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Astronomical Geography: An Examination of the Early American Literature James W. Vining Western Illinois University 30 Judging from textbooks in geography, there must be educational value in starting with the general and proceeding to the specific, an application of the deductive approach. It is not uncommon today for introductory physical geography and earth science textbooks to precede the examination of the planet's interior, land-water surface, and atmosphere with a brief survey of the fundamentals of astronomy. Not only is this true today, it has been true from the beginnings of American geography, as this study documents. Specifically, this paper examines the information on astronomy in geography school books published before 1850 for the purposes of determining the kinds of information presented and the degree to which teleology played a role in the presentation of that information. ' Jedidiah Morse published his first geography textbook in 1784, and by 1800 he was being hailed by his contemporaries as "our first American geographer" and "the father of American geography.,,2 Perhaps his most classic work, The American Geography, published the year George Washington became President, contained a four-page introductory section on astronomy which began with this paragraph : "A complete knowledge of Geography cannot be obtained without some acquaintance with Astronomy. This Compendium , therefore, will be introduced with a short account of that Science. Astronomy treats the heavenly bodies and explains their mo- tions, times, distances and magnitudes. The regularity and beauty of these, and the harmonious order in which they move, show that their Creator and Preserver possesses infinite wisdom and power.,,3 edge of Geography without an attention to the heavens. . .'''4 In both books Morse included a table presenting information about the known planets. The one from Elements of Geography is reproduced in Figure 1. The seventh planet from the sun is identified in these tables as "Herschel." In The American Geography Morse stated about this planet: Morse began the section on "Astronomical Geography" in his Elements of Geography (1801), a tiny introductory geography bound in wooden covers, with these lines: "The lately discovered planet, Herschel, was first observed in 1782 by the celebrated astronomer William Herschel. In Great Britain, it is called Georgium Sidus; but in France and America it has obtained the name of Herschel, in honour to its learned discoverer.,,5 "By Astronomical Geography you are to understand such a knowledge of Astronomy, or of heavenly bodies, as has been considered intimately connected with, and even necessary to, the study of Geography. 'It is impossible,' said Strabo, 'either for an illiterate person or a man of learning to acquire the necessary knowl- sun and Ilantts. } - Sun 0 Mercury Venus ~ Eayth E9 Mars Jupiter Saturn Herichel ~ J" 1J. f., Both of these early books by Morse also induded sections on I Diameters in 1\1' Ies. ,ng r E 11 I 1 I Mean difl:anccs from the Sun. I 877,54·7 3, I 89 7, 60 9 7,9 28 5, T95 9 2 ,4 I 4 7 H: 2 36 3 .~ ,95+ *1 ----- - - --------_._--- 3 6 ,3 8 7,5 8 3 67,993,3 62 94,000,474 143,227,5 82 47 1 ,97+,5 8 5 89 6 ,7 0 5,3 01 I ,7 8 3,69 ~~ , 244 ------- -- --- _._--._- . I I Figure 1. A Very Early Solar System Table. From Jedidiah Morse's Elements of Geography (1801). 31 "fixed stars" and comets, which Morse said were "vulgarly called blazing stars." In The American Geography (1789) he stated: "The number of stars visible to the naked eye at anyone time in the upper hemisphere is not more than a thousand. A thousand more are supposed to be visible in the lower hemisphere; and by the help of a telescope, a thousand more have been discovered; so that the whole number of stars are reckoned at 3000."6 By the time Elements of Geography was published twelve years later, Morse had revised his statement about the number of stars: "The number of stars visible to the naked eye is reckoned not much to exceed 1,500. How many there are beyond these, none but their Creator knows; there may be millions."7 Morse, a Congregationalist minister as well as a geographic writer, included in both books different but similar teleological statements which suggest the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligent life . Nearly two centuries later, it seems that the suggestion of extraterrestrial life in a geography school book of that time was a bold step. Morse, however, implied that he was only reporting a view that was commonly held by astronomers. In Elements of Geography Morse stated: "To suppose all these stars to be suns, with planets revolving 32 around them like those of our system, and these again revolving around one common centre, a system of systems, and