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460 LIFK
a few minutes; standing on the edge qf the cliff of Centorbi, one may
even inhale the perfumes of the gardens on the opposite terrace; but to
accomplish the distance separating the two localities, the time needed is
as great, or greater, than that required to travel from Paris to the Belgian
frontiers, or to the coasts of the Channel. It is evident that a state of
things tike this must shortly be altered. The citizens, who shut themselves up every day within their ancient walled inclosures, need not now
feel any dread in establishing themselves in the midst of tracts of land at
present uninhabited. The steepness ofthe escarpments and the difficulty
of access, which were formerly esteemed by them as a privilege* wdien
their life was one continual terror, ought henceforth to appear, that which
they are in reality, a most disadvantageous loss of time, and a deplorable
cause for an inferiority in civilization. The summits of lofty mountains
will no longer be.favorite sites for the building of towns, until man has
become a lord of the air by being able to steer balloons, and until the
most favorable landing-places for him are peaks and ridges.
These successive changes in the more or less considerable adaptation
of the earth to the nations inhabiting it, take place no less in respect to
the outline of the continents themselves than in the trifling details of local topography. Thus the numerous bays which run into the coast of
Europe, and the peninsulas which project in every direction, and contribute so largely in giving to the people of this part of the world the first
character in history, are constantly losing in comparative importance, in
proportion as the inland ways of rapid communication increase; it may
even be asserted that, in all countries now intersected by railways, the
indentations of the coast, once so useful, owing to the natural water-ways
they presented for navigation, have.become an obstacle rather than an
advantage. Thus, until lately, great commercial ports were necessarily
fixed at the land-side of the hollow formed by the shores of a gulf, or
else on the banks of the estuaries which run the deepest into the continent ; for this position enabled them to receive, by the shortest possible
road, the largest possible quantity of commodities and merchandise from
neighboring countries. In our time, owing to the rapid means of communication, this is no longer the case, and maritime commerce tends more
and more to take for its starting-place ports situated at the extremity of
a peninsula. Every historical progress, therefore, changes the relation of
man to the earth which he treads, and, consequently, the influence of his
surroundings is incessantly being modified.
| Title | The ocean, atmosphere, and life |
| Creator | Reclus, Elisée |
| Publisher | Harper |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Date | 1873 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000505 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 460 LIFK a few minutes; standing on the edge qf the cliff of Centorbi, one may even inhale the perfumes of the gardens on the opposite terrace; but to accomplish the distance separating the two localities, the time needed is as great, or greater, than that required to travel from Paris to the Belgian frontiers, or to the coasts of the Channel. It is evident that a state of things tike this must shortly be altered. The citizens, who shut themselves up every day within their ancient walled inclosures, need not now feel any dread in establishing themselves in the midst of tracts of land at present uninhabited. The steepness ofthe escarpments and the difficulty of access, which were formerly esteemed by them as a privilege* wdien their life was one continual terror, ought henceforth to appear, that which they are in reality, a most disadvantageous loss of time, and a deplorable cause for an inferiority in civilization. The summits of lofty mountains will no longer be.favorite sites for the building of towns, until man has become a lord of the air by being able to steer balloons, and until the most favorable landing-places for him are peaks and ridges. These successive changes in the more or less considerable adaptation of the earth to the nations inhabiting it, take place no less in respect to the outline of the continents themselves than in the trifling details of local topography. Thus the numerous bays which run into the coast of Europe, and the peninsulas which project in every direction, and contribute so largely in giving to the people of this part of the world the first character in history, are constantly losing in comparative importance, in proportion as the inland ways of rapid communication increase; it may even be asserted that, in all countries now intersected by railways, the indentations of the coast, once so useful, owing to the natural water-ways they presented for navigation, have.become an obstacle rather than an advantage. Thus, until lately, great commercial ports were necessarily fixed at the land-side of the hollow formed by the shores of a gulf, or else on the banks of the estuaries which run the deepest into the continent ; for this position enabled them to receive, by the shortest possible road, the largest possible quantity of commodities and merchandise from neighboring countries. In our time, owing to the rapid means of communication, this is no longer the case, and maritime commerce tends more and more to take for its starting-place ports situated at the extremity of a peninsula. Every historical progress, therefore, changes the relation of man to the earth which he treads, and, consequently, the influence of his surroundings is incessantly being modified. |
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