SYSTEM OF Universal Geography, ON THE PRINCIPLES OF COMPARISON AND CLASSIFICATION. BY WILLIAM CHANNING WOODBRIDGE, SECOND EDITION, ILLUSTRATED WITH MAPS AND ENGRAVINGS; ATLAS, EXHIBITING, IN CONNEXION WITH THE OUTLINES OF COUNTRIES. THE PREVAILING RELIGIONS, FORMS OF GOVERNMENT, AND AND THE COMPARATIVE SIZE OF TOWNS, RIVERS, AND MOUNTAINS.) "The very essence of science consists in generalizing, and reducing to a few classes Hartford PUBLISHED BY OLIVEK D. COCKE & CO. J. & J. HARPER, PRINTERS. THE NEW YORK ASTOR, LENOX AND S PUBLISHERS' NOTICE. THIS second edition of the "Universal Geography" now presented to the public, it will be discovered (from the annexed advertisement,) has been revised with great care by the author at Paris, under the most favourable opportunities possible, for the correction of error, and for the introduction of improvements. To obtain this revised copy of the modern part of this work from the author, the publication has been delayed longer than was originally intended. It is but justice to the publishers to state, that by an unusual compression of matter, the page of this work contains more than is usual in the octavo form, and the whole, including the letter press contained in the Modern Atlas, contains more than double the quantity of matter found in any of the school Geographies now in use. In connexion with this new edition a New Ancient Atlas has also been published, prepared by Mrs. Willard. In many respects this Atlas is unlike any similar work that has been published; these variations, it is believed, will be found to contain important advantagesì The Atlases are sold either with or without the Geography, as is preferred. DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT, ss. BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the eleventh day of June, in the forty-eighth year of the independence of the United States of America, William C. Woodbridge, of the said district, and Emma Willard, of the district of New-York, have deposited in this office the title of a Book, the right whereof they claim as authors and proprietors, in the words following, to wit "A System of Universal Geography, on the principles of Comparison and Classification. By William Channing Woodbridge. Illustrated with maps and engravings; and accompanied by an Atlas." In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned:" and also to an Act, entitled "An Act, supplementary to an Act, entitled An Act for the encourage ment of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." CHARLES A. INGERSOLL, Clerk of the District of Connecticut. A trus copy of Record, examined, and scaled by me, CHARLES A. INGERSOLL HOTW QUAR ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. IN presenting to the public a second edition of this work, the author cannot but express his gratitude to those who have honoured it with their patronage, and especially to those who have deemed it worthy of formal recommendation, or of notice in the periodical publications under their direction. The hope which has thus been afforded of its usefulness, is the most cheering reward of labours which have exhausted his strength. He is gratified in finding a confirmation of their opinion in the approbation which the work has received, both for its plan and execution, from the Geographical Society of Paris, and from a number of gentlemen distinguished for their science, and their efforts in the cause of education, in various countries of Europe, among whom he cannot refrain from mentioning the names of Humboldt and Fellenberg. To Baron Humboldt, and to other distinguished members of the Geographical Society of Paris, the Author takes pleasure in acknowledging his obligations for valuable corrections and remarks. He has also engaged an eminent Geographer to revise the whole with care, and to furnish him with notices of all recent discoveries. He is happy to find as the result of these examinations, and of his own observation and inquiries, comparatively few errors for correction. In his efforts to improve the work, he has limited himself to those alterations whose importance seemed to overbalance the inconvenience of change to instruct crs. Few of any extent have been necessary, and he trusts that the advantage of these will be sufficiently obvious to render them satisfactory. For other errors and imperfections which may be discovered, or which may result from his absence, he must claim peculiar indulgence, on account of the ill health which detains him abroad, and which liraits extremely his opportunities both for inquiry and for exertion. His great desire is, that the painful efforts he has made may prove the means of promoting the cause of education and the improvement of youth,, in a country whose privileges and blessings the observation of the old world lead him to estimate beyond all price. Paris, May, 1827. 3 PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR. THE foundation of geographical knowledge must be laid in a familiar acquaintance with Topography, or the location of places on the globe. It is well observed by Watts in his treatise on the Improvement of the Mind, that "The situation of the several parts of the earth is better learned by one day's conversing with a map or sea-chart, than by merely reading the description of their situation a hundred times over in books of Geography." Indeed the point is now fully admitted in the practice of geographical writers, and confirmed by the experience of teachers, that no method of study is so easy or effectual, as the examination of maps with the aid of questions; and no explanation is necessary to justify its adoption as the basis of the present system. Descriptive Geography has usually been left in the state which was common to every subject in the origin of knowledge-presenting a mass of insulated facts, scarcely connected by any association but that of locality. In other subjects, facts have been carefully compared, arranged in distinct classes, and traced to general principles; and thus have been reduced to the beautiful order and simplicity of science. The Natural Philosopher, and the Political Economist, collect facts on each subject from every part of the world; and deem it essential to present, at a single view, the similar characteristics of distant regions. Why should the Geographer be required to reverse this method, and scatter the dismembered portions of a subject to the four quarters of the globe? Why especially, should those facts which have been traced with so much labour to the universal laws of nature, or the stable principles of intellectual and political philosophy, be severed from their connexions, and arranged according to the limits which power or caprice has assigned to the jurisdiction of kings-limits perpetually fluctuating with the waves of conquest, and the tides of revolution? If we would save the student from confused, and even erroneous conceptions, we must describe the operations of nature according to the limits she has established; and leave for separate consideration, those artificial boundaries which man has drawn, to divide regions of the same original character-influenced by the same climate-and furnished with similar productions. Physical and Political Geography are but the Anatomy of the World-the one exhibiting the structure and surface of the globe-and the other, the state of its inhabitants. He that describes the human frame is expected to give a distinct account of the bones the arteries-the muscles-the nerves-the organs and the functions of the body. Why then should the Geographer mingle rivers and climates mountains-and productions-government and manners in the same page? Its true the datter are combined in nature; but so are the former. It is also true that it is desirable to have the complete picture of a country presented: but this would seem to be rather the province of poetry than of science; and if we attempt to comprehend a landscape of new objects at a glance, we shall have but imperfect conceptions of its parts. |