- 
 tial contrasts rests upon the peculiar extension of the 
 fixed and fluid forms, and thus its relations are the sim- 
 plest, though they exercise sway over the whole globe. 
 They even directly affect the most movable and pliant 
 element of all, the atmosphere ; and, by the combined 
 action of the sun's heat and light with moisture, this 
 veil, enveloping the earth, is woven. One half of it, 
 surcharged with the excess of moisture, contains with- 
 in itself suspended seas, while the other half spans 
 with its clear, dry arch the regions of the land hemi- 
 sphere ; while, again, you seek the place where the moist 
 and the dry come into equilibrium on the great belt 
 of coast lands, where the monsoons, for instance, are 
 found. The greenness of the earth is the indication 
 of the ever-changing contrast between the continental 
 
EXTENSION OF THE CONTINENTS. 185 
 
 and the oceanic regions : with the predominance of 
 oceanic influences the greenness of vegetation becomes 
 more deep and beautiful. 
 
 II. THE GROUPING OF THE LAND MASSES. 
 
 A second subject, entirely different from the fore- 
 going division of the surface of the earth into land 
 and water hemispheres, is the grouping of the land 
 masses, expanding themselves, as it were, from a cen- 
 tral principle, just as vegetation as it grows always 
 advances towards the sky, and as the soil, full of all 
 kinds of germs for the future to develop, is covered 
 now with all forms of beauty, yet reserves itself for the 
 unfolding in days to come of nobler forms. 
 
 This grouping of which we speak comprehends, 
 indeed, the accumulation of continental forms in the 
 northeast, but it concerns more directly this very sig- 
 nificant phenomenon in the formation of the land 
 portion of the globe, — the compactness of the region 
 around the common centre, and the rifting and sund- 
 ering of the exterior regions. 
 
 A glance at a globe will show how the two great 
 bodies of the Old and New Worlds lie around the 
 northern polar circle from the seventieth to the eighti- 
 eth degrees of latitude, and reach out in capes and 
 promontories to such an extent that they approach each 
 other so nearly that in one place — namely, between 
 Asia and America — the distance is not greater than a 
 man ordinarily walks in a day. This great breadth at 
 
 16* 
 
186 THE POSITION AND 
 
 the north is set in contrast to the constantly increas- 
 ing narrowness as you go southwards ; a contrast 
 between breadth and contraction which is seen every- 
 where, and which characterizes small masses of land 
 as well as large ones. 
 
 It is everywhere noticeable that none of the conti- 
 nents point towards the Arctic regions, but that they 
 all tend in wedge-like form towards the south, in ever 
 narrowing peninsulas ; the small projections from the 
 main land into the water hemisphere, and lastly the 
 islands, form the final representatives of the continen- 
 tal form, until even these become mere rocks in the 
 open ocean, and then wholly disappear. 
 
 It is this contrast between the extension and the 
 contracting towards the extremities, together with the 
 radiation of the land masses from a common point, one 
 of which is found in the Old World and one in the 
 New, which gives the collective groups a character 
 which must be of decisive and lasting influence upon 
 subordinate tracts, and which is increased and strength- 
 ened by the fact that the amount of water on the 
 globe is twofold greater than that of land. 
 
 From the system of grouping of which we are 
 speaking there results, that the Arctic regions of the 
 entire earth are brought into great proximity; they, 
 therefore, display, in the various degrees of longitude, 
 less diversified phenomena than occur under the same 
 meridians, but in parts of the earth lying widely 
 sundered. Geognostically, these regions stand very 
 near each other. The organic formations are condi- 
 
EXTENSION OF THE CONTINENTS. 187 
 
 tioned by geographical forms brought into proximity, 
 and standing in very simple relations, and show in the 
 two great divisions of the Old and New Worlds great 
 similarity. Even the distribution of races displays a 
 similarity of characteristics in man, peculiar to the 
 Arctic regions of the earth. 
 
 Yet not only in general the Arctic extremities of 
 the earth, but also in special all those extremities of 
 the continents which turn to the north, remain, since 
 they tend more or less to converge to the great land 
 centre, in a greater degree of relationship as to their 
 productions and phenomena than those which turn 
 southward, which are separated from each other by 
 relatively greater tracts of ocean, and which, therefore, 
 lying under other meridians and in other conditions, 
 exhibit entirely different phenomena. This is shown 
 not only in the southern extremities of the great divis- 
 ions, America, Africa, Asia, but also in the contrast 
 between the tropical peninsulas of southern Asia and 
 the temperate peninsulas of southern Europe. For 
 intervening distances between countries, measuring 
 from east to west, occasion great diversities in the 
 land systems and all their phenomena ; so that specific 
 differences in the formations and productions of lands 
 which are separated are not only determined by the 
 question of latitude, but also by their distance from 
 other lands. 
 
 The radiation and the breaking up of the periphery 
 of the land hemisphere into fragmentary parts has 
 given rise to more natural divisions and differences, 
 
188 THE POSITION AND 
 
 depending upon the double action of the fixed and 
 fluid forms, at the outer limits of the system of groups 
 than at their common centre. And, therefore, even 
 without reckoning in climatic differences, which confer 
 their share in shaping the characteristics of a country, 
 it is at the outer limits that the great diversity of con- 
 trasted land systems, each of which is in itself com- 
 plete, appears in sharply defined and individualized 
 features, between which, in the lands contrasted, there 
 are no softened stages of transition. But towards the 
 centre, on the other hand, diversity wholly disappears, 
 more comprehensive relations of all kinds enter in, 
 transitions, and those not alone in climatic peculiari- 
 ties, are met with ; and thus there was the field of 
 classical history, established as such because the cen- 
 tral tract of the great group of countries compos- 
 ing the land hemisphere was fitted for the duty, 
 which it at length discharged, of bringing into ad- 
 justment all the contrasts in physical and historical 
 phenomena before unsettled, and, in great measure, 
 unstudied. 
 
 The peculiar advantages which accrued from the 
 arranging of wide districts around a common centre, 
 indicated by the harmonious solution of contradictory 
 relations, would have almost wholly disappeared, as 
 they partially have done, from the earth, if the cen- 
 tral part should have spread out in an unbroken form, 
 and would have robbed the great land hemisphere of 
 that diversity in unity, consequent upon its broken 
 outline, which was just as essential to the full develop- 
 
EXTENSION OF THE CONTINENTS. 189 
 
 niefrt of its central regions as to the enrichment of 
 its shores. 
 
 As physical phenomena always and everywhere con- 
 dition mathematical ontline and form, the compactness 
 of the continents is not perfect, but they are rifted 
 even to the very centre. The openings thus occasioned, 
 which we call straits, bays, gulfs, inland seas, — some- 
 times even parts of the ocean, as the Arctic and North 
 Atlantic, for instance, — are yet, with all their magni- 
 tude, in comparison with the great, open, unconfined 
 water hemisphere, only narrow basins ; mere contracted, 
 and we can say with much propriety, continental bodies 
 of water. But, although they have their general char- 
 acteristics in common, yet they have, in their two 
 classes, relations different from one another and pecu- 
 liar to each, arising mainly from their situation. Take, 
 for instance, what gives waters their life, and what is 
 their chief characteristic, — their motion. While some, 
 lying open and unconfined, follow laws whose influence 
 is universal, others, like the inland seas of Europe, 
 either do not share at all in the larger movement, or, 
 like the North Sea, they exhibit different phenomena, 
 although primarily deduced from those which are gen- 
 eral ; or, in cases where the waves of the sea have a 
 direct action upon them, as is the case with the broad 
 channel of the Atlantic in its relation to the great 
 water hemisphere, there is often a counter motion, as, 
 for instance, in the Gulf Stream, setting from America 
 towards Europe, in opposition to the great current 
 from east to west, which results from the earth's rota- 
 
190 THE POSITION AND 
 
 tion. All this indicates plainly enough how great 
 effects arise from the relative position of bodies of 
 water to bodies of land, and how the various move- 
 ments of seas, and bays, and gulfs have their share 
 in the influences of the oceanic world. 
 
 These tracts of water, with their ceaseless move- 
 ments and currents, have done something to soften 
 down, especially towards the west, the great separation 
 of the common centre of the land hemisphere from 
 the water hemisphere and the great boundary of shore 
 line already described, and have thus brought Europe 
 into far more immediate connection with the rest of 
 the world than its mere position, aside from communi- 
 cation by sea, would have made possible ; thus, this 
 continent has become more marked than any other, 
 because it unites the advantages of a central position 
 with those of the land lying on the external boundary 
 of the land hemisphere. Similar subdivisions else- 
 where, by channels of water and arms of the sea, 
 greater degrees of isolation, and other situations of the 
 continents, would have awakened influences just as 
 various and just as striking. 
 
 The peculiar division of the land hemisphere into 
 two great masses, known as the Old and the New 
 World, and the subdivision of these into the four 
 continents, has occasioned a most favorable arrange- 
 ment for them to be brought into more close connec- 
 tion than they would be if they were all a solid mass, 
 by the intervention of a coast-line, which is especially 
 advantageous on the northwest shore of the Old World 
 
EXTENSION OF THE CONTINENTS. 191 
 
 and the northeast shore of the New ; — a coast-line 
 whose quickening and enriching influence, far beyond 
 its own immediate self, appears at once when one 
 thinks for a moment of the places which gave a home 
 to the people of the ancient world, — the Phoenicians, 
 Egyptians, Greeks, Carthaginians, the Scandinavians 
 of the North, as well as the more modern races of 
 western Europe and northeastern America. 
 
 Still, an advantageous coast-line is denied to the 
 great mass of the boundary of the land hemisphere ; 
 it is of profit to island groups, but not to those conti- 
 nents which are too remote to present a shore-line 
 easily attainable and made of service by currents and 
 winds for the distribution of races, and of plants and 
 animals, as well as for the diffusion of culture. The 
 perfected art of navigation alone has brought the 
 southern extremities of the earth into the closest 
 relations with us. 
 
 All these great and mutual relations depend alone 
 upon the peculiar arrangement of land and water, or 
 upon that division and grouping of them in reference 
 to the whole surface of the earth already described ; 
 and a long list of general and special phenomena, 
 easily traceable in detail, finds its satisfactory solution, 
 so far as concerns all subordinate characteristics of 
 different regions, in the relations which arise directly 
 from the dimensions of the earth's surface in length 
 and breadth. 
 
192 THE POSITION AND 
 
 III. POSITIONS OF THE SEPARATE CONTINENTS. 
 
 Quite different phenomena have been occasioned by 
 the special positions and extents of the separate divis- 
 ions of the earth in their relation one to another. 
 These new sources of influence are to be discrimi- 
 nated from that general system of action and reaction 
 of which we have spoken, but they work harmoniously 
 with it. 
 
 Europe, the smallest of the continents, surrounded 
 by the others in a broken ring, and Australia, the 
 largest island, surrounded by the open ocean, are the 
 regions which, in the north and south respectively, hold 
 the middle place in the land hemisphere and the water 
 hemisphere, — the continental side and the oceanic side 
 of the globe. This situation gives Europe, in prefer- 
 ence to any other of the continents which are linked 
 together, the right to be called the most continental of 
 all, for it is the highway of all, and the link which 
 eminently unites them all. So the classical soil of the 
 west of hither Asia and the lands of northern Africa 
 have largely affected the world's history, for theirs 
 is a great part of the coasts of the Mediterranean. 
 The influence of this section of the world on the 
 whole course of human culture is confessedly great, 
 and is produced by a combination of causes which 
 can hardly be repeated in any other spot, — an indis- 
 putably favorable arrangement in the elements of posi- 
 tion and form. In any other part of the globe the 
 
EXTENSION OF THE CONTINENTS. 193 
 
 careful student could see in the surroundings, if he 
 looked at them in their analogies, that it would need 
 a longer time, and that greater difficulties and limita- 
 tions must be met, before the needed formative condi- 
 tion should evolve equally perfect results. And so, too, 
 the old strugglings after a higher culture in other 
 places, as in India and China, which, with all other 
 helps, yet lacked the true position for attaining to a 
 development which should embrace the earth, show 
 that as everywhere the unseen only works itself out 
 through the seen,. so the development of the inhabit- 
 ants of the world stands in close relation and harmony 
 with the organization of the earth, to which they 
 directly belong. 
 
 A harmonious and general arrangement of the vari- 
 ous continents of the earth in their relations to light 
 and heat, and to the rising and the setting of stars, 
 has, from the earliest times, awakened the interest of 
 man, and in the course of history has received a va- 
 riety of appellations, which have been in a measure 
 indicative of the characteristics of the continents to 
 which they have been applied, and which can still be 
 used in a wider sense, and one more adapted to our 
 modern needs. From the earliest times, men con- 
 sidered Asia as the land of morning and Europe 
 as the land of evening, and they indicated the con- 
 trast thus conveyed by the terms Orient and Occident, 
 which find their fitting application in all the phenom- 
 ena of these two continents. Between these, more to 
 the south, lies Africa, divided exactly by the equator, 
 
 17 
 
194 THE POSITION AND 
 
 the true south of the globe, which is not to be sought 
 at the south pole, but in the place of greatest light and 
 heat, — the bright midday, to use the old figure, be- 
 tween morning and evening. 
 
 The night side of the earth, in the view of the an- 
 cients, or the broad extents of the land around the 
 north pole, form the true cosmical contrast to these 
 three ; for the south pole, the mathematical contrast 
 to the north pole, is the domain of the world of waters 
 and of oceanic phenomena. 
 
 America forms, in consequence of its remote posi- 
 tion, the entire western arc of the great land circle, 
 and, since Europe has, for all the past, been the Occi- 
 dent of the Old World, and has fulfilled its mission in 
 being the place of transition for the whole globe, 
 America must become the latest goal for the efforts 
 and activities of men, — must be the New World, the 
 land of evening, in contrast to the Old World, which 
 has already become the land of morning. 
 
 None of these historical relations, with the mass of 
 phenomena connected with them, could be shared with 
 Australia, in consequence of its position. Continent 
 though it is in its isolation, it is like an island of the 
 ocean, and seems to be connected with the land hem- 
 isphere merely as the great continental form of the 
 oceanic world. 
 
 To this cosmical arrangement of the continents 
 there correspond those relations of nature and history 
 which are in part displayed in the course of human 
 development. But the position of special places also 
 
EXTENSION OF THE CONTINENTS. 195 
 
 gives rise to subordinate characteristics ; and the form- 
 ative influence which special places have exercised on 
 the development of man and the course of affairs, 
 especially where they have been the field for the most 
 marked transfer of different races across them, is a 
 subject worthy of the most careful study. 
 
 If one looks at the continents in detail, they exhibit 
 in size, length, breadth, shape, and manner of subdi- 
 vision, very diverse characteristics, which cannot be 
 without their influence. 
 
 IV. SIZE. 
 
 That Asia was the largest of the continents, made 
 it and its inhabitants, from the beginning, able to 
 confer rich and diversified gifts upon its western neigh- 
 bors, the continents of less dimensions, without im- 
 poverishing itself, and without over-filling, checking, or 
 disturbing the independent development of Africa and 
 Europe, connected with it as they were by both land 
 and water communications. That Europe was limited, 
 in point of space, in comparison with the more colos- 
 sal continents, favored, unquestionably, the more har- 
 monious development of the nature of its people and 
 governments, and forwarded discovery and coloniza- 
 tion, in consequence of the impetus given to culture 
 and navigation, resulting, first, from its small and man- 
 ageable size, and next, because its great extent of coast- 
 line brought it into immediate relations with the other 
 continents. 
 
196 THE POSITION AND 
 
 The great size of America has united with its insu- 
 lar position to increase its susceptibility for the gifts of 
 the Old World, and with the meagre numbers and 
 the weakness of its aboriginal races to secure its trans- 
 formation, in the course of time, into a Transatlantic 
 Europe, and to make it acquire, in the course of a few 
 centuries, what has been wrought out in Europe only 
 in the lapse of thousands of years. The small extent 
 of Australia leaves a much freer play and larger 
 opportunity for the commerce of the world than would 
 have been the case had a broad and barren Antarctic 
 continent usurped the whole southern regions of the 
 earth, as it was once supposed to do. The unfavorable 
 effects of a conglomeration of lands in the Arctic 
 regions will constantly diminish, in consequence of 
 their really slight extent at the extreme north, and in 
 consequence of their broken and fragmentary condi- 
 tion ; while their position in the ring of continents, and 
 near the centre of the land hemisphere (not in the 
 unattainable middle point of remote seas, but in the 
 neighborhood of the greatest human activities), has 
 exercised an influence over the whole globe by no 
 means conservative, but stimulating and promotive of 
 progress. 
 
 The mere element of size, and, indeed, every physi- 
 cal element, will everywhere become more and more 
 subordinate as civilization advances, and as art gains 
 renewed and unresisted mastery over nature. 
 
EXTENSION OF THE CONTINENTS. 197 
 
 V. EXTENSION IN LENGTH AND BREADTH. 
 
 The continents are widely various as regards length 
 and breadth. Africa and Australia are more equal in 
 these respects, and therefore their remote interior 
 becomes extremely difficult of access on all sides. 
 America is unequal in the highest degree, in conse- 
 quence of its vast range from north to south, com- 
 pared with the distance from east to west, and so in its 
 most narrow part — the part, too, most open to access 
 from the sea — it was easily mastered by the power of 
 invaders. At its broad extremities, that is, in the 
 northern portions of North and South America, it 
 exhibits similar phenomena to those which Africa and 
 Australia exhibit at their very centre. Asia in itself, 
 and still more with its continuation, Europe, has, on the 
 contrary, its greatest length from east to west ; and in 
 the contrast between these two old and closely united 
 continents lies the foundation of their intimate con- 
 nection and reciprocal action in all natural phenom- 
 ena and all the affairs of history. 
 
 Lying in unbroken connection, these two continents 
 cover more than a half of the circumference of the 
 earth, a space of more than two hundred degrees of 
 longitude. The distance from north to south is, on 
 the other hand, very much less. In Asia, which lies 
 wholly north of the equator, it does not embrace a 
 quarter of the distance around the earth, and in Eu- 
 rope not a sixth ; while the united length of both, from 
 east to west, is about one half of the circumference of 
 the globe. 
 
198 THE POSITION AND 
 
 America's extensions are precisely the reverse ; from 
 north to south it spans nearly one half of the earth, 
 while its measurement from east to west is much 
 less, not amounting to much over a fifth. The two 
 worlds stand, then, in these regards, in entire contrast ; 
 and the results which these conditions have brought 
 about cannot be thought slight and unworthy of 
 notice. 
 
 America extends through far more zones of the 
 earth than Asia ; its special countries are characterized 
 by far greater climatic differences, — reckoning numeri- 
 cally, by double as many ; for Asia has not, between 
 the equator and the polar circle, more than half 
 the changes of climate that America has. Therefore 
 America suffers from greater climatic extremes in its 
 special countries. Asia, with greater variety of sur- 
 face, has yet a greater climatic unity. This great dis- 
 tinction between the eastern and the western worlds 
 would have given rise to a sharp contrast between them, 
 were it not for some circumstances which soften it, as, 
 for example, the existence of the great range of the 
 Cordilleras, running from north to south. Yet wide 
 differences in all productions, as well as in the ethno- 
 graphical character of races, must result from this cli- 
 matic diversity, and all the more in proportion to the 
 small progress which human culture has made in over- 
 coming, by art and civilization, the hindrances which 
 nature interposes. The greater climatic unity of 
 Asia has conditioned and favored a marked common- 
 ness of results, a greater uniformity in man, and, with- 
 
EXTENSION OF THE CONTINENTS. 199 
 
 out taking the advance of navigation into account, 
 the closest union of its nations, and the largest ex- 
 change of their manners, customs, ideas, and religions. 
 It was comparatively easy for the early races of Asia 
 to pass from the greater climatic unity of a common 
 home to the climatic diversity of the world, and divide 
 themselves up in their new possessions. But they had 
 in all their divisions and wanderings, at least so far as 
 is known to us, no contrasts to encounter which were 
 great enough to be destructive ; they could go forth 
 in search of kindred climates and surroundings ; the 
 Old World displayed to. them, in the most favorable 
 light, its immense area from east to west. It was, 
 therefore, in this direction that, in the eastern conti- 
 nent, the great stream of life and culture set ; and Asia 
 was more perfectly prepared for this course of progress 
 than any other great division by reason of its vastness, 
 for it could supply the needs of wandering races and 
 tribes as well as of those which should be permanently 
 settled. 
 
 VI. THE CONFORMATION OF THE CONTINENTS AND THEIR 
 BROKEN OUTLINE. 
 
 In our treatment of the general and broader charac- 
 teristics of the continents, we have yet to consider 
 them in respect to their conformation and their broken 
 outline. 
 
 In these regards, Africa presents the simplest forms ; 
 it is distinguished palpably from the other continents 
 
200 THE POSITION AND 
 
 by its almost insular position, connected as it is with 
 western Asia by a mere strip of land, and that proba- 
 bly of recent formation, the isthmus of Suez. In its 
 close and compact form, and very regular coast out- 
 line, it resembles an ellipse, although its diameters 
 are of about equal length, and although the climatic 
 features are nearly the same on both sides of the equa- 
 tor, advancing as far as the thirty-fifth parallels of 
 north and south latitude. Having no great sea inlets, 
 its entire circuit is only about seventeen thousand miles 
 in extent, and is the simplest coast-line of all the con- 
 tinents. Africa has, therefore, in spite of its insular 
 position and its great area, relatively the shortest, as 
 well as the most uniformly regular and simple coast of 
 all the great divisions of the earth, and in consequence 
 of this meagre outline its interior has the least contact 
 with the ocean. 
 
 Asia, washed only on three sides by the sea, unites 
 with Europe in the formation of a common trunk, and 
 thus completes the vast range of territory extending 
 from east to west. Its eastern and southern coasts 
 abound in far-projecting peninsulas and half-insular 
 forms, which are all to be regarded as the more or less 
 scattered limbs of an immense body. From the penin- 
 sulas of Tschuktschen and Kamtschatka, round the 
 continent, over Corea, China, the two Indias, Arabia, 
 and so west to Asia Minor, these projecting forms, 
 wholly wanting to Africa, embrace a vast extent of 
 territory ; and even the Siberian coast, although in 
 itself considered small, and especially unfavorably sit- 
 
EXTENSION OF THE CONTINENTS. 201 
 
 uated, is more extensive and more provided with sea 
 inlets than the whole shore-line of Africa. Yet there 
 remains, notwithstanding, in the interior of Asia a 
 district, very large and broad, which is not brought in 
 contact with the seas that partly penetrate the conti- 
 nent, and which so greatly modify all things within 
 their reach ; and this inner district is the true trunk 
 of the whole. This central portion does, indeed, pre- 
 ponderate in respect to area over that included in all 
 the projecting peninsulas ; but Africa is a trunk with- 
 out any limbs. The great influence of so large and 
 complex a coast upon the wealth and the variety of all 
 natural gifts is evident at a glance ; its entire shore- 
 line has promoted, in consequence of its projections 
 and indentations, not only individuality, but also an 
 increase of influence, with reference to Asia and the 
 rest of the world besides. 
 
 Europe, the smallest of the three continents of the 
 Old World, is, in its superficial form, the most varied 
 and rifted and divided up of all. Its most remarka- 
 ble characteristics are its broken form, and the indi- 
 viduality, not only of its coast outlines, but of the 
 countries which these inclose ; for its main body, 
 which, long though it is from east to west, is yet rela- 
 tively very small, diminishes constantly in breadth to- 
 wards the west, and is divided by numerous arms of the 
 Atlantic into several peninsulas of greater or smaller 
 size, some of which again are subdivided in the same 
 way, as, for instance, the very peculiar and remarkable 
 conformation of Greece, which seems to have reached 
 
202 THE POSITION AND 
 
 the last degree of complexity in its coast outline. Not 
 only on the east and south, like Asia, but also, and in 
 as marked a degree, on the north, this subdivision of 
 Europe goes on, so that there its projecting forms, rela- 
 tively to its whole area so great, inclose, in entire con- 
 trast to the northern coast of Asia, two large inland 
 seas, — the North Sea and the Baltic. As the result of 
 this marked characteristic of Europe, its shore-line, 
 measured in all its sinuosities, is of very great length. 
 The area of its inclosed seas is equal to nearly half of 
 its true territory. Although its superficial contents 
 are three times smaller than Africa, yet the extent of 
 its coast is far greater, — more than 24,000 miles, — 
 twelve times the length of the land boundary between 
 itself and Asia. The shore-line of Asia is, indeed, 
 about a third loliger than that of Europe, nearly 
 32,000 miles ; but the area of Asia is more than four 
 times greater. Thus Europe is the continent with the 
 greatest relative coast-line, and with the most varied 
 conformation of the lands which lie on its outer limit ; 
 it is, therefore, the continent most approachable of all 
 from the sea. 
 
 In the conformation of Europe we arrive at the most 
 perfect and equal adjustment of the fixed and fluid 
 forms to one another which we meet on the globe, 
 divested of the prejudicial effects which would have 
 been produced had it been wholly instead of partially 
 divided, and had it consisted of widely sundered 
 islands instead of mutually connected peninsulas. We 
 have an opportunity to observe this from a district of 
 
EXTENSION OF THE CONTINENTS. 203 
 
 nearly equal area, — the island group of Sunda, south- 
 east of Asia. Here the division is perfect ; every 
 member stands apart from the others ; and, through 
 too great a subdivision, we have the exact contrast to 
 Africa, which has no subdivision at all. Of course two 
 such extremes must work in exactly contrary ways, 
 and entirely unequally, and yet they both constrain 
 alike the progress of man ; and in these isolated islands 
 he can, at best, arrive only to the stage of development 
 which one continent or one shore might attain, and 
 never enjoy the benefit of the reciprocal action of con- 
 tinent upon continent and of shore upon shore. We 
 find a proof of this as an actual result in the condition 
 of the Malay race. But Europe enjoys not only its 
 large extent of sea-coast, but also its central position 
 in the land hemisphere, and, in brief, all the advantages 
 which nature can give to help it realize this remarka- 
 ble fact, that the smallest continent should be the field 
 for the greatest deeds of history, and that the smallest, 
 too, should gain the mastery of the whole. 
 
 As to Africa, we cannot speak of the relation be- 
 tween the members to the main body of the continent, 
 for these members are there wholly wanting ; in the 
 absence of favorable forms, none of its coasts have 
 received in a high degree those diversities and abun- 
 dant resources which the shores of the other conti- 
 nents present ; the natives of Africa form, in compar- 
 ison with the inhabitants of other divisions of the 
 globe, a very uniform group of nations, and, in conse- 
 quence of their limited and purely continental rela- 
 
204 THE POSITION AND 
 
 tions, are left far behind. Asia is much partitioned 
 up by sea inlets, and in the southeast and south is it 
 especially divided into the richest and largest peninsu- 
 las, every one of which offers in itself a world of phe- 
 nomena. We seek them in China, farther India, Hin- 
 dustan, Arabia, and Asia Minor. But the seas which 
 form these peninsulas do not penetrate and bring a 
 kind of individuality into the heart of the great cen- 
 tral body. This vast extent stretches away in a colossal 
 mass ; the area of the members in comparison with 
 the whole of the continental form ever seems to shrink. 
 The relations between nature and man have displayed 
 themselves in the most diversified and special manner 
 in the various members of the continent ; far more 
 uniform has been their manifestation in the centre, for 
 there the vast intercepting mass of land has been the 
 main cause of preventing the attainment of results 
 which contact and intercommunication and the ex- 
 change of gifts and forces could give. Thus central 
 Asia ever remained severed from its own border-lands. 
 In Europe the mutual relations of the various parts of 
 the continent have been entirely different ; for in Asia 
 the area of the members to the main body of the con- 
 tinent is as one-fifth to four-fifths, while in Europe it is 
 as one-third to two-thirds. Thus in Europe the mem- 
 bers have a far wider significance in their relation 
 to the body, and they have become of paramount 
 influence in consequence of their diversified forms. 
 Europe always narrows as it approaches its penin- 
 sulas, and its central portion is a means of connect- 
 
EXTENSION OF THE CONTINENTS. 205 
 
 ing their branches. Thus the influences of sea and 
 coast are felt through the entire continent : no other 
 grand division of the earth resembles it in this. Its 
 interior countries are brought almost to the shore, 
 and enjoy all the activities and advantages of the 
 shore. The historical development of Europe, of its 
 peoples, and states, is in harmony with its geograph- 
 ical conditions. Not alone through its half-sundered 
 peninsulas, but through its wholly sundered islands, 
 the coast of Europe has been especially enriched ; not 
 through the mass of distant, scattered islands, which 
 properly belong to no continent, but to the sea alone, 
 but through the signal greatness and number of the 
 neighboring islands which follow the coast-line, and 
 which are to be regarded as continuations of the con- 
 tinent. These islands increase the number of its mem- 
 bers two or three fold. 
 
