The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-15
HARD WORK TO MAKE MAPS.
Yenrs of Labor Sometimes Given to
One CartOgraphlc Product.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
Few people have any idea of the i'm
mense labor expended upon the production
of the best maps. Prof. Wagner who oc-
cupies the chair of geography at the Uni
versity of Gottingen, Germany, was talk
ing about it the other day. This famous
geographer had just completed the latest
revision of his Atlas of school geography.
81 revise the Atlas about every two
years" said the professor. 1T requires
several months of my time; and in addi-
ton to this have to be on the lookout
every day for news OF fresh discoveries
corrections of errors that have crept into
the maps, new political boundaries, new
temperature observations I'm the Amazon
basin, for instance, where few meteorolo-
gical records have been kept which may
affect the position of the isotheFmHl lines
on my maps, and a great variety Of otaer
Information which necessitates many
changes on my map plates of more or less
importance. | have 10 keep on file all the
maps from explorers which are published
by the geographical societies of all lands.
II is from these maps that most of our in
formation about new discoveries and the
correction of errors is derived. Then there
are the map sheets of detailed topographic
survey issued by the governments of
nearly all civilized lands. They now num-
Der thousands and they must be i'm the
Libraries of all first class map publishing
houses which aspire 10 keep their maps
fully abreast Of geographic progress
There Is also a great deal of authorita-
tive literature giving many geographical
facts, such as the distribution of agrIcIl-
tural products In a country, which may be
clearly indicated on the maps we make.
All this information has to be CLASSIFIED
and pigeonholed ready for use when the
time comes for the next map revision.
MANY persons might think that the most
barren and scantily peopled parts OF the
world would not often require correction
on the maps; but this is not So In the Arc
tic regions, for instance, within short
time Peary visits an unknown part of the
northeast coast Of Greenland and finds
channel leading far west and separating
the mainland as far as is determined from
the islands further north; Nansen discov-
ers new facts about the depth OF the Arc
tic ocean. the movements OF Arctic cur
rents, mean temperatures, etc. and pushes
his work within 250 mites of the North
pole; then Jackson appears with an en-
tireiy new map Of Franz Josef land,
which completely changes our ideas of tie
geography of that region; and Tyrrell ira
verses a part Of North America west Of
Hudson's bay never before visited and
finds new facts for the maps; and other
Canadian explorers trace to Hudson's bay
the rivers that drain the country to the
south Of that inland sea. Every year on
an average about 200 hitherto unknown
reefs and rocks and other dangers 10 nav
ieation are discovered and must be noted
on many maps.
ut is the business of the eeographer to
take all this immense volume Of new in |
formation and use It with critical care
He can tell within narrow limits what de-
gree Of credence is TO be given to the work |
OF each explorer and he rejects great |
deal Of information which does not appear
TO him to be based upon sufficiently care
ful or competent research
When The Frcnchman Bissy made the |
large map Of Africa, TO which he devoted |
a great deal OF his time for eight years,
he used as his sources Of Information near
~ 800 route maps and other maps of the
continent II took a great deal Of time /
10 sift from this enormous mass of ma