XII.] ITS CONTENTS. 2$I
best of the materials that are available; but his work cannot
fail to suffer from a certain amount of anachronism.
We may now proceed to consider briefly the contents of
Strabo's work. The two first hooks are devoted
to an Introduction, in which he states the aim and
scope of his treatise and the principles on which
he conceives that it ought to be composed, and draws attention
to the general features which characterise both the
entire area of the world and the several continents,
In this part also he sets forth his views on mathe-
matical and physical geography. His treatment of the former of
these is the least satisfactory portion of his book, for he deals
with it unsystematically in the form of controversy
with Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, and others who had
preceded him in that study. In criticising them,
however, he betrays his own inferiority, so that not infrequently
he either misunderstands their views, or is himself in error. On
the other hand, his remarks on physical geography
are of great value. He has brought together a
large amount of material to throw light on the changes which
have passed over the face of the earth owing to the retirement
of the sea, and to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions; and he
discusses the causes which have brought these to pass. The two
main principles which he enunciates as his own are mentioned
with high praise by Sir Charles Lyell, as being anticipations of
the latest conclusions of fnodern science. These are (i) the
importance of drawing inferences with regard to the more ex-
tensive physical changes from those which take place on a lesser
scale under our own eyes; and (2) the theory of the alternate
elevation and depression of extensive areas1. With regard to the
shape of the inhabited world he followed the view of Eratosthenes,
who described it as forming an irregular oblong with tapering
extremities towards the east and west. This figure Strabo com-
pares to the chlamys, or Greek mantle, which was rectangular in
outline, and usually about twice as long as it was broad, with a
gore, or triangular piece, attached to either extremity2. For
1 Lyell, Principles of Geology, voL I. pp. 34, 25 j Strabo, i. 3. 5, ro,
8 *. 5- 14.