The New York herald., 1879-02-12
Chief Justice Daly's Lecture on tile Prog.
ress Of Map Making.
FROM THE CHALDEAS TO MERGATOR
Ancient Ideas Of Geography---The Egyp-
tans. Greeks and Romans
TIME DISSIPATING ERROR.

pleasant reunion of lovers of science took place
last evening at Chickerng Hail. when Chief Justice
DAILY. president of the New York Geographical So
ciey. delivered lecture the History Of Car
tography; The Progress OF the Art of Map Making
from the Earliest Times to Those of Mercator" A
large audience greeted the Chief Justice and warmly
applauded his learned discourse.
Chief Justice Daily said:-
The origin of maps is, apprehend. involved in
much obscurity the invention of letters. The
photographic arr is probably old older than the
invention of the alphabet. We know that the art of
writing began with pictorial representations of OBJ
jects. which is still distinsushable in the Egyptian
hieroglypics the earliest form of writing with
which we are acquainted and we may fairly assume
that long before letters invented TO represent
the articulate sounds in human speech by an alpha
betical arrangement OF which any spoken word
be put in writing that man had sufficiently advanced
in the knowledge of the arts of design to be able to
represent the position OF countries cities aud towns
the OF rivers the situation of seas the local
iy of mountains, or other distinguishing features of
map so far as he had occasion for it, for this art has
been found in use among races who had had no pre-
vious contact with civilized man-races that had never
advanced so rar as to invent written language.
The lecturer added that Parry and Ross found that
the Esqumaux understood their charts, and even
tended lines of coast unknown to the explorers The
North American Indians have always had maps
which intelligbe and serviceable to them. The
earliest thing known in tho nature OF map is the
ground plan OF town identified that of Susa, the
Shushan of the Bible, city of remote antiquity.
The plan is supposed to be Old centuries
the details OF the town. The Egyptians doubtless
had maps of some kind As they Increased in civii-
early period. considerable knowledge of the ge-
ography of the world as then known. The military
expeditions and conquests of Thothmes ILL.,, 1.400
B. Co. and Harnesses H.. the Sesostris of the Greeks,
1900 3. O., extended Asia to Nineveh, ON the
Euphrates. and to the confines of India They
tended also large part OF Northern Africa the
north OF Greece and almost to Central Europe embrace
ing nearly the whole world, known to the anciens.
They like the Chaldeans had made great progress in
had
general idea of the form OF the earth There is a
passage IN Appolomons of Rhodes which has been
but 1t is too uncertain to predicate thing upon it,
PHdsNIcIAN AND GREEK GEOGRApHERs
1t was very different, however, with their neigh
bors, the Phenicans They were the great mari
time nation Of antiquity. making constant voyages
along the coasts OF the Mediterranean either side
and along the western coast OF Europe far Great
Britain, and possibly farther. Their jealous
mercial policy kept them from mparting their
knowledge to others, that We do not know whether
they had maps or charts, which is not remarkable,
as We know. in fact so little respecting them.
troM % ne 1na we % get our
ton we have upon the subject is from passages in
Herodotus and in Strabo. Strabo says that Anaxi-
mander who was born b. G. 6l2, the first who
represented the world upon map. Diogenes Laertes
ascribed to him the invention OF geographical maps
and also Of the gnomen the simple instrument very
much like own sun dial, with which the ancicnts
in connection with the clepsydia water glass,
made their astronomical observations; but the
gnomeu Is known to have been in among the
Chaldeans long before the time of Anaximander. He
may have introduced it into Greece. which was
enough to have the invention of ii attributed to him.
for the Greeks were very like English brethren
II any one OF their countrymen connected with
the Introduction among them OF new art or dis
covery he was put down as the inventor.
1t has been said that Anaxmander knew that the
earth was sphere, and so constructed his map, but
apprehend that there is no ground for such
sumption. Diogenes Laertes says that he was the
first person who drew a map OF the earth and sea.
and better informed writer's such as Aristotle and
Plutarch that Anaximander's idea of the earth was
that it was OF cylindrical form, in the shape of
long pillar the upper part or face or which the
portion inhabited
Hecataeus, who lived in the same century with An
aximander, is believed to have corrected and i'm
proved his map Hecataeus extensive traveller
we'll acquainted with Egypt and Western Asia, and
who embodied his informations in two works which
were OF great authority long after his time.
No doubt the unknown and fabulous was mingled
with what was known in the map OF Hecataeus.
Herodotus, who wrote century later had evidently
poor opinion OF it, or at least OF the maps existing
when he wrote. He says:-"For my part I can
not but laugh when see numbers OF persons draw
ing maps OF the world without having any reason
guide them; making the ocean stream to run all
round the earth and the earth itself to be
circle, as II described by pair OF compasses" The
last remark may possibly have been applied to
attempt to construct map with reference to the
globular form. Of the EARTH for Parmenides
a contemporary of Hcrodotus is said by Diogenes
Laertes to have boen the first person who asserted
that the earth was of u spherical FORM and that it
was situated in the centre OF the universe, and the
same idea was entertained by Socrates, who in
the enjoyment of widespread reputation more than
credits Parmendes also with having been the first to
divide the slobo into five zones they then
called. climates. The statement OF so late writer
Laertes, that Psrmenides the first to PROFOUND
the true theory of the form OF the earth would
OF itself be entitled To much weight but the state
ment is probably true. from what is known from
conteiaporaneous sources. We know very little
specting the man who appears to have been
the first. ut least in Greece. to express
belief i'll the rotundty OF the earth. Plato,
who calls HIM the great Parmenides. says that he
native OF Flea, the west coast OF Italy, and
that he to Athens when rather an old man. with
hoary locks and handsome. noble aspect, and that
Socrates then became acquainted with him. that it
~ not impossible that IL from HIM that Socrates
received his impression of the spherical form the
earth. Socrates says recorded by Plato, ''the
earth is neither of such kind of such luagni-
tndc as is supposed by those who speak of it, as
have been persuaded by certain person. who may
have been Parmenides. Aristotle was convinced half
n century aterward that the earth globe draw
ing that conclusion from the shadow which 1t casts
the sun in cclpses.
When the idea became firmly fixed in the mind Of
the learned that the earth sphere il na.urally
followed among all artistic people like the creeks
that some attempt would be made to give a physical
representation OF IL, and accordingly told that
Crata b. c. $780, constructed globe Of the tnh sbited
part of tho eArth-from the arctic tho teophc-in