all filled with inhabitants, how does the mind expand with a pleasing amazement at the grandeur of GOD, who created, who supports, governs, and minutely and continually inspects the immense whole!"8 In a third school geography by Morse, Modern Geography, over twenty pages were devoted to "Astronomy as Connected with the Science of Geography." The known planets were described in the 1814 edition in considerable detail, and the book included only this short introductory paragraph on planetary satellites: "A satellite, or moon, is a body revolving round a planet, and, in company with the planet, round the sun . Of these there are 18 in our solar system, distributed in the following manner: 1 to Earth ; 4 to Jupiter; 7 to Saturn; and 6 to Herschel.,,9 Uranus, of course, has only five known satellites, and only two of them had been discovered by the time this book was published in 1814-both discovered by Herschel in 1787. Morse was not alone, however, in reporting six satellites for this planet. Almost every geography book published for the next three decades reported six satellites for Uranus. This was because Herschel had announced his discoveries of four other satellites in the 1790s-discoveries not later verified by other astronomers. In the 1814 edition of Modern Geography, Morse's section on " fixed stars" proposed larger numbers of stars than earlier geog raphies : " The fixed stars . .. are found to be collected in clusters. When a small magnifying power is used, these clusters appear like small light clouds, and hence have been called nebulae .... When these nebulae are examined with a telescope of great magnifying power, they are found to consist of immense multitudes of stars. Dr. Herschel is of the opin ion that the starry heaven is replete with these nebulae; that each nebula is a distinct and separate system of stars; and that each star is the sun or centre of its own system of planets. In examining (the Milky Way) in the space of . .. 41 minutes, he (Herschel) saw 258,000 stars pass through the field of his telescope. It is probable that each nebula in the heavens is as extensive, and . . . if this be true, the number of 75,000,000, which Lalande assigned as the whole number of fixed stars, will be seen to fall far short of the truth ."'o Unlike his earlier works cited in this study, Morse's Modern Geography did not include in the section on astronomy a statement of his teleological views. Neither were there any explicit teleological observations in the astronomy section of The Rudiments of Geography (1814) by early Morse competitor John Hubbard. One of the more interesting passages on astronomy by Hubbard is the short section on the masculine sun: "The sun is an immense globe of matter, supposed to be of fire, placed in the centre of our system ; diffusing light, heat and life to the animal and vegetable creation. He is not perfectly at rest, but revolves around his axis from west to east, in 25d . 15h. Dark spots are frequently seen on the sun . By the motion of these his revolution is ascertained ." " The teleological presentation of information about astronomy was better well exemplified in J. A. Cummings' An Introduction to Ancient and Modern Geography (1817) than any other early geography. It appears that Cummings took the teleological statements from Elements of Geography (1801) by Morse and greatly embellished and elaborated them . His observations on the existence of extraterrestrial life, like those of Morse, seem striking, considering the time in which they were published. Some poetic lines from Cummings' book follow : "When the shades of night have spread their veil over the plains, the firmament manifests to our view its grandeur and its riches. The sparkling points, with which it is studded, are so many suns, suspended by the Almighty in the immensity of space , to worlds which roll around them .... The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy work. The royal poet. 33 was not aware that the stars he contemplated were in reality suns. He anticipated these times and first sang that majestick (sic) hymn, which future and more enlightened ages were to chant forth in praise to the great Creator .... The assemblage of these vast bodies is divided into different systems, the number of which probably surpasses the grains of sand which the sea casts upon its shores. Each system has for its centre a star or sun , which shines by its native, inherent light; and round which revolve several orders of opaque globes, reflecting, with more or less brilliancy, the light they borrow from it, and which renders them visible. What an august, what an amazing conception does this give of the works of the Creator; thousands of thousands of suns, multiplied without end . . . attended by ten thousand times ten thousand worlds . . . and these