January 26, i 



NA TURE 



291 



oxygen has a distinctly beneficial action in reducing the 

 frequency of the heart-beats, he considers that the in- 

 creased percentage of carbonic acid in the inspired air 

 prevented asphyxia, or using his own term acapnia, a 

 condition which can be set aside by a high percentage of 

 carbonic acid, since the barometric depression acts in a 

 mechanical and physical manner by drawing this gas out 

 of the blood. It may be pointed out that it is evident that 

 Prof Mosso's experiment might well bear another explan- 

 ation, for it does not show more than that the respiration of 

 an atmosphere containing 84 per cent of oxygen is suffi- 

 ■cient for the needs of a man during a short period. Diminu- 

 tion of the carbonic acid of the blood, and a paralysis of 

 the terminations of the vagi nerves will, according to 

 Prof Mosso, account for the headache, dizziness, vomiting, 

 and other symptoms which are noticeable in mountain- 

 sicl<ness, whether this is met with in a slow or an acute 

 form. Vomiting is undoubtedly a frequent symptomi 

 but that this is caused by paralysis of the vagi nerves is 

 not in complete accord with experimental evidence. The 

 ease or difficulty with which this act is accomplished 

 varies in different animals, and it is found that severing 

 the vagi produces Variable results ; vomiting may occur, 

 but often does not, and further vomiting is asserted not 

 to occur at all after section of these nerves. Some 

 physiologists, such as Bernstein, distinctly state that the 

 vagus plays no essential part in the nervous mechanism 

 which is concerned in vomiting. On p. 258 the distress 

 of angina pectoris is regarded as resembling the distress 

 of mountain-sickness. This appears to be hardly the 

 case ; certainly vomiting is not, as Prof Mosso distinctly 

 states it is. a characteristic symptom of angina pectoris. 



No doubt Prof Mosso may adduce some additional 

 evidence in support of his views. Most physiologists 

 attribute the excitation of nerve centres rather to the 

 lack of oxygen than to the presence of carbonic acid. 

 We must expect analyses of the blood gases to be given, 

 which shall definitely show that a diminished barometric 

 pressure is associated with a constant diminution of 

 carbonic acid in the blood, and, further, it inust be shown 

 that an atmosphere with increased percentages of carbonic 

 acid causes the blood to take up and retain this gas, 

 before it can be admitted that Prof Mosso's theory of 

 acapnia has solved the problem of mountain-sickness. 



In " The Annals of Mont Blanc," by C. E. Mathews, a 

 volume which is beautifully printed, and contains ex- 

 cellent illustrations, an historical account of the ascents 

 of this mountain is given. In this work an attempt is 

 made to rehabilitate the reputation of Dr. Paccard, who 

 made the first ascent with Balmat. The rival merits of 

 these two pioneers is discussed, and the hope expressed 

 that tardy justice may yet be made to Di-. Paccard. 

 A very graphic and interesting account is given of 

 the caravan of about forty people which started off 

 in 1 85 1 with Albert Smith, whose subsequent entertain- 

 ment with Beverley's panorama at the Egyptian Hall 

 may, in a sense, be considered to have introduced the 

 beauties of the Chamonix valley to the attention of 

 Englishmen. It is said that every one climbs Mont Blanc 

 now ; men have climbed it without guides ; women have 

 climbed it ; blind men have reached the summit. With 

 two observatories close to the summit, those of V'allot 

 NO. 1526, VOL. 59] 



and Janssen, the mountain may almost be regarded as 

 having become inhabited. The chapter on the geology 

 of Mont Blanc is contributed by Prof T. G. Bonney. 

 The volume also contains a bibliography of Mont Blanc, 

 and an appendix with good facsimiles of the " Glacieres 

 in Savoy," published in 1744. G. A. B. 



GERMAN CHINA— TWO BOOKS ON 

 SHANTUNG. 



Schantuni; imd seine Eiiii^ans^spforte Kiautschou. Von 

 Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen. Mit 3 grossen 

 Karten ausser Text. Pp. xxviii -\- 324. (Berlin : 

 Dietrich Reimer (Ernst A'ohsen), 1S98.) 



Schantiing unci Deutsch-China. Von Kiautschou ins 

 Heilige Land von China unci von Jangtsekiang nach 

 Peking im Jahre 1898. Von Ernst von Hesse 

 Wartegg. Pp. viii -I- 294. (Leipzig: J. J. Weber, 

 1898.) 



FROM the period of the Jesuit missionaries of the 

 seventeenth century until the present year the 

 bibliography of the Chinese province of Shantung could 

 be printed in a dozen lines ; but in the immediate 

 future a flood of Shantung literature will form a con- 

 spicuous part of the impending deluge of books on 

 China. The beginning is before us in these richly 

 illustrated volumes, one the work of the most thorough 

 scientific explorer who ever visited China, the other the 

 impressions of a champion globe-trotter. Both books 

 owe their appearance to the lease of Kiauchou Bay 

 recently acquired by the German government, along 

 with extensive rights for the development of the Shan- 

 tung peninsula. The two prefaces are characteristically 

 in contrast. Baron von Richthofen cautions his readers 

 as to the extreme paucity of trustworthy information, 

 and details the sources whence it can be obtained. The 

 Chevalier von Hesse Wartegg explains that he hastily 

 resolved to see this province for himself, and claims to 

 have visited every place and seen everything in it of any 

 interest whatever to the German public, and all in an 

 amazingly short space of time. The books themselves 

 amplify the contrast. Baron von Richthofen gives an 

 account of his leisurely journey of thirty years ago with 

 the valuable maps which he constructed, and a solid 

 description of the physical structure and economic re- 

 sources of the province, which, while it will certainly 

 soon be greatly added to by practical explorers, cannot 

 easily be superseded. \'on Hesse Wartegg recounts 

 his travels in a gossipy manner, interspersed with notes 

 on the country and people, and copiously illustrated with 

 a wealth of photographs, facsimiles of Chinese proclam- 

 ations, visiting cards, official stamps and such interest- 

 ing trifles. He caught the new German territory at the 

 beginning, and describes that beginning with an elabor- 

 ation of detail which should not weary the patriotic 

 German reader. The rapidity of the journey necessarily 

 detracts from the permanent value of the descriptions of 

 the various towns and places visited, and the work must 

 be looked upon as a sort of " Christmas number " 

 amongst books of travel. 



Baron von Richthofens book merits some furthe 



