Page:EB1911 - Volume 17.djvu/666

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEYS]
MAP
649


especially to give a satisfactory delineation of the ground, he must meet the requirements of various classes of the public, and be prepared to record cartographically all the facts of physical or political geography which are capable of being recorded on his maps. The ingenuity of the compiler is frequently taxed when called upon to illustrate graphically the results of statistical information of every description.

Germany since the middle of the 19th century has become the headquarters of scientific cartography. This is due as much to the inspiriting teachings of Ritter and Humboldt as to the general culture and scientific training combined with technical skill commanded by the men who more especially devote themselves to this branch of geography, which elsewhere is too frequently allowed to fall into the hands of mere mechanics. Men like H. Berghaus (1797–1884), H. Kiepert (1818–1899), and A. Petermann (1822–1878) must always occupy a foremost place in the history of cartography. Among the geographical establishments of Germany, that founded by Justus Perthes (1785), at Gotha, occupies the highest rank. Among its publications are A. Stieler’s Hand-Atlas (1817–1832), K. von Spruner’s Historical Atlas (1438–1488), H. Berghaus’ Physical Atlas (1838–1842), E. von Sydow’s Wall Maps for Schools (1838–1840) and School Atlas (1847). The titles of these atlases survive, though the authors of the original editions are long dead, and the maps have been repeatedly superseded by others bringing the information up to the date of publication. To the same firm we are indebted for Petermann’s Mitteilungen, started in 1855 by A. Petermann, after whose death in 1902 they were successively edited by E. Behm, A. Supan and P. Langhans, as also the Geographisches Jahrbuch (since 1866), at first edited by E. Behm, afterwards by Professor H. Wagner. Among other geographical institutes in Germany which deserve mention are the Weimar Institut, founded in 1791 by F. J. Bertuch, and directed in 1845–1852 by H. Kiepert; Paul Fleming at Glogau (K. Sohr’s Handatlas, 1845), A. Ravenstein at Frankfort, D. Reimer at Berlin (H. Kiepert, Handatlas, 1860); R. Andree (Hand-Atlas, 1880), and E. Debes (Hand-Atlas, 1894) in Leipzig, and E. Hölzer in Vienna (Vincenz von Haardt’s maps). France is represented by the publishing firms of Ch. Delagrave (Levaseur’s maps), Hachette (Vivien de St Martin’s Atlas universel, in progress since 1875, F. Schrader’s Atlas de géographie moderne, 1880), and Armand Colin (Vidal de la Blache’s Atlas général, 1894). In Great Britain A. Arrowsmith established himself in London in 1770 (General Atlas, 1817), but the cartographical business ceased on the death of John Arrowsmith in 1873. John Walker, to whose initiative the charts published by the admiralty are indebted for the perspicuous, firm and yet artistic execution, which facilitate their use by the mariner, was also the author of the maps published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (1820–1840). Among more recent firms are W. and A. K. Johnston (founded 1825; Royal Atlas, 1855); J. Bartholomew & Co., now carried on by J. G. Bartholomew (Reduced Survey maps, Atlas of the World’s Commerce, 1906); Philip & Sons (Imperial Atlas, 1890; Systematic Atlas by E. G. Ravenstein, 1894; Mercantile Marine Atlas, 1904, globes), and E. Stanford (London Atlas).

In 1890 Professor A. Penck proposed to prepare a map of the world, including the oceans, on a scale of 1 : 1,000,000, and his scheme was promised the support of a committee which met in London in 1909, and upon which were represented the leading powers of the world. Maps on that scale of a great part of Africa, Asia and America have been published by British, French, German and United States authorities. A bathymetrical chart of the oceans, by Professor J. Thoulet was published in 1904 at the expense of Prince Albert of Monaco.

Reliefs from printed maps were first produced by Bauerkeller of Darmstadt and Dondorf at Frankfort, from originals furnished by A. Ravenstein (1838–1844). The exaggeration in altitude, on these maps and on those of a later date and on a larger scale, was very considerable. No such exaggeration exists in the case of reliefs of parts of the Alps, on a large scale, by P. Keil and Pelikan (1890), X. Imfeld (1891), P. Oberlerchner (1891–1895), C. Perron (1893–1900), F. Becker (1900), A. Heim (1904) and others. A relief globe was first suggested in a letter of M. Maestlin to J. Kepler (1596). The first globe of this description for the use of the blind, was made by A. Zeune in 1810. H. Erben is the author of a rough relief on a convex surface (1842), but the finest example of this description is a relief of Italy, by César Pomba and H. Fritsche, on a scale of 1 : 1,000,000 and without exaggeration of heights (1880–1884). A map of Italy in the baptistery of St Peter at Rome has occasionally been described as a relief, though it is merely a rude outline map of Italy, by Carlo Fontana (1698), carved into a convex surface.

