AN EASY INTRODUCTION TO GEOGRAPHY AND THE USE OF THE GLOBES. BY A. WALKER, LECTURER IN PHILOSOPHY, FOURTH EDITION. PUBLISHED FOR THE USE OF HIS PUPILS. London: PRINTED BY SCHULZE AND DEAN, NO. 13, POLAND STREET, OXFORD STREET. 1812. 2411 The Teacher, by this little Book, will oblige his Pupils to write down the Answer to each Problem in the Space left for that Purpose: This will help to root it in the Memory, and serve to refer to, in case of Forgetfulness. INTRODUCTION TO GEOGRAPHY AND THE USE OF THE GLOBES. GEOGRAPHY is that branch of mixed mathematics which teaches the situation, extent, distance, &c. of all the countries, seas, empires, cities, towns, rivers, mountains, &c. on the face of the terraqueous globe. As a study, it is rather an effort of memory than genius; the shapes and situations of countries should be studied as the letters of an alphabet are by a child; got by heart; and known, as one field is from another, by their shape and situation. A few maps and a little application, are therefore all the requisites necessary to become a geographer. Simple and easy as is this branch of educa tion, its utility must not be estimated by the ease of its attainment:-history, voyages, travels, nay, even a newspaper, is unintelligible without it; and certainly it is a rational curiosity to know the state of that world in which we are destined to live. For this purpose, I B 2 recommend an Atlas, consisting of a map of the world, the four-quarter maps; one of England, Scotland, and Ireland together; of France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia, Poland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark in one, and Tur key: the East and West-Indies may also be an useful addition to them. To study these, it is necessary to know, the use of a number of artificial liues and figures on these maps, which have no existence on the real globe of the earth; for as thousands of places on its surface have no real name, it is necessary every spot on land or water should be distinguished from all other places, otherwise it would be impossible to point out on a map where a ship was lost, where a battle was fought, where a storm arose, or the incidents of a voyage or tour. To make these plain on flat paper, Adepts in this branch of science have long since adopted artificial lines and figures: for instance, they , have divided the globe into two hemispheres,, viz. the northern and southern by the double line seen on its map, called the equator. The two hemispheres on the map are to snew the two sides of a globe; and lines running from two opposite points called the poles, (crossing the equator at right angles) are called meridians, and are placed 15 degrees from one another, because the real earth turns 15 degrees of a circle, (consisting, as all circles do, of 360 degrees) every hour. It may be observed, on looking at this map, that the meridians are nearer one another about the middle of each hemisphere than towards their outsides: this arises from the difficulty of representing the true figure of a globular country on flat paper. It is a projection that preserves the real shape and contour of a country, as if the globe were really a flat plain so that our ideas of the outline or dimensions of a country are not con❤ founded, by referring from a globle to a map, or from a map to a globe. This, however, is not the case with the lines which cross the meridians at right angles, these are all equally distant from one another: they are called parallels of latitude, and there are eight of them -in the northern, and eight in the southern hemispheres. They are estimated from the equator-the nearest is 10° from the equator, the next 20°, &c. All places therefore on the north side of the equator, are said to be in northern latitude; and all on the south side of the equator, are said to be in southern latitude. Latitude therefore means, how far we are in degrees and minutes from the equator north or south; and longitude, how far we are to the east or west of the meridians of London, Paris, Faro, &c. for the first meridian of any country is arbitrary; and many nations have fixed it at their own metropolis. Hence in England, it is at London, or rather at Greenwich Observatory; in France, at Paris, and before these partial assumptions took place, Faro, (one of the western islands) being supposed the very outside limit of the habitable world, was wisely made the commencement of eastern longitude; for before COLUMBUS discovered America, western longitude was unknown. By means then of these squares, every spot on the globe (even what might be covered with a pin's point) may be called by |