The translator of Ritter’s “Geographical Studies,” which has received in its English dress the hearty greeting of our most cultured scholars, takes a renewed pleasure in giving to the students of our higher Seminaries a second volume from the pen of the great Geographer. The former work, addressed, as its contents mainly were, to the members of the Royal Academy of Berlin, was too recondite in thought and too abstruse and elaborate in statement ever to become, whether in German or in English, a popular work; but the present volume—the bright, compact crystal of Ritter’s life—will pass into a general circulation, and will be recognized as not merely a simple and perfectly intelligible treatise, but as a masterly application of the comparative method of Geography, and as philosophical as it is practical and interesting.
Besides the voluminous Erdkunda, which deals almost exclusively with Asia, and treats it with an exhaustive fullness, Ritter has left the world the volume already referred to, and three courses of Academical Lectures. One of these courses is now before the reader; one of the remaining two relates to the geography of Europe, and the other to the history of Geographical Science and of Discovery. Of these three courses, a distinguished American scholar[1] has said: “Free from excessive details, systematic, clear, bold, and fresh, they are better fitted to bring up to the mind Ritter, the university instructor, than all his other writings.” This praise is by no means excessive; and the student who shall, with the assistance of a good physical atlas, go through this work, will find himself master of a far larger number of special facts than the size of the volume would indicate; and also of a science of Geography, which subsidizes all detail, and makes it auxiliary to the comprehension of relations no less beautiful and singular than are revealed in the study of the other departments of Nature.
The peculiar difficulties attending the translation of the Geographical Studies have not been met in this volume; in the University lecture-room, Ritter’s style, which, before the Royal Academy, was extremely involved, poetical and inexhaustive, became simple, straightforward, and luminous. In style, Ritter carried neglect to the point of slovenliness; and the finish which Humboldt cultivated so assiduously, he rejected as unworthy of a true scholar. The highly figurative words with which he used so liberally to decorate his writings, I have generally had to render with a rather too bare fidelity to a prose style; for grateful and captivating as they were to his German hearers, they would look over-fanciful to an English reader, and obscure rather than illustrate the thought. It has been my earnest purpose to make this work fill a great void in our educational literature; and its convenient size gives it an incomparable advantage over the voluminous works of Sir John Herschel and Mrs. Somerville; while in rigid philosophical precision, in method, in natural growth—not to use that inevitable German word development, (Entwickelung)—even those eminent geographers would, doubtless, award it the palm.
The demands of the public may yet render needful the translation of other of Ritter’s works; meanwhile, the editor of this work purposes to prepare a biography of that great man, whose memory all his pupils revere, and whose life was not less beautiful to his friends than it was fruitful and valuable to the whole scientific world.
W. L. G.
July 5, 1864.
CONTENTS.
| PAGE | |
| [INTRODUCTION.] | |
| Introductory Remarks | [ix] |
| Solar System. Planets. Middle Position of the Earth. Figure of the Earth. Ptolemaic System. Copernicus. Conception of Geography. | |
| The Earth as the Dwelling-place of Man | [xiv] |
| General Remarks. | |
| Geography as a Science | [xv] |
| The Earth and Man. Geography. Scientific Definition of Geography. Geography as a Science. | |
| What Geographical Science has yet to accomplish | [xix] |
| The Earth a Unit. Geographical Treatises. Comparative Geography. | |
| Sources of Geographical Science | [xxv] |
| The Study of our own Neighborhood. Strabo, Cluver, Humboldt. | |
| The Sciences illustrative of Geography | [xxvii] |
| Illustrative Sciences. Nautical Science. | |
| COMPARATIVE GEOGRAPHY. | |
| [PART FIRST.] THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH CONSIDERED IN ITS MOST GENERAL RELATIONS. | |
| The Spheroidal Form of the Earth | [31] |
| Flattening of the Poles. The Surface of the Earth. | |
| The Threefold Covering of the Earth | [34] |
| The Atmosphere. Depth of the Sea. The Interior of the Earth. | |
| The Superficial Dimensions of the Land and Water on the Globe | [39] |
