JANUARY 3, 1907 | 
NATURE 235 
as a matter of fact, have grouped their results in various 
ways, all instructive. The average values obtained from 
these groups are of unquestionable significance. 
Seeing that the working catalogue was made to depend 
upon the amount of proper motion, it was most natural 
to arrange the final parallaxes in such a way as to show 
what relation existed between these quantities. The follow- 
ing table makes this clear :— 
Range of No. of Average Average Average 
Proper Motion Stars Magnitude Proper Motion Parallax 
60 to 0°34 iocn, AL sta BRO ates BLOT 4: +0'019 
O'Al to-0784) 4... 39) -- 63 0°49 +0'032 
OSS 5 LOMGLOS ime aA) <n 8 017; 0°59 +0°'059 
0°66 to 0°96... ~=46 65 0°77 +0°039 
TO UItOWeea Aum 122 | sab, (Ov2 ema eX, 5O +0°109 
Notwithstanding the drop corresponding to a mean 
proper motion of o'-77, a distinct connection between 
parallax and proper motion is manifested. This relation is 
the more marked when the proper motion exceeds one 
second. In these cases there is a uniformly positive and 
generally appreciable value of the parallax. 
, the connection between parallax and magnitude is not 
90 marked, though fairly evident. It is, however, to be 
noticed that the average proper motion has progressed 
tolerably uniformly with the magnitude, and this progression 
tends to mask any effect due to magnitude alone. 
Range of No. of Average Average Average 
Magnitude Stars Magnitude Proper Motion Parallax 
60 to 15 can CG) 08 O61 +0095 
2:OitOlAO) 42... '29 38 0°53 +0'066 
OROG:20e 5 33 56 0°63 +0°056 
GBitow7LON 34 6°7 0°73 +0°045 
Piet tO Ours 31 76 0°68 +0017 
SeOMGIOIOMME 50! 5. (Ossie Uead mOfGO' .75°  CrOfO47 
Other tables show the results arranged according to 
parallax, in order of right ascension, and according to the 
spectral type and classes as given in the Draper Catalogue. 
From the last table we may quote the following :— 
| 
Tyre I. | 
Tyre II. 
= m3. | ——,, 
_ Rejecting | Rejecting 
All Stars Doubtful All Stars Doubrful 
Spectra | Spectra 
Magnitude 4'0 35 Bo 54 
Proper Motion | o”"42 o”"42 067 | 070 
Parallax ... ..| +0°065 +0°066 | +0°058 | +0'056 
No. of Stars ...! 13 II 81 69 
The exclusion of the stars with doubtful spectra affects 
very slightly the mean values for each type, and the 
authors remark that although the evidence to be drawn 
from Type I. is not very strong, it scarcely supports the 
law deduced by Kapteyn of larger parallaxes for Type II. 
The authors are to be congratulated on having accom- 
plished a valuable, long-continued series of observations, 
admirably planned, and carried to a successful conclusion. 
Wakebe 
RUSSIAN SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS. 
THE work of the great N. M. Prjevalsky, the first ex- 
plorer of Central Asia, has been continued by one 
of his pupils and lieutenants, Mr. P. K. Kosloff, whose 
portrait appears as frontispiece to vol. i. of the account 
of the expedition conducted by himself in 1899-1901 to 
Mongolia and Cham. This volume is dedicated to the 
memory of the great pioneer, who projected a fifth journey 
which he did not live to accomplish. As a member of 
former expeditions, Mr. Kosloff was well equipped for the 
vast undertaking which he describes. At the end of 1898 
he submitted a plan for exploration of the southern or 
Mongolian Altai, the neighbouring central Gobi, and, if 
practicable, of eastern and central Tibet. The Imperial 
NO, 1940, VOL. 75 | 
Russian Geographical Society and the Ministry of War 
warmly approved, invested Mr. Kosloff with powers of 
command and discretion, and furnished the expedition with 
scientific instruments. Under distinguished auspices the 
party made its way to the Altai station, and halted to 
survey the sublime snow-clad range and to collect speci- 
mens. Here the members met with a venerable member 
of a company of Old Believers, Rachmanoff, whose 
pilgrimages and adventures of more than forty years are 
mentioned by Prjevalsky. Having achieved satisfactory 
results, the expedition moved into the arid, sandy wastes 
of Gobi, an unattractive region. It met with a hearty 
welcome at the Tshortentan monastery from the lamas, 
whose personalities and the etiquette of their rule are 
described at length. Next the party proceeded to the salt- 
marsh district of Tsaidam. The Mongols of this region 
appear to have had a distinguished'history, but in course 
of time were forced to cede territory to Chinese and 
Tibetans, their conquerors compelling them to destroy all 
documents and records of the earlier Mongol princes. 
