July 7. 1881] 



NATURE 



227 



Messrs. Weil Brothers; two Yellow Snakes (Chilobothnts in- 

 ornalus) from Jamaica, presented by Mr. Chas. B. Masse ; a 

 Squirrel Monkey (Chrysolhrix sciurea) from Demerara, a Mili- 

 tary Macaw (Ara militaris) from South America, deposited ; a 

 Wapiti Deer (Cervus canadensis), two Hybrid Paradoxuies 

 (between Paradoxurus leiicomystax and P. stignialiciis), born ia 

 the Gardens. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



The Geographical Society's Proixc-Jiiigs this ji.onth are chiefly 

 occupied with the anniversary meeting at the end of May, and 

 everything said and done on that occasion seems to have been 

 carefully recorded. The only paper given is that by Mr. Minchin 

 on Eastern Bolivia and the Gran Chaco, and it is iUustrated by 

 one of the best maps which the Society has published for some 

 time. The geographical notes supply intelligence of matters 

 which have not hitherto a'tracted notice in this country, though 

 one at least is of considerable importance. We allude to the 

 recent exploration of the Beni River by Dr. Heath of Wisconsin, 

 which is a distinct addition to our knowledge of the Amazjns' 

 system. When fuller details, including Dr. Heath's ob-ervations 

 for latitude and longitude, have come to hand, it will be for the 

 first time possible to fix the precise position of the mouth of the 

 magnificent river, best known as the Madre de Di )S, \\hich, 

 until a few years ago, was believed by geographers to be a feeder 

 of the Pnrus instead of the Madeira. Some information is also 

 given as to the progress of exploration between the Rovuma 

 and Lake Nyassa. 



M. Abbe Desgodins, who is well known for the excellent 

 geographical work he has done in Eastern Tibet, contributes to 

 Lfs Missions Ca'.Jtoliqices the first part of soaie interesting notes 

 on the marriage and other domestic customs of the Tibetan-. 



It may be interesting to mention that in last week's number 

 of the Society of Arts' JouDial %(ycaz useful notes are published 

 on gums, resins, and waxes, which Mr. C. G. Warnford Lock 

 has compiled from the juurnals of recent travellers. Especial 

 prominence is given to india-rubber and the curious fossil resin 

 iuiowu as gum copal. 



M. Rou.x has been intrusted by the Minister of Public In- 

 struction and Fine Arts at Paris with a scientific mis ion to 

 Tunis, and he has already begun the exploration of the region 

 near the Constantine province of Algeria. He will afterwards 

 undertake topographical and botanical investigations in the 

 c 'Untry between the Mejerba Valley and Cape Bon jieninsula. 

 Under the auspices of the same department M. Lantz isen,;aged 

 in making natural history collections in some of the unknown 

 parts of Madagascar. 



M. BouLANGiER, a French Government engineer, has lately 

 been engaged on a surveying expedition in Indo-Chin.i, in con 

 nection with the project for a railway. He went by a somewhat 

 circuitous route from the fron'.ier of French Cochin-China across 

 Cambodia to Siam, made an especial study of the basin of the 

 Tonic-Sap, or Great Lake, which, according to his view, was 

 formerly the head of the Gulf of Siam. The mnintains south 

 of Pursat must, therefore, have been aa island, but the inter- 

 vening low country becoming filled up they were jjined to the 

 mainland. As the result of his observations, M. Boulangier 

 thin'.is that the Tonle-sap will gradually silt up. 



We hear that Mr. Dorward, of the Chiua Inland Mission, 

 returned to Shanghai early ia April from a five-months' journey 

 in the province of Hunin. He is the only Protestant mis- 

 sionary who has ever traversed the route by which he returned 

 fro-Q Hung kiang to the neighbourhood of the Tung-ting Lake. 

 Mr. Dorward also paid a flying visit to Kwei-yang-fu, the 

 capital of the K.veichow province. 



A PRO.MINENT paragraph in the Standard of last Saturday 

 states that the "Geographical Society has received some intere ting 

 details of the fate of the Wybrants \i.e. Capt. Phip^on-Wybrants] 

 Expedition in Mozambique." We understand that there is 

 absolutely 110 foundation for this statement, and the only effect of 

 it is to inflict cruel disappointment on the relatives of the deceased 

 members of this unfortunate expedition, regarding whjse last 

 days detailed particulars are anxiously awaited. Whether th-'se 

 will ever be known is, we fear, more thau doubtful. The expe- 

 dition was a purely private undertaking on the part of the late 

 Capt. Piiipson- Wybrants, and though he was aided with a loan 



of instruments, he was in no sense sent out by the Geographical 

 Society. 