 To Africa islands are almost wholly wanting ; the 
 south coast of Asia is so largely bordered by them, 
 that that labyrinth, of which the isles of Sunda are 
 merely the most level group, has no special action upon 
 the continent, and exists as a world in itself. 
 
 In Europe, where the areas of the main body, its 
 peninsular forms, and its islands stand in the relation 
 of 2, 1, 4tsi the significance and value of the last being 
 special, it is manifest that there is such a rifting and 
 dividing up of the main body as to make it especially 
 accessible to neighboring countries. 
 
 America alone remains to close this series of brief 
 observations, for it, in a certain manner, completes the 
 
 18 
 
206 THE POSITION AND 
 
 circle of continental forms, — reaches the limits of the 
 possible varieties in conformation, by repeating in 
 itself the contrasts of the Old World, and bringing 
 them into union and harmony. Entirely unlike Africa, 
 America is divided by an inland body of water, the 
 Gulf of Mexico, into a double continent, whose bond 
 of connection, the isthmus of Panama, though in 
 itself not narrow, is utterly inconsiderable compared 
 with the great land masses which it connects. Its 
 small size operates to make it rather a barrier between 
 the two countries than a connecting link, and only by 
 the agency of the intermediate oceans are North and 
 South America brought into that close relation which 
 is needful for the development of nature and the 
 unfolding of history. 
 
 In connecting these two widely separated continen- 
 tal forms, the great central island group which Amer- 
 ica exhibits plays an important mediatorial part ; at 
 any rate, it has done so since the discovery of that 
 group, and its being opened to navigators and adven- 
 turers. The two great bodies which are separated by 
 the Mexican Gulf have many features in common, 
 — their greater breadth at the north, their constantly 
 increasing narrowness towards the south, a triangular 
 form, like that of Africa, repeated in both North and 
 South America. There is, also, in consequence of 
 this regular outline, a diminution of the length of 
 coast in America, and in this regard South America 
 stands next to the simplest of all the continents, 
 Africa, which however it is in other respects unlike, 
 
EXTENSION OF THE CONTINENTS. 207 
 
 on account of its entirely different hydrographical 
 and orographical features. North America exhibits a 
 greater diversity in its outline, favored as it is with 
 a very broken shore on the side of the Atlantic. 
 The vast bays and inland lakes, which penetrate so 
 deeply into the heart of North America, give it a 
 great advantage over northern Asia, and create for it, 
 well watered as it is at the south and supplied with 
 inland lakes, easy and perfect accessibility, and impart 
 to it great resemblance to Europe, notwithstanding the 
 nearness of its northern regions to the pole. The sim- 
 ilarity of climate aids in completing the resemblance 
 between North America and Europe ; and thus the 
 New World — having the extent which it enjoys, having 
 its position on the globe, having the favorable advan- 
 tage of broken shores and an extensive coast-line — 
 seems destined to become a second Europe within a 
 short lapse of time, and to plant civilization at the 
 most northern regions of the earth. 
 
 If, from these observations on the conformations of 
 the continents, it appears that to the features which 
 we have briefly indicated progress and individual 
 development are in great part to be ascribed, and if 
 the outlines of a systematic arrangement are discerni- 
 ble in what we have advanced, it will follow that all 
 the remaining phenomena are not independent of this 
 systematic arrangement, or connected with it in a 
 loose and indefinite way, or antagonistic to it, but that 
 they are all conditioned by it and related to it in a 
 fixed and ascertainable manner. 
 
208 POSITION AND EXTENSION OF CONTINENTS. 
 
 But the complete action of all the forces of nature, 
 in special and in general relations, cannot be discerned 
 by any one-sided view of them. The extents of the 
 earth's surface, measured horizontally, are only one 
 side of what we have to study. To a complete view 
 of the earth as a whole, and of its parts, there is 
 needed the study of vertical dimensions, which are 
 the complement of horizontal dimensions, and which 
 condition them in a hundred ways. A view of both, 
 and an application of both to the development of 
 forms, relations, and laws, alone lead to a comprehen- 
 sive view of the earth, to a clear understanding of the 
 influence of nature upon history, and to a true system 
 of geographical science. 
 
REMARKS 
 
 ON 
 
 FORM AND NUMBERS 
 
 AS AUXILIARY IN REPRESENTING THE 
 
 RELATIONS OF GEOGRAPHICAL SPACES. 
 
 [EIEBT READ BEFORE THE ROYAL ACADEMY OE BERLIN.] 
 
 18* 
 
REMARKS ON FORM AND NUMBERS 
 
 AS AUXHIAEI IN REPRESENTING THE 
 
 RELATIONS OP GEOGRAPHICAL SPACES. 
 
 [DELIVERED JANTJART 17, 1828.] 
 
 I shall venture to communicate now, in a desultory 
 manner merely, a few remarks, the digested results of 
 which would be more worthy of presentation here, if, 
 at the present time at least, the means were not 
 wanting for the attainment of such results. And, in 
 truth, efforts made under very disadvantageous circum- 
 stances to lay out for one's self a scientific path 
 through new and unexplored regions, demand of the 
 judgment a measure of leniency, while the very effort 
 is of some service in aiding the acquisition of means 
 to lead us to valuable results. 
 
 In a former paper it was my effort to reach the basis 
 of the relations which spring from the position and the 
 superficial divisions of the continents, and to develop 
 those relations in reference to the entire surface of the 
 earth. This could only be done in broad and rough 
 lines, whether in reference to the collective forms and 
 
212 FORM AND NUMBERS IN THEIR 
 
 the more general subdivisions of the surface of the 
 globe, or in reference to the course of history. 
 
 But should the application of these general relations 
 lead us back to an instructive method of considering 
 every special country, and of studying its people, and 
 bring to clear view the share of every district in the 
 collective circle of its influences, it would be neces- 
 sary, it seems to me, in order to make these relations 
 intelligible, that the auxiliaries of form and numbers 
 should both be employed, and in a way hitherto but 
 little used. 
 
 We call to our aid the auxiliary of form, in the use 
 of well known geometrical figures, to bring into view 
 before the mind, without the employment of measure- 
 ments, the characteristic to which we would give prom- 
 inence in the portion of the earth at any given time 
 under our consideration. The right use of geomet- 
 rical figures, and their intelligent application to the 
 study of geographical forms, should be largely brought 
 out in a scientific treatise, in order to conduct the 
 student, in a very simple and direct manner, to well 
 defined conceptions. He may be securely led to new 
 applications of these figures, and thus to a constant 
 succession^ of new views, which shall exhibit in the 
 distinctest manner whatever features of the earth's 
 surface are capable of representation in geometrical 
 forms. 
 
 This use of geometrical figures was a long time 
 since introduced into botanical science with very great 
 advantage, and, while it has imparted clearness to it, 
 
RELATIONS TO GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 213 
 
 it has been not at all wanting in accuracy. But in 
 geographical science this coadjutor has, with very few 
 exceptions, and those mostly of a light and playful 
 sort, not been brought into use, because people have 
 hitherto been content with the old-fashioned descrip- 
 tions, and have made no attempt to reach scientific 
 results, or even to grasp the central idea on which all 
 special phenomena rest. In a method wide enough 
 and consecutive enough to embrace the great system of 
 countries that cover the globe, this use of geometrical 
 figures, applied to superficial surfaces of very compre- 
 hensive or subordinate size, would lead to a clear view 
 and definite comprehension of the earth's surface ; pro- 
 vided only and always that these geometrical figures 
 were not arbitrary and imaginary, but plainly existing 
 in nature, and expressing natural forms, as in a math- 
 ematical formula. How speedily would such a method 
 lead geography to entirely new phases, and rid it, 
 whether in its elementary or in its scientific forms, of 
 the vast mass of mere undigested descriptions which 
 only burden the mind with endless details. And it is 
 just because these materials have not been brought 
 into system, and still lie in this crude state, that geo- 
 graphy is yet in its rudimentary condition, and that 
 the scholastic works and the treatises for schools are all 
 in their primitive form. The free and full application 
 of geometrical progress to this science would lead, as 
 may easily be seen, to a reconstruction of it, to greater 
 breadth of scope, and to a thorough digestion into a 
 systematic shape of facts now loose and burdensome. 
 
214 FORM AND NUMBERS IN THEIR 
 
 In the preceding paper the attempt was made to pnt 
 to some use geometrical figures in the establishment of 
 those general relations which spring from the grouping 
 of the continents, their position on the earth, their 
 respective length and breadth, their configuration, and 
 brokenness or unbrokenness of outline. 
 
 This application of geometrical figures would lead 
 to a clearer view, and therefore to a speedier and surer 
 comparison of special countries, as well as to greater 
 brevity and exactness in geographical terminology, 
 because a geometrical outline conveys at a glance what 
 it would take many sentences to describe. But in 
 order to reach a more perfect conception of geograph- 
 ical forms, since geometrical figures are only partially 
 exact, not strictly coinciding with the outlines of 
 countries or continents, here falling short, here hav- 
 ing an excess, we must designate the countries which 
 overrun or do not come up to the limits of the figure 
 taken as the basis by the -f- and — signs. This sim- 
 ple arrangement proves very convenient and service- 
 able. 
 
 In the application of geometrical forms in the man- 
 ner just indicated, we should find that some countries 
 were measured by the square, as Spain and the Pelo- 
 ponnesus ; others by the rectangle, as Thessaly and 
 Epirus ; others by the circle, the ellipse, the triangle, 
 the pentagon, and so forth : that these things meet the 
 eye at a glance, and that this variety of contact with 
 the surroundings gives immediate and perceptible 
 occasion to direct results. Yet it is not easy, it must 
 
RELATIONS TO GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 215 
 
 be confessed, to reach, in the generality of instances, 
 the geometrical figure which best expresses geograph- 
 ical forms, because the number and size of the irregu- 
 larities prevent the observer from imagining its base 
 type in his mind, and reaching that pure outline on 
 which depend, however, a great many important things, 
 — the climate, the productions, the river systems; 
 these all have much more intimate relation with the 
 geometrical figure which is the type than with the 
 -f- and — excesses or fallings off from it. 
 
 After the analogies had been carefully traced be- 
 tween different countries and geometrical figures, it 
 would be time to advance to deviations from the base 
 types, peculiar as they are in the case of every separate 
 district. Even in the individuality of these deviations 
 does every country show that it has a specially desig- 
 nated place for itself, and for its peculiar productions, 
 surroundings, and relations. The two great triangu- 
 lated countries of North and South America (to speak 
 only of the largest), when brought into contact with 
 the triangle of hither India and the south half of 
 Africa, will offer, upon careful consideration, points 
 of resemblance, and yet again points of difference ; 
 they will at the same time show many other features 
 less studied, in respect to size far inferior, but in 
 which everything dependent upon conformation is 
 subjected, though in less degrees, to the same general 
 laws and influences. 
 
 In this way there will result from the use of geomet- 
 rical forms as the types of geographical configuration 
 
216 FORM AND NUMBERS IN THEIR 
 
 certain classes and classifications, which, in reference 
 to the type and the deviations from it, allow of a sharp 
 scientific statement of the relations and characteristics 
 which spring from the entire class, from the subordi- 
 nate divisions, and from individual members. 
 
 This making intelligible and bringing into subjec- 
 tion of the varied, unwieldy, and almost unmanageable 
 mass of material, by the simple employment of the 
 element of form, seems to be the great improvement 
 of the age in geographical science, which has always 
 remained in the rear of her sister sciences of natural 
 history ; and so continues to-day a vast helpless mass, 
 of very little service in the instruction of schools, or 
 for yet higher needs, and whose very ponderousness 
 and shapelessness has prevented her being reduced to 
 compact and useful forms. 
 
 These geometrical figures are not only applicable in 
 this broad way to the different continents and their 
 natural or arbitrary subdivisions, but they may equally 
 well serve to clearly indicate other characteristics of 
 the earth, such as tracts of water, mountain and pla- 
 teau districts, plains, lowlands, wastes, fruitful spots, 
 connected forests, regions watered by river systems, 
 grain lands, mineral locations, and the like ; and here, 
 where there is not palpable regularity, but only an 
 approximation to the coincidence of geographical con- 
 figuration with geometrical form, the deviations may, 
 as before, be designated by the + and — signs. 
 
 This second manner of applying geometrical figures 
 to the other characteristics of a country besides mere 
 
RELATIONS TO GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 217 
 
 extent, is, as may at once be seen, more difficult than 
 the first, which merely embraces the relations of space 
 and distance. The first would only presuppose a pure 
 geometrical statement, to enable one to discern in the 
 best existing maps and charts the simplest figures 
 which would express the outline of any given coun- 
 tries. By applying a geometrical figure in this way, 
 the maximum and minimum of deviation from it 
 in the protrusion of peninsula formations would be 
 instantly apparent. Thus Europe, to cite the most 
 irregular of all the continents, the one which is the 
 least congruent with a geometrical figure, and which 
 is in this respect characteristically unlike the other 
 grand divisions, would in a general view present itself 
 as an immense right-angled triangle, with the shortest 
 line from north to south, in the direction of the Ural 
 as the basis, for a distance of about fourteen hundred 
 miles. The right angle would fall at the Caucasian 
 isthmus, not far from the mouth of the Volga. The 
 next larger side would be that of the Mediterranean, 
 from Astracan westward through all Europe, to Ba- 
 yonne, more than twenty-three hundred miles ; and the 
 hypothenuse would pass from there northwards by the 
 North Sea, the Baltic, and Archangel to the sources 
 of the Ural, a distance of over twenty-eight hundred 
 miles. The space embraced within this triangle would 
 comprehend by far the greater part of the continental 
 mass of Europe, about two-thirds of the whole, (two 
 millions five hundred thousand square miles, the whole 
 being three millions seven hundred and sixty-seven 
 
 19 
 
218 FORM AND NUMBERS IN THEIR 
 
 thousand), and outside of it would lie the three pen- 
 insulas towards the south, Greece, Italy, Spain, and 
 at the north, Scandinavia. Thus one-third of the 
 whole would lie outside of the inscribed figure, and 
 this third would be characterized by relations quite 
 unlike those of the main body of the continent. In 
 this case, while there would be much excess beyond 
 the figure used as the norm, there would be few places 
 where the measure would come noticeably short. The 
 use of this figure is plainly valuable in helping to ob- 
 serve a large number of relations which are dependent 
 upon the essential unity of the continental surfaces, in 
 contradistinction to the contrasts produced by land 
 and sea, or that which might be called the contrast 
 between the body and members of the continent. In 
 respect to the relations of temperature and the wind 
 systems, in so far as they are dependent upon the 
 configuration and position of the country, the name 
 of the European climatic triangle properly pertains to 
 it, and, in fact, has been recently applied by a French 
 writer. What is true of temperature and wind sys- 
 tems, and their relation to the geometrical form of a 
 country, will be found true of many other influencing 
 agents. How instructive would it be always to have 
 at easy command in this way a very simple and yet 
 universally intelligible expression for action and reac- 
 tion in comparative geography, and thus to indicate, 
 in a word, the natural home of the various families of 
 beasts and plants, of peoples, and whatever else might 
 need expression. The bearings of this upon what may 
 
RELATIONS TO GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 219 
 
 be technically called the qualitative relations, in dis- 
 tinction from quantitative relations (and by the term 
 quantitative I mean all the conditions which result 
 from extent, by the term qualitative all other condi- 
 tions), can only be traced after a very careful prelim- 
 inary acquaintance with the workings of nature ; but 
 after such an acquaintance it becomes at once apparent, 
 as in an instructive and in every view masterly and 
 comprehensive sketch of the outlines of South America, 
 contained in the fifth part of Alexander Yon Hum- 
 boldt's Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the 
 New World, which has so greatly enriched geographical 
 science. From the grouping of geometrical figures 
 according to quantitative and qualitative relations, 
 with all that is subordinated to this arrangement, the 
 briefest expression would arise for the characterization 
 of continents, countries, special tracts, provinces, dis- 
 tricts ; in short, a statement in brief, as a substitute 
 for the general and unreliable descriptions which, in 
 consequence of the constant repetition of the same 
 principles, make geographical science diffuse and 
 tedious, and thus inflict upon it serious injury. Nor 
 does it need prolonged remarks to show what a ready 
 means of characterizing arbitrary political divisions is 
 also found in the same method, if they be regarded 
 as readily determined sections of these geometrical 
 figures. 
 
 From the employment of form for the more correct 
 and profitable comparison of different countries, we 
 pass to a large and important use of numbers, to aid 
 
220 FORM AND NUMBERS IN THEIR 
 
 in grasping another set of the relations of geographical 
 districts to one another, and getting full and accurate 
 knowledge of them. We shall not introduce, as is so 
 often done in books of statistics and geography, that 
 misuse of numbers which always creeps in where 
 more stress is laid upon mere facts expressed in the 
 numerical form than upon the relations which they 
 indicate. We shall employ numbers solely and strictly 
 for the determining of fixed and definite relations. As, 
 in descriptive botany, figures and numbers indicate the 
 different parts of a plant, as, for instance, stamens, 
 pistils, glands, calyx, corolla, leaf-incisions, stem 
 divisions, manner of flowering, and rootlets, and 
 give a clear conception of all the qualities of the 
 plant, and the relative place which it occupies in the 
 vegetable creation, since all these things are but ex- 
 ponents of all the causes which condition it ; so, in the 
 formation of every natural division of the earth, there 
 is a large number of physical relations capable of 
 numerical expression, all of them essential to a 
 true conception, none of them of indifferent worth 
 and accidental position, like so many things thrown 
 together at hap-hazard, but which are so regular and 
 so needed that in them can be seen the general prin- 
 ciples which control the separation, connection, and 
 grouping of similarly conditioned tracts, wherever 
 they occur. 
 
 The numbers thus used will either indicate horizon- 
 tal and vertical extents, and thus rest upon measure- 
 ments in square miles, miles of length, and feet above 
 
RELATIONS TO GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 221 
 
 and below the sea level, or they will be the state- 
 ment in numerical form of matters directly kindred to 
 these. 
 
 Measurements have already come into general use 
 for the expression of certain relations, at least ; com- 
 monly those of political divisions. And yet, for a true 
 system of scientific geography, the statement of the 
 area of political divisions does not suffice ; that of the 
 divisions marked out by nature itself, and expressed 
 by geometrical figures, must be first ascertained in 
 square miles, that such tracts may judged in their true 
 relation to the entire globe. Hitherto no efforts have 
 been made to ascertain any areas, excepting those of 
 the continents, and of political states, — and these, 
 indeed, are not without value, — but we ask in vain 
 for the statistics of the size of natural divisions, as, 
 for example, how large the right-angled triangle which 
 is inscribed in Europe is, in proportion to the projec- 
 tions from that continent, and the seas, gulfs, straits, 
 wholly or in part inclosed within it by means of these 
 projections. And whence arises that varied share 
 which these geographical forms, seas, gulfs, and straits 
 have respectively had, and still have, in the powerful 
 influences which they exert upon the entire continent ? 
 In what relative magnitude do the great and the small 
 peninsulas stand to each other, to the islands which 
 belong to them, and to the vast continental domains 
 untouched by the sea ? In what numerical relations 
 can we estimate the area of the great and well-watered 
 river basins ; of the regions lying between them, poor 
 
 19* 
 
222 FORM AND NUMBERS IN THEIR 
 
 in streams or wholly unwatered ; of the coast lands, 
 which are traversed by the short rivers characteristic 
 of the shore, and which, therefore, are quite other- 
 wise related to the sea than the central continental 
 districts which are watered by important streams and 
 their branches ? We look in vain to find the area in 
 square miles of fruitful plains, of great grain districts, 
 of morasses, of peat bogs, of sand wastes, of heaths, of 
 mountain regions ; only here and there have natural 
 features been subjected to measurement, and the rela- 
 tive areas ascertained of lakes, arable lands, forests, 
 and meadows. Valuable as it is, for some statistical 
 purposes, that we learn such facts as these, no less 
 advantageous would it be for all historical and geo- 
 graphical ends that we ascertain such data as those 
 alluded to a moment since, in order to be able to deter- 
 mine and compare, in tabular form, -the varied influ- 
 ences of physical forms on countries and people. This 
 would be a comparatively easy task, because such facts, 
 having to do with inanimate and fixed forms, do not 
 partake of that constantly changing character which 
 marks the movements of men. After ascertaining the 
 limits of the natural divisions of the earth, even if in 
 an incomplete way, the various changes which past 
 centuries have witnessed in the boundaries of states, 
 the movements forward and backward of those boun- 
 daries in ancient and modern times, the diffusion of 
 nations and of languages, the progress of culture, and 
 many other like things, could be established and indi- 
 cated in a more precise way. A great mass of valua- 
 
RELATIONS TO GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 22o 
 
 ble historic relations could be indicated, for which lan- 
 guage would otherwise have no fitting expression. 
 Take, for example, the relation existing between the 
 life and occupations of men, and the characteristics of 
 the earth's surface where they live, and which supports 
 them. Observe the people of the sea-coast, the peo- 
 ple of the mountains, the dwellers on continental ara- 
 ble land, whether grain-producing or not, and see how 
 great a share the nature of the soil on which they live 
 has in determining their political states ; see how mutual 
 is the action and reaction, and what varied results flow 
 from it in all the countries of Europe. Such topics as 
 these, of wide and manifold relations, have been sub- 
 jected to the severest investigations, and their principles, 
 when ascertained, have been stated in those well known 
 modern works, which have opened a new era in histori- 
 cal, geographical, and statistical sciences as connected. 
 We will refer only to Malthus' Essay on the Princi- 
 ples of Population : London, 1803 ; Dupin's standard 
 works on Great Britain and France (Force maritime, 
 militaire, commercielle et industrielle de la Grrande 
 Bretagne, Yol. in., 1824 ; Forces froductives et com- 
 mercielles de la France, Vol. n., 1827) ; and on Italy 
 the classical researches of Lullin de Chateauvieux, 
 QLettres sur Vltalie, Yol. I., where he treats of agricul- 
 ture). Not unimportant would it be, in reference to 
 every country of the world, be it great or small, to be 
 able to speak in the same manner with which Hum- 
 boldt commences his description of South America : 
 " South America is one of those great triangular- 
 
224 FORM AND NUMBERS IN THEIR 
 
 shaped masses which constitute the three continental 
 divisions of the southern hemisphere ; of the area 
 which it embraces, 6,560,000 square miles, the fourth 
 part, 1,640,000 square miles, is covered with moun- 
 tains which lie in ranges or groups ; the other three- 
 fourths are plains, of which four-fifths lie east of the 
 Andes. The mountainous region, one quarter of the 
 whole, is so divided, that somewhat over one-third 
 forms the great chain of the Andes on the west. More 
 than one-third of this chain, measuring by superficial 
 area 577,400 square miles, lies above the snow-line ; 
 nearly two-thirds, 862,600 square miles, never reaches 
 the snow-line, and lies mainly upon the east side of 
 the Andes," etc. The more simple the results from 
 very intricate conditions as here, so much the more 
 instructive. At once there are evolved from such clear 
 exhibitions of relations the differences and contrasts of 
 other regions in an entirely different way than from de- 
 scriptions. The student is led on to further researches 
 into their peculiarities, as, for example, the mutual rela- 
 tion of the three great mountain systems of the world, 
 the Andes of America, the Himalayas of India, and the 
 Alps of Europe, as ascertained from their areas and 
 their most important dimensions. Through this method 
 of study and criticism, he is led from these masses to 
 see the nature of all elevations, to learn how countries 
 are watered, to discover the constituents of soils, their 
 mineral wealth, the extents of flora, of fauna, of na- 
 tions, of political divisions and their resources, the num- 
 ber of roads over mountainous tracts, of passes through 
 
RELATIONS TO GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 225 
 
 them, and of settlements upon them, and thus to bring 
 them into a true and complete relation with all their 
 surroundings and the whole earth. This method 
 of treatment is almost unknown, even in our best 
 descriptive works. 
 
 The final use which we make of measurements and 
 of computations embraced in geometrical figures, 
 and in the districts which can be considered as large 
 or small, according as the point of view may demand, 
 and according as they are regarded absolutely or rela- 
 tively, — the final use of measurements is to sum up 
 together a number of geometrical forms, i. e. to gain 
 the aggregate of areas, in order to draw a general 
 principle from them, to analyze them as a mass, to 
 subdivide them and treat them historically, physi- 
 cally, or politically, in order to get at whatever may be 
 peculiar to each, and thus to reach the minor charac- 
 teristics of the parts which compose the great whole. 
 Merely to indicate a few such will be for the present 
 sufficient to show the diversity and the abundance of 
 such analysis. We only name these : the varied con- 
 figuration of coast, the effects of river systems, and 
 the relations of medium heights to the loftiest moun- 
 tains and the depressions which stand in direct con- 
 trast with them. Other examples we shall not need 
 to cite. 
 
 The relations induced by coast configuration depend 
 upon the length of shore-line, upon the superficial con- 
 tents of the area inclosed by the surrounding seas, 
 roughly represented as it is by a geometrical figure, 
 
226 FORM AND NUMBERS IN THEIR 
 
 but more exactly expressed by the application of the 
 + and — signs to those sides of the figure which over- 
 run or fall short. There is for every assignable place 
 a possible maximum or minimum of intricacy in the 
 configuration of its outline, from the most simple out- 
 line of such continents as Australia and Africa, advanc- 
 ing to the favorable conformation of the shores of Asia 
 and America, on to the intricate configuration of Eu- 
 rope, and its radical division into trunk, members, and 
 isolated, dissevered fragments. There is met even such 
 an extent of coast as to be a superabundance, where 
 the word continent is a misnomer, where there is such 
 a complete dismemberment by the intervention of the 
 sea, that the combined periphery of the islands thus 
 formed is equal to the coast-line of a continent. This 
 is the case with the Sunda group, which has a total 
 shore-line nearly equal to Europe. To a less extent, 
 the same principle holds good down to the smallest 
 groups. The relation of the extent of coast to the 
 area is a prime element in the establishment of a mar- 
 itime character, whether in the largest or the smallest 
 continents. We have, in previous parts of this work, 
 showed, that although Europe is threefold less than 
 Africa in area, yet it has a much greater extent 
 of shore, 24,685 miles, — the distance around the 
 world, — while Africa has but 17,300 miles of coast. 
 Asia, with five times the . territory of Europe, has but 
 32,000 miles of shore-line. These continents, thus 
 widely unlike in respect to the extent of trunk, mem- 
 
RELATIONS TO GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 227 
 
 bers, and isolated parts, or islands, correspond, briefly 
 stated, to these numbers : — 
 
 Africa, 
 
 Main body. 
 1 
 
 Peninsulas. 
 
