Jaxvary. 1904.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



Founded by RICHARD A. PROCTOR. 



Vol. XXVII.] LOXDOX: JAXUAEY, 190J.. [No. 219. 



CONTENTS. 



P*OK 

 1 



Central Asia and Tibet 



Fungi as Links in the Chain of Life. — I. The Nature, 

 Habitats and Distribution of Fungi. My G. M.^ssbe. 

 {IllKslrated) 3 



Modern Cosmogonies. VI.— World Building out of 



Meteorites. By Agnks M. Clkrkk ... . ... 6 



Jupiter and His Surface Currents. By the Rey. T. E. R. 



Phii.i.ips, m..\., f.b.a s. (Illustrated) (Plate) ... ... 8 



The Shower of Leonid Meteors in 1903. By W. F. 



Dbvninq, r.B.A.8. ... .. ... ... . .. 11 



tetters : 



L.KBGE verfus Small Telescopes ix Planetary Work. 

 By A. Stanley Williams 12 



The Obchid Cephalantheba Geandifloba. By C. E. 

 Clabk. (lUmtrated) 12 



A Foo Bow. By Maey Fraseh 13 



Obituary;— Hebbebt Spencer 13 



British Ornithological Notes. Conducted by Haeet F. 



WiTHBRBY, E.Z.8., M.B.o.r. ... ... ... ... ... 13 



Notes 13, 22 



Notices of Books 14 



Books Receited ... ... ... ... ... ... 16 



The Ancestry of the Horse. By R. LYDEkKEs. (Illux- 



trated) 10 



Microscopy. Conducted by F. Shillfn-oton Scales, f.b.m s. 20 



The Face of the Sky for January. By W. Shacklbton, 



P.R.A.s. {Illustrated) ... •■ .. ... .. ... 22 



Chess Column. By C. D. Locock:, b.a 23 



CENTRAL ASIA AND TIBET.* 



Dr. Sven Hedin is without doubt the most remarkable 

 explorer now living. From an early age he adopted 

 exploration as a profession, and Asia as a speciality. His 

 training to this end has made him able to perform single- 

 handed most extensive journeys into unknown parts of 

 Central Asia, which have yielded splendid scientific results. 

 His organising powers are great. As a topographer lie has 

 no rival, while he is also able to undertake successfully the 

 work of a meteorologist, geologist, biologist, ethnologist, 

 archseologist, and many other specialities, and thus is 



• " Central Asia and Tibet. Towards the Holy City of Lassa." 

 By Sven Hedin. (Hurst & Blackett.) 2 toU. Illustrated. £2 2b. net. 



empowered to give an accunite picture of the cdiuitry 

 through which he travels. 



The scientific results of his latest expedition hiive still 

 to lx> worked out, and their ])ul>lication in detailed form 

 is, we are glad to say. assiu'ed. In the present volumes 

 we havt! only the narrative of his travels, with an inkling 

 of what is to come in the way of valuable scientific 

 results. 



It is possible in the limits of this notice to give only a 

 general idea of Dr. Hedin's journeyings. From the middle 

 of 18;»;' to the middle of V.Wl he was travelling almost 

 incessantlv, his various routes in Asia extending to a total 

 of some "(;000 miles. TIm^ narrative of these journeys, 

 contained in these two fine volumes of over (JOO pages each, 

 is in the form of an orderly journal, solid with fact and 

 detail, b\it at the same time vividly written, so that one's 

 interest in the chronicles of each day's doings is held to 

 the end. The narrative, in fact, not only gives a lifelike 

 picture of the country through which the explorer i)assed, 

 and of how he got through it, l)ut reveals besides many a 

 deep insight into Asiatic character, while of his own 

 character the author unconsciously draws a most in- 

 teresting picture— great determination and dogged phutk, 

 with now and again a susjiicion of rashness, untiring 

 energy, a keen foresight, cheerfulness under all circum- 

 stances, a singular humane and sympathetic nature, are 

 among the characteristics displayed. 



In August, 1899, Dr. Hedin reached Kashgar, in Turke- 

 stan. Equipping there a carefully-organized caravan, he 

 proceeded to the Yarkand Daria, or Tarim, the great river 

 which flows through the deserts of Eastern Turkestan. 

 Here at Lailik began the first and perhaps most important 

 part of his journeys. Converting with immense labour 

 and great ingenuity a ferry boat into a floating residence 

 and observatory, he committed himself to the broad waters 

 of the lonely Tarim. The greater part of the first volume 

 of the narrative is occujiied by an account of this almost 

 idyllic journey. But it was a journey of great geographical 

 importance for the hitherto little kno-ivn and badly-mapped 

 Tarim is now, by the labours of Dr. Hedin, the best- 

 mapped river out of Europe. 



For months, day after day, as the boat floated down the 

 great river, the author sat glued to his table, mapping on 

 a large scale every twist and turn of the stream, checking 

 and recheckiiig his measurements, frequently measuring 

 the depth and width of the river, and the velocity and 

 volume of its waters. As long as the boat was moving 

 there was no time for relaxation. " I was never able to 

 quit my post for an instant to stretch my legs. VVe 

 hardly ever travelled more than ten minutes in a straight 



line Hence I had to keep my eyes upon the 



compass." But if the work was hard, and perhaps many 

 would think monotonous, Dr. Hedin was enchanted by 

 this voyage. The scenery in parts was beautiful. " The 

 forest stretched right d(jwn to the very brink of the river. 

 High up on the sky-line ran the green coping 

 of the poplars' crowns, making a dense curtain of foliage 

 which seldom allowed a glimpse of the tree-trunks to 

 o-leam between-green, l)ut green shot with various shades 

 Sf rich brown, so rich that they would have been harsh 

 luid their effe(;t not been softened by the hazy sky behind 

 them." But at other times the country through whicli 

 the river ran was utterly barren, the soil being sand. 

 And as the Great Takla Makaii Desert was reached " we 

 were engulfed in that awful Asiatic silence — a silence as 

 of the dead. No greeting came to meet us from the heart 

 of the desert. The river— the river alone— sang its 



rippling song to the irrespimsive sand Very 



strange to be crossing one of the earth's greatest deserts 



