tions should be entirely excluded. Plants and animals are, to a certain extent, the indications of climate; and it is a matter of curiosity and of great interest to compare different points of the earth's surface, similar in position, but differing in products, which may often be the indication of some modifying cause of climate not hitherto investigated. If it were possible either in schools or colleges for such instruction to be given by a botanist and a zoologist, we are of opinion that it would come better from them than from the geographer. But till science be more subdivided with the view of improving it, it is much better that the geographical distribution of plants and animals should be treated of, even imperfectly, by the teacher of geography, than that so useful and attractive a branch of knowledge should be entirely neglected in a course of liberal instructions.

R :

186

ON GEOGRAPHICAL AND STATISTICAL KNOW

LEDGE.

By A. VIEUSSEUX.

(From the Quarterly Journal of Education, No. XIV.)

STATISTICS, a term first introduced by the German writers, was defined by Achenwall, of Göttingen, to be the exposition of the effective components of any political society. This definition may perhaps be objected to by some, and indeed German writers are not yet very well agreed among themselves as to the definition of the term Statistics. Our object in this article is not to determine the exact limits of statistics, but simply to show the kind of information which is absolutely necessary for understanding the social and political condition of a country or nation; and having this object in view, we think that the term "political geography" expresses more nearly than any other that kind of knowledge of which it is our present purpose to speak. Political geography is the foundation of all political science, for unless we know the present condition of a country and its people, we cannot possibly reason correctly on their wants and wishes, and on the reasonableness of those wishes, or the means and chances there may be of satisfying them. This seems a truism, but it is a truism so often disregarded, that we think it necessary to assert it here as a proposition, the importance of which it is our object to demonstrate. The geographer, or statistician, gives the facts; the politician, the jurist, and the moralist, reason and speculate upon them.

But unless the facts be accurately stated, it is evident that all arguments drawn from them are inconclusive. Political geography is therefore a science of facts, and not of hypothesis or speculation; it shows things as they are, and leaves to others to decide whether they ought to be so, or are likely to remain so.

The elements of the condition of a country are of two kinds, natural and artificial. The former, which belong properly to physical geography, are, its extent and coast-line, the configuration of its surface, its position on the globe, and its climate, its boundaries, and the nature of the countries or seas which border on it, the quality of its soil, and the character of its rivers, its natural productions, whether mineral, vegetable, or animal, and lastly its population. The artificial elements, which, being the work of man, are temporary and susceptible of modification, or even total change, consist of the dwellings of the inhabitants, their agriculture, and other branches of industry and trade, which constitute the wealth and capital of the country; the civil and political institutions, the social habits of the people, their religion, and language.

It is the business of political geography to furnish data to show the influence which the various elements above mentioned exercise upon the intellectual, moral, and economical habits of a people, and upon their political condition. The natural or topographic elements of a country being mostly permanent, their influence may be calculated according to certain rules. Thus, for example, the civilization of Europe has been greatly promoted by its geographical position, its temperate climate, and its peninsular form indented by two large inland seas, the Mediterranean and the Baltic, and by

numerous gulfs and great rivers, all which circumstances must have facilitated colonization at first, and social intercourse and trade afterwards. Africa, massive and unbroken in its shape, with few navigable rivers, a burning climate, and vast deserts, has remained for the most part uncivilized to this day. And in Europe itself, which are the countries that have been most forward in civilization? Greece, Italy, and England. Greece, indented by numerous gulfs and creeks, surrounded by clusters of islands, affording numerous natural harbours, and placed on the threshold of Asia, and in a fine climate, was most favourably situated for commerce. Italy, long and narrow, with an extensive line of coasts, but with few bays or natural harbours, is inferior in this respect to Greece, while the want of tides in the Mediterranean sea renders the rivers nearly useless for the purpose of ship navigation. It is in great measure the want of natural harbours that has made Italy inferior in maritime commerce to Greece and to England. On the contrary, Greece is not so rich an agricultural country as Italy; she has not such an expanse of well-watered plains, nor so many fine valleys; her mountains are more rugged and bare. And in Italy itself, we find that Venice, seated on her group of islets, forming natural harbours and canals, soon felt the influence of her position, and consequently became the principal maritime power of Italy, and in latter ages the only one. Man may do much to correct local disadvantages, but he can seldom wholly conquer them. In some cases, the geographical advantages remain neglected, through the agency of other causes, but these are exceptions, and not the rule. The coast of Dalmatia, with its numerous bays, inlets, and islands, is

excellently situated for maritime trade, but Dalmatia having always been a dependency of other states, first of Venice, jealous of its commercial monopoly, and lately of Austria, its resources have remained comparatively neglected, and it has not derived the advantages which might have been expected from its geographical situation. Yet the Dalmatian sailors are the boldest and best in the Mediterranean, while on a spot of its coast where an independent state long existed, Ragusa was a centre of trade and maritime enterprise. So true it is that geographical position will determine the industry of a country, if not trammelled by external cir

cumstances.

Navigable rivers are the great arteries of social life. The free towns of Germany during the middle ages, and those of Holland, are instances of this. What makes the striking difference between Egypt, where civilization is older than history, its origin being lost in the obscurity of the mythic ages, and the rest of Northern Africa, which, in spite of so many colonies and conquests from different nations, still remains in the same wild half barbarous state as it was two thousand years ago and more? The Nile has been the great civilizer of Egypt, while Numidia and Mauritania, mountainous, and destitute of large navigable rivers, have never admitted civilization to penetrate far into the interior. Again, Spain, square and compact in its shape, with hardly any navigable river, and its centre forming a high naked table-land, labours under great obstacles to internal communication, and accordingly has never been a great commercial country; while Portugal, narrow, with a long line of coast fronting the Atlantic Ocean, and two noble æstuaries, the Tagus and the