OF MODERN GEOGRAPHY MATHEMATICAL, PHYSICAL, AND POLITICAL ON A NEW PLAN EMBRACING A COMPLETE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RIVER BY THE REV. ALEXander B MACKAY, LL.D. F.R.G.S. AUTHOR OF 'FACTS AND DATES;''ELEMENTS OF MODERN GEOGRAPHY;''OUTLINES OF TENTH THOUSAND, REVISED TO DATE OF PUBLICATION WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCLXXXI PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. THIS edition of the Manual of Modern Geography has been thoroughly revised throughout, and in numerous sections entirely rewritten. The Manual was the Author's literary firstborn, and on it were fondly lavished all the privileges and affections inseparable from primogeniture. Many long years were cheerfully devoted to its first production, when the Author had to labour single-handed, in a remote corner of the land, with few books and still fewer friends to consult. He had his reward, however, in the emphatic verdict of the public press, and the unqualified approbation of eminent educationists from all parts of the British Empire. As the First Edition, however, consisted of a very large impression, wellnigh a decade of years has elapsed since its preparation, and in that decade numerous changes have taken place in all departments of Geography, as also in all the sciences with which it stands most closely connected. In order, therefore, to place the work a second time wholly abreast of the progress of events, no less than an entire year of uninterrupted labour has been devoted to this Edition. A large portion of the Political Geography had to be recast, especially the sections relating to the British Isles, North Germany, France, Italy, Russia, India, the United States, and the British Colonies; while those bearing on Astronomy, Geology, Meteorology, Commerce, Manufactures, and Inland Communication, had to be rewritten. 333917 |