4o6 



NATURE 



[Mar. 2 1, 1872 



second picture through a yellow glass, the difference 

 between the two almost entirely disappears, as the glass 

 corrects the faults of the picture. The smock of the boy 

 no more appears of that intense blue which we may see 

 in a lady's silk dress, but never in the linen smock of a 

 peasant. It changes into the natural tint we find in 

 the first picture. The purple face of the boy 



also becomes of a natural colour. The shades on the 

 neck of the girl and the arms of the child, which are 

 painted in a pure blue, look now grey, and so do the blue 

 shadows in the clouds. The grey trunk of the tree 

 becomes brown. Surprising is the effect upon the 

 yellowish green foliage, which, instead of appearing still 



more yellow, is restored to its natural colour, and it shows 

 now the same tone of colour as the foliage in the earlier 

 picture. This last fact is most important to prove the 

 correctness of my supposition. The endeavour to explain 

 this fact became for me the starting-point of a series of 

 investigations to ascertain the optical qualities of the pig- 



ments used in painting, and thus to enable us to recognise 

 them by optical contrivances when the vision of the naked 

 eye does not suffice to analyse the colours of a picture. 



If it is the dispersion of light which, as in Turner's 

 case, alters the perception of nature, it can be partly recti- 

 fied by a kind of diaphragm with a small opening 

 (Bonder's sthenopeical spectacles). 



In cases of astigmatism, the use of cylindrical glasses 

 will completely correct the aspect of nature, as well as of 

 the picture. Certain anomalies in the sensation of colour 



may also be counteracted to some extent by the use of 

 coloured glasses ; for instance, by a blue glass, when the 

 lens has become yellow, as was the case with Mulready. 



If science aims at proving that certain works of art 

 offend against physiological laws, artists and art critics 

 ought not to think that, by being subjected to the material 

 analysis of physiological investigation, that which is 

 noble, beautiful, and purely intellectual would be dragged 

 into the dust. They ought, on the contrary, to make the 

 results of these investigations their own. In this way art 

 critics will often obtain an explanation of the develop- 

 ment of the artist, and artists will avoid the inward 

 struggles and disappointments which often arise through 

 the difference between their own perceptions and that of 

 the majority of the public. Never will science be an im- 

 pediment to creations of genius. 



Dr. Liebreich's lecture will appear in exteiiso in the 

 April number of Macmillan's Magazine. 



THE NATURAL HISTORY OF EASTERN 

 THIBET 



DR. CAMPBELL, Superintendent of Darjeeling, has 

 recently published a series of valuable papers on 

 Eastern Thibet in The P/ia'/:ix, a monthly magazine for 

 China, Japan, and Eastern Asia, ably edited by the Rev. 

 James Summers, Professor of the Chinese Language in 

 King's College. As a journal of this kind must naturally 

 have only a limited circulation, and is not likely to be in 

 the hands of many of our readers, we have no hesitation 

 in abstracting from Dr. Campbell's contributions the 

 following notes onthe Zoology and .Mineralogy of a country 

 that at the present time is of special interest, both in a 

 geographical and a commercial point of view. The 

 following is a list of the animals of Eastern Thibet, the 

 native name being attached to each : — Goa, an antelope ; 

 Gnow, the Oz'is ammon; R'gong, the hare ; Kiang, the 

 wild ass ; Lawa, the musk-deer ; S/iaoo, a large deer, 

 Cervus nffinis ; Clteu, Antelope Hodgsoni ; Dong, the 

 wild yak of Thibet ; Pegoo, the yak ; A small cow, whose 

 native name is not given ; Sau/i, cross between cow and 

 yak ; Ba San/i, produce of female yak by bull ; Look, 

 sheep ; Pen Ra, Thibet goat ; Phiik, the pig ; Cha, the 

 common fowl ; Dam j liar, the duck; Damjhar Clieemoo, the 

 goose (besides the duck and goose there are numerous 

 wild fowls, swimmers and waders, which migrate from 

 India in March, and return in October) ; Chungoo, a 

 reddish wild dog ; Koong, a mottled civet ; Sik, the 

 leopard ; Tagli, the tiger ; Soinb, the bear (a red and a 

 black species) ; Nelioinehu, a large sheep, goat, or ante- 

 lope of various colours, four feet high, with enormous 

 horns four feet long, sloping backwards, and a tail fifteen 

 inches in length. 



This completes Dr. Campbell's list of the indigenous 

 mammals and birds. With regard to the Dong or wild 

 yak of Thibet, he observes that it is the fiercest of all 

 known ruminants, and will rarely allow a man to escape 

 alive if it can come up with him. It is generally hunted 

 on horseback, the great aim being to detach one from the 

 herd. The horns of the full-grown buck are said to be 

 three feet long, and the circumference must be enormous. 

 They are used by the Grandees at marriage and other 

 feasts as gigantic drinking cups, and handed round to the 

 company. The horns so used are finely polished, and 

 mounted in silver or gold and precious stones. A stuffed 

 "Dong" is common in Thibetan Lamaserais, standing in 

 front of the image of Mah.lkkAli, at whose shrine the 

 animal is thus figuratively sacrificed. 



Of Look or sheep there are four principal varieties — ist, 

 Chang Look or northern sheep, very large, with fine wool ; 

 flocks of from 400 to 1,000 tended by one man. 2nd. 

 Sok Look, rare, but greatly praised ; it is a heavy-tailed 

 sheep, coming from the province of Sok, east of Lassa ; 

 wool not very fine. 3rd. Lho Look, a very small sheep 



