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.
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