In geography, as in other matters, it is vain to attempt to distinguish
how much is to be attributed to the study of the ancients, and how much
to the special genius of the Italians. They saw and treated the things
of this world from an objective point of view, even before they were
familiar with ancient literature, partly because they were themselves a
half-ancient people, and partly because their political circumstances
predisposed them to it; but they would not so rapidly have attained to
such perfection had not the old geographers shown them the way. The
influence of the existing Italian geographies on the spirit and
tendencies of the travellers and discoverers was also inestimable. Even
the simple 'dilettante' of a science-- if in the present case we should
assign to Aeneas Sylvius so low a rank--can diffuse just that sort of
general interest in the subject which prepares for new pioneers the
indispensable favourable predisposition in the public mind. True
discoverers in any science know well what they owe to such meditation.
The Natural Sciences in Italy
For the position of the Italians in the sphere of the natural sciences,
we must refer the reader to the special treatises on the subject, of
which the only one with which we are familiar is the superficial and
depreciatory work of Libri.
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