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DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, to wit:

District Clerk's Office.

BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the twenty-fifth day of November, A. D. 1822, in the forty-seventh year of the Independence of the United States of America, JEDIDIAH MORSE, D. D. and SIDNEY EDWARDS MORSE, A. M. of the said District, have deposited in this office the title of a Book, the right whereof they claim as Authors, in the words following, to wit :

"A New System of Geography, Ancient and Modern, for the Use of Schools, accompanied with an Atlas, adapted to the work. By Jedidiah Morse, D. D. and Sidney Edwards Morse, A. M. Twenty-Third Edition."

In Conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned:" and also to an Act entitled, "An Act supplementary to an Act, entitled, "An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by secur ing the copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned; and extending the benefits thereof to the Arts of Designing, Engraving and Etching Historical and other Prints."

JOHN W. DAVIS,

Clerk of the District of Massachusetts.

Edwin C. EG 5-27-41

PREFACE.

The

GEOGRAPHY, as a science, is yet in its infancy. The enterprise of modern travellers and modern commerce has indeed furnished us with a vast store of materials, but we look in vain, in the best treatises on General Geography, for that beautiful order and lucid arrangement, which so much delight us in other sciences. geometrician makes use of no term till he has defined it, and in his demonstrations, avails himself of no truth till he has proved it; but the geographer commonly begins his book with introductory views, which it is impossible for any man to understand, till he is minutely acquainted with the details of Geography.

It is true, that from the imperfect state of our knowledge, and from the nature of the subject, there cannot be the same precision in Geography as in Geometry; yet geographical facts may be arranged, a lucid order may be adopted, and classifications may be formed to assist the memory, as in other sciences.

Various methods have been devised to aid the memory. We remember the relative position of the fixed stars by grouping them in Constellations. A European geographer has recently borrowed this expedient from Astronomy, and arranged all the chief towns on the globe into Constellations. This plan might be useful if Geography had to contend with the same difficulties as Astronomy. The two cases, however, are widely different. The Asstronomer's world is a universe of dots, and he has no way to help his memory, but to unite them with imaginary lines, and combine them into forms. But Geogra

phy abounds with real lines. It has rivers, coasts and mountains; and these afford a support to the memory, much more solid and valuable than imaginary lines.

Another mode of assisting the memory is by an ingenious combination of the initials of names. The word VIBGYOR contains the initials of the seven primary colours, in the order in which they appear in the rainbow. This method may in some instances be successfully applied to Geography. For example: the three large towns, Boston, Albany and Detroit, are near the same parallel of latitude, and the initials spell BAD. Montreal, Albany and New York are near the same meridian, and the initials spell MAN. These six towns, taken together, form a cross, on which BAD MAN is extended. Expedients of this kind may be profitable in some cases, yet if they are pursued very far they will become frivolous, and rather burdensome than useful. The same remarks are applicable to rhymes.

There are various other methods of aiding the memory, but the most valuable, where the subject admits of them, are classification and a lucid order. These are the methods adopted in all the sciences. They are the methods which the memory loves, and which make the acquisition of knowledge easy and delightful.

In the following pages the world is presented under three distinct views, 1. An Introductory view of each quarter or grand division of the globe. 2. A view of each country in detail. 3. A General View, or Recapitulation.

In the Introductory views, the design has been to give. such an outline of the mountains, rivers and other grand features of the globe, as will prepare the pupil to come with advantage to the study of details.

In the view of each country, the plan has been, to begin with what is plain, and proceed to what is obscure. For this reason, the boundaries, bays, and capes are commonly first described, and then the mountains, rivers and

towns.

After the student has gone over the world in detail, he is then called upon to look back, and classify the information he has obtained, and combine his knowledge

into General Views. These views are calculated to fix all the important details more firmly in his memory.

The order which is here pursued, it is believed, is the order of nature; the order which is best calculated to communicate to the mind a clear and impressive view of Geography.

It has become customary of late, in Geographies designed for schools, to omit boundaries and the description of rivers. In this work they have been inserted. It is true, that maps with a series of judicious questions, supply in part the place of a description. Yet they do it imperfectly. In the best maps, especially in those on a small scale, errors are so numerous, that the mind cannot rest with confidence in their testimony. We want the confirmation of the book. Besides, a good description of a river is the result of much study, and always suggests the best associations for the aid of the memory.

The publishers have prepared an Atlas to accompany this work. The maps are executed in a style of eugraving, superior to what is common in works of the same kind. The map of the United States appears to be remarkably well done.

Advertisement to the Twenty-Third Edition.

The twenty-second edtion of this Geography was prepared for the press with much care, re-written on an improved plan, and accompanied with a new Atlas adapted to the work. Few alterations have been found necessary in the present edition. The principal improvement is the addition of a System of Ancient Geography, accompanied with an Ancient Atlas of five maps.

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