264 



NA TURE 



{July 17, 1! 



finding it in the alimentary canal only, but not in the blood 

 and tissues, of persons affected with cholera, he is necessarily 

 forced to assume that the alimentary canal is the exclusive 

 organ into which the cholera poison enters and in which it has 

 its breeding ground. On the other hand, Koch has ascertained 

 that the "comma-shaped" bacillus is fatally affected by acid. 

 This result, having been established by direct experiment, is 

 naturally perfectly trustworthy, and is, besides, in complete 

 harmony with what is known of other bacilli, both pathogenic 

 and non-pathogenic, which, as is well established, succumb to 

 the influence of acid. 



Now, these three propositions, (1) that the "comma-shaped " 

 bacillus is the cause of the cholera, (2) that the alimentary canal 

 is the exclusive organ of entrance of the cholera virus, and (3) 

 that the "comma-shaped" bacillus is neutralised and killed by 

 acid, appear to me to be in hopeless contradiction. 



The first two propositions are assumptions, the third is based 

 on direct experiment, and is, as just stated, perfectly in har- 

 mony with other observations. If, then, this third proposition 

 be true, the other two cannot be true, that is to say, if it i>. 

 true — and there can be no doubt about it — that the "comma- 

 shaped " bacillus succumbs to the action of acid, then it cannot 

 be true that the " comma-shaped " bacillus is the cholera virus, 

 nor that the alimentary canal is the sole entrance of the cholera 

 virus. How, we may ask, can the " comma-shaped " bacillus 

 pass unscathed the acid contents and the acid secretion of the 

 stomach? To maintain, as Koch is reported to have done, that 

 in all persons attacked by cholera the stomach must have been 

 previously so deranged that its contents and secretions are not 

 acid must appear to every one who has had any experience 

 during a cholera epidemic an untenable proposition. On the 

 one hand, it is known that such a serious disorder of the 

 gastric mucous membrane as the total absence of acidity is of com- 

 paratively rare occurrence, while, on the other, in every cholera 

 epidemic numbers of persons become affected with the disease 

 in whom such a gastric condition, antecedent to the infection, 

 can with certainty be excluded. E. K. 



The Mountain System of the Malayan Peninsula 



Some new facts with regard to the mountain system of the 

 Malayan peninsula may be of interest to many of your readers. 

 In exploring through the native State of Perak I find that, in 

 addition to the main range, which occupies about the centre of 

 the territory and runs in a north and south direction, there are 

 two other ranges belonging to quite different systems, and, as I 

 think, of different geological age. The first is close to the coast. 

 It is a series of ridges parallel to each other, but detached, 

 having a north-north-east or south-south-west trend. These 

 ridges are of granite, and rise to a considerable height, such as 

 Gunong (Malay for mountain) Inas, over 5000 feet ; Titi 

 Wangsu, nearly 7000 feet ; Gunong Hijau, 4400 feet, and 

 Gunong Bubu, or Bubor, 5600 feet. The two latter I have 

 ascended. Though they are detached from each other, they 

 form a watershed between the coast and the inland drainage, 

 and thus the River Perak has to drain an immense valley in a 

 north and south direction until it finds an outlet to the south of 

 the Dindings. 



To the east of the Perak there is a small range about twenty- 

 five miles long, perfectly detached from the other systems, and 

 having generally a north and south direction, but sending off 

 spurs a little west of south. This also is granite, but on its 

 lower shoulders has thick deposits of stratified limestone, above 

 and below which tin is worked. To the north this range is 

 bounded by the valley of the River Plus, which here joins the 

 Perak, and to the south by the mouth of the Kiuta. The latter 

 river runs in a valley to the east of this range, and where it 

 ceases joins the Perak. To the east of the Kiuta again comes 

 the main range with many peaks over 7000 feet high ; Gunong 

 Riam probably reaching over Sooc feet. 



The first series of ranges have their origin in the State of 

 Keddah, just where the Malayan peninsula begins to widen out. 

