Sept. 13, 1888] 



NA TURE 



485 



passes from the coast to the interior are mere footpaths, described 

 by Prof. Drummond, in his charming book " Tropical 

 Africa," as being " never over a foot in breadth, beaten as hard 

 us adamant, and rutted beneath the level of the forest bed by 

 centuries of native traffic. As a rule these footpaths are 

 marvellously direct. Like the roads of the old Romans, they 

 run straight on through everything, ridge and mountain and 

 valley, never shying at obstacles, nor anywhere turning aside to 

 breathe. Yet with this general straightforwardness there is a 

 singular eccentricity and indirectness in detail. Although the 

 African footpath is on the whole a bee-line, no fifty yards of it 

 are ever straight. And the reason is not far to seek. If a stone 

 is encountered, no native will ever think of removing it. Why 

 should he ? It is easier to walk round it. The next man who 

 comes that way will do the same. . . . Whatever the cause, it 

 is certain that for persistent straightforwardness in the general, 

 and utter vacillation and irresolution in the particular, the 

 African roads are unique in engineering." No country in the 

 world is better supplied with paths ; every village is connected 

 with some other village, every tribe with the next tribe, and it is 

 possible for a traveller to cross Africa without once being off a 

 beaten track. The existence nearly everywhere of a wide coast 

 plain with a deadly climate, and the difficulties attending land 

 transport in a country where the usual beasts of burden, such as 

 the camel, the ox, the horse, and the mule, cannot be utilized, 

 will probably for many years retard the development of the land 

 trade. On the other hand, the Congo with its wide reaching 

 arms, the Niger, the Nile, the Zambesi, the Shire, and the great 

 lakes Nyassa, Tanganika, and the Victoria and Albert Nyanzas 

 offer great facility for water transport, and afford easy access to 

 the interior without traversing the pestilential plains. Already 

 steamers ply on most of the great waterways — each year sees 

 some improvement in this respect ; and a road is in course of 

 construction from Lake Nyassa to Tanganyika which will tend, 

 if Arab raiders can be checked, to divert inland traffic from 

 Zanzibar to Quilimane, and will become an important link in 

 what must be one of the great trade routes in the future. It is 

 possible, I believe, with our present knowledge of Africa, and by 

 a careful study of its geographical features, to foresee the lines 

 along which trade routes will develop themselves, and the points 

 at which centres of trade will arise ; but I have already detained 

 you too long, and will only venture to indicate Sawakin, 

 Mombasa, Quilimane, or some point near the mouth of the 

 Zambesi, and Delagoa Bay, as places on the east coast of Africa 

 which, from their geographical position, must eventually become 

 of great importance as outlets for the trade of the interior. 



The future of Africa presents many difficult problems, some of 

 which will no doubt be brought to your notice during the 

 discussion which, I trust, will follow the reading of the African 

 papers ; and there is one especially — the best means of putting 

 an end to slave hunting and the slave-trade — which is now 

 happily attracting considerable attention. It is surely not too 

 much to hope that the nations which have been so eager to annex 

 African soil will remember the trite saying that " Property has 

 its duties as well as its rights," and that one of the most 

 pressingly important of the duties imposed upon them by their 

 action is to control the fiends in human form who, of set purpose, 

 have laid waste some of the fairest regions of the earth, and 

 imposed a reign of terror throughout Equatorial Africa. 



NOTES. 



We regret to announce that Dr. Peter Griess died very 

 suddenly at Bournemouth on Thursday last week, apparently 

 from an attack of apoplexy. A very skilful manipulator, en- 

 thusiastically devoted to his science, a patient and unwearying 

 worker, his death will deprive chemical science of one of its 

 brightest ornaments. He will be chiefly remembered for his 

 discovery of the diazo-compounds, one of the most remarkable 

 classes of substances known to chemistry. 



A telegram from the city of Mexico states that on the night 

 of the 6th instant there occurred the heaviest shocks of 

 earthquake ever recorded in the city. The houses swayed, the 

 walls cracked, and people rushed into the streets to pray. 