 
 Island 
 
 50 
 
 Asia, 
 
 4 - 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 Europe, 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 ih 
 
 When one considers how dependent upon the coast- 
 line are the contact of the sea with the earth, and the 
 whole vast variety of their mutual activity, influencing 
 both animate and inanimate nature ; when one thinks 
 how the conformation even of countries has been con- 
 ditioned by it, and how the various groups of elevations 
 and depressions have received from it their boundary 
 lines, their grades of ascent and of descent, and their 
 absolute distance, whether upwards or downwards, and 
 that all these results appear in the smallest peninsulas 
 and islands, as well as in the largest continent ; when 
 one considers all this, it will be confessed to be a 
 matter of the greatest geographical interest to judge 
 the coast-line always and everywhere in reference to 
 the area to which it belongs, — to the land boundaries, 
 to the country enclosed, and to every other feature ; to 
 grasp by numbers, computations, and measurements 
 whatever relations they may disclose, and apply them 
 as auxiliaries in every direction that may seem desira- 
 ble. More than this ; these numbers and computa- 
 tions ought to have a place in every delineation of the 
 surface of the earth. Only then would appear every 
 advantage possessed by countries by the sea, in their 
 
228 FORM AND NUMBERS IN THEIR 
 
 relative gain from winds and currents, in their config- 
 uration, in their ease and safeness of approach, and in 
 their supply of harbors ; and only then should we have 
 all the data which we need to estimate rightly the rela- 
 tion of countries washed by seas and oceans, to the 
 people who inhabit them. 
 
 In like manner, by the application of measure and 
 number, the form of territory watered by rivers can 
 become very serviceable in the study of those districts 
 which are usually the home of culture and the seat of 
 organized political states, if the principle that under- 
 lies all relations comes clearly into view, and is made 
 more conveniently available for scientific comparison 
 than mere description allows. The various river sys- 
 tems of the earth have been entirely neglected thus 
 far as to the marked peculiarity and individuality of 
 form which appear in the plainest manner among the 
 largest of them, and are capable of being seen in all. 
 And yet this is a feature too prominent to allow us to 
 forget on what foundation geographical science must 
 stand that it may not suffer to lie unused one of the 
 greatest means at our command for its enrichment. 
 
 In every description of a country the rivers are 
 mentioned because they water it, and some scattered 
 remarks are added ; very rarely are details given re- 
 garding their rate of fall, the source as it is of move- 
 ment in their current, or regarding their depth and 
 navigableness, the source of their usefulness ; and yet 
 all such details might be exhibited in tabular form 
 with great fulness. There do, indeed, exist treatises 
 
RELATIONS TO GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 229 
 
 on the length of rivers from their source to their 
 mouth, in which an attempt has been made to supply 
 existing wants, and to ascertain the significance of 
 streams, by presenting their length in tabular form, 
 arranged in the order of relative magnitude. Among 
 the most valuable of these are some measurements of 
 Buache (1752), from which, however, he himself, as 
 well as his followers, neglected to draw any useful 
 inferences. (Essai d'un Parallele des Fleuves de 
 V Europe.) But it was seen, notwithstanding, that here, 
 as everywhere, there was in the phenomena of coun- 
 tries watered by rivers a close interior union, which 
 would not be arbitrarily broken without being utterly 
 lost. Yery diverse features of the river systems had 
 to be grouped in their mutual dependence at once, if 
 the student would be led directly to a comparison of 
 their characteristics, and to the true meaning of every 
 detail in its connection with the economy of nature 
 and the course of history. The relations of extent, 
 which form the basis of all relations, and which, be- 
 cause essential to the highest wants of science, must, 
 in the case of all leading streams, be first established, 
 are more or less closely connected with the depression 
 and elevation of the surface. The first one of these 
 is the distance, in an air-line, from the source of a river 
 to the mouth ; the absolute fall is to be traced in the 
 result of this measurement. The second is the max- 
 imum distance from source to mouth, following the 
 bendings ; in this is seen the tract of the intervale land 
 which has gradually accumulated. The third is the 
 20 
 
280 FORM AND NUMBERS IN THEIR 
 
 area of the river basin, embracing all the valleys of 
 tributary rivers ; or, stated in other words, the area of 
 the entire surface which is indebted to a river system 
 for being watered and enriched in manifold ways, and 
 thus fitted for its place in influencing the human race. 
 By being studied in reference to these three points, 
 every river system assumes its true shape, allows all 
 that is peculiar in itself to appear, and is itself formed 
 by the combination of most diverse features. In follow- 
 ing this method of research, it becomes possible, and at 
 the same time greatly conducive to the furtherance of 
 a scientific treatment in extended descriptions (needed 
 in their proper place to complete our conception), to 
 draw from a comprehensive view of relations such 
 observations as can become a basis for all future teach- 
 ing and investigation, but which, unless established by 
 scales of magnitudes, would not become a part of true 
 science. A few examples will suffice to exhibit this. 
 The river Volga, measured from source to mouth, is 
 at least two thousand miles in length ; the Danube 
 seventeen hundred, — about one-eighth shorter ; while 
 the Rhine is only eight hundred miles long, or about 
 half the length of the Danube. Thus it may be seen 
 that these European rivers, looked at in their relative 
 length, do not vary widely from the proportions 3, 2, 
 1 . But looked at in reference to the district which 
 they water, the proportions change to 8, 4, 1 ; since 
 the basin of the Volga, which is of nearly the same 
 size as the Nile valley, embraces an area of about six 
 hundred and forty thousand square miles ; that of the 
 
RELATIONS TO GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 231 
 
 Danube three hundred thousand, and that of the 
 Rhine only seventy-five thousand six hundred. Looked 
 at in reference to the fall of the rivers, as it is com- 
 monly called, together with the many phenomena which 
 spring from this source, the proportions again mate- 
 rially change ; for the sources of the Rhine lie eleven 
 thousand feet, those of the Danube three thousand 
 three hundred, those of the Volga one thousand two 
 hundred feet, above the level of the sea. These pro- 
 portions continue, not seriously changed, throughout 
 the entire length of these rivers. Yet their general 
 course is widely unlike, being southeast, east, and north- 
 west ; and, in consequence of their different situa- 
 tions in Europe, all the varieties of their attendant 
 climate, seasons, high water, and productiveness are 
 essentially modified. Simple as seem the lines on our 
 maps that indicate the river courses, yet the greatest 
 diversity appears in their influences, when first their 
 relations are more carefully settled, and are grasped 
 in a single conception. How much more complete is 
 the result for the investigation of the whole, as well 
 as of details, if the student take note in this manner 
 of all the most important elements which manifest 
 themselves. 
 
 The six most important streams of Europe which have 
 a marked nearness in their course and in the place of 
 their termination, are the Kuban, Don, Dnieper, Bug, 
 Dniester, and Danube. Herodotus long ago wondered 
 at the fact that the mouths of rivers so large and so long 
 should lie in Southern Russia, in a land of not over 
 
232 FORM ÄND NUMBERS IN THEIR 
 
 four hundred miles in width, between the Kuban from 
 Causasus and the Danube from Hungary. Among 
 these six, the Danube is the most important ; but next 
 to the Danube is the Dnieper, whose whole valley is 
 three times that of the Rhine and Elbe combined, 
 — two hundred and thirteen thousand three hundred 
 square miles. The entire length of the Dnieper, inclu- 
 sive of curves, is nine hundred and seventy-eight miles ; 
 while its distance, as the bird flies, from source to 
 mouth, is six hundred and twelve ; the mere bendings 
 adding about four hundred and fifty miles to its 
 length. The result of this sinuous course is the en- 
 largement of the relatively extraordinary extent of the 
 district that it waters, the number of branches which 
 run into it, and the great fruitfulness and variety of 
 the surface where it leads its lingering way. Its neigh- 
 bor on the west, the Dniester, ]:>ursuing a course also 
 towards the southeast, and through a very similar tract 
 of country, yet displays entirely different characteris- 
 tics. It is, indeed, less in size, and yet it is not in this 
 that the great reason lies which occasions so many 
 different relations. The shortest distance from the 
 source of the Dniester to the mouth is three hundred 
 and eighty miles ; its entire course, inclusive of all 
 bendings, is only four hundred and forty miles ; its 
 sinuosities do not, therefore, prolong its course more 
 than one-sixth of its length, as the bird flies. The 
 district which it waters, considered relatively to its 
 length, is very small ; we might almost say, insignifi- 
 cant — thirty thousand square miles ; about half that 
 
RELATIONS TO GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 233 
 
 of the Rhine, and about equal to that of the Tagus. 
 The low place which this river takes in the important 
 hydrographical system of Eastern Europe appears not 
 only when it is compared with its important neighbors, 
 but also when compared with rivers not in themselves 
 remarkable. From the fact that its course is so nearly 
 straight arises the dependent fact that the area of 
 territory watered is relatively to the length of the river 
 the smallest known. Since it is so uniform in its 
 course, and runs through a narrow strip of land ex- 
 tending from northwest to southeast, it lacks to a great 
 extent the variety which tributary streams effect ; hardly 
 disturbed as yet even by the boats of explorers, it re- 
 mains without interest, having little to confer upon 
 geographical seien ce, and having no history which it 
 would be useful to unfold. 
 
 In striking contrast with this is the Vistula, the 
 largest river that empties into the Baltic, constituting, 
 with the Danube, the Elbe, and the Rhine, the four 
 most important streams of Central Europe. In size, 
 the Vistula stands in the general hydrographical sys- 
 tem of the globe next to the Rhine, — between the Elbe 
 and the Rhine. The direct distance of the mouth of 
 the Vistula from its source is three hundred and 
 twenty-nine miles ; the length, including curves, five 
 hundred and sixty-two miles ; the windings them- 
 selves, therefore, occupy two hundred and thirty-three 
 miles, or more than two-thirds of the entire length of 
 the river. Tins accounts for the extent of the coun- 
 try that the Vistula waters. The shortest length of 
 20* 
 
234 FORM AND NUMBERS IN THEIR 
 
 the Oder, that is, measured as the bird flies, is the 
 same as the Vistula ; but its winding is far less, only 
 about ninety miles, and, therefore, it waters a tract 
 far less in magnitude than the valley of its neighbor 
 on the east. The Elbe is a much longer river, meas- 
 ured by the bird's course, than the Vistula, it being 
 three hundred and eighty-four miles ; but the territory 
 which it waters is relatively less. The Rhine in both 
 of these respects surpasses the Vistula in absolute 
 magnitude ; the direct distance from source to mouth 
 is about four lumdred and fifty miles ; its length, 
 inclusive of windings, is about six hundred and 
 seventy-two miles ; but the sinuosities do not consti- 
 tute two-thirds of the whole, and are, therefore, rela- 
 tively inferior to the Vistula. This detracts a little 
 from the greatness of the otherwise majestic Rhine, 
 and the result of this circumstance is, that the terri- 
 tory watered by both is almost equal. The diversity, 
 too, in the rate of descent in rivers introduces another 
 new element, and demands attention in every hydro- 
 graphical system ; for this also gives rise to new con- 
 trasts, and occasions still other characteristic points 
 of individuality to each river. 
 
 But we pass over an enlarged consideration of this, 
 for our object is to show briefly how the application of 
 form and numbers conducts us to the principle that 
 underlies all geographical relations. Without this 
 new employment of form and numbers, this grand 
 principle would be unobserved ; but with its use we 
 reach a clear method of expressing what could hardly 
 
RELATIONS TO GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 235 
 
 be expressed before, and attain that systematic state- 
 ment which geographical science has so long needed, to 
 enable its votaries to reduce into orderly arrangement 
 the vast mass of confused materials. 
 
 To the third point referred to above, the relations of 
 mountains of medium height to those of the loftiest 
 altitude, we need only allude briefly in passing, because 
 the very fruitful results of one eminent naturalist, who 
 has carefully studied the structure of mountains and 
 mountain chains, have been presented in his various 
 treatises upon the ranges of India and in his journey 
 to the equinoctial regions of the New World. That 
 relation of mere height, which used to be exalted into 
 a matter of prime importance in studying the charac- 
 teristics of mountains, and which in the Pyrenees, 
 Alps, Cordilleras, and Himalayas, is expressed in the 
 series 1, 1^, 2, 2-J, has withdrawn into the background, 
 and now the ridge itself, taken in its average or rather 
 its ordinary height, is thought to give a more complete 
 and true idea of its characteristics, and, by being stud- 
 ied in a wider range of view, the height of the highest 
 peaks is regarded as a single and subordinate element. 
 This method is illustrated by the following brief cate- 
 gory of relations, — relations which are just and real, 
 and far more worthy of thought than those of isolated 
 peaks. The general altitude of the Andes is the same 
 as that of the highest mountains of the Pyrenees ; the 
 general altitude of the Himalayas is the same with 
 that of the highest of the Alps ; the range of the Alps 
 is almost equal in its general altitude to that of the 
 
236 FORM AND NUMBERS E* THEIR 
 
 Pyrenees ; they are slightly distinguished from each 
 other by the superior height of individuals of the 
 Alpine range. It will be easily seen that the study of 
 the minimum elevation of great mountain chains 
 reveals the available passes and places of transit ; here 
 is a fresh point to which a great number of facts join 
 in new relations, and here is a germ whence results 
 distribute themselves over entire continents; in its 
 application to the making of charts, many vertical 
 measurements of heights and depths become a rich 
 and fruitful object of study. 
 
 These heights exhibited in tabular views from baro- 
 metrical and other measurements, give a basis for 
 generalizations and comparisons, which are convenient, 
 and will ultimately be serviceable. We have intro- 
 duced these remarks on the relations of vertical and 
 other dimensions only as an index of the manner in 
 which other relations should be viewed. 
 
 These remarks on the use of form and numbers, as 
 tributary to the expression of many relations which 
 otherwise would be difficult to make clear, may suffice, 
 although the number might easily be extended, to 
 show how much might and must be done in this 
 direction, not only for the furtherance of geography 
 as a science, but also to facilitate the communication 
 of its results, before both scientific advance and the 
 clear imparting of what science sh&ll gain shall be 
 promoted, as they should be, and shall take the high 
 place that this new method will enable them ulti- 
 mately to win. 
 
 As the ascertaining of these relations, although re- 
 
RELATIONS TO GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 237 
 
 quiring no extraordinary exertions, would yet demand 
 a patient survey of the best materials at hand, and a 
 great number of observations made with this end in 
 view, and as time and means for this are not at the 
 command of every one, the question has recently been 
 agitated, in consequence of the somewhat antiquated 
 character of the maps published by the Academy of 
 Berlin, whether the former progress in this department 
 should not be still sustained, and the number of im- 
 proved elementary auxiliaries be still enlarged. And 
 it has seemed not unsuitable to undertake, in a manner 
 easy of realization, and yet worthy of the Academy and 
 of the needs of science, to assume anew this service, 
 and to secure its accomplishment. With the materials 
 now at command, there might be gradually formed a 
 work which, while it should embrace all the relations 
 that geography makes known, should also grasp the 
 central principles of all systems of relations, reach 
 the common ground on which they all, greater and 
 smaller, rest, and present its results in mathematical 
 expression. The clearest ascertainment of the weighty 
 relations of the earth's surface to all departments of 
 historical and physical, as well as natural and geo- 
 graphical, science, would be the first care, and the 
 discharge of this ought to devolve upon a geometri- 
 cian well acquainted with the entire body of details 
 necessary for the successful preparation of maps. He 
 should be supported by all the auxiliaries which could 
 ensure success to the undertaking. The second care 
 would be to display scientific results in the clearest 
 manner, and so combined as to be applicable to all 
 
238 FORM AND NUMBERS. 
 
 uses, meeting the needs alike of physics, natural his- 
 tory, geognosy, botany, history, and geography. To 
 accomplish this, general charts, tables, and special 
 maps should be employed, for these agencies serve best 
 to display the relations with which the study of the 
 earth's surface makes us acquainted. The third duty 
 would be to follow this thorough scientific preparation 
 by giving a better form to the text-books of our schools, 
 and thus to establish the real difference between the 
 general chart or the reduced form, which, in conse- 
 quence of its diminished size, has the appearance of a 
 copy, and the special map or the real copy. Through 
 these combined means, geographical science, as taught 
 in our schools, would enter upon a new course, and, 
 instead of being mere description, would become an 
 organized system, marshalling its rich materials into 
 orderly arrangement, and showing constant capacity 
 of advancement. 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORICAL ELEMENT 
 
 IN 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE 
 
 [FIRST READ BEFORE THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF BERLIN.] 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORICAL ELEMENT IN GEOGRAPHICAL 
 SCIENCE. 
 
 [DELIVERED JANUARY 10, 1833.] 
 
 The geographical sciences have to do especially with 
 the earth's surface as related to the natural kingdoms, 
 and as made up of forms. Therefore, their province 
 is to describe the mutual relations of districts near 
 together, in their special as well as in their most gen- 
 eral phenomena. In this they are distinguished from 
 the historical sciences, whose province is to portray 
 events in their sequence, and to unfold, investigate, 
 and exhibit their development in all relations, inner 
 and outer, general and special. Both classes proceed 
 from plain and positive details which stand side by 
 side, or from occurrences which follow each other in 
 the order of time. Yet they soon pass to more hidden 
 relations, which have at first to be measured by geom- 
 etry and chronology, but for which the standard soon 
 fails in the world of thought, as well as in the physical 
 world. Meantime, the inner laws of nature, as well 
 as moral principles, come into yet plainer view, and 
 both classes of sciences, geographical and historical, 
 21 
 
242 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT 
 
 at length attain their highest results. These results 
 are, the action of physical relations and laws upon the 
 combinations and the standards of thought. Thus 
 both classes of sciences link into philosophy. 
 
 We have to keep constantly in mind that there is 
 such a truth as the contemporaneous existence of 
 things, as well as their chronological sequence. The 
 science which embraces the affairs of place can just 
 as little do without a measure of the order of events 
 in point of time, as the science which embraces the 
 affairs of time can dispense with a theatre of observa- 
 tion where those affairs can be brought before the eyes 
 of men. History demands such a theatre for its own 
 development ; it must, whether it declares the need or 
 not, have a geographical department, — a field where it 
 may display its events ; it must give a prominent posi- 
 tion to that science which concerns the places where 
 events occur, whether in the writings of such men as 
 Thucydides and Johannes Mueller, who open their 
 works with a broad geographical survey, or in the 
 writings of Herodotus, Tacitus, and other masters in 
 this department, who give geographical delineations 
 in the course of their historical progress, and by way 
 of illustration ; or, again, in the writings of such as 
 only tinge their works with geographical tints, as it 
 were. In the philosophy of history, as Leibnitz and 
 Bacon have outlined it, and as Herder has carried it 
 into fulfilment, the bearing of geography has of course 
 a doubly conspicuous place. 
 
 But, on the other hand, geographical science can 
 
IN GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 243 
 
 just as little dispense with the historical element, if 
 it wishes to take rank as embracing all the relations 
 of extents on the earth's surface, — not as an imper- 
 fect and partial thing, the mere frame and rafters of 
 a structure, but the whole perfected dwelling itself, 
 comely, shapely, and in every part complete. 
 
 A kind of blind, unreasoning consciousness of this, 
 as well as the clear sense of some want, has, there- 
 fore, always linked geographical and historical science 
 together ; and the geographers, from Hekatceus, Dikcear- 
 chus, and Strabo on, have gained their richest harvests 
 on the field of history, while the Oriental nations, the 
 Arabians and Chinese in special, have given their 
 geographies a strikingly historical tone. The Euro- 
 peans impressed upon theirs, in the middle ages, an 
 ecclesiastical stamp ; in modern times, a political stamp. 
 But a modern school, freeing itself from these old ways, 
 has imagined that a transition is at hand to a wholly 
 new method of grasping the essential nature of this 
 science that assumes so many protean forms. 
 
 If now this new reform, beginning with Buache's 
 Physical Atlas and Gatter er 's brief sketch of Geogra- 
 phy, should be carried by its advocates to its logical 
 results, there would arise, from this casting away of 
 the whole historical element, a merely physical geogra- 
 phy, which, however completely it might be worked 
 out, would yet signally lack one part of geographical 
 science, if that science is to embrace a knowledge of 
 the earth in all its relations. The poverty, and to a 
 certain extent the stiffness, which at once took away 
 
244 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT 
 
 the life of geographical study as soon as history was 
 eliminated from the text-books, that the purity of 
 geography might be increased, were all the more re- 
 markable, inasmuch as these compends did in no wise 
 penetrate physics deep enough to compensate by thor- 
 oughness for the rejection of history. In order to pro- 
 ceed more securely, their authors ought to have ban- 
 ished the geometrical and arithmetical element from 
 their pure science. &ot satisfied with the results of 
 frequent and oft-recurring contests, which have had 
 signal influence upon elementary as well as more 
 advanced scientific instruction, and which have flooded 
 our literature with manuals more or less useful, with- 
 out giving a single geographical compend which could 
 satisfy a high scientific demand, there are those who 
 have gone, as is so often the case, from one extreme 
 to another. Not satisfied with pure geography, they 
 came back so far as to see the historical side in its 
 higher significance as related to science, and they hoped 
 to give their books more interest and a higher tone, 
 and adapt them better to elementary as well as scholarly 
 uses, by interfusing . a portion of history. As people 
 used to be subject to the delusion of regarding that 
 as military geography wherein roads, bridges, battle- 
 fields, and fortresses are indicated, or that as political 
 geography wherein the external features of the state 
 are arranged side by side, or summed up in a tabular 
 view, so they believe that the trunk of geographical 
 science would be ennobled if it were grafted with 
 various shoots of history. To accomplish this, appeared, 
 
IN GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 245 
 
 after many old attempts, Schacht' s Manual of Ancient 
 and Modern Geography for the use of under classes, a 
 work in which to every description there is added a 
 brief historical summary, which either embraces in- 
 structive anecdotes, or takes a comprehensive review 
 of facts. In the account of the Grisons, there is a 
 sketch of the Rascians from the earliest times ; in the 
 account of the Rhine district there is given an abstract 
 of the history of the Swiss Republic, the battles of 
 the ancient Romans and Franks on the banks, and the 
 outlines of the history of the Netherlands ; — excellent 
 subjects, generally worked out in an instructive, some- 
 times even in a spirited manner. So, after the an- 
 nouncement of a new geography for the higher classes 
 of our advanced schools, appeared the work of a very 
 painstaking scholar, Yolger, in which every paragraph, 
 be the subject lands or people, cities or mountains, 
 sketches the history in the briefest outlines, with the 
 description of the subject as it appeared in ancient, 
 early, and modern times. To this work, as to the one 
 last mentioned, there cannot be denied a certain use- 
 fulness ; and yet, without ignoring the good which both 
 books, written by personal friends of my own, include, 
 and not wishing to approach these and kindred works 
 in too critical a spirit, it must be confessed that no sci- 
 entific progress has been made in consequence of them, 
 and that from them cannot come any true gain for 
 that method which in no point, from the rudiments on 
 to the completed outline, fails to display a scientific 
 unity. 
 
 21* 
 
246 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT 
 
 That science can never stand which refuses help 
 from other sciences, and which will not be linked with 
 them in that chain which unites all true sciences, and 
 makes them one ; and so, too, a science which lacks an 
 inner germ, which might be devolved into rich and 
 abounding life, can never come into contact with, and 
 make fruitful, other sciences, but will remain dead and 
 ineffectual, and no human power can waken it into 
 activity. Lacking an inner vital germ, it can never 
 be an agent in giving generous culture to the human 
 mind, and would have no place in the circle of con- 
 structive sciences. 
 
 Geographical science could, by virtue of the nature 
 peculiar to itself, only arise from the scattered observa- 
 tion of places remote from each other sometimes, and 
 always in a manner isolated. It naturally joined with 
 this, to a certain extent, historical phenomena, whether 
 occurring in the lives of individuals or of nations, 
 whether in the career of kingdoms or states, but not 
 in the sense of phenomena taken collectively, but sep- 
 arately, and without note of sequence and arrange- 
 ment in them. After so false a course, a long time 
 was needed before the one great end of geographical 
 science could be seen, — the grasping of a conception of 
 the earth as a whole, and the getting at what may be 
 called its essential nature. The task to be done was 
 to get away from mere description to the law of the 
 thing described ; to reach, not a mere enumeration of 
 facts and figures, but the connection of place with 
 place, and the laws which bind together local and gen- 
 
IN GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 247 
 
 eral phenomena of the earth's surface, ut cum eventis 
 causce cojmle?itur, to use Lord Bacon's words. The 
 whole course of historical events is intimately inter- 
 woven with the vast geographical field that embraces 
 all the forms of the globe, and whose wide-reaching 
 domain, taking in, as it does, the whole of the produc- 
 tions, life, material, and resources of the earth, is like 
 the most variegated piece of mosaic. 
 
 What then is the task imposed upon geography, in 
 its work of analysis, but to reach the connection which 
 exists between parts ; or, in other words, to get at the 
 relation between places and what fills and occupies 
 them ? This leads us to, — 
 
 Firstly : the arithmetical relations, or those of aggre- 
 gates, distance, and size. 
 
 Secondly : the geometrical relations, or those of 
 conformation and situation. 
 
 The material itself of the earth's surface is our 
 study ; not as mere material in its nature^ composites, 
 and forces, for these fall under two other sciences, 
 physics and chemistry ; but according to its diffusion, 
 its length and breadth and thickness, — matters which 
 the two sciences just named hardly touch. We have, 
 of course, to treat of those things which result from 
 all the combinations of geographical forms in their 
 diffusion, and thus we are led to matters of aggregates, 
 distance, and size, and also to those of configuration 
 and situation. Man cannot be regarded as dissociated 
 from those things which cover the earth and occupy 
 space. He belongs to the earth, and to the three natu- 
 
248 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT 
 
 ral kingdoms, the mineral, the vegetable and the ani- 
 mal, having, by virtue of his material form, character- 
 istics found in all of these. And yet man, whether 
 regarded as an individual or as having collective, 
 national existence, is not bound to one spot as are the 
 members of the three natural kingdoms ; still he is 
 very much modified by his surroundings, both in his 
 physical and intellectual nature. Thus it results that 
 the effects of situation, however great they may be, 
 upon the inanimate world as well as upon living forms, 
 and the spiritual development in special of human 
 beings and nations, of the whole human race indeed, 
 is an important part of the themes which fall within 
 the province of geographical science. But, though 
 laws do not change, the elements which make up the 
 earth's surface are in constant change. All the sur- 
 roundings which condition life are in never-ceasing 
 flux and reflux ; obeying the great promptings of the 
 earth, they manifest a constant movement and advance ; 
 they are all obedient to great and harmonious laws of 
 progress. But man, although following the laws of 
 development which have their home in his soul, yet, so 
 long as he is a creature moving upon the surface of 
 the earth, is brought into conflict with the unceasing 
 movement of his surroundings. And thus reflex 
 influence of place upon the life of man, and the mould- 
 ing of the human race, physically and spiritually, be- 
 come the crowning task of geographical science. 
 
 The field of geography, which at the outset seems to 
 embrace all the domain of human knowledge, and 
 
IN GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 249 
 
 which, after it has been shown that its work is not to 
 explore the depths that lie below the earth's surface, 
 but to confine itself to the diffusion of the forms upon 
 the surface, even then in its rank richness has not 
 attained the most abundant fruit, seems now to be 
 sufficiently well marked out to prevent him who tills 
 it from wandering into neighboring domains, — well 
 enough known to have force and time spent upon the 
 kernel, instead of being wasted upon the shell. 
 
 It is the observation of the whole which gives us the 
 measure of the parts. And now that we have spoken 
 in another place of the numerical and geographical 
 relations of various places, and of their forms accord- 
 ing to their horizontal extents, we would add some 
 further observations in explanation of that which, in 
 place of mere anecdotes, seems to be, in a general sense, 
 the historical element in geographical science. We do 
 this, not so much in view of exalting the significance 
 of this expression, as not to lose sight of it, as is too 
 often done. 
 
 And since a protracted treatment of this subject is 
 not practicable, we shall be compelled to gather some 
 details from the entire body of facts, in order to ren- 
 der our theme the more intelligible. 
 