 This widening out is entirely due to this mountain system. The 



island of Tenang is a part of it, and so are the islands called 

 the Dinding Group. Were the coast to subside about 300 feet, 

 we should have a narrow peninsula fronted by a series of large 

 and very elevated granite islands having their longest diameter 

 north-north-east and south-south-west. The second mountain 

 chain has a different direction, and nowhere rises above 3000 

 feet ; but both ranges are rich in tin. The first series has at its 

 base Palaeozoic schists, slates, and clays. The second has lime- 

 stone. The Palaeozoic rocks are rich in tin at the junction with 

 the granite. The tin in the second range lies above and below 

 the limestone, and has been derived from the older formation. 

 The Palaeozoic clays resemble very closely the gold-bearing 

 slates and schists of Australia. To the south they are nearly 

 denuded away, but in Lower Siam, from specimens I have seen, 

 they are full of auriferous quartz reefs. 



It is singular that in this mountain system we have the closest 

 resemblance to the tin-bearing districts of north-eastern Aus- 

 tralia. When exploring geologically the Wilde River district 

 in 18S1 and the Daintree River in 1879, I found that the sources 

 of the tin were in detached granite mountains or groups of 

 mountains — granite islands, so to speak, much higher than the 

 present watershed of the country, but, being detached from 

 each other, allowed the rivers to pass round and between them. 

 I have referred to the same thing in Tasmania in my account of 

 the physical geology of that country. Geologists in England can 

 say if there is any resemblance to this state of things in the tin- 

 bearing granites of Cornwall. I am inclined to think that we 

 have in these rocks the remains of a former and very ancient 

 mountain system. 



I may add that it is a pity that we still find in recent books of 

 high authority the statement reiterated that the highest mountain 

 on the Malayan peninsula is Mount Ophir, near Malacca (4360 

 feet). Here are the heights of a few in Perak : — Slim Mountains, 

 6000 or 7000 feet ; Titi Wangsu, 6900 feet ; Riam, 8000 feet at 

 least ; Hijau, 4400 feet ; Bubor, 5630 feet ; Gunong Rampip, 

 7800 feet ; Gunong Rajah, 6500 feet ; besides many others in 

 Reman and Pahang which have not been explored. 



Arang Para, Perak, June 2 J. E. Tenison-Woods 



Chalk and the "Origin and Distribution of Deep-Sea 

 Deposits" 

 In consequence of Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys' letter, I feel it incum- 

 bent, in the interests of geology, to restate the position with 

 regard to the question of the depth of the ocean in which the 

 White Chalk of England was deposited. The cause that led to 

 its deposition over a former land surface was indubitably a great 

 though gradual depression of that area. The process commenced 

 with the Neocomian age, when two seas encroached from north 

 and south, until they were probably only separated by some 

 relatively unimportant ridges or islands to the north of London. 

 The depression seems to have been checked for a long period, 

 but recommenced in the Gault age in a more serious manner. 

 Now, according to Renard and Murray, the Blue Mud, with 

 which I assume the Gault is to be identified, if with anything, 

 is formed around shores and in partially inclosed seas, passing 

 into a true deep-sea deposit at a distance from land. The limits 

 of depth at which Blue Mud is formed are not stated, but the 

 Mollusca of the Gault, if not indicating a very great depth, are 

 quite against its being a very shallow-water formation. There 

 are several deep-water genera, such as Neara, Leda, Limopsis, 

 Cadu/us, Dentatium, Eulima, in it, and I believe that when 

 the smaller Mollusca from it have been reinvestigated by the 

 light of our present knowledge, a far greater similarity between 

 them and deep-water forms will be apparent. The Gault 

 also contains a very large number of Foraminifera and 

 several Encrinites and other Echinoderms, which are not, I 

 believe, characteristic of long-shore deposits ; while there is 

 a remarkable absence in it of the more distinctly shallow-water 

 shells that abound in the Neocomian, and it has none of the 

 coarser fragments of rock, 2 cm. in diameter, which are stated 

 in Renard and Murray's paper to occur in the near-shore muds. 

 We must assume a considerable depth of water for the Lower 

 Gault — what depth I would be well pleased to leave to Dr. 

 Gwyn Jeffreys to say. Now, if there is one fact more apparent 

 than another, it is that the Upper Gault represents a deeper sea 

 than the Lower, and therefore that the depression was maintained. 

 The Blue Mud is replaced in neighbouring areas by Green Muds 

 and Sands with Glauconitic grains which apparently are de- 

 posited in similar depths or situations ; but the limit of depth at 



