Feb. 12, j 885] 



NA TURE 



337 



day in the year, there are tables by which the transits of 

 about twenty others can be computed by the simple ad- 

 dition of their R.A. converted into mean time from that 

 of one of the fundamental stars. The transits of the 

 major planets and of certain bright stars suitable for day- 

 light observations are also given, and the tables show 

 the declination and meridian altitude of sun, stars, and 

 planets. There is a monthly ephemeris, and in additional 

 tables will be found the time of sunrise and sunset, day- 

 break and nightfall, the sidereal time at a certain epoch 

 of mean time (9 p.m.), and the sun's semi-diameter for 

 every alternate day. In the preface are clearly-written 

 instructions for fixing and adjusting the instrument, and 

 for obtaining local or Greenwich time at any place in 

 England or abroad. The times are given to the nearest 

 tenth of a second, and the tables are clearly printed in 

 bold type. 



Reise nach der Insel Sachalin in den yahren 18S1-18S2. 

 Von J. S. Poljakow. Aus dem Russischen libersetzt 

 von Dr. A. Arzruni. (Berlin : Asher and Co. 

 1884.) 



THE author of this volume is a zoologist who filled for a 

 considerable period the office of Conservator of the Zoo- 

 logical Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 

 He has also travelled widely on scientific missions in out- 

 lying parts of the Russian empire, and has already 

 studied a portion of the zoological collections sent home 

 by Col. Prejcvalski from his Central Asian journeys. The 

 importance which the large island of Saghalin, off the 

 mouth of the Amour, is believed to possess for Russia, 

 led the Geographical Society of St. Petersburg to de- 

 spatch Mr. Poljakow- to study the island and to report 

 upon it from a scientific and economic point of view. 

 He took passage from Odessa accordingly, in a ship 

 conveying convicts, and arrived at the mouth of the 

 Djuka, in Saghalin, in June, 1SS1. l;uring the succeed- 

 ing fourteen months he travelled all over the island, along 

 the water-ways — which are the only ways there — when 

 travelling was possible, and arranged his collections when 

 the weather and the season rendered advance impossible. 

 This volume is composed of the letters addressed to the 

 secretary of the Geographical Society, detailing his move- 

 ments when travelling. For the most part they are such 

 as the most unscientific traveller might address to a 

 friend : they describe the incidents of his various jour- 

 neys, the superficial customs of the natives he met, the 

 difficulties of travel, his views of the island as a penal 

 colony, its agricultural and mining prospects, and much 

 else of a general and chatty kind. Here and there in 

 the course of the narrative it is apparent that behind 

 these ordinary incidents of travel there is a scientific 

 purpose, which only comes out casually and by chance. 

 Not that there is any concealment about the work ; but 

 the real results of the exploration will probably need 

 more examination and arrangement than he has yet been 

 able to give to them. Towards the end he summarises his 

 work in the island, and the summary is worth giving, as 

 showing us what we may expect from him now that he 

 has time for study and arrangement. His collections on 

 leaving the island were, he tells us, enormous. He pos- 

 sessed all the most important representatives of the 

 mammals, birds, fishes, and amphibia, as well as nume- 

 rous examples of the lower animal world — insects, Crust- 

 acea, mollusks, &c. One of the most important places 

 in his collection is occupied by ethnographical and an- 

 thropological objects. He has ample material to investi- 

 gate and characterise the original population of the island, 

 which has now disappeared, viz. that of the Stone Age, 

 as well as the race which dwelt around Patience Bay, 

 and which knew the use of metals. It is highly prob- 

 able, he thinks, that aborigines who belonged to 

 the Aino stem were so numerous a century and a 



half or two centuries ago at the mouth of the Poronai 

 River that their settlements on a limited space then con- 

 tained a larger population than the whole of the island 

 does to-day. The present inhabitants, the Gilyaks and 

 the Orokos, have retained many of the characteristic 

 features of the culture of their predecessors. The present 

 inhabitants of Saghalin, like the former, concentrate all 

 their activity in hunting and fishing, and they seek their 

 sustenance on the land as well as in the seas and rivers. 

 He notices that the natives, and especially those of the 

 southern part of the island, have been largely influenced 

 by the Japanese, who go there in the summer to catch 

 fish, and that this influence has lasted for centuries. It is 

 only a few years since the Russians commenced to settle 

 Saghalin, in order to introduce European agriculture and 

 industry. Their first task was to work the coal-measures 

 and to develop agriculture and stock-raising. But there 

 are great difficulties to be overcome. Coal-mining, Mr. 

 Poljakow thinks, will be successful when the methods are 

 completed, the prices lowered, and the delivery of the coal 

 on board ship rendered easier. The rough and cold climate 

 must always be an obstacle to farming ; marshes cover a 

 large part of the island, and the larger rivers are subject 

 to frequent alteration of their beds. In fact, the climate 

 and topography of Saghalin offer no natural advantages 

 that would lead one to prophesy smooth things of its 

 agricultural future. The development of the fisheries 

 would form an undoubted source of income, as salmon 

 and herrings are numerous and can easily find neigh- 

 bouring markets. " I left the island of Saghalin," con- 

 cludes Mr. Poljakow, " persuaded that it was possible — 

 nay, advantageous — for the State to cultivate, even if 

 forced labour has to be employed. On the other hand, it 

 was clear to me that the results obtained so far by no 

 means correspond with the means and efforts directed to 

 that object." The absence of a map, however small, to 

 accompany the book is a serious inconvenience. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



[ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for of inions expressed 

 by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, 

 or to correspond with the writers of rejected manuscripts. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications . 



[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters 

 as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great 

 that it is impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even 

 of communications containing interesting and novel facts. ] 



Gardiner's Researches on the Continuity of Vegetable 

 Protoplasm 



Dr. Jules Schaarschmidt, in a paper (Nature, January 

 29, p. 290) on "Continuity between the Protoplasmic Contents 

 of Adjacent Cells in Plants," gives what lie calls "the history 

 of this subject." But he makes no reference to the elaborate 

 memoir by Mr. Walter Gardiner which I communicated on 

 behalf of that gentleman to the Royal Society. This was read 

 on April 26, 1883, and is published in the third part of the 

 . a I Transactions for that year. 



Dr. Schaarschmidt states in his communication that in 1884 

 he " claimed the universality of the communication (at least in 

 tissues)." I do not myself feel that the establishment of indi- 

 vidual claims to unoccupied territory is as important in the 

 scientific a- it appear, to be in the political world. Still I think 

 it is only due to Mr. Gardiner to quote in reference to this state- 

 ment of Dr. Schaarschmidt's, the following passage (the italics 

 are mine) from the conclusion (p. 858) of Mr. Gardiner's 

 memoir : — 



" Although I am aware of the danger of rushing to conclu- 

 sions, I cannot hut remark that when these results— which were 

 foreshadowed by Sachs and Hanstein when they discovered the 

 perforation of the sieve-plate— are taken in connection with 

 those of Russow, it appears extremely probable that, not only 

 in the parenchymatous cells of pulvini, in phlcem parenchyma, 

 in endosperm cells, and in the prosenchymatous bast-fibres, is 



