March 26, 1903] 



NA TUKli 



489 



length of time, this being fixed on the assumption that 

 the organic matter in the air increases at the same 

 ratio as the carbon dioxide, but it is evident that this 

 limit may be exceeded without damage to health when 

 such atmosphere is only to be inhaled for a short period. 



On examining the report of the Public Health Com- 

 mittee, it will be noticed that the carbon dioxide was 

 highest in the air of the carriages, and that the air 

 in the lifts also contained a larger quantity of carbon 

 dioxide than the passages leading to them, showing 

 that, as might have been expected, the enclosed areas 

 in which respiration was taking place contained the 

 largest quantity of carbon dioxide. 



Before it can be assumed from this that the impuri- 

 ties found are due to want of ventilation in the tube, it 

 should be clearly shown what the comparison is be- 

 tween the carbon dioxide and organic matter present in 

 a carriage on the tube, and a carriage (say) on the North 

 London Railway during the busy hours of traffic, or 

 even in some London theatres towards the close of a 

 performance, and it will probably be found that the 

 difference which exists is very small indeed. 



The real hygienic value of the 

 report centres in Dr. Andrewes's 

 summary of his results, in which 

 he concludes that while micro- 

 organisms are present in the 

 tube air in a somewhat greater 

 proportion than in fresh air, i.e. 

 13 to 10, the excess is not so con- 

 siderable as to cause the tube 

 air to compare unfavourably 

 with the conditions known to 

 exist in inhabited rooms gener- 

 ally. The highest averages of 

 micro-organisms were found in 

 carriages and lifts, i.e. in the 

 most crowded places examined, 

 whilst the platforms and pas- 

 sages came out actually better 

 than the fresh air, the tunnels 

 being only a little worse. 



If we consider this as well as 

 the fact that the Central London 

 Railway Company is taking 

 steps to improve the ventilation 

 of the tunnels by installing a 

 large rotary fan at the Shep- 

 herd's Bush end powerful 

 enough to draw out the whole 

 of the air in the tunnels three 

 times over during the period in 



which traffic is stopped, and is installing at the Bank 

 station an air compressor for forcing fresh air into the 

 extreme end of the Bank sidings, it seems clear that 

 the facts of the case do not call for any active interfer- 

 ence on the part of the authorities, especially after the 

 atmosphere existing in the Metropolitan Railway be- 

 tween (say) King's Cross and Baker Street has been 

 patiently endured for so many years. 



THROUGH PERSIA AND BALUCHISTAN. 1 



TNDER a somewhat quaint title, Mr. Landor de- 

 ^ scribes a journey through Persia and Baluchistan 

 to India. He is a keen observer, and, throughout his 

 two large volumes, he writes pleasantly of his ex- 

 periences on the road, and of much that he saw and 

 heard by the way. He is a little inclined to dwell upon 

 the discomforts rather than upon the pleasures of travel- 

 ling, and to get excited over " a prominent geographi- 



1 " Across Coveted Lands." By A. H. Savage Landor. 2 vols. Pp. xv 

 + 927. (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1902.) Price30j.net. 



cal society," " royal geographo-parasites," and " news- 

 paper penny-a-liners," but he is always amusing. He 

 gives his views with great frankness upon the social 

 condition of Persia, so far as he became acquainted with 

 it, and upon questions of trade, education, and politics. 

 He writes strongly upon the struggle between England 

 and Russia for political and commercial supremacy in 

 the kingdom of the Shah, and gives a clear idea of the 

 smartness with which Russia takes advantage of the 

 slowness and mistakes of her adversary. 



Mr. Landor travelled vid Flushing, Warsaw, and 

 Kiev to Baku ; crossed the Caspian in a Russian 

 steamer; and, after a sleepless night on a" living " 

 mattress, entered Persian territory at Enzeli. Thence 

 he proceeded to Resht, and drove along the carriage 

 road to Teheran, where he was presented to the Shah, 

 visited several of the Persian Ministers, was present at 

 the birthday festivities, and saw all that is most worth 

 seeing in the capital. An interesting description is 

 given of the Shah's palace and gardens, and, in some 

 remarks on the Persian army, attention is drawn to 

 the great difference between the " Russian-drilled 



Fig. 1. — South-East portion of Zaidan City, showing how it disappears under distant sand accumulations. 

 (From Landor 's " Across Coveted Lands.") 



NO. 1743, VOL. 67] 



Persian Cossacks " and the infantry soldiers. From 

 Teheran Mr. Landor followed, the post road to Isfahan, 

 and thence travelled vid Yezd to Kerman, where he 

 visited the deserted city of Farmidan, and the " Ya Ali " 

 inscription. From Kerman he turned north and crossed 

 the salt desert, Dasht-i-Lut, to Birjand, passing on the 

 way Naiband, of which place and its people many in- 

 teresting details are given. In the desert he suffered, 

 as others have done in desert countries, from heat and 

 thirst by day, and from cold by night. But he appears 

 to have been more than usually unfortunate in his 

 camels, which do not seem to have been in good con- 

 dition for a long desert journey, or to have been accus- 

 tomed to hill work. 



From Birjand Mr. Landor followed the well-known 

 route through Sistan and Baluchistan to Quetta. He 

 has much of interest to tell about the ruins of Zaidan, 

 in Sistan, and gives several photographs of one section 

 of them. But surely it is inappropriate to write of the 

 place as " the ancient London of Asia," as if it were 

 of extraordinary size and unusual grandeur. The 

 ruins in themselves are not very imposing, and the view 



