512 



NATURE 



Oct. 14, 1875 



a volcano, Hekla may be a wonder, but as compared with 

 other volcanoes it is a mere smoking cinder-heap. What- 

 ever may be the value of Capt. Burton's conclusions, his 

 minute comparative study of this notable feature of Ice- 

 landic scenery deserves attention. The Geysirs also he 

 inspected with considerable minuteness, and concludes 

 that in their present condition they are " like Hekla, gross 

 humbugs ; and if their decline continues so rapidly, in a 

 few years there will be nothing save a vulgar solfatara, 

 440 by 150 yards in extent."* In this connection a pretty 

 full account is given of the various attempts which have 

 been made to account for the action of Geysirs. The 

 whole of this portion of the narrative we deem of special 

 value. 



Capt. Burton's final trip was to eastern Iceland. He 

 sailed from Reykjavik to BerufjorS on the east coast. 

 Thence [he proceeded with a small cavalcade on 

 ponies north-west by devious ways to the My-vatn, the 

 lake in the neighbourhood of which sulphur is so plentiful. 

 The lake itself and the neighbouring district he describes 

 in considerable detail, and notes carefully the prominent 

 features to be met with in the route from BerufjorS. On 

 his return he attempted to climb the steep pyramidal 

 mountain- of HetSubreiS (5,447 feet), a few miles south 

 of My-vatn, but after a strenuous effort failed to reach the 

 summit. He also paid a visit to Snsefell and the northern 

 boundary of the great glacier Vatnajokull, which for the 

 first time has been recently crossed by the indomitable 

 Mr. Watts. Capt. Burton speaks of the glacier with con- 

 siderable enthusiasm, and gives a minute and striking 

 picture of all he was able to observe ; and now that Mr. 

 Watts has shown the way, we may hope ere long to have 

 its main features observed and described in detail. 

 While in this region the traveller was in the vicinity of 

 the mysterious ^central desert of Iceland, the OddSa 

 Hraun, which the ignorant natives still people with fierce 

 robbers. 



Capt. Burton thus nearly accomplished the circuit of 

 the island, and it is impossible in the space at our dis- 

 posal to give any adequate idea of even his personal 

 narrative. His lively pictures, sketched with the hand of 

 a master, of Icelandic character and of social life among 

 all classes, are specially attractive. Nothing worthy of 

 note escapes his observation, and both the scientific and 

 the " general "reader will find the work to abound in interest 

 and ins truction. As a corrective to the usual indiscrimi- 

 nating narrative of Icelandic travel, it is invaluable. As 

 we said at the beginning, the work as a whole will give 

 a better idea of the country from' all points of view than 

 any other single work hitherto published. 



One of the most marked features in Capt. Burton's 

 style is its digressiveness and excessive allusiveness ; in 

 the present work he carries it often to a perplexing extent, 

 and unless the reader be as well-informed as the traveller 

 himself, he is apt to get bewildered. This feature en- 

 forces the most careful reading, and we therefore, perhaps, 

 ought not to consider it a fault. 



The lithographic and other illustrations 'which adorn 

 the work are creditably done and add to its value. The 

 general map is very good and useful, but would have 

 been more so had it been on a larger scale. The special 

 map of the My-vatn and Vatnajokull district is excellent. 

 The publisher deserves the word of praise which the 

 author awards him in the preface. 



DUPONT AND DE LA GRYE'S ''INDIGENOUS 



AND FOREIGN WOODS" 

 Les Bois indighies et dtrangers : Physiologie, Culture, 

 Production, Qualitdsjndustrie, Commerce. Par Adolphe 

 E. Dupont et Bouquet de la Grye. (Paris : Rothschild. 

 London : Asher and Co., and Williams and Norgate.) 

 •T^HE science of forest conservation, as is well known, 

 -»- is much more carefully attended to in France and 

 Germany than it is in England or even in India, where, 

 indeed, much has been done of late years in the conser- 

 vation of the valuable timber trees in which the forests of 

 our Eastern Empire abound. 



Though it cannot be denied that Scotland turns out 

 some clever foresters, it is in Continental Europe that 

 forestry is taught under a complete system, practical 

 lessons and lectures being conducted in the forests them- 

 selves amongst the very objects which it is the aim of the 

 student to become closely acquainted with. The forest, 

 to the young forester, is in every respect what the hospital 

 is to the medical student. In it he sees the various forms 

 of disease or of injury resulting from mismanagement, 

 and by comparison of the effects of judicious and scien- 

 tific treatment the means of success or failure are practi- 

 cally demonstrated. It is from these facts that the 

 curriculum of training young officers for the Indian 

 forest service, which now obtains, includes a given time 

 of study in France or Germany. In consideration of 

 this established and systematic course of instruction, it is 

 not surprising that there should issue from the Continen- 

 tal press from time to time some valuable works on forest 

 produce, either with regard to the cultivation of the trees 

 or the utilisation and application of their timber. 



The work before us is one which we should not expect 

 to be produced in England, except, perhaps, as a transla- 

 tion. It is a bulky book of 552 pages, and is of a very 

 comprehensive nature, including the consideration of 

 all matters connected with trees from the very beginning 

 of life to the commercial aspects of the timber trade. 

 Being the joint production of a naval architect and a con- 

 servator of forests, each author has done much towards 

 making the book valuable to all interested in the growth 

 and production of timber. 



The first chapter is devoted to the physiology of plants, 

 and occupies 128 pages; rather too much, it must be 

 confessed, when it is borne in mind that a good deal of 

 the ground has been gone over before in most manuals 

 of botany : the latter part of the chapter, however, is 

 interesting, as showing the effects of climate, altitude, 

 rains, &c. Chapter II, treats of cultivation in its various 

 phases, and its effects upon the quality of the woods in a 

 commercial point of view. Passing over the chapter on 

 forest statistics, in which some interesting comparisons 

 are given on the extent of forests in France, Germany 

 Russia, Sweden, Norway, &c., and passing also that on 

 the working of the forests, in which, however, is a notice 

 on the production of charcoal— essentially a French in- 

 dustry — we come to Chapter V., on the quality and 

 defects of wood. This subject is treated of very fully in 

 its various bearings ; and with regard to the drying or 

 desiccating process, which is a very important matter, as 

 upon it rests nearly the whole question of commercial 

 value, we have some facts, many of which, though not 



