380 
NATURE 
a-standard work of reference on the early Labyrintho- 
dont Amphibia, and it forms a monument to his 
patient industry. Most of the fossils described were 
pyritised and unfit for study and preservation in the 
ordinary manner. Dr. Fritsch therefore cleaned 
away all the petrified material, leaving only the casts 
in the shale, from which he took clear impressions 
by an electrotype process. He was thus able to make 
good use of specimens which at first sight appeared of 
little value. His enthusiasm made him an inspiring 
teacher, and he has left several pupils who are dili- 
gently prosecuting the researches he suggested to 
them. Dr. Fritsch was a foreign member of the 
Geological Society of London, from which he received 
the Lyell medal in 1902. 
Naturat philosophy in general and paleontology 
in particular have lost an ardent disciple and a zealous 
worker by the death of Henry Potonié at Berlin on 
October 28. He was born November 16, 1857, in 
Berlin, where from 1878-81 he studied botany, becom- 
ing in 1880 assistant in the Botanic Garden, and scien- 
tific ‘‘ Hilfsarbeiter’’ in the museum. His association 
with the garden is marked by a descriptive account 
of the plant-geographical arrangement of its contents 
by Prof. Engler, which Potonié published in 1890. 
A more important botanical work was the “ Illustrated 
Flora of North and Central Germany,” issued in 1885, 
and subsequently in several enlarged editions. In 1885 
Potonié became associated with the Prussian Geo- 
logical Survey, and from that time onwards palzo- 
botany claimed the greater share of his activities. 
In 1887 he published a comparative anatomical study 
of recent Pteridophytes and of Cycas revoluta, with 
the view of the determination of the fossil species of 
the older formations. This was the first of a long 
series of important papers bearing on fossil botany 
published by the Geological Survey. In 1891 he be- 
came professor of palzeobotany at the School of Mines 
(Bergakademie), and in 1897-9 appeared the well- 
known text-book, ‘‘Lehrbuch der Pflanzenpalzeon- 
tologie,” on a new edition of which he was working 
immediately before his last illness. His valuable 
work, ‘“‘On the Origin of Coal and other Combustible 
Minerals,’ is based on a course of his lectures. In 
1901 he was appointed ‘‘ Landesgeologe,’’ and also 
joined the teaching staff of the University. He was 
the founder of the Naturwissenschaftliche Wochen- 
schrift, with which he was associated for twenty-four 
years, and of which he was editor at the time of his 
death; a recent number has a short appreciation and 
good portrait. During his last illness he received 
the honour of Geheim-Bergrat. 
Tue October issue of The National Geographic 
Magazine is largely devoted to an article, illustrated 
by a fine collection of photographs, of a journey by 
Mr. G. Kennan through the eastern portion of the 
province of Daghistan, in the south-eastern corner 
of European Russia, between the Black Sea and the 
Caspian. He describes the splendid mountain 
scenery, the result of the intrusion of igneous rocks 
on the sedimentary strata, the whole worn down and 
torn into precipitous ravines by subsequent denuda- 
tion. The population is of the most varied character 
NO. 2300, VOL. 92| 
| Royal Geographical Society on November 20, indicat- 
[NOVEMBER 27, 1913 
—Aryan, Arab, Tartar, Crusader, and refugees from | 
the adjoining regions have left their mark. Many z 
individuals, if dressed in the ¥costume of western 
Europe, would certainly be taken for Englishmen, 
Scotchmen, Bavarians, or Saxons. The homes often — 
assume the character of the pueblos or cliff-dwellings 
of New Mexico. The peoples speak some thirty — 
languages, with numerous dialects. The prevailing — 
religion is Islam. Many archaic customs and a 
primitive tribal organisation survive, but Russian 
domination and the extension of education tend to 
promote the growth of uniformity. 
Caprais H. G. Lyons brought the subject of relief 
in cartography before the research meeting of the 
ing that British contributions to this important 
branch of cartography arenot numerous. He discussed 
the relative value of contours, hachures and coloured 
shading, and their utility as measured by their ap- 
plicability to different kinds of map. He summarised 
the limits of scale within which each method best — 
serves its purpose, and showed reasons why, outside 
these limits, one method or another fails to fulfil its 
function properly. Such a summary should form a 
valuable guide to cartographers, although when the 
author stated that hachuring becomes ‘‘ conventional '” 
on a scale smaller than about 1: 500,000, because this 
this scale so compresses ridge and valley in moun- — 
tainous regions, he might have been taken to task 
by the artist of such a map as the Swiss sheets in ~ 
“ Stieler”’ (1: 925,000), who might have suggested — 
that convention is to be distinguished from careful — 
generalisation. The author also brought out the — 
limitations of contour systems in portraying gently — 
undulating ground—a point which the student often — 
has need to remember. He dealt at length with 
various systems of colouring used in conjunction with — 
contours, and discussed the basis of ‘ physiological — 
optics,” on which the selection of colours for this 
purpose ought to rest. ie 
Dr. AND Mrs. WorkMAN gave the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society, at its meeting on Monday, Novem- — 
ber 24, an account of their further explorations, 
conducted last year, among the Karakoram Hima- 
layas. Their objective on this occasion was the ~ 
Siachen or Rose Glacier. Mrs. Workman indicated _ 
the course of their journey, and gave an account of 
their additions to the map of the region, incidentally 
controverting the views of previous visitors on several "4 
points. The surveyor who accompanied the party was — 
Mr. C. Grant Peterkin. To the pass at the head of 
the Bilaphond Glacier Mrs. Workman applies the 
name of the glacier itself, and not that of Saltoro. 
attached to it as ‘traditional’ by Dr. Longstaff. 
She dealt with the same explorer’s high peak of 
Teram Kangri, which he gave as 27,610 ft. high, 
while Mr. Peterkin made it only 24,560 ft. She — 
observed for the first time a group of lofty peaks 
behind the east Siachen wall, on the Turkestan side, 
which form additions to the map, and others from — 
the Silver Throne plateau, to the highest of which 
(24,350 ft.) the name of Queen Mary was given. The 
possibility of the Siachen glacier having provided an 
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