322 



NA TURE 



[August 4, w 



Parliament might therefore legislate for the few, at the 

 same time keeping a very tight grip on those to whom, for 

 ■sentimental reasons, it grants any indulgences. 



Re-vaccination, though not so important as primary 

 vaccination, will at some time have to be considered. 

 Vaccinators are taunted with the fact that, although 

 Jenner maintained that vaccination would confer life- 

 long immunity against small-pox, tliey are now asking for 

 Te-vaccination. Jenner could speak only for his time. 

 Where he goes beyond his facts his theories have not all 

 been confirmed as the result of a wider experience ; but 

 where he kept to facts, and argued from his own observ- 

 ations, he has been proved to be right in almost every 

 instance. It would, indeed, be a dark look-out for medi- 

 cine if whilst accepting all that is true of the work of our 

 predecessors, we find ourselves by tradition looking out 

 for nothing that is new. The fact that all Jenner's state- 

 ments have not been implicitly accepted, should be an 

 argument in favour of those that have been confirmed. 



MR. WARINGTON SMYTH ON SIAM> 



T^HE good use which Mr. Warington Smyth has made 



-•■ of his five years in Siam is already familiar to 



geographical readers from several papers published by 



the Royal Geographical Society, and a wider public will 



Irrigation Wheel at Siemrap. 



welcome the two volumes which tell in greater detail, 

 and in a more ambitious literary style, of his journeys in 

 that interesting country. Although to a reader unversed 

 in the classical languages the occasional Greek and 

 Latin quotations seem to savour of pedantry, no one can 

 help being attracted by the manly and modest way in 

 which Mr. Smyth recounts his adventures. He disclaims 

 anything in the way of original exploration, and the 

 fulness with which he renders their due to every previous 

 traveller and to all his companions and his assistants, 

 may perhaps lead careless readers to imagine that there 

 is little new or original in the book. Perusal of the 

 •chapters will soon dissipate such an idea. Very few 

 travellers have brought to their task more individual 

 energy and enthusiasm, and some have made for them- 

 selves a reputation for vast acuteness and reckless daring 



1 " Five Years in Siam, rrom 1891 to 1896." By H. Warington Smyth, 

 M.A., LL.B.. F.G.S., F.R.G.S., formerly Director of the Department of 

 Mines in Siam. With maps and illustrations by the author. In two 

 volumes. Pp. 330, 338. (London : John Murray,vi898.) 



NO. 1501, VOL. 58] 



with less solid basis than that which Mr. Smyth leaves 

 his readers to discover. 



The professional aspects of the work of the Director 

 of the Department of Mines ("the other half of the 

 Department " is incidentally referred to) have been 

 touched on very lightly, as is proper in a popular book, 

 but enough is said to impart a solid interest to the 

 journeys which are described. Mr. Smyth does not 

 conceal his enthusiasm as a yachtsman, and his exploits 

 in a small sailing-boat, cruising along the stormy shores 

 of the Gulf of Siam for weeks at a time, are much more 

 remarkable than the quiet record of them might lead a 

 landsman to suppose. 



The book, of course, contains some chapters on the 

 political situation in Siam, concerning which nothing 

 need be said here, and for the rest it consists of the 

 narratives of journeys interspersed with remarks on the 

 various peoples and customs of the country. A resolute 

 attempt is made to adopt a systematic spelling of Siamese 

 names, and the result is at first sight a little disquieting. 

 Mekawng is no doubt preferable on principle to the 

 familiar Mekong., but until the eye gets used to it, it 

 suggests Mr. Rudyard Kipling's efforts to phoneticise 

 the language of the young British soldier. We are not 

 sure whether the rule of established custom, which saved 

 Calcutta from its Hunterian disguise, might not also be 

 invoked in favour of Mekong, as appears to 

 have been done for Bangkok. 



Mr. Smyth commences with a description of 

 the river and port of Bangkok, the mud-bar at 

 the mouth of which he describes in considerable 

 detail. The advance of the land at the head 

 of the Gulf of Siam is very rapid, on account 

 of the immense quantity of silt carried down 

 by the Menam. Had the water been clear 

 enough to allow of coral growth, the shoals 

 might possibly have rendered the harbour im- 

 possible of approach, so that the muddy water 

 in a measure neutralises the effect which it 

 produces. The Menam valley is next de- 

 scribed, and an excellent point is made as to 

 the introduction of railways in such a country 

 as Siam. The author is strongly of opinion 

 that the Siamese— a race of born watermen 

 — would benefit more by the improvement of 

 the natural waterways and the construction of 

 canals, than by introducing railways, for which 

 there is no pressing demand. That railways 

 are valuable as means of conveying traffic past 

 interruptions to rivers, or connecting places 

 not already united by water, is not contested. 



A series of chapters on the Lao States and 

 the Mekawng gives opportunity for much 

 pleasant description of places and people. 

 The gold of the river valley, which is obtained by 

 washing the gravel, is not likely in Mr. Smyth's opinion 

 to pay Europeans for working. The Mekawng boat, 

 however, is a thing to admire if not to imitate. Its 

 foundation is a great tree-trunk hollowed by the adze, 

 then sunk in the river until water-logged, next steamed 

 over a fire until soft enough to stretch and have the 

 knees and frames put in. A hull so fashioned will 

 never leak, draws little water, is handy to manage, and 

 lasts for twenty years without requiring substantial 

 repairs. 



The coasting trip along both shores of the Malay 

 peninsula was of almost greater interest, as fewer 

 Europeans have passed that way. The remarkable 

 weathering of the limestone rocks is described, and 

 several of the structures confidently assigned by previous 

 travellers to volcanic action are shown by the author to 

 be simply the result of weathering. The tin workings of 

 the coast were visited and are admirably described. The 

 Chinaman rules on the tin fields, and constitutes a 



