NATURE 



[May I, 1879 



and those who still remain in all their primitive freedom 

 of the hills." This freedom, however, consists of a long 

 and bitter struggle to raise their scanty crops on the 

 hardly-wrought clearances of the virgin forest. Among 

 the other enemies to their agricultural pursuits, Capt. 

 Forbes mentions the visitations of vast hordes of "hill 

 rats," which at long intervals of forty or fifty years settle 

 on a tract of country for two or three years in succession, 

 " till, like a swarm of locusts, they have reduced it to a 

 desert." When on the move, in vast swarms, they cross 

 the streams in shoals, so that the water is black with them, 

 and from 1870 to 1874 they so devastated the hill country 

 east of the Sittoung river that government was compelled 

 to expend some 10,000/. in rehering the local Karen 

 tribes. 



The chapters upon Burman Buddhism must not pass 

 without notice. Buddhism is not a subject quite suit- 

 able to the columns of Nature, but there is exhibited 

 in the short treatment of it such an intelligent apprecia- 

 tion of a vast system of philosophy, unaccompanied by 

 narrow prejudice or preconceived ideas, as, if not perfect^ 

 proves the author to be capable of conducting investiga- 

 tions on thoroughly scientific principles. 



W. L. D. 



OUX BOOK SHELF 



From Kulja, across the Tian Shan, to Lob-Nor. By 

 Col. N. Prejevalsky. Translated by E. Delmar 

 Morgan. With Introduction by Sir J-. Douglas Forsyth, 

 C.B. (London : Sampson Low and Co., 1879.) 

 Col. Prejevalsky has already proved himself one of 

 the most scientific and determined of modern explorers, 

 and has probably done more than any single man for an 

 accurate knowledge of Central Asia. We have noticed in 

 these pages his valuable work on his journey in Mongolia 

 and Western China, and this narrative, short as it is, main- 

 tains the reputation he has already gained. The journey 

 here described was made in 1876-7, and has been the 

 means of clearing up several obscurities in the hydro- 

 graphy of the region visited. We have already, shortly 

 after Prejevalsky' s return, given the main results of the 

 journey, from Kulja, south-east across the Tian Shan 

 Mountains, by the Yulduz River, to the Tarim, and along 

 that river to its termination in Lake Lob-nor, at the 

 northern foot of the Altyn-tagh Range, on the 90th deg. 

 of E. long., and just south of the 40th parallel N. Baron 

 von Richthofen has endeavoured to prove that the present 

 Lob-nor is not the Lob-nor of the old geographers, which 

 he maintains was farther north. But to this Prejevalsky 

 has an answer that it seems to us difficult to refute, not- 

 withstanding that Richthofen probably knows more 

 about the history of Central Asian geography than 

 any one living. However the case may stand with 

 regard to this, there can be no doubt about the 

 value of Prejevalsky's observations on the present 

 Lob-nor, which he states is fresh, shallow, almost over- 

 grown with tall reeds, in the midst of which its strange 

 mongrel inhabitants live, and of which they build their 

 houses. The Altyn-tagh Mountains Richthofen con- 

 siders the most surprising discovery of the Russian 

 traveller, for it was generally supposed that there was an 

 extensive tract of low country continuing through several 

 degrees of latitude to the south of the lake. Prejcvalsk/s 

 observations on the fauna of the Tarim and Lob-nor will 

 be appreciated by zoologists, as will also his account of 

 the wild cameL He has a special interest in ornithology, 

 and above all in that department relating to the migra- 

 tions of birds ; and the part of his narrative which de- 



scribes what he observed on this point during his stay at 

 Lob-nor is one of exceptional value, and will, no doubt, 

 be read with interest and profit by those who take an 

 interest in the subject of migration. Mr. Delmar Morgan, 

 who has made an excellent translation, has added to the 

 brief narrative chapters on Lake Balkash, Lake Ala-Kul, 

 and the Starovertsi, which, though somewhat irrelevant, 

 are acceptable as being of real value. An excellent large 

 map accompanies the volume, besides a smaller one, to 

 illustrate the controversy between Prejevalsky and Richt- 

 hofen. 



A Manual of Practical Chemistry : The Analysis of 

 Foods and the Detection of Poisons. By Alexander 

 Wynter Blyth, M.R.C.S., F.C.S., &c. (London : 

 Charles Griffin and Co., 1879.) 

 This work of 468 pages consists of two divisions, the 

 first treating of the analysis of the principal articles 

 of diet in daily use, the second of the detection and esti- 

 mation of certain organic and inorganic poisons. The 

 matter pertaining to the first division is further divided 

 into seven parts, in which the different articles of diet are 

 considered in their proper groups. These chapters are 

 well and pleasantly written, bringing the information as 

 much as possible up to date, and introducing where 

 necessary modern methods of analysis. This niay be 

 seen in the chapter on sugars, where a full description of 

 the optical method for the estimation of these bodies by 

 the polariscope is given, with an accompanying diagram 

 of the various parts, lenses, &c., of Soleil' s saccharimeter. 

 The remaining portions of the first division contain the 

 matter concerning bread and flour; milk, butter, tea, 

 coffee, cocoa, &c. ; the chapter on tea and coff'ee contain- 

 ing a large number of analyses which no doubt will prove 

 of great use. A considerable part of the book is devoted 

 to the examination of alcohols, wines, and beers, in which 

 instructions are laid down for the examination of such 

 substances. In connection with this part the author gives 

 a reprint of the tables introduced by M. A. Gautier for 

 the systematic detection of colouring matters likely to be 

 met with in wines, and gives an abstract of Gautier's 

 paper containing the necessary instructions for the pre- 

 paration of the sample, &c., to be examined. 



The second division of the book contains the detection 

 and estimation of the different poisons, the consideration 

 of the organic preceding that of the inorganic. Although 

 the information conveyed by the author is exact and well 

 arranged with regard to the individual tests for each 

 separate poison, it is to be regretted that he has not 

 thought it necessary to develop more fully his remarks on 

 a systematic course to be employed in the separation of 

 the different poisons from each other. In many cases 

 where doubtful evidence of poisoning exists a most ex- 

 haustive analvsis is required, and we fear the general 

 instructions laid down in the book for this purpose, or 

 " method of procedure in analysis," as the author terms 

 it ; are somewhat insufficient. 



The organic poisons and the detection of phosphorus 

 are first taken into account in two divisions, first, those I 

 detected mainly by methods of distillation, and second, 1 

 those separated for the most part by alcoholic solvents. | 

 The consideration of mineral poisons is placed last in I 

 the book, and contains the usual received tests for these | 

 substances, with in some cases a description of the body. : 

 With regard to this latter part we do not see why in a [ 

 book published so recently as 1879 there are no remarks ; 

 on the detection or separation of tin as a poison since it | 

 has been shown in letters to some of the journals that 

 this metal may contaminate articles of food, more espe- :, 

 cially tinned fruits. | 



The work is clearly printed, but some of the diagrams S 

 are somewhat crudely cut, and if refinement in the 

 arrangement of apparatus is intended in the illustrations, 

 hardly carry out the intention ; thus in Fig. 15 it is diffi- [ 



