PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. CHAPTER I. NATURE AND ADVANTAGES OF PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. The great globe itself.-SHAKSpeare. FEW subjects connected with science are of more universal interest, or of greater importance to mankind, than that of Physical Geography, and yet few, perhaps, have hitherto so little arrested popular attention. This is, however, a circumstance for which it is by no means difficult to account, being in great measure, if not wholly, attributable to the comparatively recent elevation of this branch of natural philosophy to the dignity of a science, and to the consequent generally prevailing ignorance of its real objects, of the highly interesting views it unfolds, and of its great practical utility. The extent to which this misapprehension has been carried, is evinced by the prejudice entertained against the very name of physical geography, which, to some persons, seems to assume a strangely forbidding aspect. Unacquainted with the real character of the subject, they are ready either to reject it as one of abstruse nature, adapted only for the scientific reader, or as one of dry detail, and devoid of general interest. The former notion is probably derived from the adoption of the appellation "physical;" but the whole of this apparent obscurity vanishes, when we regard this term in its proper meaning of "natural*." The Possibly we shall not err if we attribute a certain portion of this prejudice, to the long and common application, or misapplication, of the term "physic" to medical preparations, in which sense it is now, however, nearly exploded. This acceptation of the term probably owed its origin to the use of "simples," or natural productions, as medicaments,--the B notion of the uninteresting character of this science, possibly originates in the commonly received impression of the term "geography." Accustomed to associate the idea of that study with educational books, and with the limited views usually taken in such works, many individuals have little conception of the capabilities of the subject; they are apt to consider, that if they have formed a general acquaintance with the arrangement of land and water on the surface of the globe, with the position of mountain ranges and rivers, and more especially, with the political divisions of the earth, and the situation of the principal cities and towns, geography has little further to impart. We would by no means be thought to undervalue this department of geographical knowledge,-on the contrary, an acquaintance with the general arrangement of land and water, islands and continents, mountain ranges and lowlands, is essential to the right comprehension of the more extended views embraced by physical geography; and although the latter science does not take cognizance of the artificial divisions of the earth, these will, on many occasions, prove most useful auxiliaries, in assisting us to designate and distinguish any particular localities, which exhibit remarkable phenomena, and to which we are desirous of directing attention. This information is, further, of too great utility in the ordinary intercourse of man with man, and also to the student in history, not to be regarded as highly important; and we pre-suppose our readers to possess this geographical knowledge. Physical geography directs our attention to the general structure of the terrestrial globe, to the atmosphere by which it is surrounded, and to the distribution of organized beings on its surface. Nor does it stop here; it is not only "a rich storehouse of facts which all other researches supply, a grand repository to which all those facts are referred," but The physicians being those who employed and administered them. French use the term physicien in a more extended sense, applying it to those whom we should call "natural philosophers." from this vast accumulation of observed phenomena, it attempts to discover the laws by which the whole earth is governed, and to reduce to a few general principles, the infinite variety of appearances displayed in the works of nature. To arrive at a perfect system of physical geography, we ought, therefore, to be acquainted with the phenomena presented by every portion of the earth, with every animal, every plant on its surface, every mineral contained in its bosom, every variation in its atmosphere. Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all That brought them forth, but hid their causes deep! When we take this view of the subject, so far from regarding it as limited, and as one with which we are already fully acquainted, the best informed cannot but acknowledge their deficiency, and the unlearned might almost be ready to draw back, appalled, not by the obscurity, or want of interest, but by the vastness of the theme. Yet, though it is true that, in its most extended sense, physical geography includes almost every branch of natural philosophy, there is nothing in this science to deter the uninitiated from its pursuit. The student is neither called upon to collect facts, nor to draw inferences from facts which have been observed by others, this has been already accomplished for him ; he is merely invited to become acquainted with a few general principles, and to observe the application of these to the works of nature. Whoever looks abroad into the natural world, cannot but be sensible, that it teems with objects calculated to inspire delight and admiration; nor are any, even the least instructed, if gifted with an observant mind, excluded from a participation in these feelings; the Book of Nature is open to all She spreads her glories on the earth, |