NOVEMBER 26, 1903] 
INCA TEO TEE 
35 
of supplies might occasionally mean something very 
like starvation. Where there are any roads, these are 
but trails, often more than half overgrown, so that pro- | 
gress is apt to be slow and laborious, difficult swamps 
and swollen rivers have to be crossed, while mordant | 
insects, mosquitoes and flies, are at times almost 
intolerable. So notwithstanding the charms of the 
scenery—bold peaks, fine glaciers, forest-clad slopes, 
and almost numberless lakelets of rare beauty—travel 
in the Canadian Rockies is not to be recommended to 
the habitués of Interlaken or Luchon. Until the 
Switzerland of Canada is developed—as before long it 
certainly will be—it can only be explored by hardy and 
vigorous travellers. 
Game, as we have said, is scarce, but the bighorn 
(Ovis Canadensis) and the Rocky Mountain goat | 
(Haploceros montanus) occur perhaps about as often 
as chamois in the Swiss Alps, and bears—black, brown | 
and grizzly—are occasionally seen. Geese, ducks, and 
three kinds of grouse sometimes vary the menu, but 
evidently the district will hardly be tempting to sports- 
men who desire ‘‘ big bags.’’? Neither do the rocks 
appear attractive to the paleontologist. The speci- 
mens brought back by Dr. Collie were rarely fossil- 
Fic. r.—Mount Forbes from the East. 
by H. E. M. 
tutfield and Prof. J. Norman Collie. 
iferous, even when examined under the microscope. | 
Mr. Whymper had, on the whole, a similar experience | 
in his explorations near and to the south of the rail- | 
Way, so that either subsequent mineral changes have | 
obliterated the traces of organisms or the region in 
past ages was not rich in life. Dr. Collie gives an 
illustration of objects resembling tree trunks high up 
on Mount Murchison—possibly the stems of some giant | 
alga—and picked up limestone pebbles with corals, 
probably Devonian or Carboniferous, in the bed of the | 
Bush River. A few specimens contained traces of 
organisms, some perhaps foraminifera (misprinted 
foraminiferae), with an ostracod (misprinted ostreod) ; 
one slab showed badly preserved trilobites, probably 
Lower Cambrian, described by Dr. H. Woodward, and 
the journey of 1901 was rewarded with some remark- 
able tracks and other markings from Desolation Valley, 
south of the railway, not far from Laggan (see the 
Geological Magazine for July last). ‘: 
The book is well illustrated by numerous reproduced 
NO. 1778, VOL. 69] 
From “Climbs and Exploration in the Canadian Rockies,” 
photographs, which enable us to realise the beautiful 
scenery of this unfrequented land, and its topography 
is made clear by a map constructed from the authors’ 
surveys. That is such as we might have expected—long 
troughs parallel with the general trend of the strata 
being connected by shorter transverse glens, as can be 
seen, on a smaller scale, in some parts of the Alps. 
In consequence of this, the Canadian Pacific Railway, 
as is well known, descends, west of the watershed, into 
a valley belonging to the Columbia system, then, 
after crossing a spur, strikes the same river flowing 
in an opposite direction, and after another mount 
descends to follow the Fraser River to the coast. Well 
illustrated and written in an attractive style, the book 
records a series of journeys, not always without risk, 
and throws much light on the geography of a region 
many parts of which have hitherto been very imper- 
fectly known. T. G. Bonney. 
SCIENCE AND THE ARMY. 
ANY of our readers may have seen a brief pre- 
liminary official notice of the proposals of the 
War Office for the reform of military education. These 
proposals are so astonishing, in 
view of the facts of the case, that 
we tale an early opportunity of 
directing attention to them. 
There is to be, first, a qualifying 
test. It is intended that this shall 
take the form of a ‘‘ leaving certifi- 
cate,’’ but in view of the probable 
difficulty of organising a suitable 
leaving examination for a long 
while, there seems reason to fear 
that, at first, this qualifying part 
may take the form of a special ex- 
amination, which all must pass, but 
which will not otherwise affect the 
final result. | This qualifying part 
is to consist of :—(1) English, (2) 
history and geography, (3) mathe- 
matics, (4) French or German, (5) 
either (a) Latin or Greek, or (b) 
science. 
Then there is to be a competitive 
examination, in which (1) English, 
(2) French or German, and (3) 
mathematics i. will be compulsory 
for Woolwich candidates; and 
English and either French or 
German for Sandhurst candidates. 
In this examination Woolwich 
candidates may also offer any two 
of mathematics ii., science, history, French, German, 
Latin, Greek; and Sandhurst candidates may also 
offer any two of mathematics i. or mathematics 11., 
science, history, French, German, Greek, Latin. 
The more closely we look into. the probable effect of 
these proposals the more clearly does it appear that, 
under this new scheme, experimental science seems 
certain, by the light of past experience, to become a 
negligible quantity in the training of most officers. 
Those who read the report of the Army Education 
Committee published in March, 1902, may _ re- 
member that the head master of Eton during the 
examination of a witness expressed confidently the 
opinion that, if Latin and science should be brought 
into competition in these examinations, ‘‘ the science 
will kill the Latin.’’ Even Dr. Warte, however, does 
not expect this to happen just yet, for he added, 
‘“ eventually.’’ Unfortunately for this position, we do 
not merely want to get a good system of army educa- 
tion eventually, but to get one as soon as possible, 