worlds, doubtless, peopled with myriads of beings, formed for endless progression in perfection and felicity! From what we know of our own system, it may be reasonably concluded that all the rest are with equal wisdom contrived, situated, and provided with accommodations for rational inhabitants.,,12 None of the books cited thus far in this paper were illustrated, except by an occasional map, but during the 1820s several well-illustrated geographies were published. One was The Rudiments of Geography by William C. Woodbridge. The short section on 34 astronomy in the 1825 edition included the diagram reproduced in Figure 2. It shows Uranus (Herschel) with six moons and the orbits of the four largest asteroids, as well as those of the other known planets. There was no hint of teleology in the astronomy section of this book.13 Another well-illustrated geography published in the 1820s was The Malte-Brun School Geography by Peter Parley, pseudonym of geographer S. G. Goodrich. Like Morse and Cummings, Parley described a universe created and directed by God, a universe containing numerous stars having solar systems: brilliant orbs which occupy the heavens are all of them worlds, some of them larger and some smaller, all moving in their appointed courses, and all fulfilling the will of the Almighty Architect, who made them . . .. They are undoubtedly all of them vast worlds, shining like the sun by their own light, and attended each by its own system of planets, satellites, and comets.,,14 fl • •• J . E. Worchester's Elements of Geography (1827) presented information about celestial objects in a section called "Mathematical Geography." Worcester was another early geographer who either did not believe that the universe is the product of divine plan or, if he did believe so, did not take advantage of the opportunity to propose that view when he wrote on the subject of astronomy. His book may have been the earliest geography to identify the seventh planet as "Uranus" rather The Solar Syslern. \ Figure 2. Solar System Diagram . From Rudiments of Geography (1825) by William C. Woodbridge. than "Herschel." It was very likely the earliest to present the relative sizes of planets diagrammatically-in an illustration reproduced in Figure 3.15 Years later William C. Woodbridge, who authored the 1825 book cited above, was still referring to the seventh planet as Herschel. His splendidly-illustrated A System of Universal Geography (1836) contained the engraving shown in Figure 4. Like his earlier work, this book contains no trace of teleology in the treatment of astronomy.16 Each decade brought new revelations from the rapidly-advancing 35 exhibiting the order in which the planets move ro~nd the SUD, their relative distances, and comparahve . Dlagnitudes. J Earth PenUE o o ~ Ma,.~, o Mt:,.cIU"Y o Figure 3. Orbits and Relative Size of Planets. From J. E. Worcester's Elements of Geography (1827). 36 Figure 4. Comparative Size of Planets. From William C. Woodbridge's A System of Universal Geography (1836) . science of astronomy. The geography textbook writers of the 1840s were able to provide more accurate information about the solar system and universe beyond . Perhaps the most substantial and attractive high school geography book of the 1840s was A Pictorial Geography of the World (1842) by S. G. Goodrich. This was the first nineteenth-century geography to suggest that Uranus may have fewer than six satellites; Goodrich said that it has "certainly two, probably five or six" moons.'7 It was also the first nineteenth-century geography to illustrate the concept of the ecliptic. The engraving is reproduced in Figure 5. Goodrich quoted from "the celebrated astronomer Herschel" in providing this interesting analogy for the relative sizes and distances of celestial objects in this solar system : "Choose any well-levelled field or bowling green. On it place a globe two feet in diameter; this will represent the sun; Mercury will be represented by a grain of mustard seed, on the circumference of a circle 164 feet in diameter for its orbit; Venus a pea, on a circle 284 feet in diameter; the Earth also a pea, on a circle of 430 feet; Mars a rather large pin's head, on a circle of 654 feet; Juno, Ceres, Vesta, 37 Figure 5. The Ecliptic and Zodiac. From A Pictorial Geography of the World (1842) by S. G. Goodrich. and Pallas, grains of sand, in orbits of from 1000 to 1200 feet; Jupiter a moderate-sized orange in a circle nearly half a mile across; Saturn a small orange, in a circle of four-fifths of a mile; and Uranus a full-sized cherry or small plumb upon the circumference of a circle more than a mile and half in diameter."ls There is no evidence of teleology in the astronomy section of Goodrich's book. Neptune and its largest moon were discovered in 1846, but not early enough to be announced in the 1846 edition