The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-25 00:00:00

THE PHYSICAL ATLAS.

BY ALEXANDER KEITH JOHNSTON.
A New and Enlarged Edition. Complete in Twelve
"Guinea" Parts. William Blackwood and Sons.
[CONCLUDING NOTICE.] •
Dedicated by permission to Alexander Hum-
boldt—approved by Mary Somerville—commended
by David ,Brewster,—The Physical Atlas of Alex-
ander Johnston is, in a manlier, independent, we
might conceive, of all merely ordinary admiration.
After such praise, what need of further eulogium ?
Already the compiler of this remarkable publica-
tion has been addressed thus in its regard by the
Author of "Coamos" the most venerable and

comprehensive, perhaps, of all living intellects—
" You have rendered a most essential service to the

dissemination of a knowledge of cosmography."
That is the authoritative panegyric pronounced
upon " The Physical Atlas" by the Baron Von
Humboldt ! 'lt has been observed of this same
splendid production by the Editor of the "Edin-
burgh Encyclopaedia"—the Biographer of Newton,
and himself the greatest of our contemporary Opti-
cians—that "by devoting a single hour to the
contemplation of our globe in the diorama of The
Physical Atlas, the student will witness the gran-
deur of the tenement in which he dwells." The
eloquent encomium, this, pronounced upon Mr.
Johnston's masterpiece by the pen of Sir David
Brewster ! And has not the learned writer of the
text-book of " Physical Geography,"—a lady whom
it would scarcely be extravagant to designate the
Urania of modern philosophy—has not Mrs. Somer-
ville eagerly remarked, in reference to this very
noble repertory of geographical intelligence, that she
"avails herself of an opportunity of expressing her
admiration of the accuracy, extent, and execution
of this Atlas, and of the valuable information it
contains, which has afforded her the . greatest as-
sistance." Added to all which, what are the opi-
nions deliberately pronounced upon The Physical
Atlas by the two great rival Quarterlies, once the
arbiters of popular opinion, as they are still to a
great extent the leaders at once of analytic and
synthetic criticism ? "We know of no work of
which the methods are so well fitted for the in-
struction of those who come ignorantly to the sub-
ject," says., the old tory Quarterly. It "embodies
the materials of many volumes, the results of long
years of research ; and exhibits the most valuable
thoughts of the most distinguished men of the age
pictured visibly to the eye," says the still older
whig Edinburgh. Even the Lords of the Admir-
alty step in to pronounce an emphatic commenda-
tion upon the work : thus explicitly avowing that
" Their Lordships are fully sensible of the ingenu-
ity and extensive information displayed in this
Atlas." The Government collectively declaring
in regard to it, through the official medium of their
published "Geographical Survey," their sense of the
national importance of the undertaking : speaking
of the extraordinary compilation before us as "that
admirable and beautiful publication." Professor
Jameson has distinctly asserted in so many words
—" The want of such an Atlas, I have for years
regretted during my course of Lectures on Physi-
cal Geography :" while Professor Pillans enthusi-
astically designates it " The greatest boon that has
ever been conferred upon the geographical educa-
tion of the empire." Upon the opposite side of
the Atlantic it has been spoken of by the " New
York Literary World " as a gigantic monu-
ment of the genius of science of the present
day "—the various organs of public criticism
at home, weekly or monthly, morning or
evening, vieing with each other in the vivid re-
cognition of the merits of the production under
notice, merits, by this time, universally acknow-
ledged and more or less fully appreciated by the
students both of science and of literature. It was
only, in truth, last year, that the young and gifted
Duke of Argyll, in the course of the very ornate and
elaborate address delivered by him at Glasgow, in
his capacity as (then) President of the British
Association, offered thus cordially and explicitly,
his tribute of applause to the labours which have
led to the successful completion of this extraordinary
folio volume. "In connection," said his grace,
" with the diffusion of geographical knowledge,
I cannot omit to mention the magnificent publica-
tions of Mr. Keith Johnston of Edinburgh, in his
' Atlas of Physical Geography.' It is seldom that
such a mass of information has been presented in
a form so beautiful and attractive, or one which
tends so much to place the study on a truly scien-
tific basis." An opinion, formally pronounced, be
it remembered, in the presence of the great annual
assemblage of the chief among the more important
of the philosophical inquirers of the Age. If the
old classic adage be true—Pulchrum est accusari ab
accusandis—it is assuredly true with the converse
of it ! It is assuredly an honourable circumstance
to be approved by those who are themselves entitle i
to approbation. Or as the courtly Horace has ex-
pressed it--Principibus placuisse viris non %llama
taus est. Not the last or the least glory is it, ac-
cruing to the labours of Mr. Keith Johnston in re-
gard to his geographic and hydrographic master-
piece—this really wonderful Physical Atlas of
Natural Phenomena—that it has extorted the eu-
logium of persons as-illustrious and gifted as those
whose names we have here particularized.
The recent completion of a new and en-
larged edition of The Physical Atlas, may be
without exaggeration regarded as an event
marking a new epoch in the development
of human knowledge. It is to the facts of
