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Untitled Article
by the oat ^ nhe ^ s of its shores to s £ ek their subsistence from it . 4 ^ at et-S * all this bdotlgs as much to the gradually-advancing history of the human sjtefcies as to the physical history df the earth . It Was one crtevjfctidli , Whidh produced nations ofi hunters , and kept them necessarily
in a Savage State ; another , more extended and of milder climate , Which dpehSd & field for Nottlad tribes , atid induced them to domesticate the ligefiit atiini&ls ; another , which rendered agriculture both easy arid nfedessafy ; another still , which introduced a sea-faring life , and so , finally , led to cdmrtiferee ; distinct epochs and positions these in the
History of mankind , which necessarily resulted from the diversity and vicissitude brought by nature into the structure of our globe . In many regions , Consequently , the manners &tid modes of life have continued the sarrie fbr thousands of years ; in othets , chiefly from external causes , they have undergone el change , but a change always bearing a certain proportion td the land , whence it came , as also tb that in which it
happened and on which it operated . Seas , mountairt-chaitts , atid rivers are the most natural boundaries , not only of lauds , but also of nations , of modes of life , of languages , and < rf kingdoms ; even in the greatest revolutions of human affairs , these have ever formed the great lattd ^ - marks ahd boundary-lines of the history of the world . Had the mountains run in another direction , the rivers pursued a different
cdtit-se , and the ocean been skitted by Other shores , how inconceivably different would have been our disposal in this vast arena of nations T * The following suggestion is worthy of notice , and curious , as having been practically applied , Bince Herder ' s titne , by Hum-• boldt ^ f-. We may observe , in regard to it , that the connexion of
physical geography with history has not even yet been sufficiently attended to in our manuals of instruction ; and , indeed , generally , all those branches of knowledge which are related to the history df our species have been cultivated too much apart as separate &nd independent studies * ihste&d of being made to throw light oh each other , and thus to furnish important results * which * but for
euch approximation and comparison * would never haye been suspected . Our German neighbours have laudably set the ex ^ feiniple of cultivating history in this enlarged and comprehensive spirit * But to return to Herder ' s suggestion— - * It would be delightful ( says he ) to have a tnouhtain ^ chart or rather atlas , in which these pillars of the earth should be surveyed and marked % >\\ t , under the manifold points of view , in which the history of the human race requires them to be considered . In many places the
arrangement and height of the mountains is determined with sufficient afecuiracy t , in others , the elevation of the land above the level of the sea , the nature of the soil on its surface , the fall of the streams ^ the directidn of the winds , the variations of the needle , and the degrees of heat and warmth , have been observed ; and some of these circumstances have already been noted do urn in particular charts * If more of these observations * which no tor lie scattered in separate treatises and books of travels , could be accurately collected and embodied in charts , what a * Fitst Book , vi ., pp . 36-7 . f 0 eb John Vt ) b MUlletf ' s Note on ihte passage , \\ 48 .
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38 the Tk'ltdsdpfyf of the ftiddrp df MtiiikinA .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1832, page 38, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1804/page/38/
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