There is only local tradition to depend upon, without any 
means of verification. A chapter is devoted to an ethno- 
graphical sketch of the Tsaidam Mongols, and in other 
chapters the author discusses Mongolian marriage customs 
and folklore. A wallet of excellent maps, showing the 
routes taken by Prjevalsky and other explorers, is appended 
to the volume. 
An interesting account of exploration and observations 
in an uninviting region is given in Dr. W. N. Tuchoff’s 
volume on the western shores of Kamchatka. In the pre- 
face, Mr. K. Bogdanovitch explains that the author, a 
medical student at Dorpat, had a strong desire to investi- 
gate the geographical conditions of Kamtchatka, and spent 
ten years there almost without interruption. No one but 
an ardent naturalist would be attracted to this vast area 
of voleanic ridges and tundra, of monotonous aspect. The 
main interest lies in the descriptions of the life and occupa- 
tions of the Kamtchadals, who are exposed to a hard 
struggle with nature and are suspicious of foreigners. Dr. 
Tuchoff relies chiefly upon diaries and data collected 
between 1896 and 1898, and on reports of the Amur section 
of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. Each 
chapter is devoted to the conditions of a particular district. 
Although fish is the staple food of the inhabitants and 
their dogs, the fishers do not exercise much judgment, and 
lament that catches are consequently less numerous. The 
people are exceedingly simple and childish, as Dr. Tuchoff 
shows by humorous stories, and Russian officials of routine 
temperament sometimes fail to understand them. He 
devotes some space to their superstitions, e.g. the story 
of the brethren man and bear, and the divinity driven 
through the woods in a sledge drawn by partridges. 
“The bear population of Kamtchatka,’’ he quaintly 
observes, ‘‘ predominates over the human, and there are 
more chances of meeting a bear on the road and in the 
woods than a man,’’ but with more numerous visits of 
hunters the bears retreat into the more inaccessible regions. 
In one district mothers quiet refractory children by 
threatening them with the Russians, in the same way as 
Border parents used the name of the ‘‘ Black Douglas.” 
Illumination of the poor dwellings is effected by means of 
bear or seal fat in a primitive kind of lamp, with moss 
or a piece of rag for a wick, the results being dismal 
light, much soot, and foul air. Dr. Tuchoff urges the 
necessity for a series of meteorological observations with 
a view to the agricultural prospects, and indicates sites 
for stations. Cattle-breeding, a feature of settled life, is 
more developed where there is a Russian settlement, and 
the author’s opinion is that the Kamtchadal native is in 
the transition state from nomad to settled habits, and that 
he wants practical instruction in rearing of stock. It is 
unfortunate that the natives degenerate when in proximity 
to the Russians. The concluding chapter is devoted to the 
language, which varies in north and south, and appears to 
be dialectical. Dr. Tuchoff confesses himself unable to 
reproduce all the sounds of words, partly because European 
alphabetical resources are inadequate, and partly because 
the ear can only distinguish some with difficulty. The 
transliteration of lists of words in Russian and Latin 
characters is perplexing to the eye. There is an excellent 
index and map at the end. 