science what a census is to the aggregate popula-
tion. It is the enrolment, up to the latest hour,
of the details already accumulated and recorded
upon what may be called the Doomsday-Book of
our Mother-Earth. As indicative of the extraor-
dinary scope of the undertaking, a few of the cha-
racteristic facts relating to the mere arrangement
of the contents of this noble volume may here be
enumerated. It comprises altogether, no less than
forty-two coloured engravings—seven small ones,
and thirty-five of very large dimensions. It in-
cludes, moreover, one hundred and forty-five folio
pages of letterpress descriptions, as well as an in-
dex, containing upwards of 16,000 separate refer-
ences ? The present edition, therefore, is any-
thing rather than a mere reprint of its predeces-
sor. So far is it from being this, that the author
claims for it, distinctly and justly claims for it, the
merit of considerably extending the domain of
Physical Geography. Doing this by the introduc-
tion of several subjects never hitherto comprised in
that term, comprehensive though it was hereto-
fore. It includes, this new and enlarged edition,
Seven Maps, each Map accompanied by an origi-
nal explanatory Essay—these seven explanatory
Essays extending over as many as twenty-eight
folio pages of letterpress. Maps and Essays, illus-
trative of subjects not at alt contemplated in the
original edition of The Physical Atlas of Natural
Phenomena. For example—in one of these "The
Distribution of Marine Life," has been revealed
by Professor Edward Forbes. In another, "The
Geology of Europe," has been displayed before us
by the united aid of Professor Nicol and Sir
Roderick Murchison. Through the third, thanks
to Professor Rogers, of Thston, U.S., we obtain
an insight into "The Geology of the United
States and British North America." Through
the fourth, we are inducted by the same learned
pioneer, through all the marvels involved
in " The Physical Characteristic of the Arctic
Polarßasin.",.Colonel Sabine, R.A., and V.P.R.S.,
expoUnding to us (fifthly) the mysteries connected
with " Terrestial Magnetism." Mr. Johnston
himself giving us, in the sixth instance, " The
Moral and Statistical Classification of the uman
Family," and in the seventh and last, among these
varied novelties, " The Geographical Distribution
of Health and Disease." Besides all which—there
have been withdrawn from the work as many as
Six maps, embracing themes illustrating Iso-
thermal Lines, Currents of Air, Botanical Geo-
graphy, and the Mountain Systems of Europe,
Asia, and America : in place of the old maps (with-
drawn) New Maps, "constructed from fresh mate-
rials," being substituted. The explanatory letter-
press connected with these plates being, as a mat-
ter of course, re-written, and extended ; but to-
gether with this, and by no means as a matter of
course, the revised text being interspersed with
six smaller plate-illustrations. The remaining
plates (to the number of twenty-three) retained,
have, nevertheless, while retained,l undergone a
most ,searching revision—in several instances being
appreciably altered and enlarged. The residue of the
letterpress, beyond the folio pages already specified
—a residue extending over as many as seventy-
four altogether—being considerably changed " for
the better ;" fourteen being actually re-written,
and the rest cnrrected and continued, wherever
either or both alterations appeared to be, in any way,
advisable. Wherefore, the Announcement of the
completion of this new and enlarged edition, adds
to all its other statements, ,oastfully but quite
literally—" There are thus twenty plate-illustra-
tions, and sixty-four pages of letterpress, in this
which did not appear in the First Edition"—a
carefully compiled Index (including, as we have
already observed, upwards of 16,000 references)
perfecting, so to speak, at least as far as any work
30 vast and comprehensive could have been per-
fected, The Physical Atlas of Natural Phenomena.
A publicatiotteflecting the highest honour not only
upon Mr. Keitsi Johnston as the Author and Editor
of the production, as well as upon the Messrs.
Blackwood and Sons as the munificent
and enterprising Publishers, from whose esta-
blishment it 'has immediately emanated—but
upon the splendid array of men of very rare talents
martialled by Publishers and Author in the pro-
gress of this remarkable undertaking ! Sir David
Brewster and Sir Roderick Murchison ; Professor
Edward Forbes) President of the Geological So-

ciety, and Professor James Forbes, occupant of the
Natural Philosophy Chair in the University
of Edinburgh ; Dr. An►i Bone of Vienna
and Dr. Heinrich Bsrghaus of Berlin ; the
Astronomical Professor in the University of Glas-
gow, and the Natural History Professor in the
University of Abordcen • •theso and with them
several others not less gifted each in his own
peculiar department, have participated with the
laborious Originator of the enterprise in the glory
of conducting it to its present eminently successful
completion. The Physical Atlas, under their
united conduct, embracing " eleven." large maps
under the section of geology, and " twelve,"
under that of Natural History ; "six" plates illus-
trating the section of Hydrography, and "six" that
of Meteorology. Such, in brief, is the Atlas of
_Natural Phenomena, recently issued from the
press by the Messrs. Blackwood a publication
not unworthy of the Epoch in which it has been
produced, the Age in which this Earth has seen
knowledge the most widely diffused and the most
sedulously cultivated, the Affe of the Steam-engine
and of the Electric Telegraph.

afARSIIAL PELISSIER, AT CONSTAN-

I'IN 0 PLE.