Several globes of unusual dimensions were produced in the course of last century. That which Colonel Langlois erected in the Champs Elysées (1824) had a diameter of 39 metres. James Wyld’s hollow globe, or “Georama,” diam. 18 metres, occupied Leicester Square until swept away as a nuisance. The giant globe proposed by Elisée Reclus in 1895 has never been erected; he has, however, produced maps on a concave surface, as suggested by J. D. Hauber in 1742.

Authorities.—The history of maps is dealt with ably in Vivien de Saint Martin’s Histoire de la géographie (Paris, 1875), and in Peschel’s Geschichte der Erdkunde (2nd ed. by Sophus Ruge, Berlin, 1877), as also by W. Wollkenhauer (Leitfaden zur Geschichte der Kartographie, Breslau, 1895), and H. Zondervan (Allgemeine Kartenkunde, Leipzig, 1901). J. Lelewel’s Geographie du moyen âge, with an atlas (Brussels, 1850–1857), has in part been superseded by more recent researches. There are, however, a number of works, beautifully illustrated, which deal fully with particular periods of the subject. Among these may be mentioned Konrad Miller’s Die ältesten Weltkarten (Stuttgart, 1895–1897), which only deals with maps not influenced by the ideas of Ptolemy. The contents of the following collections are more varied in their nature, viz. E. F. Jomard’s Monuments de la géographie (Paris, 1862), Santarem’s Atlas composé de mappemondes et de portulans, &c. (Paris, 1842–1853, 78 plates). A. E. Nordenskiöld’s Facsimile Atlas (Stockholm, 1889), Gabriel Marcell, Choix de cartes et de mappemondes XIVe et XVe siècles (Paris, 1896). C. H. Coote’s Remarkable Maps of the XVth, XVIth and XVIIth Centuries reproduced in their Original Size (Amsterdam, 1894–1897), and Bibliotheca lindesiana (London, 1898) with facsimiles of the Harleian and other Dieppese maps of the 16th century. Nautical charts are dealt with in A. E. Nordenskiöld’s Periplus (Stockholm, 1869), and Th. Fischer’s Sammlung mittelälterlicher Welt- und Seekarten (Vienna, 1886). The discovery and mapping of America are illustrated by F. Kunstmann’s Entdeckung Amerikas (Munich, 1859), K. Kretschmer’s Atlas zur Entdeckung Amerikas (Berlin, 1892), G. Marcel’s Reproductions de cartes et de globes relatives à la découverte de l’Amérique du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle (Paris, 1893) and E. L. Stevenson’s Maps Illustrating the early Discovery and Exploration of America, 1502–1530 (New Brunswick, N.J., 1906). In addition to these collections, numerous single maps have been published in geographical periodicals or separately. See also V. Hantzsch and L. Schmidt, Kartog. Denkmäler zur Entdeckungsgeschichte von Amerika, Asien, Australien und Afrika aus der k. Bibliothek zu Dresden (Leipzig, 1903), and the Crown Collection of photographs of American maps (1600–1800), selected and edited by A. B. Hulbert (Cleveland, 1904–1909).

For reports on the progress of cartography, see Geographisches Jahrbuch (Gotha, since 1866); for announcements of new publications, Bibliotheca geographica, published annually by the Berlin Geographical Society, and to the geographical Journal (London).

Topographical Surveys.

The year 1784 marks the beginning of the ordnance survey, for in that year Major-General Roy measured a base line of 27,404 ft. on Hounslow Heath. Six additional base lines were measured up to 1849, including the Lough Foyle, in 1827–1828, and that on Salisbury Plain, in United Kingdom. 1849. The primary triangulation was only completed in 1858, but in the meantime, in 1791, the detail survey had begun. At first it was merely intended to produce a map sufficiently accurate on a scale of 1 in. to a mile (1 : 63,360). Ireland having been surveyed (1824–1842) on a scale of 6 in. to a mile (1 : 10,560), it was determined in 1840, after the whole of England and Wales, with the exception of Lancashire and Yorkshire, had been completed on one-inch scales, to adopt that scale for the whole of the United Kingdom. Finally, in 1854, a cadastral survey of the whole of the United Kingdom, only excepting uncultivated districts, was resolved upon, on a scale of 1 : 2500, still larger scales (1 : 500 or 1 : 1000) being adopted for town plans. Parish boundaries are laid down with the help of local meresmen appointed by justices at quarter sessions. The horizontal