of central Asia have been crossed in various
directions; our knowledge of China has been
vastly increased; the newly awakened desire
of the Japanese to participate in the advantages
of European civilization has broken down
much of their ancient prejudice against foreigners,
and bids fair to introduce us to an intimate
and exact knowledge of their country; Palestine
has been explored with wonderful minuteness;
the interior of Arabia has been penetrated;
the sites of many of the most renowned
cities of antiquity have been determined; the
Niger and the Benoowe or Tchadda have been
traced almost throughout their extent; the
Nile has been traced to the great lakes in the
equatorial regions of Africa; Madagascar and
Australia have been crossed in various directions
from sea to sea; the icy continent about
the south pole has been discovered; the
delineation of the N. shore of the North American
continent has been completed; the principal
features of the geography of that vast portion
of our own territory lying between the Mississippi
and the Pacific have been ascertained,
and its sublime scenery has been described;
and the river systems of South America have
been explored. With the exception of the
regions about the poles and in the centre of
Africa, the general outlines of every part of
the earth's surface are known to civilized man.—The
literature of geography, to which the
school of Carl Ritter has given its highest
degree of scientific development, has within
a few years undergone a marked change.
Instead of the formal, regular descriptions of
the earth and its inhabitants, which were once
in vogue, gazetteers and geographical dictionaries
are now popular. The progress of
geography has been much aided during this
century by the efforts of zealous geographical
societies. Their transactions, issued periodically,
contain a vast and constantly increasing mass
of information. Among the best works on
geography are: Géographie universelle, by Malte-Brun
(6 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1810-'29; revised by
Th. Lavallée, 6 vols. 8vo, 1856-'62), the
English translation of which was revised by J. G.
Percival, who added notes (3 vols. 4to, Boston,
1834); Die Geschichte der Erdkunde, by Lüdde
(1840); Geschichte der Erdkunde und der
Entdeckungen, by Carl Ritter (1861); Geschichte
der Erdkunde bis auf Alexander von Humboldt
und Carl Ritter, by O. Peschel (1865); and
the works of De Rougemont, Von Roon,
Berghaus, Volger, Merleker, Meinicke, Klöden
(Handbuch der Erdkunde, 1858-'62; 2d ed.,
1865 et seq.), Wappäus (Handbuch der
Geographie und Statistik, 4 vols., 1855-'7l), and
Daniel (Handbuch der Erdkunde, 4 vols., 3d
ed., 1869-'72). For ancient geography, see
Handbuch der alten Geographie, by Forbiger
(3 vols., 1842); Smith's “Dictionary of Greek
and Roman Geography” (2 vols. 8vo, London,
1854-'7); Buchholz's Homerische Kosmographie
und Geographie (1871); and Deutsche
Alterthumskunde: Stellung des Pytheas . . .
in der Geschichte der Erdkunde, by K. Müllenhoff
(1870). The principal geographical gazetteers
and dictionaries are: “Encyclopædia of
Geography,” by Hugh Murray (London, 1834;
Amer. ed. revised, 3 vols. 8vo, Philadelphia,
1843; new ed., 1857); “A Dictionary,
Geographical, Statistical, Historical,” &c., by J. R.
McCulloch (4 vols. 8vo, London, 1841; new ed.,
1866); Fullarton's “Gazetteer of the World”
(7 vols. 8vo, Edinburgh, 1850-'57); “The
Imperial Gazetteer,” by W. G. Blackie (2 vols.,
London, 1855; 3d ed., 1873); Ritter's
Geographisch-statistisches Lexicon (Leipsic, 1855);
Lippincott's “Gazetteer of the World”
(Philadelphia, 1855; new ed., 1866); Keith
Johnston's “Dictionary of Geography” (revised ed.,
London, 1867); Dictionnaire de géographie
universelle, ancienne et moderne, by L. N. Bescherelle
(4 vols. 4to, Paris, 1856-'8 ; new ed., 1865);
and Dictionnaire universel d'histoire et de
géographie, by M. N. Bouillet (1 vol., Paris, 1842;
22d ed., 1871). Most of the geographical societies
publish periodicals, the principal of which
are those of Paris (Bulletin, 1822 et seq.),
London (“Journal,” 1831 et seq.;
“Proceedings,” 1855 et seq.), Berlin (Zeitschrift, 1840 et
seq.), St. Petersburg (1848 et seq.), Geneva
(Journal, 1861 et seq.), and Florence (Bollettino,
1867 et seq.). Other valuable geographical
periodicals are Petermann's Geographische
Mittheilungen (Gotha, 1855 et seq.), and its
Ergängzungshefte or supplements; Saint-Martin's
L'Année géographique (Paris, 1863 et seq.);
and “Ocean Highways” (London, 1871; new
series, 1873 et seq.).
GEOLOGY (Gr. γῆ, the earth, and λόγος, discourse), the science which treats of the structure of the earth, and of the methods by which its materials have been arranged. Under this term are confounded two distinct branches of study, the one being that of the chemical, physical, and biological laws which have presided over the development of the globe, and the other the natural history of the earth as displayed in its physical structure, its stratigraphy, mineralogy, and palæontology. The name of geognosy, employed by some authors, may be very appropriately retained for the latter, while that of geogeny may be restricted to the first or theoretical division of geology. A knowledge of physical geography, of the distribution of land and water in past and present times, and of the laws of winds, currents, and climates, is one of the first requisites in the study of geology. Then comes the investigation of the various kinds of rocks, their arrangement and structure, their succession and relative antiquity, their chemical and mineralogical history. The investigation of the chemical agencies which have presided over the formation of the various kinds of rocks and minerals belongs to chemical geology, while the laws which have regulated their deposition, structure, and arrangement constitute dynamical geology. The student finds that organic life in past time played a part in the earth not
