Charts which have been formed in modern times are also distinguished by their excellence, above all preceding specimens. Among these the Neptune Orientale of M. DE MANNIVILETTE, the charts of the Atlantic, by BELLIN; of the Pacific, by ARROWSMITH; of the American coast, by Du BARRES and MALESPINA; of the Western Isles, by HUDDART; of the coasts of Spain, by TOFINO; the numerous charts of detached islands, coasts, harbours, and straits, by DALRYMPLE, are among the most respectable. Besides these the charts by MOUNT, DAVIDSON, MURDOCK, LAURIE, GILBERT, WHITTLE, HEATHER, and many more, deserve honourable notice.

The Gazetteers, Atlasses, and other helps to the acquisition of geographical knowledge, have also become very numerous during the last age. They were not only less common in former periods, but, in fact, little known, and of small comparative value. Their introduction into popular use is a peculiarity of the eighteenth century. The authors and compilers of these are so generally known, that it is unnecessary to enumerate them. Those of CRUTWELL, SCOTT, and the Rev. Dr. MORSE, are among the latest and best in our language.

Unprecedented pains have been taken, during the period under consideration, to collect into regular series of volumes those accounts of voyages and travels which might serve to give a connected view of the condition of the globe, and of the activity and adventures of distinguished men

period under review; but the want of correct information deterred him from the attempt. A good map of the State of New-York has been long a desideratum. This deficiency is likely to be soon supplied by SIMEON DE WITT, Esq. Surveyor-General of New-York, who has a large and splendid map of the State in considerable forwardness. From the well known skill and accuracy of this gentleman, little doubt can be entertained but that his work will meet the wishes, and abundantly deserve the patronage of the public.

in exploring distant countries. The collections of this nature formed by HARRIS, CAMPBELL, CHURCHILL, SALMON, GUTHRIE, HAWKSWORTHY DALRYMPLE, and MAVOR, of Great-Britain; by DES BROSSES, Of France; by ESTALA, of Spain; and many others, hold an important rank among the instructive and amusing productions of the age.

The discoveries and improvements above stated, besides correcting and enlarging our geographical knowledge, have also led to many and important additions to the stock of general science. There is scarcely any part of natural philosophy, or natural history, which has not received considerable improvement from this source. New light has been thereby shed on the doctrines of the tides, and the winds; the nature and laws of magnetic variations have been better understood; the sciences of 200logy, botany, and mineralogy have been greatly extended and advanced; immense collections of natural curiosities have been made from every known region of the earth; and, what is by no means of least importance, opportunities have been afforded of studying human nature in a great variety of forms, of making rich collections from the vocabularies of different languages, of comparing habits and customs, of investigating the records and traditions of nations scarcely at all known before; and thus of acquiring rich materials towards completing the natural and civil history of man.

Strange as it may appear, our knowledge of Antiquities, principally by means of geographical discoveries, and the inquiries naturally flowing from them, has become incomparably greater than was ever before possessed by man. "When the Egyptians," says a modern eloquent writer, "called the Greeks children in Antiquities, we may

pro

well call them children; and so we may call all those nations which were able to trace the "gress of society only within their own limits. "But now the great map of mankind is unrolled "at once, and there is no state or gradation of “barbarism, and no mode of refinement, which 66 we have not at the same moment under our "view: the very different civility of Europe and "of China; the barbarism of Persia and Abyssinia; "the erratic manners of Tartary and of Arabia; "the savage state of North-America, and of New"Zealand, are all spread before us; we have employed philosophy to judge on manners, and " from manners we have drawn new resources for "philosophy."

Geographical discoveries have led to an unprecedented degree of intercourse among men. Though this remark is connected with the subject of the last paragraph, it deserves separate consideration. Toward the close of the seventeenth century, the intercourse between distant nations of the earth was greater than it had been at any former period, and was considered highly honourable to human enterprise: but since that period it has been increased to a wonderful degree; insomuch that at the present time, the inhabitants of the remotest countries have seen and know more of each other, than those, in many cases, who resided comparatively in the same neighbourhood an hundred years ago.

Great advantages to Commerce have also arisen from the geographical discoveries above recited. The extension of the fur-trade to the north-west coast of America, is one important and beneficial event of this nature. This article of commerce was rapidly becoming more scarce in those parts

j See BURKE's Letter to ROBERTSON, in Professor STEWART's Account of the Life and Writings of that historian.

of the world from which traders had before obtained it: it was, therefore, a most seasonable and interesting discovery to make them acquainted with a coast on which they might be supplied with the greatest abundance, and which is likely to furnish an inexhaustible store for ages to come. To this signal commercial advantage might be added many others, were it expedient to enlarge on the subject. It would be improper, however, to omit taking notice, that the numerous groups of Islands, lately discovered in the Pacific Ocean, have risen to unexpected importance, and promise to be of still greater utility. These Islands afford very convenient victualling and watering places for ships; and if the civilized nations who visit them were as industrious and successful in introducing among them the blessings of literary, moral and religious knowledge, and the arts of cultivated life, as in initiating them into the vices which corrupt and degrade, we might expect soon to see them become the happy seats of literature, science, arts, and pure Christianity, and, in time, reflecting rich blessings on their benefactors.

The enlargement of geographical knowledge during the late century, has led to an increase of the comforts and elegancies of life, in almost every part of the civilized world. By this means the productions of every climate have become known and enjoyed in every other; the inventions and improvements of one country have been communicated to the most distant regions; and the comforts of living, and the refinement of luxury, have gained a degree of prevalence among mankind greatly beyond all former precedent. Never, assuredly, in any former age, were so many of the natural productions, and the manufactures of different countries enjoyed by so large a portion of the human race as at the close of the eighteenth century.

Finally, the geographical discoveries of the last age have contributed to illustrate and confirm Revelation. The discoveries of BEHRING and Cook were before-mentioned as throwing light on the population of the New World, and thus tending to support the sacred history. But, besides these, the knowledge gained by modern voyagers and travellers, of the manners, customs, and traditions of different nations, especially of those on the Eastern Continent, has served to illustrate the meaning, and unfold the beauty of many passages of scripture, before obscure, if not unintelligible; and has furnished abundant and striking evidence in support of the Mosaic account of the common origin, the character, the dispersion, and the subsequent history of mankind."

CHAPTER VI.

MATHEMATICS.

THE seventeenth century was the "golden age" of mathematical science. Never, since the revival of learning, has this branch of knowledge been cultivated with such brilliant success as during that period. The grand inventions of Logarithms, by NAPIER, and of Fluxions, by NEWTON, together with the numerous discoveries and improvements of DES CARTES, BRIGGS, KEPLER, GREGORY, LeibNITZ, and many others, must ever render the age of those great men a distinguished æra in the annals of mathematics. It is even possible that the grand discoveries of these philosophers, and the

It is intended to illustrate this point more fully in a subsequent part of this work.