| Water and Land. Area of the Earth. | |
| Contrast of the Land and Water Hemispheres | [41] |
| Continents and Islands. Contrast of the Hemispheres. The great Coast-belt. Historical Contrast. | |
| The Position of the Continents and its Influence on the Course of History | [46] |
| Structure and Architectural Relations of the Continents. | |
| The Pyramidal Forms of the Great Land-Masses, and their Southward direction toward the Oceanic Hemisphere | [48] |
| Pyramidal Structure. Hypothesis as to its Origin. Surface of the Moon. | |
| Situation of the Continents in their Relation to each other, and to their Collective Whole | [51] |
| Continents. Submarine Volcanic Connection. Arctic Polar Lands. The Polar World. America. Australia. | |
| The Historical Element in Geographical Science | [58] |
| Matter and Spirit. Steam Navigation. Europe’s advantageous Position. Natural Endowment of the Various Continents. Perfectability of the Earth. The Oldest Homes of Culture. | |
| [PART SECOND.] | |
| A more extended Investigation regarding the Earth’s Surface | [69] |
| Plains. Relative and absolute Heights. Highlands and Lowlands. Lands of Transition. | |
| Highlands | [73] |
| General Remarks. | |
| Highlands or Plateaus of the First Class | [74] |
| The Asiatic Plateaus. The African Highland. The American Plateaus. | |
| Plateaus of the Second Class | [80] |
| Lower Asiatic Plateaus. Lower African Plateaus. Lower American Plateaus. Lower European Plateaus. Use and Misuse of the word Plateau. Limits of the Lower Plateaus. | |
| Mountains and Mountain Lands | [89] |
| Mountains and Plateaus. Height of Mountains. Size of Mountains. Linear Elevation. Mountain Systems. Divisions of Mountains. Mountain Chains. Serrated Ranges. Peaks and Passes. Ranges of Demarkation. Superimposed Mountains. Independent Mountain Systems. | |
| The Relations of Plateau Systems | [104] |
| Geological Differences between Plateaus. The Continents with their respective Plateaus. | |
| Primeval Formation of Plateaus and Mountains | [107] |
| General Remarks. | |
| Origin of Plateaus | [107] |
| Intumescence of the Earth. The great Plateau Circle. | |
| The Origin of Mountains | [109] |
| Volcanic Forces. Deposits from Water. Geography and Geology. | |
| Lowlands | [114] |
| Limits of Lowland. The Polar Flat Regions. America, Africa, and Australia, the Continents of Lowlands. | |
| The Middle European Lowland | [119] |
| General Description. | |
| The Origin of the Great Central European Plain | [122] |
| General Remarks. | |
| The Ponto-Caspian Plain, the Great Depression of the Old World | [126] |
| General Description. | |
| The Origin of the Ponto-Caspian Depression | [132] |
| General Remarks. | |
| The Depression of the Jordan Valley and of the Dead Sea | [138] |
| Description. | |
| The Bitter Lakes of the Suez Isthmus | [142] |
| The Altitude in Relation to the Sea Level. | |
| The Regions of Transition between Highlands and Lowlands. The River Systems of the Globe | [144] |
| General Remarks. | |
| Terrace Lands and Rivers in their General Character | [144] |
| Terrace Lands. Rivers. Their Individuality. Water-sheds. Territory watered. Falls. | |
| Rivers more closely considered | [150] |
| Direction. Water-sheds. District drained. River Valleys. | |
| Upper Course of Rivers | [154] |
| General Descriptive Remarks. | |
| Middle Course of Rivers | [158] |
| General Descriptive Remarks. | |
| Lower Course of Rivers | [163] |
| General Descriptive Remarks. River’s Mouth. Navigation of Rivers. Sinuosity of Rivers: its Influence on Civilization. Sources. Double Streams. Cross Streams. Weak and Strong Currents. | |
| Review | [177] |
| The Historical Influence of Plateaus. The Influence of River Systems on Civilization. The European Terrace Lands. The Danube Terraces. | |
| [PART THIRD.] | |
| The Configuration of the Continents | [183] |
| Teleology of the Earth’s Structure. Horizontal and Vertical Dimensions. Articulation. Strabo on the Articulation of Europe. | |
| The Superficial Dimensions and Articulation of the Continents | [188] |
| Africa. Asia. Europe. The European Triangle. The Articulation of Europe. Its Extremities. Its Relation to the other Continents. Its Historical Function. Its complete preparation for the place assigned to it. | |
| Islands | [203] |
| European Islands. African Islands. Asiatic Islands. Polynesia. Concentration and Dismemberment. Europe. | |
| The Results of the above Considerations briefly stated | [210] |
| Review of the Old World. | |
| The New World | [212] |
| America. South America. Terra del Fuego. North America. American Polar Regions. The Future. Conclusion. | |