tion of his
Imperial Majesty's dominions."

FOOTNOTES:

[6] The old English lawyers puzzled themselves greatly in tracing the
origin of the feudal tenures. The truth is, they may be found in the
incipient stages of society in nearly every nation. They existed, in
fact, in Hindostan, China, and many other countries, for centuries
before the time of the _comites_ of the German princes, mentioned by
Tacitus, who are supposed to have founded them. The services of the
tenant varied according to the character and condition of the
people--the principle was every where the same.

[7] The tael is $1.66; the pecul, 133-1/3 pounds.

ART. IV.--_Precis de la Geographie Universelle ou Description de toutes
les parties du Monde, sur un plan Nouveau D'apres les grandes divisions
Naturelles du Globe, &c._ Par MALTE-BRUN: Bruxelles, 1829.

We place at the head of our article, which we mean to devote to Physical
Geography, the title of the latest edition that we have seen of the
great work of Malte-Brun. This, which has already become well known to
our American public in translation, has received some additions from its
Belgian editors, but has not been fully brought up to the present state
of Science, nor does it contain all the new discoveries which have been
made in that part, namely, physical geography, to which our attention is
more immediately directed. We shall, however, endeavour to supply these
deficiencies so far as lies in our power.

Physical geography stands in immediate connexion with subjects which
have already been presented to the readers of this journal, namely with
Celestial Mechanics,[8] and with the Phenomena of our Atmosphere.[9] It
shall be our endeavour to proceed from the facts laid down in the first
of the two articles to which we have referred, to the more particular
consideration of the state, the structure, and the condition of the
globe we inhabit.

The earth is a planet of the solar system, the third in distance from
the sun, revolving upon its own axis, and around that central body
attended by a satellite; circumstances which affect in a most important
manner the phenomena that are observed upon its surface. Composed of
material substances that mutually attract each other, each particle of
which has a greater or less centrifugal force in proportion to its
distance from the axis of rotation, it has a figure that is consistent
with a state of equilibrium under the joint action of these tw