The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-07-28
Progress Of science-What 1t Is
To BE a Geographer.
4 GcfIlls, az Isroliih and a Brick from
The Great Wall Of China.
Marshal MacMahon and the American
Commissioner

mologst. which ne considered hat no honest man
could assume IN these DAYS. HIS friends, he
thought went 900 lar M calling MN a oolsopto-
rist; ne was content, himself 20 be considered a
scarab0lst so enormously has every science de-
veloped that the utmost student, however stout
hearted, can hope "a achieve during lifetime Is
Lhe mastery OF branch or a subdivision Of facts,
and the sublime dream OF Bacon, go make al |
knowledge hts province, Is only rsalizabIe By hu-
manity at large And vet whine facts ac-
cumulate, ana the innnte variety Of ma
ture daily becomes more apparent the
interdspenoence VI the scieuces on one another
Is also more clearly perceived. ana those
VINO would acquire q complete intimacy with any
one section OF the earth's phenomena must know
much OF It's relations 70 the rest the lives or
plants and insects must be studied In connection
with each other nor are the boundaries OF she
animal and vegetable kingdoms - Jet clearly oe-
nned.
DEFINITIONS IN TaE oLDES DAYS.
Indeed, the definitions OF animal" and ''veget-
abe" winch con tented our fathers are all out OF
date. for nothing Is more clearly established than
that nature has no hard and asst lines, but con-
sists OF q graduating series OF ORGANISMS, each
Joined to each by q connecting INK TIL the dis
tand cousinship OF man and q sponge can be
traced more precisely than any heraldc pedixree.
FROM sTRABo TO gLIsEE REcLUS
Above all, in geography, Ia the study OF the sur
face OF our mother earth, how wonderful has been
the progress made from SLrabo 10 Eilsee Reclus,
and how Infinitely xtend.ng Is the range OF
facts very slight reflection will show. In the nrst
place to understand tue surface correctly
must know some thing OF wnas Is beneath It, and
geology leads the way TO paleontoiogy or inquiry
into the lie and habits OF the unknown millions
OF human beings whose remains are among the
constituent parts OF the very globe itself To the
Inhw nf INNS o. ho fntn fha
knowledge OF the history which IL has SO largely
shaped. well as OF philology, for the rarfled
OF mountains and the relaxing atmosphere OF
many plains have their powerful influence on toe
human speech.
THE DoUBrERs AND GRowLERS
There Is a tendency among minds to be dissat-
is1ed with the achievements OF sciences to COM
Ilain that the world has lost more than II has
gained by the discoveries Of Columbus and New
ton, and by somewhat Illogical process TO con-
meet the faulty geography OF the shield OF Achilles
with the beauty and freshness OF the Homerio
poems II, however, We have no Homer now, the
fault Is not that OF science, which ever opening
wider realms TO the human Imagination. II man
cannot now propose
To sail beyond the sunset. and the paths
OF all the Western stars
be can contemplate greater wonders than these
and lose himself IN mazes OF thought concerning
other worlds and other suns, and all oil marvellous
ana beautiful they may contain.
THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
OF Geography, which win shortly assemble IN the
sale des Etats or the Tuileries under the presi-
de1cy or Admiral de la Ronclere lie Noury, Will
deal with every kindred science, the programme
OF It's discussions embracing all things with
supplementary discussion on a few others
THE GROUPS or SUBJECTS.
The simple enumeration OF the groups OF sub
ig IA q ne m
OF scientific knowledge IN the nineteenth GEN.
fury.
FIRST Group-Gsography, mathematics, topo-
graphy
Ihtrd-Geograpny, payslcs, general meteo-
rolozy, geology, 90 anical and geological geo
grapny, general anthropology.
Fou-th-Hstorcal geogrspay and the history OF
geography, eIbnography, philology.
Fgrh-Ecsnomic, statistical aud commercial
SIth- eaching and diffusion OF geographical
neutrality-suspicious. voyages OF discovery and
oil trade.
TIE DISCUSSIONS WILL BE ILLUSTRATED
and rendered intelIIgtble to ordinary persons By
general exhibition Of objects OF interest bearing
on scientific research. Among these will be the
apparatus used in tue Island Of st. Paul for OBJ
serving the transit OF Venus,
GoRILLAs
ten feet high, an aerollte picked up In Sweden, q
brick from the great wall Of CHINA
NOT INFALLIBLR.
The Congress is not, OF course authorized by
the scientific world TO decide ON any disputed
questions, science being essentially democratic
end never lettering The spirit OF free inquiry by
dogmatism necessarily based on imperfect know-
edge. And yet the Congress would he rendering
q real service 70 tne cause or education II 10
were TO recommend certain principles or
geographical Instruction, especially II 1t
were TO frame comprehensive system
OF geographical nomenclature. Nothing Tor
instance can be more incorrect tnan the common
division OF the Eastern Hemisphere into the CONT
nents named. for no Ineligible reason Europe
Asia and A RIGA. Thus, the north Of Africa bears
geograpnIcally and ethnoogicaly, a greater re-
semDlance to the south OF Europe than 70 Central
Africa. Tne division, again, between Europe and
Asia Is perfectly Arbitrary, Siberia and Northern
Russia In Europe being more truly parts or one
continent than Siberia Snd India. The word
continent" Itself obviously requires definition.
Would IL be
SCIENTIFICALLY MORE CONVENIENT
to name tracts OF land after the pecuiiaritieS OF
soil or climate, or after the races which inbabit
tnemf Population, OF course, IS shifting; but, on
the other hani the SOIL viii Always In some meas
ure assimilate the jewellers on 10 10 Itself. Ger
many though peoped BY successive lmmlgrations,
produces much the same breed Of men now as In
tns days OF Tacitus The 'Brfdnnt hospnf6,Ls
Jerp' OF Horace have been replaced by another
race who seem to nave Inherited their dislike OF
foreigners; and we IN America nave ceased In
many respects to resemble our Puritan ancestors
TOPOGRAPHY MUST PREcxDE HISTORY
were the words OF NJ. Durny, Minister OF Educa.
ton under Napoleon III. Indeed, the beginnings
Of history are unintslllgibe without IT, and there
seems reason to believe that the origin Of most
superstitions and OF good deal that Is called re-
Iglon Is 70 DO found in the connVuraton OF the
eartn's surface. Nr. Buckle. in his famous WORK,
pointed out that the difference between the re.
Iigfon OF the Hlndoos and the Greeks was TO be
accounted for py the influences OF climate. The
dweIler on the banks Of tho Kephisos and the
dweller on the banks Of the Gangos we're both
o1shoots from the same parent stem, as their re.
spectlve languages prove but In the h9ine OF the
q nr.a .ranNa