 Places, times, and forms, in their special features, 
 in all that relates to themselves alone, do not change 
 in their value ; they always remain one and the same. 
 But in their relation to the earth, viewed as the habi- 
 tation of the human race, they do change their real 
 
250 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT 
 
 value and significance with the progress of centuries. 
 The contents of the globe have to be regarded as alter- 
 ing from age to age, from decade to decade. For if, 
 to use Humboldt's expression, man creates new means 
 for himself, in order to penetrate further into the 
 earth's crust and the sea's depths, and with the most 
 exact instruments to extend the field of his senses, 
 ascertaining the temperature at the bottom of the 
 ocean, studying the unknown components of the soil 
 and the waters, examining the salt basins, the strata 
 of earth and of water, and all that pertains to them, 
 by means of the thermometer, the sounding appara- 
 tus, the pendulum, deep-sunk wells, and the like, what 
 else can occur than that the various localities on the 
 earth's surface take entirely different relations from 
 what has been the case, in the light of a dwelling-place 
 for man ? And just in proportion as, by means of the 
 barometer, the hygrometer, and other instruments of 
 measurement, as formerly by the telescope, astrolabe, 
 and other discoveries of the ingenuity of man, the 
 field of human observation and sympathy has been 
 widened, in the same measure has the outer world 
 been brought nearer, and the relations of man to the 
 globe which he inhabits changed. 
 
 And not only the regions above and below the sur- 
 face, but also those lying in all directions, have been 
 transformed by this chain which links the entire earth 
 together ; whether by improved instruments, such as 
 those just named, or by scientific advancement, or 
 by that spread of the human race over new lands, 
 
IN GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 251 
 
 flourishing, as well as animals and plants, in a change 
 of climatic conditions, and bringing within the range 
 of civilization regions which have before been untrav- 
 ersed, — the remote shores within the polar circles, the 
 loftiest mountain heights, the solitary islands of dis- 
 tant seas, formerly utterly unknown as the habitations 
 of men. What once lay beyond human reach now has 
 not only a reality to us, but lies accessible, and regions 
 once remote come daily more within our reach and 
 the circle of our intercourse. 
 
 The contents of the earth's surface are distributed 
 into two forms, — the fixed and the fluid. With the 
 separation of the immovable forms one from another, 
 correspond, as complementary to it, the differences 
 which exist in all the fluid or movable forms, snch as 
 seas, oceans, as well as the atmosphere. The fluid or 
 movable forms have double relations, — those of space 
 and those of time ; of the space in which they move 
 -and act, and of the time during which they move and 
 act_ Their motion and change of place are again of 
 two kinds, — either according to mechanical and chem- 
 ical laws, as is the case in the diffusion of the impon- 
 derables, heat, electricity, and magnetism, in whose 
 course of working cause and effect are so closely 
 brought together as to seem undistinguishable and 
 coincident ; or the motion is more palpable, as in the 
 case of bodies obeying broad and comprehensive laws, 
 — the winds, tides, oceanic currents, the atmosphere 
 in its ever-varying phenomena, and meteors ; and, in 
 general, all bodies in immediate connection with these 
 and dependent upon them. 
 
252 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT 
 
 To these mere blind and mechanical motions, utterly 
 irresponsible for any connection with human wills 
 or human intelligence, there are joined the uses to 
 which man reduces them, compelling the agents of 
 nature into obedient service. Thus, the use of sails 
 and steam is but an application of these appliances 
 to the broad fields and spaces which the world offers ; 
 and nearly all the means which man employs to facili- 
 tate his ease of passing from place to place are 
 coincident with helping forces of nature. And not 
 only are the parts of the earth united in a close 
 and intimate connection, by the application of human 
 intelligence to the elements which the earth furnishes, 
 constraining them into service, but the history of these 
 triumphs of man's science becomes inwoven in the 
 same field, and our interest is drawn to that gradual 
 mastery which mind has won over nature, and the past 
 and the present are seen as the links of a never-ending 
 chain. 
 
 Although many natural occurrences, such as volcanic 
 eruptions, earthquakes, and floods, have caused great 
 and rapid changes on the face of the earth, yet they are 
 not the agents which are the most effectual, and which 
 have the largest share in reorganizing the surface of 
 the planet ; there are slow yet surely working causes 
 which are more deeply seated and powerful. Their 
 results are recorded in history, but they themselves are 
 not seen in the course of their action. In the progress 
 of centuries the earth has been completely transformed 
 in its outward relations. We might call the discovery 
 
IN GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 253 
 
 of this truth the grand dowry of our race for future 
 ages. It teaches man to view the earth as the house in 
 which he lives, sustaining the same relation to him 
 that the body sustains to the soul. The earth, viewed 
 in this light, has a progress and a growth no less truly 
 than the child, who is led on from youth to the full 
 development of his physical strength and mental 
 powers. And when the time of this progress and 
 growth has become well advanced, and the earth has 
 reached a kind of maturity, the proper season has 
 come for tracing connections and dependences, for 
 grasping the whole range of physical facts. Man's 
 task, in viewing the earth, becomes like the farmer's, 
 as he familiarizes himself with the lands which he cul- 
 tivates. Thus, even in the time of the Phoenicians, 
 the Indian Orient seems to have been brought near to 
 Western Europe. During the life of Columbus, a new 
 half of the globe, whose existence had been suspected 
 but not ascertained, and -which was not even suspected 
 to be within any moderate distance, was wedded, as it 
 were, to the other half of the globe. The southwestern 
 half of the oceanic world, the Australian archipelago, 
 with its thousands of scattered islands, has within 
 little more than half a century been united, in terms 
 of considerable intimacy, with the northeastern and 
 continental part of our globe. And thus the various 
 regions of the earth, formerly widely separated, have 
 been so closely brought together as to promote civ- 
 ilization, benefit science, extend the productions of 
 human industry, and to exercise, in consequence, a 
 
 22 
 
254 THE HISTORICAL ELEMEXT 
 
 perceptible influence upon the history, politics, and 
 general culture of nations. 
 
 In the effects of what we may briefly designate the 
 historical element upon the physical changes of the 
 globe, lies the difference which exists between geogra- 
 phy and astronomy. Geography points out the joint 
 relations between the different parts of the globe ; 
 astronomy treats of the earth as a planet, and dis- 
 cusses the laws which connect it with the universe. 
 Geography has to do with telluric formations ; astron- 
 omy, with those grand principles which are absolute 
 and universal. The unchanged distance of the planets 
 one from another, and their constant courses in their 
 orbits, have undergone no variation since the reigns of 
 the followers of Sesostris, excepting a progression of 
 the signs of the ecliptic. But the distances on the 
 earth's surface, which at first sight would seem equally 
 fixed and constant, have been largely changed, and 
 the distance of India from Egypt in the days of Beren- 
 ice was reduced one-half during the reigns of the 
 Ptolemies, when Hippalus made use of the monsoons 
 in crossing the Indian Ocean ; and how much nearer 
 yet have the Indies been brought to the western 
 world by the application of human science and skill 
 in bringing the forces of nature into obedient service. 
 
 Geography differs from the various branches of the 
 natural sciences in this : that, while they are all de- 
 voted to the same general theme, the so-called natural 
 sciences discuss special laws and forces and organiza- 
 tions of matter, while geography has to do with all 
 
IN GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 255 
 
 that promotes human agencies, the capacity of passing 
 from place to place, the compelling of all the elements 
 to be the servants of man in his work of taking pos- 
 session of the globe. The universe remains, therefore, 
 like Deity, unchanged ; the forces of nature as exhib- 
 ited upon the surface of the globe, in their combina- 
 tion, action, and results, remain also unchanged ; they 
 are only better understood now than formerly. Solo- 
 mon and Aristotle described only a few compared with 
 those now known, and since their days the uses to 
 which men subject nature have largely increased. 
 
 But in a historical point of view, that is, in the view 
 which makes the earth the habitation of man, it has 
 undergone radical changes. Yet, in the broadest sense, 
 it is true that the globe has been subjected to little 
 modification. For, unable to renew itself by any pro- 
 cess, as its organic forms reproduce themselves by 
 propagation, placed as a whole beyond the action of 
 chemical or magnetic forces, it attained, as crystalline 
 forms do, its perfect consummation in the moment of 
 its creation. The globe, regarded in its unity, could 
 not be changed, as its component parts can be, nor 
 could it be subject to decay or dissolution. It held, 
 and always has continued to hold, the same relations 
 to the universe as other planets, and, like them, it 
 has not been subjected to changes which we might call 
 cosmical or universal in their character. Only by be- 
 coming the theatre of history has it become subject, 
 in a certain sense, to the laws of change, and made sub- 
 ject to mechanical and intellectual forces. 
 
256 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT 
 
 And yet the earth, as made up of subordinate parts, 
 is subject to changes, many of them deep-seated and 
 radical. The heavings of earthquakes, the eruptions 
 of volcanoes, the workings of a gradual dissolution and 
 of chemical forces, have not been without their influ- 
 ence on the configuration of the globe. Even the 
 places of greatest inequality have not remained un- 
 changed ; many such rough formations have been 
 reduced, and have been converted even to the uses of 
 men, making the highways sometimes for the world's 
 traffic. Masses of material whose uses have been dis- 
 covered have been drawn away from this place, or 
 accumulated at that, such as humus and peat ; many 
 like substances have now lost their claim of being 
 found only in certain limited regions. Many organic 
 forms, on the other hand, have entirely disappeared, 
 or their number has been materially reduced. We 
 see this in the groups of petrifactions found in lakes 
 and swamps and streams, in the displacement of wild 
 by cultivated floras in Egypt and Lombardy, the dis- 
 appearance of game and of fur-bearing animals, the 
 dislodging of colossal animals from the polar seas, and 
 of the droves of wild elephants from the interior of 
 the continents. The forces of nature which might be 
 made subservient to mechanical purposes, as well as 
 those which were formerly unrestrained and destruc- 
 tive, have been subdued into use, the influences of 
 climate surmounted by civilization, while the tropics 
 and the poles have been transformed by the agencies 
 of science and knowledge. In many places want has 
 
IX GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 257 
 
 been transmuted to opulence by artificial culture ; 
 man has learned everywhere to gain the mastery over 
 nature. 
 
 In view of all these things it is supposable that 
 many districts on the globe, have acquired their im- 
 portance by the changes which man has been able to 
 effect in their nature ; that, in consequence of human 
 efforts, all their characteristics have been materially 
 changed. 
 
 It is evident that the forces of nature in their forma- 
 tive influences upon what is human in national devel- 
 opment always had to withdraw more and more as 
 these influences advanced. At the very commence- 
 ment of history, the activities of nature were impulses 
 which exercised a very decisive influence upon the 
 infancy of mankind. The diversities thus occasioned 
 we may perhaps yet perceive in the characteristics of 
 the various races, and in the diverse groups of nations 
 whose origin is lost in the past. 
 
 But this influence had to decline ; at the appointed 
 time the individual rose above the limitations of child- 
 hood, which is far more subject than manhood to the 
 influences of nature. Civilized humanity threw off 
 after a while, as the individual had done before, the 
 constraining fetters of situation. The influences of 
 the same conditions and position on the world's sur- 
 face do not always remain the same. 
 
 In the case of unprogressive nations the aspects of the 
 earth do not seem to change ; such nations have little 
 relation with the shifting phases of the world's surface. 
 
 22* 
 
258 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT 
 
 But nations who are advancing or going back in civ- 
 ilization are brought into direct relations with the 
 changes which are constantly occurring in the forms 
 and the configuration of the globe. A few examples 
 will show how this is, not alone in isolated countries, 
 but in whole continents. The first inhabitants of the 
 sandy valley of the Nile were wanderers in the desert, 
 as the surrounding tribes, the Libyans and the nomadic 
 Arabs, are even at this day. But the civilization and 
 culture of the Egyptians transformed this sandy waste 
 into the richest grain country in the world, by the 
 simple expedient of irrigation. Hemmed in on all 
 sides by rocky wastes and barren plains, they created 
 a country whose fertility is its noblest monument. 
 In consequence of the indolence and tyranny of suc- 
 cessive generations down to the reign of the Osman 
 dynasty, one part of this fruitful valley relapsed into a 
 desert, another, the rich Mareotis, into a marsh. In 
 this manner many changes were going on, modifying 
 not only their surface, but also affecting their re- 
 lations with all with which they were in contact, 
 through the influences of commercial intercourse. 
 We must attribute such remarkable changes, even 
 s when they occur in continents, to the configuration of 
 the surface. From this cause it was that, during the 
 early centuries of modern history, the refined regions 
 of southern Europe were effectually excluded from 
 the uncultivated Celtic and Teutonic hordes of the 
 North by a great and then impassable barrier, — the 
 nntraversed chain of the Alps. South of this vast 
 
IN GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 259 
 
 range lay the civilized states of the Old World, at the 
 base of its northern declivities extended the barbarous 
 states of the North. But this barrier, reared by nature, 
 and which was so effectually a line of separation in 
 earlier times, has, within the past five hundred years, 
 no longer been an obstacle. So great has been the 
 change, that within the past century this colossal form- 
 ation has gained such easy access as even to have 
 become one of the most attractive objects, in respect to 
 natural scenery, that the world displays. A long range 
 of civilized nations and. states, extending from the 
 Provence to Styria, has arisen out of the former wilder- 
 ness, the deepest valleys and the mountain sides have 
 become habitable, and in many places densely peo- 
 pled ; the forests have partly disappeared. Every valley 
 and mountain pass can be penetrated, and even heavy 
 loads can be conveved with ease to remote places. At 
 the time of Hannibal and Caesar the intercourse be- 
 tween the North and the South was carried on at great 
 disadvantage, but now the country is perfectly open to 
 transit. As the wild and seemingly intractable horse 
 found in the steppes of Turkestan is transformed into 
 the docile steed, subservient to the needs and uses of 
 civilization, so has this Alpine region been transformed 
 in all its relations to the surrounding lands. To such 
 an extent do the great forms of nature lose their power 
 to separate or to connect nations, and are annihilated, 
 as it were, by the supremacy of the powers of the 
 human mind. The physical conditions remain the 
 same, yet the introduction of what we call the histori- 
 
260 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT 
 
 cal element, that is, the forces which attend man, and 
 which spring from his intelligence, teach and enable 
 the human race to be independent of the obstructions 
 which nature places in the way of advancement and 
 change. 
 
 In the same light we may view the Ural chain, the 
 eastern frontier of Europe. It differs from the Alps 
 in this regard in degree rather than in kind. It never 
 has been the barrier intervening between civilization 
 and barbarism, only between varying shades of igno- 
 rance. Yet, having fulfilled its function in separating, 
 for many centuries, two continents from each other, it 
 has become, since the reign of Peter the Great, even 
 the medium of connection and of transit between 
 Europe and Asia. The time will yet come when this 
 mountain chain will no longer be regarded as a bar- 
 rier between the Orient and the Occident of the Old 
 World, as it was in the days of Herodotus ; it is much 
 nearer so in the case of the Ural than of the lofty 
 chain of the now impassable Caucasus, although the 
 latter lies closer to the centre of classical and histori- 
 cal countries. In considering how the forces of man 
 enter into the process of subduing mountain chains 
 to human uses, we discover an entire range of rela- 
 tions that can be called neither physical nor historical, 
 but which offer a rich field for the investigations of 
 geographical science. 
 
 Such changes as those which we have thus briefly 
 indicated in the relations of mountain chains are 
 equally apparent in plains, sandy wastes, primitive 
 
IN GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 261 
 
 forests, and low swampy tracts. So, also, on a more 
 enlarged scale, is it with continents and oceans. Form- 
 erly seas and oceans were but hindrances to human 
 progress, impassable obstacles which the winds of 
 heaven alone could freely cross. But now the mineral 
 wealth of the world, the fruits of agriculture, the vari- 
 ous classes of animals, and even the races of men, have 
 taken new relations to the earth, because they have been 
 scattered over regions to which they were formerly 
 strangers. In earlier times, a few objects were drifted 
 about loosely and at hap-hazard, such as the fruits of 
 the islands of the Pacific, drift-wood, ice-cakes, and 
 sea-wraik, tossed from coast to coast by the currents 
 of the air or ocean. Now, it cannot be said that seas 
 separate lands or continents ; they are the chains that 
 link them together. They form not only the most 
 convenient, but, in fact, the safest medium of passage 
 and of transport, and the oceanic regions, which en- 
 compass three-fifths of the entire surface of the globe, 
 have been changed from a vast impediment to human 
 change and progress, to the most sublime instrument 
 in accomplishing their furtherance. 
 
 The progress of navigation has completely altered 
 the whole relations of the globe and its inhabitants. 
 Had it not been for the modifying influences of naviga- 
 tion, how would it have been possible for the volcanic 
 rock of St. Helena, in former ages wholly unknown, 
 and only msed within recent times as a watering sta- 
 tion, to have been changed, not twenty years after the 
 opening of the present century, into an island which 
 
262 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT 
 
 we may call a neighbor of Northern Europe ? From 
 the opening of the fifteenth century for nearly a 
 hundred years, — from the time of Don Henrique el 
 Navegador to that of Bartholomeo Diaz, — Portuguese 
 navigators attempted in vain to sail from England to 
 the Cape of Good Hope. Now the voyage to this cape 
 is regarded as a short passage, and the use of favorable 
 winds, currents, and seasons of the year, enables the 
 mariner to traverse the 9200 geographical miles, lying 
 between 50° north latitude and 40° south latitude, 
 in from fifty-five to sixty days, or a distance of about 
 two hundred miles in every twenty-four hours. The 
 southern point of Africa can now be reached by one 
 from the northwest of Europe in fewer days than it 
 required years in former times. 
 
 At the close of the eighteenth century ships required 
 eight or nine months time, and in unfavorable sea- 
 sons even longer, to sail from the mouth of the British 
 Channel to Canton. At the present, the passage, which 
 is equal to half the distance round the world, is re- 
 duced to one-half of this time. Rarely does it require 
 more than an average of one hundred and twenty days 
 to accomplish this passage. (Prof. Ritter here details 
 some records of trips which had just been made when 
 this was written, in 1832 ; but the improvements 
 introduced by steam navigation and by the use of 
 clipper ships have superseded results which, though 
 striking then, now seem not at all remarkable.) It is 
 so with all ocean voyages ; and the North American 
 fast sailers vie with British ships in shortening the 
 
IN GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 263 
 
 distance between the Old World and the New. The 
 New York sailing packets sometimes accomplish the 
 passage, a distance of nearly 3500 miles, in less than 
 sixteen days, or about 220 miles in twenty-four hours. 
 The Atlantic Ocean has become but an arm of the 
 sea, and to cross it now has lost its greatness and its 
 heroism. 
 
 The small interior seas, the bays, the arms of the 
 ocean, are already changed into sea-bridges, which 
 we can cross with the greatest speed in contrast with 
 the slowness of roads over land ; for the Baltic is 
 traversable for half the year, and the Mediterranean 
 the entire year. The Meteor, when it made its first 
 passage in the English service from the Levant stations 
 home, carried letters of the third of March from Corfu, 
 of the seventh from Malta, and was from the tenth 
 to the twenty-fourth in passing from Gibraltar to Fal- 
 mouth, including the time spent at Cadiz to take in 
 freight. 
 
 Throughout the regions of calms on the oceans, as, 
 for example, in the African waters, the use of sailing 
 ships has nearly ceased ; the use of steamers has super- 
 seded the old method of navigation ; and thus vessels 
 pass rapidly through regions which were once the most 
 dangerous. 
 
 So, too, the waters of the continents, the colossal 
 rivers, have lost their former length ; they are practi- 
 cally shortened six or seven fold; and whereas they 
 used to be navigable only in one direction, excepting 
 with the greatest difficulty, their current is now almost 
 as readilv stemmed as followed. 
 
264 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT 
 
 The Mississippi river system, one of the largest on 
 the globe, which, with its net-work of branches, waters 
 an area of 1,200,000 square miles, — a district a third 
 as large as Europe, — traverses, from the Mississippi's 
 source to its confluence with the Missouri, a distance 
 of twenty-eight hundred miles, while the Ohio, the 
 Illinois, and other of its branches, are not of much 
 less size. In 1833, there were no less than three hun- 
 dred steamers in daily employ on this river system. 1 
 Ascending with difficulty, it used to take from sixty to 
 seventy days to sail from Cincinnati to Pittsburg, a 
 distance of five hundred miles ; now it is accomplished 
 in nine days. 2 In the city of Cincinnati alone were 
 built, in twenty years, from 1811 to 1831, one hundred 
 and eleven steamers for use on the Mississippi and its 
 branches. Louisville, on the Ohio, and St. Louis, the 
 chief commercial city of Missouri, six hundred and 
 thirty miles apart, are now connected by lines of 
 steamers which accomplish the passage in less than a 
 week ; in like manner, too, is St. Louis connected with 
 New Orleans, and boats can now pass in two weeks 
 from one city to the other, even against the stream ; 
 and, thus, all these are brought nearer together than 
 they formerly were ; the whole river system of the 
 Mississippi, from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Michi- 
 gan, has assumed quite other dimensions, and the long 
 labor of months, in passing from New Orleans to Pitts- 
 
 1 The number is now far greater. — Tk. 
 
 2 This time is now abbreviated more than one-half. — Te. 
 
IX GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 265 
 
 burg, is embraced already in less than three weeks, 
 and will be reduced still further yet. 
 
 Thus, these constantly moving elements have now 
 been bound, as it were, and subjected completely to 
 the will of man. Purely continental relations have 
 now to be studied in the very heart of continents ; 
 they have been driven back to the places where rivers 
 rise. This penetrating to the centre of wide-spread 
 regions in search of continental characteristics takes 
 the place of that older method which designated as 
 continental what had merely a continental form. 
 
 Although these changes are not so evident in other 
 countries as they are in America, yet they are every- 
 where accompanied by the same results, and new 
 combinations are effected which not only influence 
 contiguous lands, but which, also, extend to the civ- 
 ilization of more remote nations. A system of com- 
 mercial exchanges is one of the results gained. By 
 means of the Rhine steamers the orchards of the 
 Palatinate, Heidelberg, and the Rheingau supply the 
 London market in a few days with the first cherries 
 and grapes of the season. Steamers now pass up the 
 Ganges, from Calcutta to the upper provinces of Hin- 
 dustan, beyond Benares, Agra, and Delhi ; a voyage 
 which formerly required four months, in consequence 
 of the opposing winds and currents, is now accom- 
 plished in two or three weeks by steamers. By means 
 of steam the Bay of Bengal becomes traversable, and 
 Rangoon, at the mouth of the Irrawaddy, the great 
 river of Ava, becomes an easily accessible port ; and 
 
 23 
 
266 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT * 
 
 during the season of monsoons the straits of Malacca 
 are navigable as far as Singapore. The Chinese alone, 
 stationary in everything, have despised and ridiculed 
 this new instrument of civilization, this " fire thing," 
 as they termed it ; and so long as this indifference to 
 the auxiliaries prevails among that people, the interior 
 of the Chinese empire will remain unchanged, while in 
 neighboring countries, such as Australia and India, the 
 whole aspect of nature is transformed. Nations must 
 follow in the course of civilization, although it be only 
 in the guise of promoting colonization, commerce, and 
 warlike expeditions. A remarkable instance of the 
 independence which steam has given to the embassies 
 of powerful governments in modern times, is found in 
 the voyage of the English ambassador, John Crawford, 
 who sailed up the Irrawaddy, in the steamer " Diana," 
 to the residence of the emperor of Ava, a distance of 
 more than five hundred miles, in twenty days. The 
 effect of this movement, surrounded as he was by a 
 treacherous nation, was such as to render easy the 
 gaining of that commercial treaty which put an end 
 to the Burman war. 
 
 Australia, too, is not so far distant as in former times ; 
 and although discovered but little more than a century 
 ago, it is able to tread, even now, the same path of 
 civilization with the older continents, since, young as 
 it is, their mature results and attainments have been 
 merely transported to it. It is easier and takes less 
 time to reach Australia at this day than it does to pen- 
 etrate to the interior of Asia, the cradle of civilization. 
 
IX GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 267 
 
 So, all over the world, distances which were once re- 
 garded as almost untraversable, are now readily trav- 
 ersed by the aid of sails and steam. Harbors, found 
 everywhere, afford places of general refuge, and, pro- 
 vided with all the appliances which an improved system 
 of navigation has introduced, they serve as the spots 
 where many widely radiating interests converge in 
 unity. The whole physical conditions of earth are 
 changed as the mind of man gains wider and firmer 
 rule ; and in the course of centuries the subtle life 
 and less palpable characteristics of nations assume 
 different aspects. America is now less than a journey 
 of ten days' distance from Europe, and other conti- 
 nents proportionally near. But Europe, as we have 
 said before, is the only one of the continents that has, 
 as yet, the greatest advantages from its use of the sea 
 as a mean? of transport or of travel. These advan- 
 tages would be still greater if the isthmus of Panama 
 could be made navigable, for, as Humboldt has shown, 
 the east coast of Asia would be brought six thousand 
 miles nearer the west coast of Europe, a distance equal 
 to nearly a quarter of the circumference of the globe. 
 This would realize the dreams of Columbus, and his 
 golden Chersonesus would be as near as he fondly im- 
 agined it to be. The progress of improvement in this 
 direction is by no means at its end ; perhaps as great 
 advances are yet to come as have been already expe- 
 rienced. The carrying of a canal through the isthmus 
 of Suez, joining the Levant with the seas of the East, 
 is not impossible ; the sandy hills of the isthmus did 
 
268 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT 
 
 not, in all probability, separate the waters of the Red 
 and Mediterranean seas in former times, and form a 
 link to join Africa with Asia. Yet we learn from the 
 present condition of Europe that some parts of the 
 earth are more favorably situated for progress and im- 
 provement than others ; that no dull repetition, no 
 possible cessation, can ever occur in the advance of the 
 world's condition. The continents of the Old World 
 have, through a continual course of development, com- 
 pletely changed their relations to civilization. Times 
 and distances are not what they were ; both have been 
 so shortened that, in our loose freedom of speech, we 
 talk of their annihilation. In this, it is true, the West 
 has outstripped the East. The old centre of civiliza- 
 tion has approached the sea. Places once noted for 
 culture and refinement have relapsed into savage wild- 
 ness. The extensive plains of the interior of Asia 
 are not more united by the ties of commercial inter- 
 course than they were in the days of Alexander the 
 Great, during the caliphate or the crusades. In those 
 times the medium of admirable highways opened 
 those districts, more than is now the case, to inter- 
 change of every kind. And while in our day the 
 improved means of navigation have brought the 
 coasts of Asia into closer relation with the world, 
 the interior may yet be regarded as sealed and 
 unknown. 
 
 The East Indies, the West Indies, the old Indian 
 Archipelago, might now be regarded, when looked at 
 from Great Britain, Holland, or France, as integral 
 
IN GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 269 
 
 parts of Europe, maritime members, as it were, of the 
 European world, standing, despite the intervening dis- 
 tance, in direct contact and in the closest relations. 
 Though they lie so remote from us, yet incessant 
 commerce and travel have brought them to our doors 
 and made them neighbors. They are so far more 
 truly than the mouth of the Euphrates or the Tigris or 
 the Gihon is neighbor to its source, though the natural 
 conditions of the basins of those rivers are uniform 
 through their entire length. They are neighbors far 
 more than many interior countries are which border 
 directly upon each other, as Bengal and Thibet, Per- 
 sia and Sogdiana, Afghanistan and Cashmere, the 
 Caucasus and Bucharia, the west of the Chinese terri- 
 tory and the east of Europe. For centuries the south- 
 east part of Europe and the central parts of western 
 Asia have, in spite of their nearness, been in fact widely 
 sundered. The chains of the Caucasus and the Taurus 
 have been barriers, which even yet have hardly been 
 passed ; the savage tracts of the Chirgises and the Tur- 
 komanns, the rooted barbarism and tyranny of the 
 Turkish hordes, and, lastly, the still more formidable 
 barrier of the Mohammedan religion against all Chris- 
 tian peoples, have been greater obstacles in the way of 
 close relations between these countries than interven- 
 ing oceans would have been. 
 
