THE PHYSICAL ATLAS

OF NATURAL PHENOMENA.

FOR THE USE OF COLLEGES, ACADEMIES, AND FAMILIES.

BY ALEXANDER KEITH JOHNSTON, F. R. G. S., F. G. S.

In one large volume, imperial quarto, handsomely bound,

With Twenty-six Plates, Engraved and Colored in the best style.

Together with 112 pages of Descriptive Letter-press, and a very copious Index.

This splendid volume will fill a void long felt in this country, where no work has been attainable presenting the results of the important science of Physical Geography in a distinct and tangible form. The list of plates subjoined will show both the design of the work and the manner in which its carrying out has been attempted. The reputation of the author, and the universal approbation with which his Atlas has been received, are sufficient guarantees that no care has been spared to render the book complete and trustworthy. The engraving, printing, and coloring will all be found of the best and most accurate description.

As but a small edition has been prepared, the publishers request all who may desire to procure copies of the work to send orders through their booksellers without delay.

List Of Plates. Geology

1. Geological Structure of the Globe.

•J. Mountain Chains of Europe and Asia.

3. Mountain Chains of America.

4. Illustration of the Glacier System of the Alps. (Mont Blanc).

5. Phenomena of Volcanic Action. Pataeomological and Geological Map of the British Islands. (Frontispiece).

Hydrography

1. Physical Chart of the Atlantic Ocean.

2. Physical Chart of the Indian Ocean.

3 Physical Chart of the Pacific Ocean or Great Sea.

4 Tidal Chart of the British Seas.

5 The River Systems of Europe and Asia.

6. The River Systems of America.

Tidal Chart of the World.

Meteorology

1. Humboldt's System of Isothermal Lines.

2. Geographical Distribution of the Currents of Air. 3. Hyetographic or Rain Map of the 'World. 4. Hyeloirraphic or Rain Map of Europe.

Natural History

1. Geographical Distribution of Plants. 2. Geographical Distribution of the Culti vated Plants used as Food.

3. Geographical Distribution of Quadrumana, Edentata, Marsupialia, and Pachydermata.

4. Geographical Distribution of Carnivora.

5. Geographical Distribution of Rodentia and Ruminantia. 6. Geographical Distribution of Birds. 7. Geographical Distribution of Reptiles.

8. Ethnographic Map ni the World.

9. Ethnographic Map of Great Britain and Ireland.

The intention of this work is to exhibit, in a popular and attractive form, the results of the researches of naturalists and philosophers in all the more important branches of Natural Science. Its study requires no previous training ; for while facts and deductions are stated according to the strictest rules of scientific inquiry, they are by an ingenious application of colors, signs, and diagrams, communicated in a manner so simple and striking as to render them at once intelligible and easily retained.

For the first time, in this country, the principles of graphic representation are here applied to the delineation of the most important facts of external phenomena. Simple but significant symbolical signs have been introduced to an extent, and with an effect, hitherto never contemplated. The contents of the many volumes, formerly the sole depositories of information regarding the different kingdoms of nature, have been condensed and reproduced with a conciseness, precision, completeness, and promptitude of application altogether unattainable by any other agency.

The elegant substitute of linear delineation registers the most complicated results in the most perspicuous form, affords inexhaustible facilities for recording the continued advance of science, and "renders its progress visible".

The Physical Atlas is the result of many years' labor, and in its construction not only have the writings and researches of the philosophers and travelers of all nations been made use of, but many of the most eminent men of the age, in the different departments of science, have contributed directly to its pages. The letter-press gives a condensed description of each subject treated of, with constant reference to the elucidation of the maps, and the colors and signs employed are uniformly explained by notes on the plates. But while endeavoring to make available to every one the rich stores of knowledge otherwise nearly inaccessible, it has ever been borne in mind that, in such a work, accuracy and truth are the first requisites, in order that it may be a guide to the naturalist in investigating the more philosophical departments of science, and to the inquirer in showing what has already been done, and what remains to be accomplished, in perhaps the most universally interesting and attractive branch of human knowledge.

From among a vast number of recommendatory notices, the publishers submit the following: -

We have thus rapidly run through the contents of the Atlas to show its comprehensiveness and philosophic arrangement. Of its execution, no praise would be in excess. The maps are from the original plates, and these are beautifully finished, and the coloring has been laid on wall the utmost nicety and care. The size is an imperial quarto, and the accompanying text embraces a vast amount of details that the imagination is called on to fasten and associate with the maps. The enterprise and fine taste of the American publishers will, we hope, be rewarded by an extensive sale of this most admirable work. No school-room and no family should be without the Physical Atlas.

In the hands of a judicious teacher, or head of a family, information of the most varied nature in all departments of science and natural history can be introduced and commented on, in reference to its geographical bearing, while the materials of the text and the Atlas may be commented on to any desired extent. Such works give attractiveness to knowledge, and stimulate to energy the mind of the young; while in the beauty, harmony, and intermediate reactions of nature thus exhibited, the facilities of imagination and judgment find room for equal exercise and renewed delight. It is the lively picture and representation of our planet. - New York Literary World, March 9,1850.

The book before us is, in short, a graphic encyclopaedia of the sciences - an atlas of human knowledge done into maps. It exemplifies the truth which it expresses -that he who runs may read. The Thermal Laws of Leslie it enunciates by a bent line running across a map of Europe: the abstract researches of Gauss it embodies in a few parallel curves winding over a section of the globe; a formula of Laplace it melts down to a little path of mezzotint shadow; a problem of the transcendental analysis, which covers pages with definite integrals, it makes plain to the eye by a little stippling and hatching on a given degree of longitude! All possible relations of time and space, heat and cold, wet and dry. frost and snow, volcano and storm, current and tide, plant and beast, race and religion, attraction and repulsion, glacier and avalanche, fossil and mammoth, river and mountain, mine and forest, air and cloud, and sea and sky - all in the earth, and under the earth, and on the earth, and above the earth, that the heart of man has conceived or his head understood - are brought together by a marvellous microcosm, and planted on these little sheets of paper - thus making themselves clear to every eye. In short, we have a summary of all the cross-questions of Nature for twenty centuries - and all the answers of Nature herself set down and speaking to us voluminous system dans un mot.....Mr. Johnsion is well known as a geographer of great accuracy and research; and it is certain that this work will add to his reputation; for it is beautifully engraved, and accompanied with explanatory and tabular letterpress of great value. - London Athenoeum.