geodæsy

Geography is the description of the earth’s superficies; geodesy, or, as it might be written without affectation, geodæsy, (Γεωδαισια, from γεα, earth, and δαιω, I divide, assign, distribute), is the knowledge of the earth’s solid form and shape, the distribution of the portions which make up the terrestrial map, their depressions and elevations, their ins and outs, their regularities and irregularities.