—- Fuly 31, 1873] 
to reach them ; to solve the different geographical pro- 
blems which would naturally offer, was the fitst part of 
the programme the Commission had to carry out. We 
were required, besides, to report any miscellaneous fac\s 
which might throw light on the history, the philology, the 
ethnography, or the religion of the peoples along the 
great river, which was to be as much as possible the 
guiding-thread of our expedition. We had instructions 
to seek for a passage from Indo-China to China ; an en- 
terprise in which the English have always failed as 
yet.” 
M. Drouyn de Lhuys, theMinister of Foreign Affairs, 
heartily approved of the scheme, and appointed young 
de Carné to represent his department on the expedition. 
The exploration party started from Saigon in June, 
1866, but they were doomed to disappointment, so 
far as regarded their main object, for it was ascertained 
that the Mekong abounded in rapids, cataracts, and 
obstructions of various kinds, which precluded all possi- 
bility of a route being found to China in that direction, 
and after encountering severe sufferings and hardships to 
which some of their number succumbed, including M. de 
Lagrée, the chief of the expedition, they returned to 
Saigon after an absence of about two years and a 
half. 
M. de Carné claims, as the actual results of the enter- 
prise, so far as it was successful, to have “corrected the 
errors, and set at rest, by lifting the veil from the doubts 
which had hitherto led geographers to false and uncertain 
conclusions in describing the eastern zone of the Indo- 
Chinese peninsula. The capricious windings of the 
Mekong; the prolongation of its course to the west, at 
the 18th parallel of latitude ; the importance of its afflu- 
ents ; the strength and volume of its waters, and, if I 
may venture to say so, the proof of its individuality, 
which, contrary to the received opinion (viz. of the union 
of the waters of the Mekong and Meinam), continues to 
the end of its course ; the certainty of its entry into 
Yunan, where it receives the waters of Lake Tali, and 
into Thibet, where it has its source—all these points were 
cleared up. Ina word, we brought back precise infor- 
mation respecting the whole course of an immense river, 
which rises amidst the snows, and completes its course 
under a burning sun. On the other hand, there are the 
exact observations and seemingly well-founded informa- 
tion respecting the other rivers of Indo-China; as to 
their position in different parts of their course, and the 
limits of their basins ; and, in addition, many particulars 
respecting a part of China itself, which had been hitherto 
the least known.” 
We understand that an official report of the expedition 
is in course of preparation, and we have no doubt 
the present work will be found to form a very useful 
supplement to it. The volume would, however, be ren- 
dered more valuable and complete by the addition 
of a few maps, the only one it at present possesses being 
a somewhat rough sketch of the route followed by the 
exploring party. Whether France will be able, as M. 
de Carné suggests, to establish a communication between 
her colony and China by the river Songkoi, which flows 
along the north of the Annamite peninsula, is a problem 
which yet remains to bé solved. 
GiAF.G 
NATURE 
259 
“MOTHER EARTH’S BIOGRAPHY” 
Chronos: Mother Earth's Biography. A Romance of 
the New School. By Wallace Wood, M.D. (Triibner 
and Co.) 
AP RERE can be but few with active minds who have 
not occasionally found, after having grasped the 
essential points of any inclusive theory, that in mo- 
ments of ease and quiet thought, it is far from unpleasant 
to attempt to apply it, by arunning analogy, to some 
series of phenomena entirely different from those to which 
it was originally intended to relate, and by taking detail 
after detail, rebuild it on a fresh foundation. Few, how- 
ever, have the confidence to put their results on paper, 
and fewer still to submit them to the criticism of a ruth- 
less public. 
The theory of evolution has an intrinsic fascination of 
this kind, especially to those with a cynical turn of mind ; 
for though developed on a purely physical basis, never- 
theless its entire applicability to the intricacies of society, 
puts the facts of every-day life in a manner so bold, and 
yet so evidently truthful, that, as it were, scales fall from 
the eyes of its disciples, and the panorama of moral 
philosophy flashes out in a manner so vivid and unmis- 
takable as never to.be effaced. The picture is a mono- 
chrome, and negativism is the colour ! 
As the title of this work indicates, the history of the 
world from the beginning of time has to be sketched, and 
the author commences with a vivid exposition of the 
nebular hypothesis, and the cooling down of the earth to 
the commencement of geologic time, under the headings 
of its Birth and Infancy. He then describes the com- 
mencement and development of vegetable and animal 
life. Just as in a tree all life is found in the terminal 
twigs, so “the species of animals we see on the earth are 
the twigs of the great animal tree, the body and branches 
of which have long since perished,” and the struggle for 
existence by which the present forms have been arrived 
at, leads to the adoption of the fundamental maxim, “ Be 
hungry and you will be great,” which is proposed in place 
of the old adage—“ Be virtuous and you will be happy.” 
Further on the same principle is illustrated in a very 
different manner : “ only iron-clad and zinc-covered trunks 
are seen on the Western American railroads, all others 
being smashed up by the remorseless pitching of the 
baggage-men, employed, it would seem, for the purpose ; 
this is the Survival of the Fittest.” 
After the world had passed through the early ages of 
only protoplasmic and invertebrate forms, the vertebrate 
era commences with “the fishy period.” From the 
amphibian type was developed the reptile, as we are told, 
thus : “ The lizard differed from the frog, and the newt 
&c., chiefly by breathing entirely through lungs instead 
of gills, and thus dispensing with water, except as a 
beverage ; forced to magnificent temperance by long ages 
of death ; driven to it by the great propelling power to 
which welare all more or less victims—the force of cir- 
cumstances. Thus a second nature is given, and a new 
type is created. The fish became a reptile. There was 
no more longing for the good old times ; a more glorious 
prospect in life the world has never seen. The untrod 
earth was a garden of thick fleshy plants ; whole oceans” 
of appetising insects and delicious worms awaited only 
