NATURE 



321 



THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1875 



A GERMAN MANUAL OF SCIENTIFIC 

 INQUIRY 

 Aiilcitiins; su wissenschaftlichcn Bcobachttnn^en aiifRcisen 

 init besonderer Riicksiclit an/ die Bcdih-fnisse derKaiscr- 

 bchcti Marine. Edited by Dr. G. Neumayer. (Berlin, 

 Oppenheim ; London, Triibner, 1875.) 



IN estimating the merits of a work like this German 

 Manual, we must bear in mind that ordinary 

 treatises are not what a traveller asks for. These are 

 primarily written for the use of students, not for that of 

 investigators, and the stand-points of the student and of 

 the investigator are wholly different. The student takes 

 a position in the very heart of the great continent of esta- 

 blished knowledge, and his aim is to familiarise himself with 

 what is already known, but the investigator places him- 

 self on the frontier of that continent, and is always directing 

 his thoughts into the illimitable regions of the unknown. 

 It is therefore obvious that the books needed by a traveller 

 must be composed in a different spirit to those intended 

 for students. They must summarise, so far as possible 

 in the small space that is available, the most advanced 

 knowledge of the several sciences ; they must dwell at 

 length upon what is not known, and they must e.xplain 

 how processes, commonly carried on at a table, with 

 abundant appliances, may be undertaken in the open air, 

 amid the manifold discomforts of a journey and in the 

 isolation to which every traveller is necessarily obliged to 

 submit. The satisfactory combination of these three 

 requirements is hard to accomplish, while it is scarcely 

 possible for anyone who has not himself been a tra- 

 veller to do justice to the last of them. 



Dr. Neumayer informs us that the present work, of 

 which he is the editor and to which he has himself con- 

 tributed an important and well-illustrated memoir on 

 Hydrography, took its origin in a meeting of scientific 

 men at Berlin. They recognised the merits of the 

 English " Admiralty Manual of Scientific Inquiry," 

 which appears to be much appreciated by German 

 na\'igators, but they felt that a more elaborate work 

 might advantageously be supplied, having special refer- 

 ence to German culture and needs. The result of the 

 conference has been the production of this volume. It 

 contains contributions from twenty-eight men, all experts 

 in what they w'rite about, many i ' '.hem of the highest 

 distinction, and many of them travellers. It is therefore 

 impossible but that such a compendium should bj of 

 sterling worth. Unfortunately it is equally impossible for 

 us, in a short review of so encyclopedic an undertaking, 

 to give more than a partial idea of it. 



The authors, as we might expect, have treated their 

 subjects in very different ways, so that there is much 

 individuality in their writings, and perhaps some dispro- 

 portion in the spaces allotted to the several subjects. 

 Again, some of the best memoirs are on topics where one 

 would have least hoped to meet with interesting matter ; 

 thus, Dr. A. Meitzin has drawn up an exceedingly in- 

 structive memoir on Political Geography and Statistics, 

 and Dr. Friedel one on Medical Science. There is a 

 masterly and original treatise by Dr. Koner on the 

 Vol. xr, — No. 278 



unexplored parts of the world and on geographical 

 features generally ; and Kieppert contributes an article on 

 Flying Surveys. Von Richthoven, of Chinese celebrity, 

 writes a memoir on Geology, throughout which the special 

 turn of mind of an accomplished traveller is conspicuous; 

 and the African explorer, Schweinfurth, gives one on the 

 collection and preservation of plants ; while Dr. Gi.in- 

 ther, of the British Museum, writes upon reptiles and fish. 

 In short,\ all the branches of zoology and botany are 

 excellently represented. Dr. Steinthal has contributed a 

 very instructive paper on linguistic inquiry, showing, 

 among other things, the sort of conversation that a tra- 

 veller should encourage in order to procure synonyms 

 and nice distinctions of words ; also to obtain correct 

 ideas of construction. Thus he has pages of such words 

 or phrases as these : "The sky ; clouds ; the sky is clear, 

 is cloudy. Wind, the wind blows ; storm ; whirlwind. 

 The sun is risen, is set, burns hotly. The moon, new 

 moon ; there is no moon ; stars ; comet ; meteor," &c. 

 This ought to afford an excellent guide to persons de- 

 sirous of compiling vocabularies of hitherto unwritten 

 languages. The only paper to which exception might be 

 taken is that on fixing geographical positions ; for, how- 

 ever sound it may be, it is written from the point of view 

 of a University professor, and omits the matters con- 

 nected with the carriage and manipulation of instruments 

 under the difficulties inseparable from rough travel, which 

 are precisely those about which the traveller most needs 

 information. 



The volume contains almost seven hundred pages, 

 large octavo, in a rather small but readable type. Thanks 

 to its being issued on paper that is neither thick nor 

 heavy, it forms by no means an unwieldy book. There 

 can be no doubt that it will become a standard work for 

 all travellers who can read German. It wants an index, 

 because, although it is divided into twenty-eight sections, 

 it is by no means easy to hunt out a required passage, espe- 

 cially as the memoirs necessarily encroach upon the pro- 

 vinces of one another ; if the book be translated into 

 English, this want ought to be supplied. Again, it is 

 only to some of the memoirs that a list of special works 

 of reference is appended. These lists are extremely use- 

 ful to persons preparing for a journey, and all the memoirs 

 should have b;en furnished with them. If such lists 

 should ever be compiled, and if the works to which they 

 refer were freely added to the libraries in the capitals of 

 the various colonies, they would be of the greatest assist- 

 ance to travellers, temporarily resident, while completing 

 their preparations for a start, or in putting their materials 

 into order in the interval between two journeys. 



In concluding these remarks, attention may serviceably 

 be directed to a desideratum, not only of scientific travel- 

 lers, but of all who, having been well grounded in science, 

 occupy themselves occasionally in scientific research; 

 namely, a book that shall contain the principal constants 

 and formula: of every branch of science, each accom- 

 panied by a short reminder, as it were, of the method by 

 which it was obtained. Such a book, suitable to the 

 state of knowledge at the bygone time when it was 

 written, is actually in existence, namely, Carr's "Synopsis" 

 (published by Weld). The condensation, elegance, and 

 precison of its style are worthy of the highest commenda- 

 tion. It was a vade tiu-cuin of the late Mr. Babbage, to 



