MAKING MAPS.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14985, 4 June 1914, Page 13

MAKING MAPS.

classification of cream ou a weekly test

EFFORTS OF THE ANCIENTS. SOME MEDI_EYAL MYSTERIES.

Tho members of tho Philosophical Institute last evening wero entertained by Mr "W. F. Robinson with a discourse upon "Maps,'' and the difficulties incidental to their production. By plunging into the story of tho past, and screening some of the productions of tho ancients, Mr Robinson was able to show to his audience some o* the curious specimens of topographical repro-_-n_a.i_n that servoa u> guiao tlio e_rly travellers itOouc the tanus su.rai_e.

'ihe earnest map tnat tue lectuier could locate dated, he said, from SOU .veins buoto Ouiist. if ...ure weio any oefore that period he hadn't met them. The first map was compiled in cuneiform character, and as 6uch was not wholly intelligible to tho audience, but Mr Robinson said it represented ijabylon in the centre, aud tno world round about. Coming to tho time of Herodotus, who was "tho father of geography," oven though ho did not leavo any maps of his own drawing, and told more talcs than could reasonably bo believed, tho lecturer umv upon --o screen a map compiled 'by tho librarian of Alexandria, which shoved somo signs of getting near to tne art of mapmaking. Pto.vmy, howover > who.camo City years later, but still ono hundred and fifty years before (Jurist, had tho librarian beaten badly tor accuracy, and he also made somo attempt at the proper projection of tho earth's surface. Altogether Ptolemy carried oil tho honours amongst the ancients in this direction.

Coming down to med._eval days, tho audience began to get really interested in some of the weird drawings Mr Robinson was ablo to produco as camples of the map-making ability of .the age. The maps of this period, no was care-ui to explain, showed a distinct retrogression in accuracy and general knowledge from tho standard set by Ptolemy ajid his predecessors. This was largely because the maps wore drawn by tho priests, who secured most of their facts at second-hand and from sources which apparently permitted considerable doubt about their being facts, anyway. "Absolutely grotesquo, according . to our present-day imagination," said Mr Robinson, as he showed some of tho specimens, and ho was quite right. Marco Polo and other travellers of bis timo secured fame, ho hinted, because of their powerful imaginations and" their realistic drawings of animals which they had never seen. Their maps incorporated legends and imaginary animals, until they were of a very pictcgraphic character. Incidentally they always placed Jerusalem in the middle of the world, aud gave the Eas. tno place of honour at the top of the map. Somo of their drawings of imaginary people and beasts were shown. In a series of four tho first represented a one-legged niau who was ablo to cover the ground.with extraordinary facility. This was because ho had a very big foot. When he became tired he formed the habit of reclining upon his back and elevating his commodious foot to shelter himself from the blaze of the sun. Number two in the row carried a large eyo in his forehead, and number threo had been so pressed for room at his creation that ho had beau obliged to spread his face equally over his chest and stomach. Last, but not least, came a dog-hoaded man, and another sight thrown in fro© was of an individual whoso ears were so commodious that they served him as a mantle. "There are many more like that, - ' commented tho lecturer, with a wavo towards his screen—"only more so." Touching upon comparatively modern times, Mr RoKnson threw upon tho screen Behaim's globe map of 1 _tfi, as an indication of how Columbus had been misled into believing that ho could cut right across tho Atlantic to India. Knowing nothing of America, r.ud yet being aware tnatf the world ran through 360 degrees, these mapmakers contrived so to spread out the known continents that a very small space apparently existed between Spain and the,oast of Asia. In attempting to bridge that spac© Columous stumbled on America.

As an example of modern methods, tho lecturer showed the New Zealand topographical survey map in comparison with a British Army Ordnance Map of St. Helena. Whereas Tho local map gave only the salient features of the country, th© Army map gave tho contour lines and elevation, with fullshaded effect. By studying such a map an officer conld acquire m ten minutes moro knowledgo of the country than by spending days in going over it. A full and interesting explanation of the principles of modern map making waa given by the lecturer, who was accorded a heatfy vote of thanks for his efforts. ''