Jan. 7, I 



NA TURE 



219 



From Paris to Pekin over Siberian Snoius. By Victor 

 Meignan. Edited, from the French, by WiUiam Conn. 

 (London : W. Swan Sonnenschein and Co., 1885.) 

 The mode in which this vokime hasbeen produced is rather 

 curious. In 1S73 IVI. Meignan, who had already travelled 

 in the regions around the Levant for pleasure, took it into 

 his head that, by way of contrast to these lands of the 

 sun, he would like to see a land where snow and ice were 

 predominant, and accordingly he undertook to travel 

 from France to China through Siberia. He appears to 

 have had no object in the journey but the pleasure of 

 motion and of seeing new and strange objects. It was 

 undertaken in the winter, and the traveller naturally saw, 

 and was interested in, Moscow, Nijni-Novgorod, the 

 Urals, and so travelled through Siberia by Omsk 

 to Irkutsk. .'\fter a short stay in the latter place 

 he pursued his journey through Kiachta, Urga, and 

 Kalgan to Pekin. Many travellers have done the 

 journey before and since ; it is a long and tedious one, 

 and perhaps that is as much as can be said for it. Mr. 

 Conn talks of crossing " the trackless Desert of Gobi " 

 on the way, but this is an abuse of language. The only 

 part of the Gobi passed is that between Urga and Kal- 

 gan, two considerable trading cities, between which cara- 

 vans, couriers, and travellers go daily along a high road 

 which is a very good one as roads go in Asia. But M. 

 Meignan, having done the journey, and being of a lively 

 and amusing turn, wrote an account of it some time after 

 his arrival in France. This account of a journey in 1873 

 Mr. Conn has "edited" in 1S85 ; he has, he says, pro- 

 duced a modified version rather than a translation, the 

 modifications consisting in correcting the slipshod style 

 of the original, in producing " a more just co-ordination 

 of parts and subordination of minor details,'' and also in 

 expanding the original here and there. The volume, 

 notwithstanding this dual authorship, is pleasant reading, 

 much as a tolerably written account of a journey in Wales 

 or Scotland would be pleasant. There are not a few 

 errors, especially as the traveller gets farther east, but 

 these cannot seriously interfere with such enjoyment as 

 may be derived from a perusal of the volume, .-^s Mr. 

 Conn has a taste for this species of literary work — having 

 published another volume, an adaptation or translation 

 of a Japanese tale by a French writer, during the year — 

 we would suggest to him that he should select his originals 

 more carefully. A sterling popular work in French or 

 German might very easily prove a sterling popular work 

 in English ; there can be little real use in reproducing 

 trumpery French books in English, e.xcept to add to the 

 already enormous mass of similar indigenous literature in 

 England. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



[^7 he Editor does not tiold liimselfresponsiblefor opinions expressed 

 by Jiis correspondents. Neither can lie undertaiie to return, 

 or to correspond with the writers of, rejected niamtscripis. 

 No notice is taiien of anonymous communications. 



[The Editor urgentiy requests correspondents to i^eep their letters 

 as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great 

 that it is impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even 

 of communications containinginterestins and novel facts.'\ 



Iridescent Clouds 



On December 29 just passed, at 3.40 p.m., or shortly after 

 sunset, and during the late frosty storm, there was a brilliant 

 repetition of the iridescent clouds concerning which I wrote to 

 Nature about a year ago. The tendency of many of these 

 little clouds, or cloudlets, to rectilinear rhomboidal forms was 

 remarkable ; also their confinement in point of colour to blue, 

 violet, rose-pink, and green — eschewing yellow, orange, and 

 vermilion reds : while the sunset sky below them was, on the 

 contrary, a gorgeous panorama of all those yellow-CKW-red 

 partaking colours. 



That so good an example of these iridescent cloudlets is not 

 very frequent may be concluded from the number of letters 

 which this occasion has already produced in the Sco'sman news- 

 paper here, and of which I send you six. 