of J. Olney's A Practical System of Modern Geography, one of the most popular school geogra- 38 phies of the 1840s. Olney was like Morse, Cummings, and Parley in suggesting the possible existence of extraterrestrial intelligent life: "The stars being at such an immense distance cannot receive their light from the sun as the other planets, but must shine by their own light; and hence they are supposed to be suns to other systems, and to have worlds revolving around them, inhabited, perhaps, by intelligent and immortal beings.,,19 This suggestion of the possible existence of extraterrestrial immortal beings would indeed be strange unless Olney was referring to spiritual immortality. There is no copy in the astronomy section of the Olney book that is overtly teleological. Conclusions The roots of the practice of beginning introductory physical geography and earth science textbooks with a survey of existing knowledge about other celestial objects and the general nature of the known universe are as old as American geography. Not just physical geography textbooks, but nearly all of the school geographies published before 1850 began with a chapter or section devoted to "astronomical geography" or, as a few authors called it, " mathematical geography." The types of information presented varied little from book to book; the principal difference was in the depth of coverage provided. Most early geographies included two to six pages of information about astronomy. A few contained 15 to 30 pages of "astronomical geography." The most common subsections were devoted to planets, planetary satellites, asteroids, comets, and "fixed sta rs." One of the most surprising discoveries of this inquiry was the fact that some early nineteenth century geographers voiced their belief inor at least proposed the possibility of-the existence of planets revolving around the stars. No such planets, of course, can be seen from Earth, and it was well over a century later, in the late 1960s, that Peter Van de Kamp presented evidence for a planet revolving around Barnard's star. Four of the 11 books and half of the authors cited in this study mentioned other stellar worlds. Perhaps even more surprising was the suggestion of the probability or possibility of intelligent life on those planets. Three of the four authors who wrote about planets revolving around other stars told of the likelihood of intelligent life. Speculation about extraterrestrial life is not unusual today, but it seems strange in hundred-and-fifty-year-old geography books published in conservative and religious New England . Nonetheless, Jedidiah Morse implied that the astronomers of his time held such views. Finally, teleology is not as well exhibited in the " astronomical geography" of the pre-1850 geography textbooks as might have been expected . Although a chapter or section on astronomy presented the authors a perfect opportunity to expound teleological principles, only four of the 11 books cited in this study included explicitly teleological statements. Teleology in the early American geographies reached its zenith in J. A. Cummings' An Introduction to Ancient and Modern Geography, published in 1817. FOOTNOTES 1. Such books are scarce. many of them rare. (In the American Geographical Society Collection. all of them are classified as rare.) Few university and public libraries have very many of these books and there are few sizable private collections. 2. Ralph H. Brown. " The American Geographies of Jedidiah Morse." Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 31 , No. 3 (September, 1941), p. 147. 3. Jedidiah Morse, The America n Geography (Elizabethtown, New Jersey : Shepard Kollock, 17891. p. 1. 4. Jed idiah Morse, Elements of Geography (Boston : I. Thomas & E. T. Andrews, 1801), p. 15. 5. Morse (1789), p. 2. Actually, Uranus was discovered in 1781 , not 1782. 6. Ibid., p. 3. 39 7. Morse (1801 I, p. 22. 14. Peter Parley, The Malte-Brun School Geography (c. 18261. Title page missing from only known copy. 8. Ibid. 9. Jed idiah Morse, Modern Geography (Boston : Thomas & Andrews, 18141, pp. 25-26. IS. J. E. Worcester, Elements of Geography (Boston : HiI· liard, Gray, Linle & Wilkins, 18271, p. 10. 10. Ibid., p. 34. 16. William C. Woodbridge, A System of Universal Geography (Hartford : John Beach, 1836). " . John Hubbard, The Rudiments of Geography (Barnard, Vermont : Joseph Dix, 1814), pp. 3-9. 17. S. G. Goodrich, A Pictorial Geography of the World (Boston : C. D. Strong , 18421, p. 18. 12. J. A. Cummings, An Introduction 10 Ancient and Modern Geography (Boston : Cummings & Hilliard, 18171, pp. 222223. 18. Ibid, pp. 20- 21 . 13. William C. Woodbridge, The Rudiments of Geography (Hartford : Oliver D. Cooke & Sons, 1825). 40 19. J . Dlney, A Practical System of Modern Geography (New York: Pran, Woodford & Co., 18461, p. 286.