The Brazilian Section of the Lisbon Geographical Society, 

 which was established a short time back, has commenced the 

 publication at Rio de Janeiro of a periodical under the title of 

 Revista Mensal. Dr! F. Meu.'.es de Almeida is the editor-in- 

 chief. 



The Bengal A iatic Society have issued as part .of their 

 Journal Mr. .Longworth Dawes' sketch of the Northern Balochi 

 language, containing a grammar, vocabulary, and specimens of 

 the language. 



CIVILISATION AND BARBARISM IN SOUTH 

 AFRICA 



AT a meeting of the Anthropological Institute on the 28th 

 ult. Sir Bartle Frere gave a lecture treating of the results of 

 contact of civilised with uncivilised races in South Africa. The 

 first part of the lecture dealt with the historical results of such 

 contact in other countries, and the lecturer, after a sketch of the 

 recent history and present condition of the various South African 

 races, maintained that on the whole natives have increased in 

 numbers as well as improved in physique and in ^intellectual 

 status by contact with Europeans, and that there was also little 

 real reason to doubt an improvement in moral status. The con- 

 ditions required to raise and improve races like the Kaffirs vrere 

 (l) a strong imperial governniint ; (2) fieedom from slavery and 

 equality be'fore the law. To secure these two requisites it was 

 necessary (3) to determine whether the standard of moral and 

 social progress shall be that of the European or that of the native 

 races; (4) education according to English standards. The 

 general results arrived at in the lecture were summarised in the 

 following propositions:— (I) It is possible for the civilised to 

 destroy by war the savage r.rces, to expel, or repel, or turn them 

 aside in their migrat ons ; (2) pro::iuiity of civilised and savage 

 races has led or is leading to the decay and probable extinction 

 of the Bushman race. But this result is doubtful in the case of 

 the Hottentot races, and is certainly not taking place with regard 

 to the Bantu or Kiffir races; (3) the changes consequent on 

 proximity of civilised and uncivilised races are an approximation 

 to the European type of civilisation ; (4) the essentials to such 

 approximation are (i?) a pax Romana or Anglicana, bringing 

 with it [h] protection of life and property, which involves equality 

 before the law, individual property in land, abolition of slavery, 

 abolition of private rights of making war a id of carrying arms 

 without the authority of the supreme ruler ; (c) power of local 

 legi-lation on European principles, with a view to secure educa- 

 tion in the arts of civilised life, taxation sufficient for state pur- 

 poses, restrictions on the use of intoxicating substances, as 

 measures essential to the full attainment of any one of the 

 preceding objects. 



INDIGO AND ITS ARTIFICIAL PRODUCTION 



MORE than eleven years ago the speaker had the pleasure of 

 bringing before this audience a discovery in synthetic 

 chemistry of great interest and importance, viz. that of the arti- 

 ficial production of alizarine, the colouring substance of madder. 

 To-day it is his privilege to point out the attainment of another 

 equally striking case of synthesis, viz. the artificial formation of 

 indigo. In this last instance, as in the former ca.se, the world is 

 indebted to German science, although to different individuals, 

 for these interesting results, the synthesis of indigo having been 

 achieved by Prof. Ado'.f Baeyer, the worthy successor of the 

 illustrious Liebig in the University of Munich. Here then we 

 have another proof of the fact that the study of the most intri- 

 cate problems of organic chemistry, and those which appear to 

 many to be furthest removed from any practical application, are 

 in reality capable of yielding results having an absolute value 

 measured by hundreds of thousands of pounds. 



In proof of this assertion, it is only necessary to mention that 

 the value of the indigo imported into this country in the year 

 1879 reached the enormous sum of close on two millions sterling, 

 whilst the total production of the world is assessed at twice that 

 amount ; so that if, a, is certainly not impossible, artificial indigo 

 can be prepared at a price which will compete with the native 

 product, a wide field is indeed open to its manufacturers. 



' Lecture delivered at the Royal^Instltulion, Friday, May>7, 1881, by 

 Prof. H. E. Roscoe, LL.D., F.R.S. 



