362 



NATURE 



[Fed. 14, 



but with little scientific va'ue. It is the work of a geo- 

 grapher " pure and simple," and of one, as we suspect 

 from internal evidence, who knows the Alps better from 

 books than from personal experience. The larger half is 

 devoted to Alpine topography, but this is often hardly 

 more intelligible or interestmg than a catalogue of names 

 and altitudes. In our opinion Prof. Umlauft's plan of 

 work is defective. At the outset, instead of impressing 

 on the reader the relation of the Alps to the mountain 

 ranges with which they are connected, he obscures it by 

 an elaborate disquisition on their boundaries. The domi- 

 nant physical features of the chain and its component 

 ranges should have been at once sketched in bold outline, 

 after which a more detailed description of the several 

 districts might have been given. The reader would then 

 have been furnished with a frame-work on which he could 

 arrange the subordinate facts : now, unless previously 

 familiar with the Alps, he will wander bewildered among 

 a labyrinth of names and statistics. In short, Prof. 

 Umlauft appears to be a geographer of the old school. If 

 he has any scientific knowledge, whether as geologist or 

 naturalist, this book affords not only no evidence in 

 favour, but also not a little to the contrary. 



For instance, in any notice of the geology of the Alps his 

 statements are commonly unsatisfactory, and sometimes 

 absurd. For the latter, perhaps, the translator is partly 

 responsible, for occasionally a sentence occurs which is 

 devoid of meaning, such as this, " Many of the lofty 

 peaks are composed of Triassic limestones up to the meta- 

 morphic dachstein, which, inclosed in cardita, forms the 

 peak." The pai-agraphs treating of valleys, lake basins, 

 ice-caves, glaciers, erosion, and weathering, are all in- 

 adequate and unsatisfactory : all show traces of the 

 unskilled compiler's hand. For example, in the chapter 

 devoted to the last-named subject, the author, in speaking 

 of " giants' caldrons," omits to state that the most remark- 

 able examples, those, indeed, to which this name is 

 commonly applied, and we think usually restricted, have 

 been made by the action of streams which once plunged 

 down the motilins of glaciers. It is quite true that 

 these are not excluded by the author's words, but no hint 

 of their occurrence is given, and no mention is made of 

 the remarkable instance at the " glacier garden " near 

 the Lion monument at Lucerne. It is difficult, without 

 long quotations accompanied by a running commentary, 

 to give an idea of the number of small defects or in- 

 accuracies which abound in the book. We may, however, 

 select, without actual quotation, the pages 127-36, which 

 deal with the orography of the St. Gothard district. 

 Here the Rhone glacier is said to be "over twenty miles 

 long," — probably fifteen would be nearer the mark. The 

 " granite " of the table-land of the St. Gothard is " famed 

 for its great crystals of feldspar." True, these crystals are 

 fairly large, but not remarkable— much less than those 

 occurring on the Lukmanier, which are often quite 3 

 inches long. Not the granite but the schist is famed " for 

 the great number of minerals found in it." Among these 

 minerals are enumerated various " zoolites " (zeolites), 

 but neither albite, for which the St. Gothard is a rather 

 noted locality, nor garnets, nor tremolite, nor actinolite, 

 which are so abundant near the Val Tremola. One or 

 two more slight inaccuracies, on which it is needless to 

 dwell, may be noted in these pages. 



Perhaps one of the most conspicuous instances will be 

 found on p. 49, in a table of the eleven Alpine peaks 

 which surpass 14,800 feet in height. First comes " Mont 

 Blanc, highest point 15,779 " ; then, "id., Mont Maudit, 

 15,651"; and third, "/^., Cour Mayeur {sic), 15,602." This 

 is misleading. It is quite true that the actual summit 

 of Mont Blanc lies a little north of a slight prominence 

 which from Courmayeur appears to be the summit. 

 The latter, however, is not a separate peak in any respect 

 comparable with the Mont Maudit. It is a case very 

 similar to the " Wengern Jungfrau" and the true summit, 

 and on this principle separate peaks might be manu- 

 factured to any extent in the Alps. Further down 

 is a more serious error. We find " Mis:habelhorn:r, 

 Taschhorn, 14,972 feet"; and a little lower in the list, 

 "Mischabelhorner, Grabhorn, 14,949 feet." But the latter, 

 more usually called the Grabenhorn or Dom, is the 

 higher peak, as is correctly stated elsewhere in the 

 volume, though there the altitudes given are not the 

 same. There is yet another error. The author enumerates 

 three of the actual peaks of Monte Rosa ; then at the end 

 of the list he places " Monte Rosa, Lyskamm, 14,887 feet,"' 

 and "/</., Weisshorn, 14,804 feet." But the Lyskamm is 

 always regarded as a separate mountain, and the de- 

 pression between the two, crossed by the well-known 

 Lysjock, though it is only 800 or 900 feet lower, is so 

 wide and well marked as to justify the separation. But 

 to rank the Weisshorn as a peak of Monte Rosa is hope- 

 lessly indefensible. The mountains are more than ten 

 miles apart as the crow flies, and separated by the deep 

 trench of the Vispthal. 



One rather short chapter is devoted to the fauna and 

 flora of the Alps, and the information there given is ex- 

 tremely scanty, and not seldom inaccurate. For example, 

 the rhododendrons only appear under the vague and rtiis- 

 leading trivial name of the " Alpine rose," and it is not 

 even hinted that there is a true Rosa alpina. Heaths, 

 again, are hardly to be enumerated among the higher 

 Alpine plants, and azaleas are only represented by the 

 abundant but very inconspicuous Azalea proctimbens. 

 The account of the fauna is equally unsatisfactory. The 

 chamois receives only a passing mention, and is not 

 enumerated among the animals frequently found above 

 the snow-line. The steinbock {Capra ibex) is briefly 

 alluded to under the name of the "wild goat." The 

 birds are vaguely enumerated, and, while undue promin- 

 ence is given to some, others, which as a rule especially 

 attract the traveller's notice, are passed over in silence. 

 The insects are almost wholly neglected ; yet, without 

 ! entering into many scientific details, it might have been 

 I possible to give some idea of the crowds of little blue 

 ! butterflies {Polyommatus) that flutter about the puddles 

 on the pathways, of the coppers {Lyccsna), ringlets 

 {Hipparchia), fritillaries {Ar^ynnis and Melitcea), 

 clouded-yellows {Colzas), and Apollos {Parnassius), which 

 impress the traveller accustomed only to the European 

 lowlands, when first he rambles arrong the true Alpine 

 regions. It would be easy to name more than one 

 similar work, by no means of recent date, which in this 

 respect is far superior to Prof. Umlauft's. 



The illustrations are numerous, but rather unequal in 

 quality. Some are fairly good, but frequently, while 

 accurate in general effect, having probably been engr.ived 