 There was for a few moments much apprehension. The 

 phenomenon was preceded by high winds and dust-storms. 



A frightful cyclone, involving great destruction of pro- 

 perty and loss of life, took place at Havannah on the 4th instant. 

 It is stated to have been the most severe experienced in the 

 West Indies for many years past. 



The inaugural address of St. Thomas's' Hospital will be 

 delivered in the theatre on Monday, October 1, at 3 p.m., by 

 Dr. Cullingworth. 



The sixth course of twelve lectures and demonstrations for 

 the instruction of sanitary inspectors will be delivered at the 

 Parkes Museum on Tuesdays and Fridays at 8 p.m., com- 

 mencing with the 25th instant. The lectures will deal with 

 sanitary subjects generally, and will be delivered by the leading 

 men in the various branches— Sir Douglas Galton, Profs. 

 Corfield and Henry Robinson, Drs. Poore, Louis Parkes, and 

 Charles Kelly, Messrs. Wynter Blyth, Boulnois, Cassal, and 

 Sykes. A nominal fee of five shillings will be charged, and 

 students attending the course will be granted free admission to 

 the Parkes Museum and Library during September, October, 

 and November. The last course was attended by over ninety 

 students, and it is proposed to repeat it twice each year to suit 

 the requirements of persons preparing for the examinations of the 

 Sanitary Institute, as well as of others desirous of obtaining a 

 practical knowledge of sanitary requirements and regulations. 



The September issue of the Kew Bulletin continues the notes 

 on colonial fruit, including a long and most interesting report 

 on the fruits of the Island of Dominica. There is also a report 

 from the British Political Officer at Bahmo on the india-rubber 

 trade of the Mogaung district of Upper Burma. The rubber 

 forests, though worked by Chinese, are owned by the Kachins, 

 a tribe inhabiting the borderland between Burma and China. 



We have received Parts 2 and 3 of the second volume of the 

 Journal of the College of Science of the Imperial University of 

 Japan. The former opens with a paper by Dr. Koto " On the 

 so-called Crystalline Schists of Chichibu," a district lying north- 

 west of Tokio, and, geologically speaking , a region complete in 

 itself, and, according 10 Dr. Koto, typical of the geological 

 formation of the rest of Japan. The essay, which is accom- 

 panied by five plates, occupies the greater part of the number. 

 Prof. Okubo gives a brief account o r the botany of Sulphur 

 Island, a volcanic and uninhabited island off the Japanese coast. 

 Dr. Ijima and Mr. Murata describe some new cases of the occur- 

 rence of Bothriocephahts liguloides, Lt. No. 3 is filled with the 

 account of a magnetic s rvey of all Japan, carried out by order 

 of the President of the Imperial University, the authors being 

 Profs. Knott and Tanakadate. The paper, which is an elaborate 

 one, is divided into five sections : (1) historical retrospect, and 

 general description of the aim and methods of the survey ; (2) 

 particular account of the equipment and modes of operation of 

 the northern party ; (3) the same details for the southern party ; 



(4) final reduction of the observations, and general conclusions ; 



(5) comparison of resu! s with those of previous observers. In 

 an appendix, Prof. Knott gives an exceedingly interesting 

 sketch of Ino Tadayoshi, a Japanese surveyor and cartographer 

 of the latter half of the last century. 



The current number of the Westminster Reviezv contains an 

 article by Mr. Gundry, entitled "China ; A New Departure," the 

 "departure" in question being the introduction of mathematics 

 into the curriculum of subjects in the competitive examinations 

 upon which the whole system of Chinese administration is based. 

 Various methods have been proposed from time to time to 

 bring Chinese students into touch with Western learning. Prince 

 Kung, who was Prime Minister in 1866, suggested the erection 

 of a special deparment presided over by foreign professors for 

 the study of " mathematics," that term being obviously meant 

 to include all branches of physical science. This was done, but 