C. Piazzi-Smyth 



15, Royal Terrace, Edinburgh, January I 



Peculiar Meteorological Phenomenon. — .4 somewhat rare phe- 

 nomenon was observed at Burntisland, Falkirk, Laurencekirk, 

 and many other parts of Scotland yesterday, A large number 

 of miniature rainbows presented themselves in the sky, with the 

 red, orange, yellow, and green colours distinctly discernible. 

 They were not larger than the ordinary sun as it appears to the 

 naked eye, and, after remaining visible for a considerable time, 

 gradually faded away. 



Fraserburgh, December 28, 18S5 



Sir, — To-day, at 3 p.m., a heavy snowstorm from the west- 

 north-west was ji.ist clearing oft' here. Along the horizon, from 

 west to south-west, lay a heavy bank of storm-cloud, hiding t he 

 sun. Above this, in same general direction, was a belt of clear 

 sky. Above that, as the rack drifted off to south-east, there 

 was disclosed a belt of light cirro-stratus cloud, in same general 

 direction, about 30° from the sun, and evidently at very great 

 height, for it kept the same general position nearly an hour, 

 though with CDnsiderahle variation of form. When first visible 

 it was fringed on the side next the sun with bands of the most 

 vivid and delicate prismatic colours — in series, blue end outside 

 and red (prolonged into a splendid band of violet) inside. De- 

 tached portions, however, had the bands all round. The appear- 

 ance continued in its first splendour only a few minutes, but less 

 vividly for some time longer. It would be interesting to know 

 whether the same appearance was seen at other places ; and, if 

 so, at what houi-, and at what angle from the sun ? 



W. ISLiCGILL, B.A. 



Edinburgh, December 29, 1885 

 Sir, — I write to ask if any of your readers can give an 

 explanation of a remarkable phenomenon which was visible in 

 the western sky this afternoon. Just after sunset a few thin 

 patches of cirrus clouds not far west of the zenith assumed a rich 

 opal hue, while in others all the colours of the spectrum were 

 beautifully displayed. The appearance of one of these clouds 

 was exactly similar, in fact, to a completed, though, of course, 

 miniature rainbow. This phenomenon continued for some time 

 after the sun had set, and at times the colours could be seen to 

 change rapidly. A cold frosty wind from the north-west was 

 blowing at the time. C. M. 



Maxton, December 30, 1885 

 Sir, — With reference to the two letters on this subject in to- 

 day's Scotsman, it may interest you to know that the cloud phe- 

 nomenon in question was witnessed here twice yesterday. About 

 8 a.m. the sky was perfectly clear, and the crescent moon was 

 shining in the south-west. As the radiance of the sun, as yet 

 beneath the horizon, began to appear, several detached clouds, 

 of a semi-transparent, filmy nature, suddenly came into view in 

 the south-eastern sky, which had, a moment or two before, been 

 without a single speck to dim it. These clouds, at first of an 

 indefinable colour, quickly heightened in tone, and the prismatic 

 colours became visible with gorgeous distinctness, increasing in 

 intensity as the sun neared the horizon. The top band was of a 

 peculiar blue, obviously different from the sky field. Beneath 

 was a wave of rich rose-pink, next a cloudy-orange, with light 

 streaks or "watermarks," then a rich mass of deep violet, 

 fading lower into white. There were three large clouds, the 

 upper and lower lines of which were 'quite level a>id perfectly 

 parallel, though the edges to the east and west were sharp and 

 ruggedly cut. In the case of one of these clouds the denser part 

 was apparently rhomboidal, but on its eastern side, and con- 

 nected with it, was an opalescent vapour filling up the space 

 between what I may term the base and the hypothenuse of an 

 angle of about 15°. The base of this incomplete triangle 

 was equal in length to the base of the incomplete rhomboid. 

 The lines were most clearly defined. There were a number of 

 minute cloudlets, some the merest specks, but all showing 

 the same colours that I have mentioned. They did not 

 remain very long in this distinct state. As the sun rose 

 above the horizon they became beautifully opalescent, and 



