24' On The Whole, A Difference From The Truth
Of Not More Than Six Or Seven Degrees.
It is remarked by D'Anville, and Dr.
Vincent coincides in the justice of the remark, that the grandest mistake
in the geography of Ptolemy has led to the greatest discovery of modern
times.
Strabo had affirmed, that nothing obstructed the passage from Spain
to India by a westerly course, but the immensity of the Atlantic ocean;
but, according to Ptolemy's errors in longitude, this ocean was lessened by
sixty degrees; and as all the Portuguese navigators were acquainted with
his work, as soon as it was resolved to attempt a passage to India, the
difficulty was, in their idea, lessened by sixty degrees; and when Columbus
sailed from Spain, he calculated on sixty degrees less than the real
distance from that country to India. Thus, to repeat the observation of
D'Anville, the greatest of his errors proved eventually the efficient cause
of the greatest discovery of the moderns.
Beside the peculiar merit of Ptolemy, which was perceived and acknowledged
as soon as his work appeared, he possesses another excellence, which, as
far as we know, was first pointed out and dwelt upon by Dr. Vincent.
According to him, Ptolemy, in his description of India, serves as the point
of connection between the Macedonian orthography and the Sanscrit,
dispersing light on both sides, and showing himself like a luminary in the
centre. He seems indeed to have obtained the native appellations of the
places in India, in a wonderful manner; and thus, by recording names which
cannot be mistaken, he affords the means of ascertaining the country, even
though he gives no particulars regarding it.
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