Book Description

Excerpt from Claudius Ptolemy and the Nile: Or an Inquiry Into That Geographer's Real Merits and Speculative Errors His Knowledge of Eastern Africa and the Authenticity of the Mountains of the Moon Until ancient geography shall have undergone a through reformation, such as Niebuhr effected in Roman History, and be reconstructed on grounds strictly rational and authentic, it will not possess the precision and solidity of which it is capable, and without which it must ever remain a barren spot in the field of knowledge. It is in the earliest ages that the geographical element of history has most importance. Man then depends more on nature than on events. Allusions to trade and intercourse, handed down from ancient times, reveal the necessary steps of advancing civilization. They are intrinsically more definite and certain; point more plainly to cause and effect; and deal less with casualty than the records of war and conquest. But they are too essentially real to bear corruption. The narrative of events may not be the less captivating, or lees generally accepted, because it has been moulded into a romance. In the description of the transitory scenes of life, we may be, and often are, satisfied with verisimilitude; but in every reference to permanent nature we must have the truth, and geographical statements deficient in recognizable truth, soon become unintelligible, and consequently worthless. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.