544 



NATURE 



[April 4, 1901 



Ta chien lu is a typical Tibetan town, with its "curved 

 roofs, gilded pinnacles surrounded by a mediaeval wall," 

 and its extensive and gaudy " lamasarai " Walled in by 

 gigantic mountains as it is, Ta chien lu has become a 

 most important economic and strategical centre. Since 

 the Koko Nor trade route has been abandoned, all the 

 trade of Tibet (skins, wool, gold and musk) passes into 

 China this way ; and it is by this route that the soft, 

 irruptive Chinese tide made its way, by sheer force of 

 patient persistence, into the strongholds of the hardy 

 Tibetan and reduced Tibet to a dependency. Mr. Little 

 hardly appreciates the chicken-hearted nature of Tibetan 

 morale, so much is it disguised by the stalwart, muscular 

 personality of the mountain-bred nomad. The Tibetan 

 submits to slipshod Chinese domination without a 

 murmur. 



iron suspension bridge, and for details of its construction 

 (which are really worth attentive study) the reader cannot 

 do better than refer to Mr. Little's book. 



The return journey down the Yangtse, through the 

 rapids and reaches of its upper course, is a feature in the 

 story which will be more or less familiar to many recent 

 travellers. The book is interesting throughout, and not 

 the least value of it is the vista which it opens up of 

 future economic possibilities in that teeming eastern 

 region, the Yangtse basin. 



Fic;. I.— Summit of Mount Omi, with Temples. 



Ta chien lu is the great western tea mart, and the 

 trade (along with pawnbroking, according to other 

 observers) is altogether in the hands of the Lamas. The 

 manufacture of brick tea for the Tibetan market is faith- 

 fully described. It is enough to say that Tibetans like 

 the tea so manufactured, and will " use no other." The 

 bridge at Luting over the Tung, which alone makes the 

 route practicable, is a work of Chinese enterprise which 

 has now lasted for 200 years without repair. . It is an, 



NO. 1640, VOL. 63] 



PROF. JOSEF VON FODOR. 

 r)Y the death of Prof, von Fodor, of Budapest, the 

 *-^ eastern part of Europe has lost its great teacher 

 of hygiene, and the world one of its most diligent investi- 

 , gators in the domain of public health. 



His investigations had chiefly to do with 

 the soil, subsoil water and ground air, 

 and his authority on these matters is 

 universally recognised. His chief trea- 

 tises were on air, water and soil in 

 connection with diseases, to which a 

 liappy reference was made by the public 

 orator at Cambridge when von Fodor 

 was awarded the hon. LL.D. degree on 

 the occasion of the London meeting of 

 the International Congress of Hygiene 

 and Demography in 1891, as follows : — 



" Quis nescit urbem florentissimam, 

 quod Hungariae caput est, nomine bi- 

 lingui nuncupatam, fluminis Danubii in 

 utraque ripa esse positam. Quis non 

 inde nobis feliciter advectum esse gaudet 

 salutis publicae professorem insignem, 

 virum titulis plurimis cumulatum, qui 

 etiam de Angliae salubritate opus egre- 

 gium conscripsit? Idem, velut alter 

 Hippocrates, de aere, aquis et locis 

 prasclare disseruit. Olim Hippocrates ipse 

 corona aurea Atheniensium in theatro 

 donatus est ; nos Hippocratis aemulum 

 illustrem laurea nostra qualicunque in 

 hoc templo honoris libenter ornamus. 



Duco ad vos bacteriologiae cultorem 

 accerrimum, losephum de Fodor " 



Of this degree von Fodor was justly 

 proud, as he showed by wearing the 

 scarlet gown to which it entitled him on 

 important occasions. 



He was a sincere, unaffected and 

 amiable man, whose premature death 

 has been a very severe shock to his 

 many friends and admirers- 



W. H. C. 



NOTES. 

 A MEETING of the local branch of the 

 general committee for the purpose of founding 

 a memorial to the late Prof. Fitzgerald was 

 held on March 28 in Trinity College, Dublin. 

 Dr. Tarleton presided. The meeting was attended by representa- 

 tives of the leading societies and clubs of the University. It 

 was resolved that the proposed memorial would most appro- 

 priately take the form of an endowment of research in physical 

 science by advanced students. In this manner the work of the 

 late professor would best be carried forward. Letters were 

 read from many distinguished scientific men expressing sympathy 

 with the movement. An executive committee was elected and 



