"Geography and Chronology are the two Eyes of History."...Lord Chesterfield. BY REV. NATHANIEL DWIGHT. NORTHAMPTON: PUBLISHED BY SIMEON BUTLER. J. METCALF, PRINTER. 1846. DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT, SS. BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the twenty-first day of October, in the fortieth year of the independence of the United States of America, NATHANIEL DWIGHT, of the said district, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as author, in the words follow ing, viz: "A system of Universal Geography, for common schools: in which Europe is divided according to the late act of the congress at Vienna. Geography and Chronology are the two eyes of history-Lord Chesterfield. Geography informs you where events happened, and Chronology at what time. Without these helps your reading would be a confused mass, without order, light, or perspicuity.'-Bennett. By Rev. Nathaniel Dwight, A. M.’ In conformity to the act of 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." (Signed) A true copy of record, (Signed) HENRY W. EDWARDS, Clerk of the district of Connecticut. examined and sealed by me. HENRY W. EDWARDS. Clerk of the district of Connecticut. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. DURING an employment of several years in school keeping, I observed that the science of Geography was but little attended to in the early years of childhood. There are various reasons for this inattention to so important a branch of education. One of these is the great expense of procuring books proper for it: another is, the plan of books which have been intended for that purpose is such as cannot be easily comprehended by children, or remembered by them. I think that both these objections are obviated in this treatise. The expense of this book is so small that it may be easily afforded, and the form of a catechism admits of lis being much more comprehensive, and more easily understood by children, than any of the small Geographies which have been heretofore designed for them. It will enable them usefully to improve many hours of their early years, which for want of something of this kind, are entirely lost: And should the first edition mect with suitable encouragement, the future editions will be enlarged and amended, as the author finds means and time for the purpose, Hartford, May 12, 1795. WE the subscribers have perused “A short but comprehensive System of the Geography of the World, by way of question and answer; principally designed for children, and common schools, by NATHANIEL DWIGHT," and are of opinion that the compilation is judicious, and better calcu lated to impress the facts which it contains on the minds of children, than any other heretofore published. We with pleasure recommend it to the use of instructors, as being well calculated to lessen their own labours, and to facilitate the means of improvement in the minds of their young pupils. JOHN TRUMBULL, CHAUNCEY GOODRICH, ANDREW KINGSBURY, TAPPIN REEVE, JOHN ALLEN. Letter to the editor of the edition printed in Boston. SIR, ROXBURY, DEC. 4, 1795. HAVING attentively perused Mr. DWIGHT's " System of the Geography of the World ;" and also considered most of the works of this kind already extant; I cannot but view it, for method, style, perspicuity and plainness of expression, as one of the best performances of the kind that I have ever scen. Indeed, the plan of managing the subject by question and answer, which modern experience has sufficiently evinced to be the most useful and impressive upon the young and tender mind, gives it a decided preference, in my opin ion, to every other. I wish you success in the publication of it; and assure you I shall give it all the aid in my power, to its introduction into the several schools in this town, and its vicinity. Yours, &c. Mr. DAVID WEST. THOMAS CLARK. WHAT is Geography? A. It is a description of the earth. A. It is a planet, and one of the bodies of the solar system. A. Of the sun, the planets, the satellites or moons, the asteroids and the comets. Q. What is the sun? A. It is the centre of the system, and larger than all the other bodies which compose it. It is the great source of light and warmth and comfort. All the other bodies of the system revolve around it. Q. Describe the sun. A It is an immense globe, 883,246 miles in diameter, and 1,380,000 times as large as the earth. It revolves on its axis, from west to east, in 25 days 14 hours and 8 min. Through a telescope, numerous large spots are seen on its surface. Q. How many planets are there ? A. Seven. Their names, arranged according to their distances from the sun, and beginning with the nearest, are Mercury, Venus, the earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Herschell. Q. Arrange the planets according to their size. A. Jupiter is the largest, then Saturn, Herschell, the earth, Venus, Mars and Mercury. Q. What is the axis of a planet ? A It is that diameter of a planet around which it revolves. Q. How many rotations have the planets? Both are A. Two: a diurnal rotation on their axes, and an annual revolution in their orbits or paths round the sun. from west to east. Q. Describe Mercury. A. It is 3,224 miles in diameter, and 36,583,825 miles from the sun. Its bulk is nearly 15th part of the earth: Its year, or time of annual revolution round the sun, is 37 days 23 hrs. It rolls in its orbit 110,000 miles in an hour. Q. Describe Venus. A. It is 7,687 miles in diameter, and 68,368.008 miles from the sun. In bulk, it is almost 8-9ths of the earth. Its day, or time of rotation on its axis, is 23 hrs. 22 min. and its year, or time of annual revolution, 224 days 17 hours. It rolls in its orbit 87,000 miles in an hour. Venus can be seen in the day-time, once in eight years; and is, to us, the nearest and brightest of the planets. |