 What a powerful influence the agencies which fol- 
 low the course of human intelligence exert upon the 
 globe, is abundantly testified in the ruins of former 
 affluence which abound in Asia Minor, in the once flour- 
 
 23* 
 
270 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT 
 
 ishing Sogdiana, and throughout western Asia. In trac- 
 ing the history of countries, we have to do not only with 
 those forces which favor progression, but with those 
 which promote retrogression. Science has to take note 
 of the most general and comprehensive causes, and of 
 those too which are minute, specific, and moving over 
 little space. As history may be analyzed into a vast 
 number of biographies, so, in investigating the broadest 
 and most general results, we may trace them to what 
 is in the- truest sense local, individual, and special. 
 Yet, without a general survey of historical events in 
 their wholeness, it would be difficult to see at a glance 
 the changes which have come over the globe. The 
 common method of describing countries, nations, and 
 states geographically, is just as senseless as writing 
 universal history according to one idea. The histori- 
 cal element cannot justly be excluded from geographi- 
 cal science, for the globe only attains to its noblest 
 uses when it comes into relation with man, and be- 
 comes the theatre of human deeds. The study of 
 mere laws is but a dead and barren task if we do not 
 apply them to man, if we do not regard them, and, 
 indeed, all scientific deductions, as the key to the solu- 
 tion of problems of history. 
 
 In order to illustrate a point on which we have 
 touched in the course of these remarks, we may men- 
 tion that in the months of winter, when snow can be 
 used, the easiest course from Cronstadt to the harbor 
 of St. Peter and St. Paul, in Kamtschatka, is in a direct 
 line across Russia and Siberia, although for the trans- 
 
IN GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 271 
 
 portation of bulky merchandise the longest way proves 
 itself the shortest way, and, instead of the seven thou- 
 sand miles of land, the still more intimidating distance 
 by sea is preferable. Geography does not lay great 
 stress upon what is long and short, measured by geo- 
 metrical standards ; it simply judges by the tests of 
 convenience and practicability. 
 
 The smallest group of islands in the world, per- 
 haps, the Sandwich group, lying intermediate between 
 three continents, has gained a great influence on the 
 commercial relations of Eastern Asia, Australia, and 
 Western America, by the improvement of harbors and 
 the building of ships, thus stimulating the trade in 
 many articles, as, for instance, the interchange of furs 
 between Russia, China and North America. It is not 
 unfrequently the case that a district of small extent 
 may have far more intimate relations with neighbor- 
 ing seas than many countries of large extent less 
 favorably situated. Cities especially, which, like Alex- 
 andria, Ormuzd, Macao, Havanna, and in modern 
 times the free port of Singapore, have been founded at 
 the most advantageous times have attained to pros- 
 perity in a very brief term of years. So much depends 
 upon a favorable situation in relation to the sea, that 
 from the beginning of the sixteenth century the Cape 
 of Good Hope, which served the Dutch as a means of 
 promoting their own aggrandizement, might have ex- 
 erted a mighty influence on the whole southern hem- 
 isphere, had its value but been known. The British 
 have at last discovered its worth, and are making it 
 
272 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT 
 
 instrumental in enlarging their political and com- 
 mercial power. 
 
 With what remarkable rapidity has the development 
 of Australia, the antipode of Great Britain, proceeded 
 since communication by sea has reached its present 
 perfection. It may now be said to be an adjunct of 
 Europe. Its progress has been furthered by the re- 
 markably favorable formation of its coast, its excellent 
 harbors, its fine climate, and, in general, its situation 
 relatively to the other continents, and the remarkable 
 adaptation of the wind and water-currents to the neces- 
 sities of commercial intercourse between Europe and 
 itself. A drawback to the prosperity of the southern 
 hemisphere is found in the fact that the large number 
 of islands isolates each, and, as each is touched com- 
 paratively rarely by ships, its connection with civiliza- 
 tion is too fitful and inconstant to insure the highest 
 progress. But Australia is so large, and withal so 
 productive, and navigation has been directed to it 
 so largely, that its progress has been rapid without 
 precedent. 
 
 The ancients confined the arena of history within 
 the limited sphere called by them the orbis terrarum ; 
 the people of ages intermediate between us and them 
 extended their knowledge to all parts of the Old World, 
 while modern history encompasses the course of events 
 over the entire globe. What we designate as the his- 
 torical element has, therefore, a varying influence 
 upon physical geography, dependent in part upon the 
 epoch of time, and in part upon the progress which 
 man has already made. 
 
IN GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 273 
 
 In earlier times, when nations were more isolated 
 than now, and when they knew very little of that com- 
 prehensive science which embraces the relations of the 
 whole earth, the local influences of their own land, its 
 climate, soil, and formations, were much more power- 
 ful as formative agents than they can be at present. 
 So individualized and independent of surrounding 
 nations were they, that those which had been richly 
 endowed with natural gifts, and which had gained a 
 high degree of culture and refinement, stood more 
 plainly in advance of others not so favored than the 
 close connection of nation with nation and their 
 mutual dependence allows in these modern times. 
 Men grew up in lives of stern simplicity, uncontami- 
 nated by contact with strangers, rich in their love for 
 home and their native land. This love nourished 
 and strengthened their patriotism and national unity 
 so long as immigration and commercial intercourse 
 had not stimulated change and augmented wealth. 
 We find ready instances in the Egyptians, Persians, 
 Hebrews, Greeks, and Italians. In ancient times, dis- 
 tricts which did not enjoy the advantages of foreign 
 intercourse only reaped what their own industry had 
 sown, but yet under this advantage, that what was 
 their own was in its complete maturity. The Libyan 
 Desert retained its noble date-palm ; the Lebanon, and 
 the region where the Jordan rises, enjoyed the lofty 
 cedar as their own ; the shores of the Greek Archipel- 
 ago rejoiced in the fair plane-tree, and Italy nourished 
 its favorite pine. And these natural productions we 
 
274 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT 
 
 may regard as typical of a certain degree of refine- 
 ment which all nations reached, unassisted by the 
 advantages of dependence upon their neighbors' ad- 
 vancement. 
 
 In ancient times, also, the range afforded by the 
 three continents then known was, in consequence of 
 the diversity which they offered, an ample field for the 
 development of history. Men put more value then 
 than now upon simple and isolated forms, and did 
 not busy themselves with complexities, with mutual 
 dependences and relations. But with the opening of 
 commercial intercourse all was changed. The ocean 
 lost its vastness in human eyes, and all distances were 
 shortened. A study of the world requires now, not 
 alone a survey of the continents, but of the oceans, 
 and the laws which are active in promoting oceanic 
 influences. 
 
 The methods of descriptive geography have, there- 
 fore, changed materially in these our days from what 
 they formerly were when the world was younger. If 
 we were to advance from the orhis terrarum of the 
 ancients to the present conception of the globe, we 
 should require new methods of delineation, in order 
 to convey a faithful picture of the changes which 
 modern times have witnessed in commercial and po- 
 litical affairs. A simple contrivance could easily be 
 made, by an ingenious mechanic, out of unfolding 
 plates, capable of being brought closely together, to 
 indicate the world as known to the ancients, and then 
 to be pulled out, piece after piece, to represent that 
 
IN GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 275 
 
 gradual enlargement of the world which the discov- 
 eries of navigators have made a part of human knowl- 
 edge. Any such contrivance as this would show the 
 great changes which have accrued in the material, — 
 the capital of geographical science. The improved 
 means of communication would show in one place a 
 great diminution in the value of horizontal distances, 
 and in another a reduction of heights, as obstructions 
 in the path of transit over continents. Europe would 
 be comparatively but v little affected by this, but Asia 
 would be largely changed in its relations to the other 
 continents. Though its interior is still nearly as inac- 
 cessible as it has ever been, yet its coast is brought 
 into contact, as it were, with more civilized lands. So, 
 too, in other parts of the globe, we should find that 
 the application of the forces and intelligence of man 
 has completely transformed their connections and 
 mutual dependence. If we do not study the map of 
 the modern world in this light, it is a caricature, and 
 not a portrait of the globe ; and our conceptions of 
 relative spaces and distances will be all false if we do 
 not keep in mind the working of that historical ele- 
 ment, as we have repeatedly called it, that compelling 
 of the elements to obey the human mind and human 
 will, which makes many regions neighbors which on 
 the map seem most remote, and which widely disjoins 
 those which seem almost in contact. 
 
 How erroneous would have been our representations 
 of the solar system had we continued to calculate the 
 distances of the sun and the planets from the earth, as 
 
276 THE HISTORICAL ELEMENT 
 
 in former times, without regard to the laws discovered 
 by Kepler, or the theory of attraction propounded by 
 Newton, both of which correct former false estimates 
 of the distances which the stellar bodies traverse, and 
 the times in which they accomplish their courses. And 
 no greater influence do the laws of attraction exercise 
 over planetary motions than history exercises over the 
 surface of the globe, as a home for its inhabitants. 
 Our common literature gives no sign of a recognition 
 of this view of the globe. The earth as we commonly 
 regard it, as presented on our maps, is a caricature, 
 and not a portrait of features which are closely united 
 in living relations. It is too much the custom to apply 
 to it the mere standard of measurement of length, 
 breadth, height, and depth, and to forget that true 
 nearness consists of ease of passage from land to land, 
 and true distance in the difficulty of communication. 
 
 We trust that enough has been said to indicate the 
 difference between the mere accidental mingling of 
 history with geography, and that necessary blending 
 of the two which results from the application of hu- 
 man forces and intelligence in bringing the world into 
 subservience to the wants and progress of man. 
 
 We have also made it a prominent desire, in what 
 has been said above, to treat of geography as a system- 
 atic whole, and to show that in it, as everywhere else, 
 the part can only be known from a conception of the 
 whole, and that without this conception every effort 
 to grasp a part will be imperfect, one-sided, and un- 
 scientific. 
 
IN GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 277 
 
 And a scientific treatment of the different countries 
 of the globe, viewed as the cohering members of the 
 earth as a whole, whether such a treatment were phys- 
 ical, ethnographical, or political, would be within the 
 province of a system of geography more perfect than 
 we at present possess ; and it will only be with the 
 attainment of such a system that civil geography can- 
 be subjected to a scientific and thorough discussion. 
 
 24 
 
NATURE AND HISTORY 
 
 AS 
 
 THE FACTORS OF NATURAL HISTORY: 
 
 OR, REMARKS ON 
 
 THE RESOURCES OF THE EARTH. 
 
 [FIRST READ BEFORE THE ROYAL ACADEMY OE BERLIN.] 
 
NATURE AND HISTOEY 
 
 AS 
 
 THE FACTORS OF NATURAL HISTORY: 
 
 OR, 
 
 REMARKS ON THE RESOURCES OF THE EARTH, 
 
 [DELIVERED APEIL 14, 1836.] 
 
 A knowledge of the widely varied resources of the 
 earth, in their diffusion over its entire surface, in their 
 amounts, their kinds, and their relations to special 
 lands and peoples, as well as to the entire system of 
 the globe, would always constitute, if rightly viewed, 
 a real, if not a prominent, part of geographical science. 
 Up to the present time, however, this has by no means 
 been the case. Blinded by the vastness of her riches, 
 she overlooked their systematic proportions, and never 
 compassed their uses and applications. She never 
 rose above her material possessions, which always 
 remained a lifeless and a useless load to her. She 
 never pressed forward to a systematic survey of her 
 whole domain, which, without an understanding of its 
 contents, could neither be useful to her, nor to the 
 circle of sciences. If the kindred sciences, history, 
 physics, climatology, mineralogy, geology, botany, 
 
 24* 
 
282 NATURE AND HISTORY THE 
 
 zoology, had not met her from their side, she would 
 still be playing with her treasures, like children with 
 gold pieces, as she did four hundred years ago. 
 
 It is, perhaps, not incorrect to say that a system- 
 atic and accurate description of the mineral, animal, 
 and vegetable kingdoms is to be found in our standard 
 treatises on natural history ; their localities, the places 
 where they may be found, are detailed in our works 
 on geography ; and thus in a general and yet not 
 inaccurate way their uses and applications to meet and 
 supply all the needs of man are known. 
 
 But granting all this, can we consider the subject 
 as thoroughly investigated in its entire relations, when 
 we consider the extraordinary progress which science 
 has been making in late years ? By no means. A cor- 
 rect statement of the whole system of connections and 
 dependences in geography is wanting, the limits of 
 all countries are not definitively designated, their his- 
 torical expansion and development has not been fully 
 described, no accurate delineation of the distribution 
 of the earth's surface among the different races has 
 been completed, no account given of the course along 
 which commerce, civilization, colonization, and all 
 their instrumentalities have advanced in attaining 
 their present position. The place where all these sub- 
 jects ought to be fully unfolded is in our geographical 
 treatises. In history we do not meet this lack, but 
 find with the statement of results the statement of 
 their causes ; in the natural sciences, we find phenom- 
 ena traced carefully in every direction to discover their 
 
FACTORS OF NATURAL HISTORY. 288 
 
 entire round of relations and dependences ; but geog- 
 raphy, instead of attempting to be the complete mis- 
 tress of its own domain, and to embrace as truly its 
 own what rightfully falls within its precincts, surren- 
 ders its own resources to other sciences, for them to 
 work and develop. 
 
 The diffusion of the gifts of nature over the whole 
 surface of the earth exercises now, and always has exer- 
 cised in the past, a powerful influence upon the char- 
 acteristics of the inhabitants of different districts. 
 The very productions of the soil have been interwoven, 
 as it were, into the texture of the human mind. 
 Through all zones, and in all stages of the world's pro- 
 gress, the effects of the distribution of natural produc- 
 tions have been felt. Even the very nature of human 
 thoughts, feelings, and abstract ideas has been sub- 
 jected to this influence. We cannot glance for a mo- 
 ment at the characteristics of agricultural, hunting, 
 fishing, and of shepherd people, without seeing how 
 their occupation stamps the whole of the feelings and 
 thoughts, directs their simple philosophy of life, and 
 gives tone even to their religious ideas. To trace the 
 workings of the agencies involved in this is often a 
 difficult task, and often defies our most carefully 
 directed efforts to ascertain them. 
 
 A thorough knowledge of the earth's resources in 
 their relation to the earth itself is yet wanting, as well 
 as what we have just been tracing, the connection with 
 the characteristics of man. Nor is their classification 
 according to the three natural kingdoms, or according 
 
284 NATURE AND HISTORY THE 
 
 to their local distribution, yet perfected. And yet a 
 knowledge of this is as necessary to a complete under- 
 standing of the organization of the globe, as the inqui- 
 ries upon which natural philosophy has entered in 
 order to gain an insight into phenomena which have 
 hitherto been unexplained. 
 
 If, as we have shown in previous articles, we need 
 to employ mathematical figures and expressions in 
 conveying correct impressions of form and size, and 
 cannot dispense with natural philosophy in elucidating 
 many of the problems of hydrography, we find that 
 natural history is just as indispensable in enabling us 
 to master those provinces of geography which have 
 their closest relations with the productions and re- 
 sources of the earth's surface. We have already 
 attempted to show the close relation between history 
 and geography, and yet there are just as intimate 
 relations between natural history and geography, and 
 the study of the connections between them is no less 
 profitable. 
 
 With ever enlarging preparation and observation 
 with* more thorough study in all departments, some- 
 thing further might, perhaps, be won in behalf of geo- 
 graphical science, if the element of natural history in its 
 relation to that science were more fully grasped by geog- 
 raphers. On the one side, scientific geography would 
 be enabled to confine the vast flood of observations in 
 natural history to its proper domain, and to draw from 
 it in fit channels for the fertilization of its own fields ; 
 on the other side, becoming master of these rich acqui- 
 
FACTORS OF NATURAL HISTORY. 285 
 
 sitions, it would attain a higher place, and gain a new 
 means of studying nature and history through the 
 unity of both in the characteristic individual forms of 
 the three natural kingdoms. 
 
 The earth viewed as a whole, or as divided into land 
 and water, which again have their own subdivisions, is 
 the producer, wherever human art has not turned it 
 from its natural functions, of objects of every kind, 
 which we arrange and classify in definite groups, deduc- 
 ing from them, when our classification is complete, 
 the laws of their organization and distribution. It is 
 thus that we become able to explain and illustrate the 
 play of the great natural forces, and gain a system- 
 atized conception of the productions of the globe. 
 
 Grouping all the productions of a district together, 
 and tracing certain principles of distribution in their 
 diffusion, the mind is able at last to grasp the whole 
 characteristics of the region, and to determine, with 
 considerable accuracy, what would be the mental char- 
 acteristics of the people inhabiting it. This would be 
 the more easy were the people in a rude and primitive 
 condition, but it is still possible in the case of the 
 most cultivated. The influence of external conditions 
 is so great (and we include not alone the mere pro- 
 ductions of the earth and its developed resources, but 
 also what may be summed up, as an eminent English 
 writer has done, in the expression aspects of nature), 
 that when men are rudely torn away from the scenes 
 of their childhood, and have lost the old associations, 
 whether of mountains or plains, whether of wood or 
 
286 NATURE AND HISTORY THE 
 
 prairie, of island or sea-coast, they experience a rest- 
 less longing for the old home, which seems to agitate 
 every fibre of the heart, and which is satisfied only by 
 returning to the old scenes once more. Psychology 
 thus has this question to answer : whether this secret 
 longing of the soul for the old haunts may not accom- 
 pany man even to the highest stages of civilization, 
 and prompt him to revisit the home of his ancestors. 
 Many instances of this desire to return to the old 
 family estate, or in the case of colonists to revisit the 
 parent country, may be found, and they all seem to 
 find their explanation in this longing to be again 
 among the scenes and associations which were forma- 
 tive in moulding family characteristics and national 
 traits. 
 
 The full enjoyment of continuing in undimmed 
 freshness the relations which bind men to their former 
 homes gives an element of strength to those nations 
 that cherish it, of which those who neglect to revisit 
 the spots where character was formed have as little 
 conception as the civilized European has of the 
 sacredness ascribed to the Ganges by the Hindoos, or 
 as the mathematician of to-day can have of the ecstasy 
 of the discoverer of the relations which arithmetic 
 reveals, in advance of the knowledge of mathematical 
 truths held by antiquity. It cannot be doubted, too, 
 that the constant presence of the planetary hosts in 
 the view of man had wrought, not alone fitful impres- 
 sions, but deep and permanent influences upon the 
 human character, affecting the nature and disposition 
 
FACTORS OF NATURAL HISTORY. 287 
 
 and peculiarities of mankind all over the earth, and 
 lasting through all times. Thus, whether it be from 
 the contemplation of the forms on the surface of the 
 globe, or the spheres which float through the sky, the 
 influence of nature becomes one of the prominent 
 sources of the individuality of national character, and 
 men take, therefore, from their surroundings a stamp, 
 the peculiarity of which is dependent upon the locality 
 where they live. The nomadic Arab is not only in- 
 debted to the country where he lives for the necessity 
 of hunting the creatures which supply him with food 
 from day to day, but the wild deserts and the cloudless 
 sky give him that relish for a free and untutored life, 
 and for those quick and soaring dreams of fancy, with 
 which he always delights himself. The reserved and 
 meditative Hindoo, accustomed to the profuse luxuri- 
 ance of his country, takes the fantastic ideas of his 
 mythology from plants, flowers, and trees, and believes 
 in the transmigration of souls from men to beasts. 
 This infinite diversity and richness in the forms of 
 vegetation, some of them being of colossal magnitude^ 
 the aspects of beauty and of terror which daily con- 
 front him, in time make him their subject. His sur- 
 roundings exercise at last the strongest of influences 
 upon him, until, imagining himself under the sway of 
 divine or demoniac powers, he becomes at last an easy 
 victim of tyranny. 
 
 If we take as an example of the truth which we are 
 illustrating the inhabitants of the tropics of the Old 
 World, we notice that, west of Arabia, one part over- 
 
288 NATURE AND HISTORY THE 
 
 ran the arid and barren desert of Libya as far as the 
 Atlas mountains, and soon attained a high intellectual 
 development. Another part, east of Arabia, took 
 possession of the rich and fertile plains extending as 
 far as the straits of Sunda, but exhibiting a far infe- 
 rior degree of refinement and mental advancement in 
 its population. It cannot be the climate which occa- 
 sions this difference of results, for in this respect there 
 is not a great difference. It is effected by the com- 
 bined influences of natural scenery, food, and, in one 
 word, geographical surroundings, and these have 
 stamped the characteristics of the theology, philosophy, 
 and poetry of those districts for long ages." 
 
 All the impressions derived from this source will be 
 as various as the diversities in the causes are numerous. 
 They will give tone, too, to all the occupations of life ; 
 will affect the mariner, the tiller of the soil, the hunter, 
 and the peaceful dweller in the city ; they will have 
 their sway in times of peace or in times of war ; they 
 will be felt equally by men who live together and by 
 men who live in solitude. Man's complexion, his 
 customs, all his characteristics are modified, in what- 
 ever latitude he may live, by his surroundings. The 
 poems of Ossian are but the echo of the wild, rough, 
 cloudy Highlands of Scotland ; the forest song of the 
 Canadian, the negro's plaintive melody in the rice 
 fields of the Joliba, the refrains in which the hunters 
 of Kamtschatka record their exploits with the polar 
 bear, and in which islanders celebrate their fishing 
 feats and dangers, are only tokens all of the 
 
FACTORS OF NATURAL HISTORY. 289 
 
 influence which the scenes of daily labor have in 
 moulding the thought and feeling of men. 
 
 To what an extent Nature can, through a lofty and 
 spiritual interpreter, express herself in and modify 
 the culture of the individual, as well as of an entire 
 people, can be seen on Ionian soil in the verse of 
 Homer, which, called forth under the most favorable 
 sky, and on the most luxuriant shore of the Grecian 
 archipelago, not only charms us to-day, but, bearing 
 this impress, has determined what shall be the classic 
 form through all coming time. 
 
 This action of the forces and phenomena of nature 
 upon the human race in all its varieties has been one 
 of the chief springs in the education of man and in 
 all historical development. But for a full view of this 
 subject we must refer the reader to special works on 
 ethnography ; and yet there does not exist a thorough 
 treatise dealing with these laws, which are the very 
 foundation of true ethnography. 
 
 In looking at the combined conditions which deter- 
 mine the characteristics of nations, it is not the right 
 course to dwell exclusively on their primitive type 
 and constitution, on what tradition recounts of the 
 peculiarities of their infancy, but rather to trace how 
 far the bodily constitution of the people, their tem- 
 perament, modes of life, habitations, customs, language, 
 and religious opinions have been formed or modified 
 under the influences of that magic circle of nature 
 which surrounds them, and which so powerfully affects 
 what is individual in national character. Poetry and 
 
 25 
 
290 NATURE AND HISTORY THE 
 
 its sister in the arts, landscape-painting, have tried to 
 wield these instruments, and to produce the same effect 
 that the subjects do which they in an artificial man- 
 ner represent. They have not tried in vain. The poet 
 and the artist are of all men able to stir men's hearts 
 the deepest, because they use the very agents which 
 have already wrought the most powerfully in forming 
 their natures and shaping their genius. We see in 
 this daily repeated fact the echo of the sublime truth 
 which we are now illustrating. Poetry and painting, 
 when they represent natural scenes, only reawaken 
 the impulses which had been caught during childhood 
 and infancy, and testify how mighty a hold the agencies 
 of nature have upon us. 
 
 This thought suggests the bond of connection which 
 runs through all the forms of the earth, revealing 
 subtle analogies, which, though real, are yet difficult to 
 trace ; but of these we will not speak. 
 
 Analysis must always be the precursor of synthesis, 
 and before the three natural kingdoms can be viewed 
 in their wholeness, they must be divided and sub- 
 divided, and arranged in families, genera, species, and 
 orders. And yet we can hardly say that the time has 
 come for geography to elevate itself to a branch of 
 natural philosophy ; and though it is unquestionable 
 that the conception of the earth as a single organism 
 is the true basis of geographical science, yet an attempt 
 to build a system, complete in all its parts, upon it, 
 would, like many geological systems in past times, be 
 imperfect, from a want of data. To build a structure 
 
FACTORS OF NATURAL HISTORY. 291 
 
 which will endure for ages, we need a more compre- 
 hensive range of materials than have as yet been accu- 
 mulated. But to sum up, in the manner of most of 
 our geographical works, all the products which are 
 met in any province, to connect them together just as 
 they happen to be found, and without regard to any 
 general principle, and to make no mention of their 
 uses, effects, and higher relations, is not only tedious, 
 but unprofitable for any scientific results. The com- 
 mon methods of description will always fall short of the 
 richness and fulness of nature, and will always be 
 regarded as unsatisfactory and commonplace. The 
 highest advantage which they serve is to discipline the 
 memory of the reader. In such masses of isolated facts, 
 no chain of cause and relation can be grasped ; there 
 is no profitable comparison of analogies, no internal 
 progress, no good results worked out from past inqui- 
 ries; there is no perception of the great object of 
 geographical investigations, no thought as to how the 
 facts of this science can be adapted to the wants of man- 
 kind, no true conception of the great economic func' 
 tions of the globe. While . a new method of inquiry 
 and study would enlarge our knowledge, the modes of 
 research hitherto familiar will only ensure and perpet- 
 uate the same narrowness of view, the same want of 
 progress, and shut the gates upon an increase of 
 knowledge. 
 
 The constant desire manifested in modern times to 
 supply these wants by full lists of the productions of 
 every quarter of the globe, and to collect specimens of 
 
292 NATURE AND HISTORY THE 
 
 minerals, flowers, and animals, is deserving of notice ; 
 for an accurate knowledge of the mineralogical, botani- 
 cal, and zoological riches of a country must always be 
 desirable. Yet these strictly belong to the department 
 of natural history. 
 
 Besides, it would be impossible to bring together 
 even the most important productions of all countries ; 
 it would fill the volumes of libraries \ and, even if we 
 should reduce them within moderate dimensions, repe- 
 titions could not be avoided. The facts, too, which 
 would be given would have to be regarded as fragmen- 
 tary and isolated ; their number would preclude the 
 power of tracing their connections and mutual rela- 
 tions. Doubtless much instruction might be gained 
 from so complete collections, yet it would only be 
 drawn fortuitously ; the amount of matter to be exam- 
 ined would be so great as to form an insuperable bar- 
 rier, hiding from sight what we were endeavoring to 
 discover. 
 
 Efforts have been made in modern times to supply 
 past deficiencies, and to give a systematic shape to 
 the older, stiff, and pedantic catalogues of produc- 
 tions, by introducing some branches of natural philos- 
 ophy, — climatology, for instance, — and thus some val- 
 uable geographical works have made some progress in 
 disciplining into an orderly arrangement the infinite 
 richness of the gifts of nature. By such steps as this 
 we compress the vast range of facts within such limits 
 as to be within the grasp of the mind. A science like 
 climatology, which is simple in itself, and which is the 
 
: 
 
 FACTORS OF ^ATURAL HISTORY. 293 
 
 same all over the globe, becomes thus especially ser- 
 viceable in promoting scientific advancement. And by 
 the word climatology we would imply everything which 
 is covered by latitude and longitude : the situation of 
 places relatively to the temperature on land and on 
 sea ; all matters connected with the seasons, with 
 isothermal lines, with the average distribution of cold 
 in winters and of heat in summers, with winds, both 
 regular and variable, with all hygrometrical phenom- 
 ena, such as dew, rain, and the climate of oceans, of 
 sea-coasts, and of the interior of continents. In conse- 
 quence of help from this source, physical geography 
 has made great progress within late years, and clima- 
 tology has not only given what we have briefly hinted 
 above, a systematic knowledge of many products of 
 the earth, but it has also showed conclusively how 
 closely geography is united to other sciences. Clima- 
 tology designates the conditions under which vegeta- 
 tion thrives and new organizations assume their func- 
 tions ; and therefore no comprehensive view of the 
 earth can be taken without a recognition, at least, of 
 the science which marks out the zones, and establishes, 
 indeed, all climatic distinctions. 
 
