Such is a brief sketch of the advantages which geography, as founded on astronomy, derived from the labours of Hipparchus. We possess little information respecting his ideas of the form of the earth, or the relative position or extent of the different quarters and countries on the surface of the globe. He seems to have been the first who conceived the idea of a southern continent, uniting Africa and India: he had evidently some information, though very vague and erroneous, of India, beyond the Ganges. On the east coast of Africa, his knowledge did not extend beyond Cape Guardaferi. On the whole, geography is more indebted to him for his discoveries in astronomy, and, above all, for his setting the example of carefully ascertaining facts, and not indulging, so much as his predecessors had done, in conjectures and hypotheses, than for any actual discoveries or advances he made in it. The eulogium which Pliny has pronounced on him is very eloquent, and fully deserved. "Hipparchus can scarcely receive too high praise: he has proved, more satisfactorily than any other philosopher, that man is allied to heaven, and his soul derived from on high. In his time, more than one new star was discovered, or rather appeared for the first time; and this induced him to believe, that future ages might witness stars for the first time moving from the immense regions of space, within the limits of our observation. But the grandeur and boldness of Hipparchus's mind rested not here: he attempted, and in some measure succeeded in doing, what seems above human knowledge and power: he numbered the stars, laid down rules by which their rising and setting might be ascertained beforehand; and, finally, he constructed an apparatus on which the position of each star was accurately given, and a miniature picture of the heavens, with the motions of the celestial bodies, their rising and setting, increase and diminution. He thus may be said to have left the heavens as a legacy to that man, if any such were to be found, who could rival him and follow his steps."