Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1882-02-15
Lectures to Mechanics.
Prof. William III. Brewer on "The H
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Prof William H. Brewer ON 'sThe His
tory of Geography
Ihe first lecture of the sixteenth annual
course to mechanics, under the auspices of
the Sheffield Scientific School, was given by
Professor Brewer in the North Sheffield Hall
last evening. There was large audience
present, whose attention the speaker held
from first to last by an interesting and enter
tanning discourse. The professor began by
saying that he purposed to treat of the his
tory of geography in three aspects First, the
history of our knowledge of the shape of the
earth; secondly, our general knowledge of
Its surface and lastly, our special knowl-
edge of it according to the teachings of mod
ern science. "Our civilization" continued
the lecturer, had it's origin in the region
which is bounded on the west by the Nile, on
the east by the Tigris, on the north by the
Taurus mountains and on the south by the
Arabian desert. The ancients had certain
knowledge of geography, but they had no
taste for exploration. The causes of the ad-
vancement have been commercial intercourse,
war and conquest, religious zeal and the pur-
suit of knowledge for its own sake So far
as we know the Hebrews had no system of
geography .whatever-at least it did not find
its way into the Bible. They had general
idea that the earth was fiat, fixed and possibly
square, for the Bible speaks of the corners Of
the earth. They thought it to be the perma-
nent abode of man with heaven
above and the other place below it.
The position of place on the
earths surface may be determined by
mere description of it, by stating it's direc-
ton from other places, by actual measure
ment of its distance from known points and
by it's latitude and longitude. The Hebrews
knew but the first of these methods. Lati-
tude was early understood and used, but lit
tie was known of longitude until quite recent
times. It is curious to note the varying
ideas of the ancients regarding the shape of
the earth. One was that the earth was an
island floating in an infinite sea, and on the
borders of which dwelt giants and dwarfs of
a marvellous character. The scriptures of
Buddha taught that the earth was supported
by twelve pillars. The Hindoos believed the
earth to be hemisphere with the convex
side up. Some of the early Greek philoso-
pliers believed it to be a cylinder, whose
height was one third its diameter Aristotle
thought that the world was spherical, but
just how it was supported puzzled him.
the Koran, the earth was square and was
surrounded by mountains supposed to serve
the double purpose of supporting the crystal
armament, above which rested a seven story
heaven. The irreligious doctrine that the
earth was round like ball was secuted by
the early fathers of the Christian church,
who only conceded that it was
round like wafer. The proof
that it was round did not come
until the sixteenth century after the famous
voyages of Columbus and Magellan. Begin
ming with the Greek philosophers in the
seventh century before the Christian era up
to the present day the doctrine of the spheri-
city of the earth has been held by some one.
It took more than twenty centuries to DEM
onstrate this truth to the religious world. In
the second century before Christ written
scientific astronomy and geography began,
and in the second century of the present era
came Ptolemy. The Oldest maps we have are
those of Ptolemy, and his Biographies re-
manned standard works for many centuries
and were in use in the time of Columbus.
During the middle ages geographical science
ceased, but geographical discovery went on
A series of events, among them the crusades
and the discovery of the mariners compass
gave to the world vast amount of geograph-
ical knowledge"
At the conclusion of the lecture several
lime light views were exhibited, showing
Egyptian hieroglyphic maps, the Hindoo con-
ception of the earth, PtoIemy's map of the
world, an Anglo-Saxon map of the sixteenth
century and several others The lecturer
announced that he would resume the subject,
beginning with the discoveries of Columbus,
at the next lecture of the course, to be given
tomorrow evening.