 Yet the use of auxiliary sciences to illustrate geog- 
 raphy is just in its infancy. Yery few physical laws 
 have as yet been applied to generalize the relations of 
 the natural productions of the earth. So far as vege- 
 tation is concerned, the most dependent of all nature's 
 gifts upon soil and climate, we find certain limits 
 marked out, beyond which only special classes of veg- 
 
 25* 
 
294 NATURE AND HISTORY THE 
 
 etables can exist. But we are not aware that any 
 attempt has yet been made to study the laws involved 
 in this, nor to classify and group such productions 
 according to their natural relations. 
 
 Schauw, who has published a scientific work on the 
 agriculture of Europe, has done more than any previ- 
 ous inquirer to form such a classification. He estab- 
 lished in that continent four zones, not determined so 
 much by latitude as by the trees indigenous to them ; 
 one was the zone of the pine and birch ; another of the 
 beach and oak ; another of the chestnut, and still an- 
 other of those tropical trees whose verdure is continual. 
 He also indicates important subordinate zones, espe- 
 cially those characterized by the cereals, the vine, and 
 the olive. 
 
 Such zones of indigenous trees and vegetables, taking 
 their character from the chief products of each, — the 
 landmarks of climate, as it were, — may easily be estab- 
 lished over the entire earth. No better means could 
 be devised for distributing, according to climate, the 
 immense variety of the productions of the globe, as 
 well as for making that scientific division into genera 
 and classes, from a glance at which it could be deter- 
 mined whether each is found hi the field designed for 
 it by nature. 
 
 Much light has been thrown upon this method of 
 classification by Humboldt's voyages in tropical Amer- 
 ica, Brown's travels on the coasts of Africa and Aus- 
 tralia, Link's researches into the botanical forms of 
 the past, and by other learned investigations ; yet such 
 
FACTORS OF NATURAL HISTORY. 295 
 
 works have not to any great extent treated of any 
 countries but those in Europe and the islands of the 
 globe. We ought to except, however, the attempt, 
 the first of its kind, and elementary in its character, 
 to illustrate the connection of natural history with 
 geography, contained in Canstem's chart of the dif- 
 fusion of plants over the globe ; nor ought we to 
 overlook Meyer's Geography of Plants, a work of 
 great value, on account of its practical, personal 
 observations. 
 
 Without entering into that closer classification of the 
 vegetable kingdom, which would be needful were it 
 our object to gain some conception of the copiousness 
 of the plants upon the earth's surface, in other words, 
 to learn how vast are the domains of a single one of 
 the three great natural kingdoms, we have to speak 
 briefly of the other two kingdoms in respect to their 
 resources. 
 
 Our knowledge of the distribution of the animal 
 world, like that of the vegetable world, is limited to 
 the results of such investigations as those which Zim- 
 mermann has prosecuted, carried on by personal 
 inquiries and observations. So far as regards climate 
 and elevation above the sea-level, animals are less de- 
 pendent on the soil than the vegetable world. The 
 sphere of their activity is greatly influenced by their 
 manner of gaining their food. The laws of their 
 diffusion are, therefore, widely different from those of 
 plants, although in many respects these two king- 
 doms perfectly coincide. 
 
296 NATURE AND HISTORY THE 
 
 A much more complete and finely graded physical 
 scale, for the various regions of the globe, than the 
 instruments which have been so elaborately prepared, 
 might be gained, if the living organism of the animal 
 and vegetable world, in their most distinctly marked 
 localities, should be used as an index ; that is, if the 
 orders of beasts, birds, insects, fishes, etc., supposed 
 to be more or less dependent upon position and climate, 
 should be examined and compared according to their 
 diffusion. The suitably modified forms of sea and 
 land birds, particularly the American birds, according 
 to Lichtenstein's investigations in that hemisphere, 
 offer already valuable hints of what can be done in 
 thi§ direction. The season when all the varieties of 
 plants come to their leafage and their bloom, the times 
 of coming and going for all the migratory birds, might 
 serve as a rude climatometer, and not be observed 
 without important advantages. 
 
 The relations of the third or mineral kingdom to the 
 globe, independent as this kingdom is of the forms 
 found on the surface of the earth, and connected but 
 indirectly with the existence of organized productions, 
 are examined with strict scientific exactness in works 
 which treat of geognosy and geology. And yet it may 
 be remarked, that, coincident with all the analogies 
 which we discover in entire domains of physical geog- 
 raphy, the aspect of all the features of the outer crust 
 of the globe is dependent upon the inward arrange- 
 ment, or the laws of stratification, and on principles 
 of elevation, depression, length, and breadth, similar 
 
FACTORS OF NATURAL HISTORY. 297 
 
 to those which we have indicated as having so great 
 influence in the instances of the forms of the exterior 
 of the earth and their effect upon the character and 
 history of man. In the diffusion of all the contents 
 of the vegetable and animal creation over the Old and 
 New World, through all zones, and in all climates, 
 there is the greatest possible variety of form and char- 
 acteristics, even if the classes or families in which they 
 occur be the same ; yet in the mineral kingdom there 
 is the most remarkable uniformity ; the various kinds 
 of strata are the same, and the mineral forms are ho- 
 mogeneous over the whole earth. The individuality 
 which characterizes the continents is not found in their 
 mineralogical features, and the diversity which prevails 
 in their flora and fauna is not shared by the com- 
 ponents of their soil. 
 
 There is, however, in respect to the combinations of 
 strata and the depth or deficiency of soil, a great diver- 
 sity in the geognostic forms of the globe. While the 
 same component parts or elements are found every- 
 where, even in districts where the formations are 
 irregular and mfique, the quantity of the proportions 
 combined changes. While some of these formations 
 maintain their place, or become large and prominent, 
 others, which are their concomitants, or are subordi- 
 nate to them, disappear, contrary to all analogies. 
 And herein is one great difference between organized 
 and unorganized matter. Organized bodies disappear 
 entirely from the earth ; but unorganized forms, that 
 is, those of the mineral world, outlive decay, and hold 
 
298 NATURE AND HISTORY THE 
 
 enclosed, in a fossilized state, the petrified bodies which, 
 were it not for such guardianship, would have been 
 lost from the earth. 
 
 Thus the components of the kingdom of which we 
 speak, homogeneous as to their nature, but heteroge- 
 neous as to combination and position, are traced in 
 all quarters of the earth, and at all heights and depths ; 
 subject everywhere to the principle which we have 
 hinted at, that its elements are the same in all lands, 
 in all climes, and under all conditions ; whereas the 
 forms of the animal and vegetable kingdoms vary 
 wholly with the place where they are found, and with 
 the influences which are brought to bear upon them. 
 Geological formations, in other words, do not vary 
 in their inner nature. Some plants and some animals 
 which belong in one district are found with unchanged 
 forms in another, but the components of the mineral 
 kingdom are everywhere the same. And they are 
 found, too, generally in a certain similarity of combina- 
 tion, although in respect to extent such collections 
 have no resemblance. Hills and mountains, are often 
 composed of the same materials, though the careless 
 eye would, from the great disparity in size, see no 
 resemblance. So, while the landscapes of the world 
 seem widely various, rejoicing in all the profusion of 
 color and variegated forms of beauty, the soil which 
 underlies them, and which supports their life, is often 
 composed of substances so nearly alike as to be almost 
 undistinguishable from one another. 
 
 A mere enumeration of all the important minerals 
 
FACTORS OF NATURAL HISTORY. 299 
 
 will as little cover all that ought to be embraced in an 
 account of the geognostical contents of the earth's sur- 
 face, as a mere list of animals could rightly be termed 
 a treatise on zoology. It is necessary to state their 
 connection with the country where they are found. To 
 be studied in relation to their localities are the vari- 
 eties of earth, the elementary mineralogical forms, 
 slate, limestone, the sandstone formations, basaltic 
 columns, trachyte groups, porphyry, veins of metal, 
 gold and tin ores, salt rocks and salt springs, mineral 
 and thermal springs, diamonds, gravel and silica, 
 boulders, plutonic and fossiliferous rocks, and many 
 others. Whatever country comes under consideration 
 must be judged geologically ; the inorganic compo- 
 nents which enter into the structure of its forms must 
 be critically and carefully studied, and all their rela- 
 tions and influences traced ; for geology is just as 
 applicable in furthering our knowledge of geography, 
 as far as the latter science includes unorganized mat- 
 ter, as climatology is in assisting us to understand the 
 relation between geography and organized forms. 
 
 The results of all these studies, the working of natu- 
 ral laws, and the exceptions to them, which from time 
 to time appear, are the true material to be inwoven 
 into geographical text-books, and not, as is often the 
 case, a superficial discussion of geology, mineralogy, 
 botany, zoology, climatology, and natural philosophy. 
 Only by using them correctly, by drawing from them the 
 generalizations which are applicable to our theme, can 
 we make them of service. To bring them in uncon- 
 
300 NATURE AND HISTORY THE 
 
 nectedly is but taking upon our shoulders an unneces- 
 sary burden. But we have elsewhere indicated the 
 deficiencies of our geographical manuals, and we will 
 not rehearse them at length again. We will only say 
 that we have not yet met with a work which meets in 
 an adequate manner our wants. Whatever has been 
 done worthily in this way, is what has been exclusively 
 physical in its bearings, or what has been done with a 
 main eye to the furtherance of other sciences. 
 
 The demands that a scientific description of the 
 resources of the earth, according to physical laws, 
 should form a part of geography, are not exhausted. 
 As has already been said, the statements which have 
 hitherto been made regarding the earth's surface have 
 been merely concerned with questions of extent and 
 absolute position ;- but their specific character, that 
 which connects them with certain localities, and sus- 
 tains that connection, has not yet been traced ; their 
 positive characteristics, the cause of their activity in 
 influencing the life of the world, and their relative situ- 
 ation to the world as a whole, have not been investi- 
 gated with the care which they deserve. The various 
 productions of nature are yet to be studied in their 
 relations, before their unity can be seen, — before they 
 can be viewed as a broad and comprehensive system. 
 
 This work has hardly been begun ; the science of 
 comparative natural history has been as yet studied but 
 little ; classes, genera, and species have been treated 
 absolutely, rather than in their mutual connections ; 
 and the great fact has not yet been developed that the 
 
FACTORS OF NATURAL HISTORY. 301 
 
 roots of all things, if we may so say, are woven together 
 in unity, while in their leaves and trunks they are 
 widely separate and unlike. 
 
 The first task of a naturalist is, therefore, to dis- 
 cover the sphere of productiveness for every individual 
 form, before specifying its relations to the botanical or 
 animal kingdom, and before advancing to the study of 
 all the classes which are found in the same localities, 
 or which are widely diffused. There is so great a 
 diversity in all the relations to which such a method 
 of inquiry leads, and there is such a complexity of the 
 combinations of the gifts of nature, that there must 
 be an indefinitely large number of organizations in the 
 animal and vegetable world in nature really con- 
 nected. 
 
 And not only the natural history of these organiza- 
 tions, but also the laws of their acclimatization, the 
 investigation of their importance in the countries where 
 they are indigenous, the tracing of their development 
 onward towards perfection, or towards their maximum 
 diffusion, or, on the other hand, of their diminution 
 and gradual disappearance from the earth, fall strictly 
 within the sphere of a full description of the earth's 
 resources. But it is not enough to become acquainted 
 with the primitive home of indigenous products, for 
 the means of their diffusion now are quite different 
 from what they were at former times. From the times 
 when men lived on the sports of the chase, and^led an 
 unsettled, migratory life, down to our days, when new 
 modes of transplanting are taught by our scientific 
 
 26 
 
302 NATURE AND HISTORY THE 
 
 agriculturists, and when commerce quickly transfers 
 and exchanges the gifts of all lands, there has been a 
 constant progress. 
 
 A true and fruitful inquiry into the resources of the 
 earth, or, to speak more exactly, the introduction of 
 natural history into a geographical work, and the trac- 
 ing of the connection of natural philosophy, climat- 
 ology, and geology, present three principal questions 
 preliminary to an explanation of the laws of propaga- 
 tion on the globe. 
 
 The object of the first is to discover the primitive 
 land, the soil which first supplied the conditions of 
 their existence, and to trace them from their life in 
 paradise, so to speak, down to the time of their depre- 
 ciation, and to their disappearance. Instances of this 
 may be found in various species of grain, in some fruit- 
 trees, and in spices. 
 
 The second question concerns itself with the agency 
 of natural causes, as a means of diffusing the gifts of 
 nature, and of carrying them into regions where the 
 conditions of their existence will differ somewhat from 
 what they were in the sphere where they were indigen- 
 ous.- We refer to such agencies as the movement of 
 boulders, the transferring of seeds, either through the 
 air by violent winds, in the sediment swept down riv- 
 ers, or by the currents of the ocean ; what may be 
 carried, and sometimes in fact is, by animals and birds ; 
 and, in general, the effect of the constant movement 
 which is going forward on the globe. It would be im- 
 possible to specify all that might be auxiliary to this 
 
FACTORS OF NATURAL HISTORY. 303 
 
 diffusion. Yet it is easily understood how the appli- 
 cation of natural history to geographical investigations 
 accounts for the great influence of physical causes in 
 promoting a change of place ; how inanimate nature 
 itself has produced great effects upon the external 
 appearance of the globe ; and, again, how man has 
 made the instrumentalities of nature the servants of 
 his will, — has changed the whole aspect of relative 
 distances between place and place, making near what 
 was once remote. 
 
 The object of the third will be distinctively the in- 
 vestigation of the sphere of civilized man ; to trace the 
 agencies which he has brought into play to increase the 
 diffusion of natural organizations. This question con- 
 cerns itself with what was called in the preceding paper 
 the historical element ; its special dealing is with the 
 world as the home of civilization ; it shows how the 
 diffusion of the earth's products has followed the course 
 of human migration, whether by land or water, and 
 indicates the bearing which colonization, and even per- 
 secution, has had in promoting distribution, and how 
 there has been, as the result of the movings of men, 
 increase here, diminution there, and sometimes a kind 
 of oscillation in the diffusion of all kinds of organiza- 
 tions. This last question shows, too, how ethnography 
 and natural history are connected by geography as an 
 intermediate link, and that the two former can be 
 studied without interfering with, but rather as aux- 
 iliary to, the latter. 
 
 The solution of the first of theso three questions, 
 
304 NATURE AND HISTORY THE 
 
 that is, the one which relates to the primitive home 
 of the gifts of nature, conducts us to the soil and cli- 
 mate which were specially favorable to them. The 
 collecting of kindred groups gives a character to every 
 locality, and aids in establishing the archeology of a 
 country, and in understanding its civilization. By con- 
 tinuous researches, those districts which have been the 
 most richly endowed are brought more conspicuously 
 into view than others less favored, and the attention is 
 especially directed to those that have had a greater 
 influence over the rest in consequence of the superior 
 advantages which they have enjoyed from the begin- 
 ning. 
 
 The inquiry into the second question, or the one 
 which relates to diffusion promoted by the inanimate 
 agencies of nature, leads to a discrimination between 
 such products as must, from the partiality of nature, be 
 confined to certain limited but unchangeable locali- 
 ties, — gold, diamonds, and spices, for example, — and 
 those which were specially designed, in accordance 
 with more bountiful designs, to be more easily distrib- 
 uted over the earth. And while the former began 
 to be, in the course of time, the points of attraction 
 for the avarice of nations, or, in some cases, the in- 
 centive of nobler impulses in stimulating scientific 
 research, the latter, — flocks, seeds, the cocoa-nut 
 fruit, and the like, — distributed by natural agencies, 
 prepared regions less endowed to become capable of 
 supporting human existence. 
 
 To employ a bold but true figure, we might liken 
 
FACTORS OF NATyRAL HISTORY. 305 
 
 the productions of nature which were confined to the 
 spots which produced them to islands, which stand 
 alone and unconnected in the sea; but when the 
 agencies of nature had scattered them abroad they be- 
 came like continents ; and as in continents there is the 
 closest connection between the various parts, so in 
 process of the wide distributions of natural organiza- 
 tions they are commingled in the nearest relations. 
 
 The third question advances to man, the noblest of 
 created things, of whom we may say that he is the 
 head of all the organizations of the earth, as the lion 
 is king of beasts, and as the palm is queen of trees. 
 Man has a capacity for progress not unlike that of 
 which we find abundant examples in the vegetable 
 and animal kingdoms. As some of these are develop- 
 ing and progressing, while others are diminishing and 
 dying out, so man exists in all stages of advancement, 
 from the savage to the most highly civilized. A great 
 part of this advancement is owing to the habit of 
 travel so common among men. As nations move their 
 homes, and as they colonize, they become in time so 
 ennobled that their primitive characteristics disappear, 
 and their connection with their former places of abode 
 is lost. This habit of travel brings them into contact 
 with objects whose uses they have not hitherto known, 
 aii'd which in time become much diffused, and are 
 considered as indispensable to life. Such are the horse 
 as a means of locomotion, and rice and the cereals as 
 articles of food. 
 
 To trace this third class of results, the guidance 
 
 26* 
 
306 NATURE AND HISTORY THE 
 
 of history is invoked. In studying the laws which 
 control the diffusion of natural resources, natural phi- 
 losophy, climatology, and natural history must be 
 submitted to the uses of geography and history. 
 
 After investigating all three modes of diffusion 
 which have just engaged our attention, that of orig- 
 inal creation, that caused by inanimate agencies, such 
 as winds and water currents, and that which man 
 directs, and having examined the localities which have 
 exercised a special influence upon the earth as a whole, 
 we shall find that we have gained important knowl- 
 edge of man in his relations to nature. Such branches 
 of this knowledge as ethnography, physical and po- 
 litical geography, have themselves been unfolded by 
 the new improvements in agriculture, manufactures, 
 mechanics, as well as from advancing commerce, 
 trade, and colonization. Still, such is the distance 
 which intervenes between the great divisions of the 
 earth, that commerce is the main agency for promot- 
 ing the diffusion of the world's products, and yet its 
 powerful influence has never been so fully treated as 
 it deserves. It is to commerce that we are indebted 
 for the blending together in a common stock of all 
 the varied productions of the earth, for the light which 
 the men of one country can lend to those whose busi- 
 ness is the same in another land. Commerce, there- 
 fore, is the great combiner of all the activities of 
 the world. 
 
 The study of the agencies everywhere promoting 
 the distribution of all the productions of the earth 
 
FACTORS OF NATURAL HISTORY. 307 
 
 leads us to see that, in large and small countries alike, 
 diversity only guides to harmony; that, though the 
 gifts of nature are heterogeneous, yet they fall into 
 hands which can mix and unite them in true pro- 
 portions and make them all of service. More than 
 this: it draws in distinct and well-defined lines the 
 characteristics which give rise to political and physical 
 divisions, and traces with clear hand the reasons which 
 stamp its own individuality on each. 
 
 From all this it becomes apparent what an influence 
 is exercised on the progress of our planet by the 
 situations of countries and their productions ; how 
 these modify and determine political boundaries at 
 the present time, and will continue to do so in time 
 to come. The historical course of every country is 
 read in its natural conditions, and from the primitive 
 endowment of a continent its capacity for historical 
 development is legible at a glance. 
 
 And when geography shall be able to collect, in a 
 truly scientific manner, all the resources of the earth, 
 presenting them in all their relations, and as the source 
 and cause of wide and lasting influence, will that 
 science take a position which it has yet never reached. 1 
 
 i It may be remarked that the sharp criticisms of Eitter upon the geo- 
 graphical treatises of his day and the times preceding, as well as the hints 
 which he has given in many places in these papers, have been greatly in- 
 fluential in their results. Such works as those of Frederic de Eougemont 
 and Heinrich Berghaus are elaborate performances in Hitter's method, 
 while smaller treatises in the same manner are now numerous in the 
 English, French, and German languages. For a tribute to Eitter's in- 
 fluence, the reader need only turn to Eougemont' s Precis oV Ethnographie, 
 and to Guyot's " Earth and Man." — Te. 
 
308 NATURE AND HISTORY, ETC. 
 
 Remark. — As appendices to a thorough work on 
 the resources of countries, the reader will find ser- 
 viceable the various treatises on the diffusion of the 
 date-palm, the sago-palm, and others of this family ; 
 those on the plantain (Musa), the mangrove, tea, 
 coffee, cotton, silk, opium, frankincense, camels, 
 diamonds, tabascheer, pepper (piper nigrum), faufel, 
 cinnamon ; on the extent of the district containing 
 the banyan tree, the Indian lion and elephant; on 
 the diffusion of the Indian pearl ; — all of which have 
 been partly treated of in various volumes of my 
 General Comparative Geography. 
 
THE 
 
 EXTERNAL FEATURES OF THE EARTH 
 
 IN THEIR 
 
 INFLUENCE ON THE COURSE OF HISTORY. 
 
 [READ BEFORE THE ROYAL ACADEMY OE BERLIN.] 
 
4 
 THE 
 
 EXTERNAL FEATURES OF THE EARTH 
 
 IN THEIR 
 
 INFLUENCE ON THE COURSE OP HISTORY. 
 
 [DELIVERED AEEIL 1, 1850.] 
 
 Ip we glance at a globe, which, although the best 
 representative of the earth that we have, is yet inad- 
 equate to express perfectly the form of its surface 
 (although the spherical form conveys best that unity 
 in diversity which so powerfully strikes the mind,) the 
 most prominent characteristic which meets the eye 
 is the vast complexity, the apparently chaotic confu- 
 sion of land and water, interfusing and interpenetrat- 
 ing each other, and presenting in their contrasts not 
 the slightest trace of a systematic arrangement. No 
 regions marked by straight lines, or lying in perfect 
 geometrical configurations ; only an intricate net-work 
 spread out over the earth. The poles themselves are 
 only mathematical points which result from the earth's 
 rotation, having no reality besides. No architectural 
 symmetry, to which our eyes are accustomed in works 
 of human art, is to be perceived, not even in that 
 
312 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 measure which meets us in the organisms of the ani- 
 mal and vegetable kingdoms. And this completely 
 unsynfmetrical, apparently planless whole, which can 
 hardly be compassed with repeated observations, has 
 something in it which bewilders the senses, and only 
 the names that we give to the separate parts prevent us 
 from viewing it as a chaos, and enable us to see that 
 thought and order have had a part in its creation. 
 In studying the world men have paid far more atten- 
 tion to its forms in detail than to the consideration of 
 their unity, and the geographical treatises have chiefly 
 confined themselves to descriptions of the earth's natu- 
 ral features. Geographical science has thus narrowed 
 itself within very small domains, and has become a sci- 
 ence of mere isolated facts ; she has not yet risen to a 
 place where she may view the relations of facts, con- 
 template high and universal laws, and thus become a 
 science which, instead of grasping mere details, shall 
 compass the earth as a whole. 
 
 Although the earth cannot be adequately repre- 
 sented on the reduced scale of an artificial globe, since 
 the latter can only be a poor symbol of the former, 
 yet we have been obliged to adopt from this inade- 
 quate representative the terms of expression with 
 which we describe the earth. And so the greatest 
 part of our geographical terminology has been drawn 
 from this copy in miniature of the globe, instead of 
 from the original itself. As it is impossible to con- 
 ceive of that vast net-work of physical forms which 
 is thrown over the great world as pertaining to the 
 
OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY. 313 
 
 smaller representative, our terms and definitions, as 
 illustrated by school globes, can only be imperfect, 
 incomplete, and by no means adequately thorough for 
 scientific purposes, whether in the study of superficial 
 extents, or of heights and depths, or of the relation 
 of different districts to each other, or of parts to the 
 whole. 
 
 But works of nature have this marked distinction 
 from works of art, that although the latter seem to 
 bear the signs of the greatest excellence, to be con- 
 summately perfect, and symmetrical down to the 
 smallest details, yet on a closer search we discover 
 that an inner connection of parts is wanting; the 
 microscope, too, reveals an external roughness, whether 
 it be in the most delicate fabric or the most finished 
 mechanism, the most beautiful pictures or the most 
 polished surfaces. But the apparent disproportions 
 and incongruities and roughness of nature's works 
 dissolve into a finer and nicer organization when 
 scrutinized under the microscope. The delicate 
 threads of a spider's web, the exactness of form in 
 vegetable cells, the arteries of animals, the regularity 
 of the smallest crystals, even of those too small for 
 the naked eye, are examples in point. Nor is this 
 contrast seen alone in the things which are minute 
 and delicate, but also in the mutual play and relation 
 of larger bodies ; in such are revealed the workings 
 of the laws of nature to which the sciences of chem- 
 istry, natural philosophy, optics, and mechanics are 
 indebted for their being. And ought we not to find 
 
 27 
 
314 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 this contrast in the largest of bodies which we have 
 to study closely, — our own planet, — even if we were 
 acquainted with its surface merely in a superficial 
 manner ? Has the earth reached its present stage 
 of progress in course of the workings of law, or by 
 following without aim and plan the dictates of irreg- 
 ular, internal forces? How' can we answer these 
 questions when we consider the advance of the human 
 race, study the development of man, and see that our 
 earth is only his nursery, or rather, we may say, the 
 school of man ; its highest function being to assist him 
 in his training, and to prepare him for the discharge 
 of the noblest duties of life ? 
 
 Every plant demands the soil most suitable for it, 
 that it may become capable of bearing fruit. Every 
 form of the animal creation has an element in which 
 it was intended to draw its being. And shall man be 
 bound to a habitation opposed to his nature ? Should 
 chance bind him to a home which is not in harmony 
 with his necessities ? Because we are not yet able to 
 compass the undeveloped riches of the earth, are we 
 to consider its parts as a mere unorganized conglom- 
 eration, which has happened to take a globular shape, 
 and, carelessly tossed from the hand of the Maker, has 
 been left to its own course, to follow no law but its 
 own unregulated will ? And has man no inward ca- 
 pacity of progress? We have warnings enough in 
 nature not to judge of things which pertain to the 
 Infinite and the Eternal by the small standards which 
 we wield in the present ; warnings not to confound 
 
OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY. 315 
 
 our impressions with their source, nor to consider the 
 laws of nature the result of our sagacity, but rather 
 what a happy discovery shows have existed always, and 
 which were in older times unrevealed. The gradual 
 formation of nebular worlds, the seeming irregular 
 movements of the winds, are some of the many exam- 
 ples that teach us that the most perfect unity and 
 order exist in the utmost apparent disorder and 
 confusion. 
 
 The longer we investigate the surface of our planet 
 and its apparently unconnected parts, ever gaining a 
 better knowledge of its nature, the more clearly a per- 
 fect accordance in all its relations, as well as a pro- 
 gressive development in them, are seen, especially if the 
 natural sciences and history aid in illustrating their 
 connection. Astronomical topography, geodesy, hy- 
 grometry, geognosy, meteorology, and natural philoso- 
 phy have done a great deal to make these things clear ; 
 and if we study the historical development of individ- 
 uals and nations, and compare the various productions 
 of nature according to their indigenous character, we 
 discover that their situation is always conformable to 
 the strictest law ; that there is no confusion in their ar- 
 rangement, but that there is everywhere perfect order. 
 
 There is no occasion for dwelling here at length 
 upon the elements which are most evidently influential 
 in conditioning the life of the globe, — air, water, and 
 land. These have been spoken of in a previous paper 
 in a general way, and the former remarks do not need 
 to be repeated here. We also pass over the well-known 
 
316 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 accumulation of the continental masses in the north- 
 ern hemisphere, and the contrast to this found in the 
 wide diffusion of water in the southern, in consequence 
 of which the preponderance of heat, the superiority 
 of population, and the ease of communication and 
 the interchange of ideas are greater in the northern 
 regions of the globe. 
 
 Humboldt has called the attention of students to 
 the pyramidal and wedge-like form of the southern 
 points of the continents in the antarctic hemisphere 
 and their influence on the globe ; it is, therefore, not 
 necessary to enter fully upon this subject ; we only wish 
 to remind the reader that, in consequence of these 
 pointed extremities, all marked southern extremities 
 are the most susceptible of all to external influences. 
 