A letter from Therapia of the 14th, in the
Moniteur, gives some curious details of Marshal

sojourn at Constantinopfe•:—

" The Sultan, in order to gratify the Marshal, bad
been graciously pleased to order Mehemed Bey, the
intendant of the palace of Top-Kapou, to conduct that
officer through the room containing the treasures of the
crown and the different kiosks erected by his Majesty's
ancestors within the circuit of the seraglio. On the
morning of the 10th, the French Ambassador, the Mar-
shal, Vice-Admiral Trehouart, and the persons who
accompanied them, proceeded in State carriages to the
seraglio, where Mehomed Bey had prepared for them a
splendid break fast. Theyafter wards were conducted to the
kiosk of Bagdad, a most beautiful construction, built by
Sultan Amurath IV., and situated on the highest point
of the seraglio. It is impossible to behold anything
more admirable than this construction. It is lined inside
and out with slabs of porcelain, known by the name of
Kiachi, and the finest kind of which was formerly
made at Kuchan in Persia. All the doors, shutters,
and panels are of cypress-wood, incrusted with tor-
toiseshell, ivory, and mother-of-pearl in beautiful pat-
terns. The ceiling of the cupola is covered with de-
signs in gold on a vermillion ground, the colour of
which is still as fresh and bright as ever. When the
visitors had sufficiently admired this wonderful
construction, Mebemed Bey condncted them to the
private treasury of the Sultan. Until late years
the riches accumulated by the Ottoman sovereigns we
deposited in coffers ranged in cellars of Byzantine con-
struction. But, in the prevision of a visit from the Ems
peror of the French, the Sultan last year gave orders to
have a room prepared and arranged with the objects
worthy of being shows. to his august ally. The inten-
tion of the Sultan was in partecarried out, and owing to
the exertions of Mellemed-;Beit a portion of the a onders
which the Ottoman treasury contains can be viewed by
the persons specially permitted to visit them. The .
visitor's attention is first attracted by the throne of
Kei-Kaous, Sultan of Koniah in 1245, which was
formerly surrounded by hangings embroidered with
pearls and emeralds, now hung up in glass cases. This "•
seat, insolid silver, is covered over with enamelled de- •
signs of the greatest beauty, representing the thrones
and ornaments of the Kings of Persia in the olden time.
It is surrounded in every part with cloth of gold, and the '
cushions are of crimson velvet, embroidered with pearls
and precious stones. Close to it are to be seen the shield
and sabre which Sultan Arnnrath wore when he made ,-
his triumphal entry into Constantinople after his:Persian.
expedition. These arms are dazzling with diamonds.
By their side is the precious box which contained. the -
Koran, and, which the Sultan- Suleyman carried with
him dUring his campaigns. The lid is covered
with jewels of price, amongst which it a tur-
quoise in the shape of an almond of immense
size. To the end 'of the' cord which served to suspend
this box is fixed an emerald as large as a hen's egg. .
another part of the room are arranged tLe aigrette*
which the Sultans formerly wore in their turbans on
days ot ceremony. The emeralds, rubies, and diamonds
collected together in; these ornaments are of a size and
brilliancy to excite wonder ; and it may be safely predi-
cated that Western Europe can boast of few jewels to be
compared to these handed down by the ancient sultans.
I will not dwell on the beautiful objects in some
other rooms, but nothing can surpass the beauty
and exquisite finish of the cups of jade, the arms in-
laid with jewels, ancient stuffs stiff with gold and
silver, China vases, and a most curious collection
of timepieces of the 17th century, sent as presents from
the sovereigns of Europe. The inspection of the Im-
perial treasury being terminated, the visitors were con-
ducted to the library, erected by Sulton Ahmed, which
contains a collection of Eastern manuscriptS, such as
cannot be found elsewhere ; and lastly, they visited the
old throne-room, the canopy and chimney-piece of which
are covered with silver plates, beautifully enamelled and
inlaid with agates, garnets, and turquoises. A theatrical
performance followed ; at the conclusion of which the
Marshal and his party proceeded to the Porte, and in-
spected a body of troops drawn up on the vast esplanade
of the Seraskierate. Everywhere the Marshal was the
observed of all observers."