 Perhaps less known than the above is the great 
 contrast between the land hemisphere and the water 
 hemisphere southwest of it, which two divide the 
 possession of the globe, and give us two worlds, a 
 continental and a maritime. In the latter we find 
 the most extensive oceans, while the only land is 
 found in islands and in the pointed extremities of 
 continents ; in the former we find nearly all the con- 
 tinents, while all the large masses of water may be 
 regarded as inland seas. New Zealand is the centre 
 of the oceanic hemisphere ; while southern England 
 and the coasts of the North Sea are the antipodes of 
 New Zealand, and the centre of the land hemisphere. 
 England enjoys an insular position, in addition to this 
 great advantage, and hence has been enabled to take 
 
OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY. 31 7 
 
 almost undisputed possession of the seas, and to cany 
 its commerce and its dominion over the world. 
 
 The barrier which separates the continental from 
 the oceanic hemisphere is the belt of coast-land which 
 crosses the meridians and parallels diagonally, mak- 
 ing a circle almost as large as a great circle of the 
 earth. This belt of coast-line forms a certain zone of 
 transition between the two hemispheres. The various 
 characteristics of both are seen in the daily change 
 of land and sea winds, and in many other climatic 
 phenomena. For in this great ring of coast-line, 
 intersecting as it does the northern and southern 
 hemispheres, and forming the periphery of the oceanic 
 world, is included the whole sea-coast of Africa, of 
 Southern and Eastern Asia, and of West America, 
 which completes the circle. On the south this circle 
 is widely broken, for here the continental form is com- 
 pletely missing. No trace of that transition between 
 land and ocean is found there, upon which depend the 
 phenomena of evaporation, dryness, and moisture, the 
 direction of the winds and the ocean currents, and 
 the irregular action of tides. 
 
 It cannot be denied that there exists a great law for 
 the promotion of life on our globe in these arrange- 
 ments, which, though arising from the mutual relation 
 of land and sea, is yet so largely influential in shaping 
 the destinies of nations. A mere glance at the world 
 shows that upon such geographical conditions as those 
 Ulrich we have hinted at depend large results. The 
 imperfect soundings of the oceans, and our very incom- 
 
 27* 
 
318 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 plete knowledge of the constituents of the earth and 
 the laws of construction in the formation of continents, 
 do not allow us to pass a full judgment on the unequal 
 diffusion of land and water over the surface of the 
 globe. 
 
 Two great divisions of the globe, the continental 
 and the oceanic, each extending diagonally across the 
 meridians and parallels, would naturally modify all 
 contrasts in the atmosphere, and in the vegetable and 
 animal world. The customs of individuals and nations 
 differ in all countries, because man is dependent on 
 the nature of his dwelling-place. The results in the 
 history of individuals and nations were also diversified, 
 and civilization took an altered course of development. 
 The land hemisphere was civilized first, in consequence 
 of the different nations coming in contact with each 
 other, causing collisions in some cases, and in others 
 an interchange of ideas. The oceanic world, however, 
 contained numberless groups of barbarous and isolated 
 nations, till navigation was perfected around the world, 
 and the progress of civilized man awoke them out of 
 their stagnation. The nations that inhabited the great 
 coast-belt which served as the barrier of these two 
 main divisions of the globe, were very much favored 
 in their primitive advancement by a variety of natural 
 causes. This can be seen in the example of the Ethi- 
 opians, the Egyptians, Arabians, Chinese, and the 
 inhabitants of India and West America, as the Aztec 
 ruins of Mexico and Peru bear witness. 
 
 We have hitherto made use of such expressions as 
 
OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY. 319 
 
 centres, great circles, zones, hemispheres, pyramidal 
 divisions, etc., but we must always keep in mind, that 
 as in physics all mathematical definitions can at best 
 only serve as analogies, so also this takes place in their 
 application on the surface of the globe, where we re- 
 gard them as hinting at, rather than as fully expressing, 
 the settled relations of objects on the earth. We may, 
 therefore, make use of geometrical figures, as rhombs, 
 triangles, ovals, and the like, without fear of causing 
 any misconception of ideas. 
 
 Passing from the divisions of the earth's surface 
 into land and water hemispheres, we find another class 
 of contrasts in the volcanic forms of the globe. These 
 are found especially in the continental division, while 
 the greater oceanic hemisphere, although not quite 
 free from its influence, has only a few scattered groups, 
 that show volcanic activity at rare intervals, although 
 they are full of the vestiges of past eruption. 
 
 This unbroken volcanic circle has been shown by 
 one of the greatest naturalists of the age to pass 
 around the Pacific Ocean and the South Sea, and to 
 coincide in part with that great circle of coast-line 
 which has been already mentioned. The two are coin- 
 cident on the western coast of North America and on 
 the northeastern coast of Asia ; in another part of 
 Asia, the southeastern, the volcanic circle runs in a 
 number of parallel rows over the islands along the 
 coast, until, diverging from the continent in a south- 
 east direction, it at last takes its course towards the 
 centre of the South Sea. Thus it becomes, not indeed 
 
320 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIOXS 
 
 so colossal as the great shore-circle of the Pacific, but 
 somewhat inferior in size to that, coinciding in part 
 with it, but including, as it passes through the middle 
 of the Pacific, the thousands of small, high, isolated 
 basaltic islands and island groups, which have all been 
 formed volcanically, but which still exist above the 
 surface ; the submarine activity which threw them up 
 having become much weakened. East of the Pacific 
 this volcanic circle includes the Cordilleras, an extent 
 of forty-five hundred miles along the western coast of 
 North America, in which Humboldt discovered over 
 fifty craters in action, and saw numbers which had 
 once been active. West of the Pacific, Yon Buch has 
 shown lines of volcanoes to exist parallel with the 
 coast outline of Australia and eastern Asia, on the 
 long range of mountainous islands there. With uni- 
 form course towards the northwest, and of similar 
 formation in the inner and outer ranges, they, too, 
 extend about forty-five hundred miles from the double 
 island of New Zealand to the north of the Philippines, 
 with one forking in the Moluccas, in the east branch 
 of which are eighty raging volcanoes, in incessant 
 activity. Prom thence, the range advances in a vast 
 curve towards the north, over Japan, the Curile isles, 
 Kamtschatka, the Aleutian islands and Analaska. In 
 this division there yet exist more than fifty active vol- 
 canoes, a part of which have been thrown up from the 
 sea, as in the Australian range, while another part are 
 of continental formation. This division joins the Cor- 
 dilleras at Mount St. Elias and Buen Tiempo, and thus 
 
OF HISTORY A!NT) GEOGRAPHY. 321 
 
 completes a circuit of more than two hundred volca- 
 noes in constant action, rightly giving it the name of 
 the Volcanic Circle. 
 
 Only in the south is this active volcanic circle broken ; 
 in the extreme north, where the separation of the Old 
 World from the New becomes very slight, the close 
 connection of the two continents does not prevent 
 it from completing its natural circuit and binding 
 together what the sea appears to sunder. There do, 
 indeed, converge the continents of Northeast Asia and 
 Northwest America, — at the Behring's Straits they are 
 almost contiguous, — and this may indicate that the 
 forming of the great volcanic circle was contempora- 
 neous with the upheaval of the vast table-lands of the 
 continent close by. A confirmation of this appears to 
 be offered in the great break of about five thousand 
 miles extent from Cape Horn, in South America, to 
 Tasmania, in South Australia, in the latter of which 
 volcanoes disappear, and so, too, does this vast volcanic 
 circle. In this connection, too, it will be noticed that 
 the sea within this volcanic circle is rich in islands, 
 while without it is barren of them, and stretches away, 
 unrelieved by them, over the larger portion of the 
 globe. It is astonishing, on passing the eye over that 
 part of the maritime regions of the earth, to see how 
 few are the islands which appear in those vast tracts of 
 water. While a belt in the torrid zone, extending in the 
 diagonal direction of the ecliptic from the Philippines 
 southeast to the solitary Easter Isle, is studded with 
 islands, making a kind of oceanic milky-way ; and 
 
322 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 while there is, also, more to the northward, another 
 belt, inferior in importance to this, yet not insignifi- 
 cant, running in the same direction, and extending 
 from Japan to the Sandwich group, the student of 
 island formation finds outside of the volcanic circle 
 the greatest poverty of material. But the navigator 
 is, of course, best acquainted with these latter tracts, 
 where the sea is open and the sailing safe. The cir- 
 cumnavigator of the globe in its southern latitudes, 
 who should sail southward of the well-known break in 
 the volcanic circle, and should advance to Victoria 
 Land, the region recently discovered by James Ross, 
 would encounter only scattered rocks, mere fragments, 
 which, with the exception of the Alexander and Peter 
 Isles, are hardly worthy of the name of islands. In 
 the vast spaces of the Southern Ocean, which James 
 Weddel traversed in 1822, not a single rock is seen. 
 So, too, in the northern waters of the Indian Ocean, 
 between West New Holland and Southeast Africa, the 
 rocks of Kergnelens, St. Paul, and Amsterdam may 
 scarcely be called islands. Bourbon and Mauritius 
 stand there as islands, quite alone. In the Atlantic 
 Ocean, if you pass from the antarctic rocks of Sand- 
 wichland to the New South Shetland group, there are 
 only, in the line reaching from Western Africa to the 
 eastern shores of South America, these widely sun- 
 dered islands, Trinidad, St. Helena, Ascension, which 
 rise from the depths of the ocean fourteen thousand 
 five hundred and fifty feet, the height of Mont Blanc, 
 according to the first measurements of James Ross, 
 
OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY. 323 
 
 and which, according to later researches, have been 
 shown to have a height of twenty-seven thousand six 
 hundred feet from their base to the level of the sea. 
 
 North of the equator there appear, as antipodes of 
 the South Sea islands, numerous volcanic groups, 
 always small, the Canaries, the Azores, the Faro isles, 
 and so onwards up so far as Iceland, which is not to 
 be regarded as belonging to the open sea, but rather 
 to the polar coast. Thus, in the neighborhood of both 
 poles, at the north John Mayen Isle, and at the south 
 Mount Erebus, twelve thousand feet high, according to 
 Ross, there are volcanic fires in renewed and constant 
 activity, again winning a place which a long interval 
 has denied to them. 
 
 The heaving, internal fires, which have now but few 
 outlets beyond the circle of volcanic activity, have con- 
 centrated their force in active volcanoes more than in 
 former times, when they were felt in the upheaval of 
 the group of islands from the whole of the South Sea 
 basin ; and, besides sharply marked islands, a great 
 number of shallows, banks, and rocks have been thrown 
 partially up, though not enough to emerge above the 
 surface. But these pent-up and invisible forces have 
 not been able to effect the upheaval of an entire con- 
 tinent, and we are left to trace by soundings the pos- 
 sibility of such a continent having resulted from vol- 
 canic action. 
 
 This former diffusion over large extents of volcanic 
 phenomena, instead of their concentration as now in 
 a few spots, was apparent outside of the great volcanic 
 
324 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 circle, in the upheaval of the Old and New Worlds, in 
 which the mountains always attain their greatest 
 height in the neighborhood of the volcanic circle. The 
 less steep slope of these mountain ranges is always on 
 the side away from the volcanic circle. This slope 
 uniformly takes its direction towards the centre of the 
 continent, and in both the Old and New World, having 
 reached its place of greatest depression at the centre, 
 the surface spreads out horizontally towards the north, 
 northeast, and northwest, till it comes to the Arctic 
 Ocean. Thus, the same forces which upheave islands 
 upheave continents too, and fit them both for the func- 
 tions which they are to fulfil in developing the history 
 of the human race. 
 
 A large continental plain, the island of New Hol- 
 land, lies westward and outside of the great volcanic 
 circle, and yet not an active crater is found upon it. 
 It seems as if the forces which have thrown it to its 
 present height were unable to upheave it further, and 
 allowed it to rest at its present elevation, while they 
 found their vent and outlet elsewhere. Even the great 
 coral sea-bed, lying between that island and New 
 Guinea, either fell back after being raised higher, or 
 the forces of upheaval failed after it had been raised 
 as far as it was. 
 
 The great district of moderate upheaval, which com- 
 mences with the Australian continent, continues north 
 even of the isthmus of Sunda, enters Asia upon its 
 southern coast, is found in the lowlands of Farther 
 India, Tunkin, and eastern China, and does not find 
 
OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY. 825 
 
 its limit till it meets the great central plateau of Asia, 
 and the steep shores of Leaotong and Corea, opposite 
 the isolated groups of large volcanoes in Japan. 
 
 Analogous to this formation are the depressions on 
 the continents of North and South America, beyond, 
 or rather in the rear, of the great volcanic chain of the 
 Andes, with their narrow but lofty plateaus, which 
 were elevated at the same time with the mountains. 
 Within all this depressed region there is, as in the 
 Australian plain, no active volcano. As hinted above, 
 the slopes in North and South America are away from 
 the great volcanic circle, following the courses of the 
 rivers, and spreading out in broad and fertile plains, 
 while on the side of the mountain range that looks 
 towards the centre of the volcanic circle the slopes 
 are rocky and precipitous. 
 
 We pass from the observation of the depressions and 
 the slopes of Australia and America to the analogous 
 formations of the Old World. Here the same law is 
 repeated. The volcanic range runs away from eastern 
 Asia in a southeasterly direction, while the low range 
 of shores stretches away towards the west, crossing 
 southern China, both the Indies, South Arabia, and 
 the whole eastern coast of Africa as far as the Cape of 
 Good Hope. 
 
 It is interesting to recognize in Humboldt's view 
 of Central Asia that this principle runs through the 
 entire Old World. The diagonal which traverses the 
 great Asiatic plateau, passing from southwest to north- 
 east, and dividing it into the northwestern and south- 
 
 28 
 
326 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 eastern triangular halves (of Thibet and Mongolia), is 
 at the same time the axis of the maximum altitude, 
 the greatest rise being towards the southeast, and 
 the greatest depression towards the northwest. The 
 maximum of elevation in the plateau is at the south- 
 east, in the table-land of Thibet, and is about fourteen 
 thousand feet, while the mountains which hem in this 
 plateau range from twenty thousand to twenty-five 
 thousand feet. Those mighty cliffs, which, like an 
 immense wall, stretch out into the plains of Farther 
 India and Bengal, rise to even greater heights, and are 
 the most elevated on the globe. Although no perfected 
 measurements have been made, yet the fact that the 
 elevation increases as we approach the east confirms 
 the principle which we are illustrating. The most 
 recent survey of Kunchinginga, in Sikim, by Colonels 
 Waugh and Hooker, shows its height to be twenty- 
 eight thousand one hundred and seventy-four feet, and 
 thus higher than Juwahir, Dwaleghiri, and Chamaluri, 
 in the southern declivities of the Himalaya chain. 
 
 Beyond the diagonal axis of elevation in this cen- 
 tral plateau, the Mongolian or northern half begins, 
 which, dropping away in terraces towards the north- 
 west, gradually falls, in long and gradual slopes, in its 
 northwest course, till it at length reaches the sea-coast 
 of North Siberia, and finds its limit at the Arctic 
 Ocean. 
 
 Beginning near Pekin, on the southern edge of Cobi, 
 eight thousand eight hundred feet above the level of 
 the sea, it stretches on towards the northwest, drop- 
 
or HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY. Z'li 
 
 ping, according to the Russian scientific explorers, 
 through the varying heights of five thousand five 
 hundred feet, four thousand four hundred, three thou- 
 sand seven hundred and fifty, two thousand six hun- 
 dred and fifty, to the level of lake Baikal, one thou- 
 sand four hundred feet, and thence to lake Zaizan, the 
 source of the Irtish, one thousand one hundred feet 
 above the level of the sea. This slope, following the 
 whole extent of the continent, progresses uniformly 
 towards the west till it reaches the large and well- 
 known basin of the Aral and Caspian seas, eighty feet 
 below the level of the sea. Near Tobolsk it sinks 
 gradually to about one hundred feet above the sea's 
 level, and then passes over to that part of Eastern 
 Europe which lies near to the Caspian, Black, and Bal- 
 tic seas, which spreads itself out in a vast system of 
 plains, and which has no elevation again till it reaches 
 the remotest north and west. 
 
 The same general law of the elevation of mountain 
 masses to their greatest height towards the southeast, 
 where |;hey fall off steeply towards the coast, while 
 the gradual slope is towards the centre of the land 
 hemisphere, is repeated in all plateau formations, 
 whether large or small, whether continuous or not. 
 Thus we come to the conclusion that similiar causes 
 and forces have produced similar results. The prin- 
 cipal direction of the axis of elevation in Central Asia 
 coincides with the diagonal to which all elevated 
 masses on our globe tend. Thus the law of elevation 
 on the earth's surface seems to be expressed in this 
 
328 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 diagonal line, for mountain chains of the greatest 
 heights. And yet, often where there is a plateau 
 formation running in the direction of this diagonal, 
 a high mountain chain may be found running diamet- 
 rically across it. The entire range of laws bearing 
 upon this whole subject of the direction of mountains 
 and of plateaus has been scientifically discussed by 
 Elie de Beaumont, a French naturalist. 
 
 In the Persian plateau, the southeast elevation rises 
 at the table-land of Kelat, in Beloochistan, to the great 
 height of eight thousand eight hundred feet above the 
 sea, while its elevation as it passes northward sinks at 
 Ispahan to the half of that height, at Teheran to less 
 than four thousand feet, at Kom to two thousand two 
 hundred feet, and diminishes more rapidly as it nears 
 Bucharia and the Sea of Aral, until at the south of 
 the Caspian it sinks suddenly below the level of the 
 sea. The plateau of Dekkan reaches its greatest 
 height, ten thousand feet, at Utacamund, in the south, 
 near Cape Comorin ; it sinks more and more as it 
 advances towards the high plains of Mysore, Malwa, 
 Mewar, and so northward to the lowlands of Sind, 
 whose northern boundary is the Himmalaya range. 
 In like manner the plateau of Arabia reaches its 
 greatest elevation in the southeast corner, at Hadra- 
 maut, Oman, and Jemeu (the mountains of incense, 
 five thousand five hundred feet high, Dschebel Ach- 
 dar in Oman, six thousand five hundred feet, Dschebel 
 Taas seven thousand seven hundred, according to 
 Botta); but advancing northward towards Sanaa it 
 
OF HISTORY AND GEOttKAPHY. 329 
 
 sinks to four thousand five hundred feet, at Taif, near 
 Mecca, it has fallen to three thousand three hundred, 
 and as it approaches the confines of Syria, and the 
 plains of Mesopotamia it is lost in broad lowlands. 
 Even the Sinai group, although lying between two 
 arms of the Red Sea, only a single elevation with 
 a small plateau extending to the north, follows the 
 same general law. This group turns its steep side, at 
 the place of its greatest height, southwards to the 
 Red Sea ; just as, on a far larger scale, the whole of 
 the mountain district of southern and eastern Africa 
 attains the maximum of its elevation on the side 
 towards the Indian Ocean. The greatest diminution 
 of elevation in Africa is well known to be seen in 
 advancing northwards to the depression of Sahara and 
 the long valley of the Nile, and thus towards the 
 centre of that grand depression which the Mediter- 
 ranean in part fills, and towards which the great tract 
 of flat land in eastern Europe, lying west of the 
 Euxine, gradually sinks, just as the mountain land of 
 middle Europe sinks as it nears the North Sea and 
 the Baltic. Only those mountain ranges which follow 
 the meridians, that is, whose course is from south to 
 north, the three great parallel ranges of the Ural, the 
 Scandinavian Alps, and the Aileghanies, divide the 
 vast depressed area into radically different parts ; Ttnd 
 these, partly covered with water indeed, are found in 
 all the northern continents. The mountain chains 
 which run from east to west, such as the Caucasus, 
 the Carpathian, the Alps, and the Pyrenees, have no 
 
 28* 
 
380 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 connection with those chains which run north and 
 south, excepting as the margins of the plateaux are 
 subject to the laws spoken of above ; for towards the 
 western part of the Old World these last-named chains 
 stand out as independent systems, giving character to 
 Europe. 
 
 We have thus far only spoken of five or six of the 
 most remarkable arrangements in the nature of the 
 earth's surface, so far as they can be traced, as an 
 example of the general appearance of the exterior of 
 the globe. We have not entered into possible causes, 
 or into the results which proceed from these arrange- 
 ments, although the latter are easily found. From 
 this great law of general depression it follows, in the 
 Old World, that the family of nations was in early 
 times brought together on an accessible spot, which 
 was destined to be the cradle of history. Some 
 branched off from this central spot, and spread out 
 where the formation of the country permitted them to 
 go. All the roads of commerce lay near together 
 then, and converged at one place, as rivers run to a 
 common basin, and this all the more since the slopes 
 of the Old World and its depressed areas lay within 
 homogeneous temperatures, and not as in America, 
 where the countries of similiar characteristics lie in 
 a northerly and southerly range, and are hence sub- 
 ject to all varieties of temperature. In the Old Worl 
 they extend from east to west, and so promote a diffu- 
 sion of population by not changing the conditions 
 under which they live. The declivity of the moun- 
 
OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY. 831 
 
 tain ranges being steep on the outside, or that nearest 
 the volcanic circle, operated as a barrier to the nations, 
 while the more gradual slopes turning northward have 
 favored the advancement and spread of the human 
 race. 
 
 It has been our effort to trace briefly in the apparent 
 irregularity of mountain ranges the traces of a sym- 
 metry of which a superficial observer would hardly 
 have an idea. The combinations of nature are so 
 various, and local peculiarities are so apparent, that 
 oftentimes a result which appears perfectly lucid and 
 simple when brought before the eye, is gained only 
 slowly, and after most patient research. 
 
 We speak only in this sketch of features which are 
 broad, and deal only with the outlines of our subject. 
 Modifications, of course, largely ensue ; and the mass 
 of geographical conditions, which affect the life of the 
 globe, is so intricate and complex, that we can only 
 compare it to a net-work encompassing the earth. 
 
 We will now touch upon the figure of the conti- 
 nents, so far as they are independent of each other. 
 They are under the general laws which influence all 
 the formations of the world, yet each bears a distinc- 
 tive character. Yet they play together in perfect 
 harmony, they stand in a wholesome relation to the 
 development of history, and they illustrate the steady 
 progress of human culture. 
 
 It is evident from that contrast between Orient and 
 Occident, or, to use terms which are not so limited by 
 usage to the Eastern Hemisphere, between the East and 
 
332 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 West, that the relative positions of the great masses of 
 land on the globe have exercised a deep and abiding 
 influence. Nor is this confined alone to the relations 
 between East and West ; it has been observed, also, 
 in the relations between Hyperboreans and people of 
 Africa : it was remarked before the arbitrary division 
 of the earth into continents. If we seek for analogies 
 to these contrasts, they are to be found. The East 
 represents hope, the West fulfilment ; or, again, the 
 East represents the morning, the West the evening, 
 while the polar regions are the still night. So the 
 Orient in Asia is the contrast with the Occident in 
 Europe ; and yet again, and on a wider scale, the 
 whole Old World is in contrast with the New, as 
 Orient with Occident. Ancient and modern, past, 
 present, and future, are in the Orient, the cradle of the 
 world and of the world's culture and history; but prog- 
 ress is in the Occident, the development of national life, 
 of political organization, of the whole circle of thought 
 and its influences. All this results from the relative 
 grouping of the continents : even the inertness of the 
 nations in Africa, the land of light, heat, spiritual 
 sluggishness, and dense population, as well as the 
 unawakened activity of the nations in the sparsely 
 inhabited, dark and cold North, harmonize, too, with 
 this, and will continue just so long as means remain 
 undiscovered to master the limitations and influences 
 of nature, to free man from its fetters, and raise him 
 above the narrow world which his own horizon bounds. 
 This work, however, lias been begun. Nautical sei- 
 
OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY. 333 
 
 ence, with steam as its auxiliary, is peopling the 
 solitudes of the sea and vanquishing distance, and, 
 by the great system of colonizing, the productions and 
 peoples of one side of the globe are daily transferred 
 to the other. 
 
 The contrasts spoken of above meet and are recon- 
 ciled in the Si-Yu (Occident) of the Chinese, and in 
 the Para and Apara of the extinct Sanscrit race, the 
 real Orient of the Old World. According to the tradi- 
 tions of those races, their gods sprang from an indefinite 
 eastern region, just as Oannes of Chaldea and^Brahma 
 were reputed to have risen from the sea, as the sun 
 rises at the early morning from a region in the distant 
 east. Farther west, the Greeks placed their Anatolia 
 in Asia Minor, their Hesperia in Italy ; the Romans 
 placed their Orient in the Levant, their Hesperia in 
 Spain, and the Insulce fortunatce at the most western 
 part of the known world ; the Arabs fixed their Occi- 
 dent there also, naming it El Magreb. The modern 
 European removes it beyond the ocean to the New 
 World, and so enlarges his associations and views, and 
 sees the relations of the continents in a new light. 
 Distances disappear as civilization progresses, and the 
 old contrasts are solved. The land of the embrowned 
 Ethiopians, and that of the Hyperboreans of Homeric 
 times, disappeared long ago. The Hindu of to-day 
 has his Hyperborean or Northland called Uttara-Kura, 
 but the Ethiopian Libya has increased so far as to 
 become the great African Continent. 
 • These contrasts, real in themselves, could only have 
 
334 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 a relative influence on national life when civilization 
 had completely changed the effect of different locali- 
 ties. From this we see that there must be a great 
 difference in the method of studying ancient and 
 modern geography. 
 
 The position of the different countries on the globe 
 will always exert a powerful influence, although this 
 influence is under great modifications, for, by the 
 progress of time and the facile connection by the art 
 of navigation, the old contrasts are disappearing. The 
 small space, called the classic ground of Universal 
 History, and embracing the three continents of the 
 Old World, from the Indus to the Tiber, and from the 
 Nile to Oxus and Tanais, will, for all future times, be 
 considered the field that has had the largest influence 
 on the development of mankind. But civilization has 
 abridged the influence which select localities exercised 
 in former times on the culture of nations, and trans- 
 ferred it elsewhere. 
 
 The various portions of the globe have received, 
 with reference to the different periods of history, 
 diverse endowments ; and each has also received a 
 peculiar capability of development, which can only be 
 recognized in the progress of history. Only a very 
 small portion of these properties has been revealed in 
 the course of time, their capacity of development has 
 only begun to be understood within the past few hun- 
 dred years, while the greater part lies as a secret, 
 yet to be unveiled. The profound depths of man's 
 spiritual nature were revealed sooner because we were 
 
OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY. 835 
 
 more nearly associated with them, but the mysteries 
 of our planet were hidden from man a much longer 
 time. 
 
 In former times the uses of the sea were revealed to 
 mankind by the science of navigation. Mariners, too, 
 discovered the laws regulating wind and ocean cur- 
 rents, and by establishing tide-marks determined the 
 ebb and flow of the great tidal-wave. Regions now 
 favored with the results of civilization were open to 
 human knowledge by the efforts of navigators, yet by 
 far the greater part of the earth's surface lies still 
 unknown ; but science and the progressive course of 
 civilization are penetrating the secrets of nature in the 
 most remote regions of the earth. We have not as 
 yet compassed the knowledge of all the elements 
 that enter into the composition of the earth's surface. 
 Geognosy, as a .science, is but beginning to be under- 
 stood. In course of time we shall learn what influence 
 the unexhausted metallic veins and subterranean coal- 
 fields are yet to exercise in many parts of the earth ; 
 what influence settlements, colonies, and missions are 
 to have on places that have not been touched by the 
 hand of history, or where the seed of civilization has 
 only produced thin crops, and where the mind of man 
 has not been able as yet to effect those mighty results, 
 so vital to the welfare of a whole country, as were met 
 in former times on the classic grounds of antiquity. 
 
 The lowlands, plains, and valleys have assumed 
 entirely new relations to the progress of mankind in 
 consequence of the modern appliances of railroads and 
 
836 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 canals ; they are capable of being applied on the grand- 
 est scale, and of becoming subservient to the largest 
 uses. The construction of a canal through the isthmus 
 of Suez would bring the East Indies vastly nearer than 
 at present ; and if the isthmus of Panama were to be 
 similarly cut through, the circumference of the globe 
 would be shortened by one-fourth part, and China 
 would be brought six thousand miles nearer to 
 Europe. 
 
 The river systems of Europe, and also the most 
 colossal ones in other parts of the globe, such as the 
 Ganges and the Mississippi, may always be said to 
 flow backwards as well as forwards, since steam navi- 
 gation has been brought to its present state. Upon 
 the Mississippi hundreds of steamships daily sail, plying 
 backwards and forwards, like the shuttles of busy 
 weavers. The group of the great American lakes, 
 formerly so solitary, and hardly traversed by naviga- 
 tion, are now thronged with ships which sail from 
 Lake Superior to Lake Ontario. They have become a 
 medium of civilization, in size equal to one-half of the 
 Mediterranean, the great medium of culture in former 
 times. We cannot foresee what a future these lakes, 
 with their influences, are to inaugurate in the New 
 World. 
 
 The foregoing remarks are sufficient to show that 
 by the action of civilization the surface of the earth, 
 and all the different forms of nature, are undergoing a 
 constant modification, — are in a state of advancement. 
 The task of the geographer is to discover what causes 
 
OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY, 337 
 
 have exerted a promotive or retarding influence on 
 the various forms of the globe and their development 
 hitherto. Space, however, is hardly allowed us for a 
 full consideration of the subject. 
 
 A previous statement, at some length, of the dis- 
 tances of the earth, measured horizontally, spares us the 
 trouble of entering now upon a repetition of details. 
 It is sufficient to remark, that the three continents of 
 the Old World have each a separate and distinct form, 
 that of Africa being oval, of Asia rhomboidal, and of 
 Europe triangular. The greatest uniformity of shape 
 is seen in Africa. Its length from north to south 
 being nearly the same as its greatest breadth from east 
 to west, it is in extreme contrast to Europe, whose 
 breadth is nearly three times the distance from north to 
 south. Europe directs the most prominent angle of the 
 triangle which it forms towards the Atlantic, while 
 the base rests on Asia ; Africa is a compact mass, 
 without any indentations ; Asia, also, is a solid mass, 
 but less compact, and having large and fruitful penin- 
 sulas in the east and south. Europe is a continental 
 mass, open on all sides, and accessible by water even 
 to the very heart ; in Europe, trunk and branches 
 have had equal opportunity for the development of 
 civilization. Far inferior in size to Asia, and being 
 rifted into many parts, it has enjoyed the largest 
 advantages for the diffusion of culture throughout its 
 entire extent. Asia, more compact than Europe, and 
 not so open to maritime influences, has preserved 
 its middle portions uninfluenced by the indentations 
 
 29 
 
3o8 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 of the sea, which, although penetrating very deeply, 
 have not equalized the contrast of sea and land, and 
 have not brought the mountain ranges, as in Europe, 
 in direct connection with the ocean. The north and 
 the soutli have not been brought together by water 
 communication, and a vast extent of country in Central 
 Asia, not much smaller than the entire continent of 
 Africa, has been excluded from the advantages of those 
 indentations, which do not penetrate the great Asiatic 
 trunk. The southern coast of Asia is the most rent 
 by these arms of the sea, the north the least so. The 
 peninsular forms of this continent, although nearly as 
 large when combined as half of Europe, yet bear a very 
 slight proportion to the entire body of Asia ; and while 
 they have ever been inhabited by peoples in a high 
 state of civilization, their influence on the great conti- 
 nental trunk has been small. The whole vast body 
 of the Asiatic continent has remained the home of 
 nomad tribes, while the nations living on the peninsu- 
 las so richly endowed by nature as China, Farther 
 India, Hindostan, Arabia, and Asia Minor, have so 
 largely developed the resources of their own country, 
 although they have been unable to penetrate to the 
 heart of Asia. 
 
 The whole sea-coast of Africa is not penetrated by 
 arms of the sea. That country presents, therefore, 
 the least development by far in comparison with the 
 other continents, and its centre has been regarded as 
 totally inaccessible ; individuality has, therefore, been 
 denied to Africa, in consequence of its form ; and since 
 
OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY. 339 
 
 its extremities are all nearly equidistant from the 
 middle point, and since its position on both sides of 
 the equator does not suffer it to extend far beyond the 
 torrid zone, we discover that all phenomena on this 
 division of the globe attain their culmination within 
 the tropics, and that they there appear more uniform 
 and homogeneous, and destitute of great contrasts, 
 than elsewhere. On that account the patriarchal and 
 primeval conditions of human society have not been 
 altered in the course of time, have known little ad- 
 vancement. Thus Africa seems to be spared as a 
 field of development for future ages ; for only a gen- 
 eral progress, but no advancement of the individual, 
 displays itself in this sluggish land ; plants and ani- 
 mals, nations and men, all move on in one unvarying 
 course ; the palm-tree and the camel are distributed 
 everywhere alike ; the negro race, a population having 
 uniform characteristics, is predominant ; it exists in a 
 state of dense compactness, and has remained far be- 
 hind in the career of development, undistinguished 
 by any special peculiarities of civilization, political 
 institutions, national or individual life. The greatest 
 uniformity of language prevails, varied only by unim- 
 portant dialects . A partial development of the coast 
 in certain portions of this continent may form an 
 exception to the rule ; but this development has been 
 called forth mainly by colonies from abroad. 
 
 An entirely different world of phenomena is ex- 
 hibited in the coast formation of Asia, a singularly 
 fruitful field of study, notwithstanding that it is 
 
340 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 wanting on one side of the continent. A striking 
 individuality distinguishes all the peninsulas of the 
 Asiatic coast, for each is influenced by the marked 
 continental characteristic of its neighborhood, as well 
 as by the sea ; such agents as the atmosphere, moun- 
 tains, vales, and streams, the wear of the waves and 
 wind systems, must be in a large sense modifiers, and 
 have great effect upon population and culture. Hence 
 arises the individuality of the Chinese, Malays, Hin- 
 dostanese, Persians, Arabians, Syrians, and the inhab- 
 itants of Asia Minor. In sharp contrast with this well- 
 known coast-line is the main body of the continent, 
 even yet locked up against the influences of the cul- 
 ture whose home is by the sea. For centuries the 
 nomadic life of the interior has been unchanged ; no 
 civilizing influences have been brought to bear upon 
 Calmucks and Mongolians, people of Turkestan, Kir- 
 ghiz and Bokkaria. Still less have these influences 
 penetrated to the remote north; and with all the splen- 
 dor of so enlarged fields of enlightenment along the 
 coast, the excellence of a universally distributed civil- 
 ization is lost. To the formation of these differences 
 between the coast-line and the interior those colossal 
 forms of vegetation have also contributed, the record 
 of which is historical ; forms whose equals in point of 
 size are rarely met in civilized lands; and 'still the 
 luxuriant development of growth contributes to the 
 same end, for great climatic differences give sharp 
 contrasts to this growth. Extending from the equator 
 high into the frigid zone, Asia exhibits the greatest 
 
OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY. 341 
 
 variety of animals and plants; and yet not alone in 
 the direction from north to south, but none the less 
 in the still vaster extent from east to west, where just 
 as sharply defined contrasts are seen, of which we 
 might adduce China and hither Asia as representative. 
 In the former we find the sago-tree and the tiger, in 
 the latter the date-palm and the lion. Looking at the 
 extreme north we find the mosses, all needle-leaved 
 trees, and the reindeer ; in the south, strongly in con- 
 trast, are the bread-fruit tree, the sugar-cane, and 
 the broad-leafed plantain, the elephant, rhinoceros, 
 tapir, and monkey. 
 
 The consequences which the inexhaustible richness 
 of the soil effected in relation to the character of the 
 indigenous nations of Asia were various ; for al- 
 though multitudes of people were sent out at different 
 times to take possession of the neighboring continents, 
 the Asiatic population was by no means exhausted ; 
 on the contrary, it remained rich in its native charac- 
 teristics, whether in races, stature, color, mode of life, 
 religious, political, and social features, culture, lan- 
 guage, and nationality. No other continent shows 
 analogies of this kind, even in its primitive ages ; and 
 Asia, therefore, rightly preceded all others, because 
 the first civilized, and the first prepared to throw its 
 colonies into other countries. 
 
 Europe may be called a continuation of Central Asia« 
 It surpasses its oriental neighbor, however, in the ad- 
 vantage of having no internal mountain barrier to 
 divide its north from its south. Thus Europe has 
 
 29* 
 
342 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 been able to develop itself more independently and 
 freely, in consequence of the number and size of its 
 peninsular forms. A more uniform and harmonious 
 advancement has /taken place in Europe than in any 
 other of the continents of the Old World. The char- 
 acter of its culture has been so conditioned by the 
 form of the country, that Europe, although the smallest 
 of the continents, has become the most powerful of 
 all. Asia has been so bountifully endowed by nature, 
 stretching out, as it does, through all three zones, and 
 excelling in size and richness of productions, that it 
 has poured its abundance and wealth over the neigh- 
 boring countries without impoverishing itself; but 
 Europe, confined alone to the temperate zone, and 
 rifted by the arms of the sea into scores of scattered 
 limbs, has been made especially accessible to naviga- 
 tion, and open to the reception of colonies and an 
 immigrant population, the more especially as it was 
 not liable to great extremes of temperature. The na- 
 ture of the^ country and the energy of its population 
 were well adapted to the work of turning human 
 ingenuity to the manufacture of useful materials from 
 natural productions. Europe, too, has been especially 
 able to increase by artificial aids the gifts of nature, 
 and to raise all the diversities of culture to a higher 
 standard, and afterwards to become the place whence 
 the ripened fruits of civilization might be transferred 
 to all other nations of the globe. It is well known 
 that the destiny of Europe, in developing the richness 
 of its natural productions and the intellectual quali- 
 
OF HISTORY AXD GEOGRAPHY. 343 
 
 ties of its population, has been modified from the be- 
 ginning by the conformation of the country itself. In 
 history the honor of fulfilling the destiny of nations is 
 attributed to the efforts of man, and more especially 
 to the European race, although this honor ought only to 
 be partially ascribed to it. For brevity's sake we will 
 state, in but a word, the three characteristic features 
 in the formation of Europe that are the physical 
 grounds of the development of its nations : its large 
 extent of seaboard, its peninsular forms, and the num- 
 ber of its islands. 
 
 The coastline of Europe is, relatively to its area, 
 the largest of all the continents. While Asia, whose 
 area is five times greater, has about thirty thousand 
 miles of coast, and Africa, with three times its area, 
 has eighteen thousand miles, Europe has a sea-line of 
 twenty-six thousand, — more than the circumference 
 of the globe. From this there results, that, although 
 lying within the great land hemisphere, it has, through 
 its branches formed by the inlets of the sea, relatively 
 the largest contact with the world of waters of all the 
 continents of the Old World. Its favorable position 
 in regard to the currents of the sea and of the atmos- 
 phere is an additional advantage ; and so, too, is the 
 large number of valuable harbors, a natural result of 
 the many ocean inlets. These circumstances combined 
 have given great prominence to nautical science, and 
 show why Europe has the control of the seas. In 
 these our times, the group of Great Britain and Ire- 
 land have a special prominence in these regards, just 
 
344 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 as in ancient times the control of the Mediterranean 
 was in the hands of Greece, the most broken penin- 
 sula of the Old World, and therefore the one most 
 rich in harbors. The division of Europe in the north, 
 by the German Ocean, the Baltic, and the White Sea, 
 into the Scandinavian peninsulas and islands, has 
 secured to those cold regions as positive progress as is 
 exhibited in fair and fertile Greece, Italy, and Spain. 
 Scandinavia gives to the north of Europe a great ad- 
 vantage over the adjoining district of Asia; for the 
 flat regions of Siberia lack the ocean inlets of northern 
 Europe as well as of southern Asia. Besides this, 
 they are sundered from the more favored Asiatic dis- 
 tricts by the vast table-lands inhabited by nomadic 
 tribes. Less favored, too, than northern Europe by 
 soil and climate, Siberia can never compete with its 
 advancing civilization. 
 
 Finally, the island formations of Europe must be 
 considered superior to all other continents, for, being 
 near the sea-coast, and within easy reach of the conti- 
 nent, they have immediate connection with it ; they 
 form the sea station for Europe ; and in this regard 
 they have special advantages, since their size is not 
 insignificant, affording an area sufficiently large for a 
 dense population. The tendency of this has been to 
 stimulate these islands to a high degree of develop- 
 ment. They are not single fragments, or long series 
 of oceanic rocks, or steep and inaccessible peaks ; for 
 the south of England is only a continuation of northern 
 Franco, as Sicily is of Calabria, and as Candia is of 
 
OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY. 345 
 
 the Morea. In short, if we could suppose the British 
 isles blotted out of the maps of northwestern Europe, 
 how impoverished would the history of the continent 
 in its maritime relations have been. The peninsula 
 of Jutland, without the islands of Zealand and Funen, 
 is only a narrow neck of sandy land. In former 
 times the history of Rome and Italy would have been 
 quite different without the adjoining isle of Sicily. 
 Crete, the iEgean and Ionian isles, served as the 
 medium for the transferring of civilization from 
 hither Asia to Greece and Italy. 
 
 It would take us too long to enter upon the conse- 
 quences produced by the want of islands on the coast of 
 Africa, for Madagascar can hardly be considered as 
 immediately connected with this coast, since it is sepa- 
 rated from it by oceanic currents ; nor can we state 
 with the fulness which the subject demands the effects 
 resulting from the immense number of islands south- 
 east of Asia, the so-called Sunda-Australian group, 
 unquestionably the largest and the most individualized 
 group on the globe. In its triangular form it encloses 
 an area equal to that of Europe, and extends like an 
 isthmus between Asia and Australia, having a certain 
 analogy with the American isthmus of Panama, since 
 both series of continents are north and south of each 
 other. We notice here also that the great number of 
 these islands, and their nearness to each other, cause 
 them to appear in the light of an insular division of 
 the globe, having a distinct and characteristic popula- 
 tion. This immense group of islands, therefore, is not 
 
346 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 to be regarded as having an immediate connection with 
 the continent of Asia, although its nearness to that 
 continent causes a reciprocity of influence, not unlike 
 that of other islands more directly connected with the 
 mainland. 
 
 The remark which Strabo made with regard to 
 Sicily, that the fragmentary parts of continents, espe- 
 cially contiguous islands, are the most richly endowed 
 portions of the globe, holds true with the insular 
 groups from Ceylon to New Guinea ; for every island 
 appears to possess some characteristic resources, which 
 contribute greatly to the development of commerce in 
 the equatorial zone. Thus, the white elephant, pearls, 
 cinnamon, and also rubies, are found in Ceylon. The 
 rhinoceros, tapir, ourang-outang, and the finest dye- 
 stuffs and most costly woods, are indigenous to Suma- 
 tra. Banca is the richest tin country in the world ; 
 Borneo furnishes gold, diamonds, and a hundred other 
 kinds of precious stones. Java, well known as the 
 barley islands of Ptolemy, abounds in grains of all 
 kinds, bread-fruit, and sugar-cane. The adjoining 
 islands possess each their peculiar kind of species as 
 far as the Moluccas and New Guinea, where the cam- 
 phor-tree and the sago-tree grow luxuriantly. There, 
 too, we find birds of paradise, and many produc- 
 tions of the three natural kingdoms, indigenous to 
 these islands, and not found in Asia. If the greatest 
 progress which civilization has anywhere made had 
 commenced in this part of the globe, the best endowed 
 of all, where physical aids appear in their perfection, 
 
OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY. 347 
 
 where water and land combine with a tropical climate 
 to further the efforts of nature, this region would 
 have been the foremost in the world. But the laws 
 that govern the development of the intellect are 
 widely different from those which regulate physical 
 conditions. 
 
 Had it been accordant with the plan of the Maker 
 to create all divisions of land as scattered islands, 
 and not as connected continents, as we have seen in 
 Polynesia is the case (by which Europe, with a surface 
 of two million six hundred and eighty-eight thousand 
 square miles, would have been subdivided into fifteen 
 large islands such as Borneo, Sumatra, and the Celebes, 
 or, more exactly speaking, of the size of Spain), the 
 nations of the earth would have been far less connected 
 than at present, and more independent of each other. 
 We find in the formation of the European continent all 
 the advantages which accrue from an insular position, 
 and also a complete balance of contrasts, without the 
 disadvantages of too great a dismemberment, such as 
 that in the insular world of Suncla, so perfect a con- 
 trast to articulated continents. Both forms, the ex- 
 tremes of subdivision into islands, as in Polynesia, 
 and the compact mass of such a land as Africa, have 
 exerted a retarding influence on the progress of man. 
 The result has been the same, although the causes 
 have been unlike ; in both cases it has hindered the 
 free development of national character. In the place 
 of maximum subdivision, the Eastern Archipelago, the 
 Malay tribes have been so disconnected as to enjoy 
 
348 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 but few of the advantages of mutual health and 
 dependence. In Africa, on the other hand, the coun- 
 try of maximum compactness, we find an imperfectly 
 educated population, and in many places tribes in the 
 rudest stage of development. 
 
 These two physical conditions are both, as we have 
 seen, unfavorable to the advancement of nations from 
 the first estate of barbarism. Europe was placed be- 
 tween these extremes not to be retarded, but to be 
 favored and urged forward. It received for its portion 
 a much smaller area than the other continents ; it was, 
 therefore, much easier known, and was sooner brought 
 into cultivation. In consequence of its amount of sea- 
 board, its articulated form, and its islands, it was soon 
 able to realize its historical mission and destiny. Al- 
 though apparently the poorest in natural productions 
 of all the continents, its end was to become the place 
 where all the finer fabrics of the Old World should 
 take their form, and to be the centre of all intellectual 
 progress. Europe was to be the middle point of devel- 
 opment for both the Old and New World, was to 
 become the workshop of the globe. It was to become 
 susceptible to all healthy changes, it was to remain 
 unfettered in its natural forces, and its inhabitants 
 were to enjoy the most ample opportunity of culture 
 and progress. 
 
 In searching for a connection in the events which 
 nature and history bring into view, we have to suppose 
 the existence of a certain physical organization of our 
 globe, by which the different continents and the larger 
 
OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY. 349 
 
 features of the earth are brought into relations of 
 action and reaction, which greatly affect human life 
 and character. The organization to which we allude 
 is entirely different from that which concerns the flora 
 and fauna of the earth ; instead of dealing with forms 
 that are temporary, it deals with those that are perma- 
 nent. The world, if it could be rightly viewed, would 
 be seen to be a perfect organism, and what appears to 
 be unsymmetrical chaos would be found, could the 
 observer take his place outside of the earth, to exist 
 in perfect harmony and symmetry. The seeming 
 prevalence of confusion does not result from the want 
 of system, but only from the fact that man is not able 
 to investigate all the relations of the globe. 
 
 In the very dissimilarity of size and form, in the 
 confusion and want of connection that seem to pre-, 
 vail in the order of the world, there does yet lie a 
 secret principle of unity, and the forces which control 
 the workings of the world are linked together by a 
 real though invisible chain. As the human body is 
 one, although composed of many parts, so the world 
 is by like analogy a unit, of which the countless 
 animal and vegetable organisms are the dependent 
 parts. 
 
 We find a cause of the mutual influence of nature 
 and history upon each other in the unequal distribu- 
 tion and extent of land and water, and also in the 
 changeable temperature and irregular motion of the 
 winds. The difference in the size of the continents 
 is accordant with the difference of the size of great 
 
 30 
 
350 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 nations. In the contiguity of land masses lie laws 
 that influence the whole development of mankind. 
 The separation by natural barriers of the Old from the 
 New World, and of continents from their dependent 
 islands, are only stimulants to a general union by 
 the aid of the arts of navigation. The difference of 
 endowment in the various countries of the world gives 
 impulse to distribution by commerce. In the size of 
 Europe, and the harmonious relation of its parts, 
 we find the principal conditions of its greatness and 
 freedom. , 
 
 We may express the proportion of the continents, in 
 round numbers, as follows : Europe is about one-fifth 
 as large as Asia, while it is a little more than one-third 
 the dimensions of Africa. The size of America is 
 between that of Asia and Africa. Australia is smaller 
 than Europe, containing about one-fifteenth of all the 
 continents, or, including the islands, about one-twen- 
 tieth of all the land on the globe. But these absolute 
 relations of area are not decisive in judging the history 
 of the world ; their position and the date of their 
 discovery ought to be taken into account. Australia, 
 for example, though embracing one-twentieth of the 
 land-surface of the globe, has only come to the theatre 
 of history in the most modern times. 
 
 In estimating the historical value of each continent, 
 we have to consider its own specific relation to itself, 
 that is, the size, in superficial extent, of its main 
 body, compared with its peninsular forms and its 
 
OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY. 351 
 
 islands. The three continents of the Old World have 
 in this respect the following relations : — 
 
 Africa, 
 Asia, 
 
 Main Body. 
 1 
 4 
 
 Peninsular Forma. 
 0^ 
 
 1 
 
 Island 
 
 * 
 
 Europe, 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 & 
 
 The relations expressed by these proportions do not 
 suggest all of the influences exerted by main body, 
 peninsular form, and islands, but they suggest them 
 in so far as they are dependent upon the superficial 
 extent. 
 
 But America, or the New World, displays, in its 
 external form, quite different relations. Although it 
 repeats the contrasts of the Old World, yet the course 
 of its mountain chains is not from east to west, but 
 from north to south. We have already shown, in 
 a former part of this work, that the northern part of 
 America extends farther towards the north pole than 
 the Siberian coast, and surpasses that coast, too, 
 in the minuteness of its articulation. We showed 
 that the development of its mountain chains and the 
 position of its inland seas make it, as a continent, 
 analogous to Europe. Its sea-coast best endowed with 
 harbors and islands is on the eastern side, and so 
 turned towards the civilization of the Old World. 
 The Gulf Stream, which may be called the great 
 commercial highway of nations, brought both of the 
 continents bordering on the North Atlantic into direct 
 connection. 
 
352 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 We are now in a position to sum up briefly our 
 results. 
 
 North America was destined to be discovered by 
 Europeans, and not by Asiatics. Asia could easily 
 have transferred a part of its population to America, 
 in consequence of the proximity of their shores at 
 Behring' s Straits. But the eastern sea-coast of North 
 America is so richly furnished with harbors and 
 islands that it readily attracted European civilization. 
 The gentle slopes of the American continent, too, 
 offered a most favorable field to Europeans, allowing, 
 as they did, civilization to penetrate without obstruc- 
 tion every portion of the land. 
 
 Nature has shown us, by giving to America river 
 systems which run northward to the numerous groups 
 of islands and peninsulas of the Polar Sea, that Amer- 
 ica was destined even more than Europe to send civili- 
 zation to the northern portions of the globe. Even 
 now, after the lapse of a very short time, human 
 culture has advanced along the western coast of 
 Greenland to 70° north latitude. The Arctic Ocean 
 is covered with fishing vessels and craft of all kinds, 
 and more northern barriers still will in the course 
 of time be overcome by the advancing power of civil- 
 ization. 
 
 And so the southern part of Australia, formerly 
 terra incognita to mariners, embracing in small circuit 
 some of the finest harbors in the world, and having 
 Tasmania as its central port, was, ages since, prepared 
 to become, in the course of a few decades, the source 
 
OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY. 353 
 
 of activity upon the whole southern hemisphere. But 
 this was to be accomplished by means of a maritime 
 connection witli Europe, and under the direct stimulus 
 of that continent. 
 
 Northern Asia received at the beginning its civiliza- 
 tion from the central part of that continent, through 
 the agency of great river systems. It received its 
 population from that quarter too, till the advancing 
 progress of Eastern Europe exerted a stronger influ- 
 ence upon it than did Central Asia, especially since 
 the Ural chain proved no hindrance to civilization, 
 but, in consequence of its great mineral resources, a 
 promoter of it. A favorable position was the cause 
 that Western Asia enriched Southern Europe, and the 
 Mediterranean, that washes the shores of three conti- 
 nents, was the agent in promoting this. But this 
 relation was only temporary ; in modern times Euro- 
 pean civilization reacts on the Levant. 
 
 Each continent, as a member of the entire organiza- 
 tion of the earth, has had a particular function to 
 fulfil, in consequence of its position and conformation. 
 
 Southern and Eastern Asia are so largely pene- 
 trated by arms of the sea that civilization culminated 
 there earlier than elsewhere, and the Indies were the 
 focus of learning and arts for ages. 
 
 The three great peninsulas of Southern Asia, Ara- 
 bia, Hindoostan, and Farther India, are repeated on 
 the south coast of Europe in the three dissimilar 
 peninsulas there, Greece, Italy, and Spain. They lie 
 twenty degrees farther north, outside of the tropics, 
 
 30* 
 
354 THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS 
 
 so that their whole influence on the culture and 
 thought of dependent countries is unlike that of the 
 Asiatic peninsulas. 
 
 Both groups, those of Asia and of Europe, each 
 containing three peninsulas endowed with the richest 
 gifts of nature, are among the most potential agencies 
 of the globe. By means of them Asia has received 
 in the tropic zone, and Europe in the temperate, the 
 best advantages for influencing the life of the globe 
 that the Creator has ever bestowed. North America 
 has received the same in a degree, and Tasmania, too ; 
 but these are reserved for a future development, of 
 which the beginnings are making now. 
 
 The future greatness of the yet young American 
 double continent, in its colossal extension from north 
 to south, may be partly anticipated from a study of the 
 relation of the peninsulas of Southern Asia and South- 
 ern Europe, for an inference can be made from what 
 has already been seen of the future progress which 
 America will make in civilization, especially if South 
 America endeavors to compete with the northern con- 
 tinent. The great peninsulas of Southern Asia reach 
 out into that silent and deserted Indian Ocean, that is 
 without islands and without life ; the southern penin- 
 sulas of Europe look towards the barren and sandy 
 shores of Northern Africa ; but the rich coasts of the 
 southern portion of the United States and of Mexico 
 lie not far removed from opposite coasts most richly 
 endowed by nature. South America with its luxuri- 
 ance lies before them, and as Europe was once the 
 
OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY. ööö 
 
 Occident of civilized Asia, so North America awaits 
 the time when its southern neighbor shall awaken to 
 a development of which the beginnings are not yet 
 seen. The intermediate groups -of the Antilles will 
 probably, in course of time, link both continents more 
 closely together. 
 
 If the outward arrangements of the globe had 
 denied to the American continent the Old World's 
 past progress in population and in all departments 
 of culture from east to west, following the leading of 
 kindred countries and temperature, a compensation 
 would have been found in the possibility of a new 
 course of development in a different direction, namely, 
 from north to south. 
 
 In the contrasts which are often observed to exist 
 in scientific geography, history shows us that climate, 
 by its many modifications in temperate and tropical 
 regions, is the harmonizing element. This reconciling 
 power has been given to it that man might become 
 the unconditioned master of the earth. That he may 
 learn to be this is to be the study and the task of the 
 next centuries. The past ages have given him the 
 means of gaining the victory over nature ; the New 
 World, now in its infancy, is to apply them. 
 
 Once, when the conformation of countries and their 
 relative positions gave them a larger measure of re- 
 sources than lands situated less favorably enjoyed, 
 no method of distribution was in general use ; some 
 districts were glutted, while others lacked. With the 
 course of time a change comes, and the lands which 
 
356 RELATIONS OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 geographical situation has especially favored confer 
 their productions upon those which have not this 
 advantage; thus countries once insignificant through 
 the poverty of their resources become strong. 
 
 To what an extent this can result is already re- 
 vealed in the contrasts of ancient and modern history ; 
 it is revealed, too, in the most striking and sublime 
 manner in the new life and increased wealth which 
 the art of the navigator has now accumulated on the 
 entire coast of the continents and on all the islands 
 of the sea; it is manifested, too, by the culture of 
 Europe. 
 
 On the other hand, what I must call a nicer suscep- 
 tibility to influences displayed in the land hemisphere, 
 the true continental regions, leaves scarcely room for a 
 doubt that through a use of all the resources of art 
 a possibility is opened for yet greater changes in the 
 unfolding progress of human history. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 3477-6