3 6 4 



NA TURE 



{August 17, 1882 



majority of visitors gather their impressions of Madeira 

 from a limited halt in the Bay of Funchal, or from a 

 winter sojourn on its south side, yet fine as its coast line 

 and peaks are seen to be, they are no more comparable 

 to the grandeur of the northern side than the cultivated 

 banks of the Rhine are to the gorges of the Yosemite. 

 The south side is almost destitute of forest growth, except 

 the introduced sweet chestnut, oak, and maritime pine, 

 for the native juniper and dragon trees are almost extinct, 

 but in crossing the dividing ridge another world is 

 entered. Here all but the highest peaks are clothed with 

 densest virgin forest. The naturalist may penetrate at 

 will the wildest gorges, for the only paths into their re- 

 cesses are the beds of half dried torrents. 



The common distinctive feature of all these gorges is 

 the precipitous nature of their sides, which time seems not 

 yet to have weathered into angles of repose. The verticality 

 is everywhere appalling, yet giant evergreens cling to every 

 nook and crowd on every terrace. Some of the laurel 

 tribe reach immense girth, and are quite inaccessible to 

 the woodman's axe, rotting as they stand, and forming 

 soil for carpets of Killarney, filmy, and hares-foot ferns. 

 The warm, moist, and shady valleys form a paradise for 

 ferns, the Dicksonia, Woodwardia, and Asplenium rival- 

 ling each other in size. The botany of the island is of 

 great interest, especially in its relations to that of Europe 

 and Africa ; but the visible fauna, except Mollusca, is 

 meagre, and the comparative absence of birds and butter- 

 flies is felt. Beyond the foreground of vast walls of red 

 and brown rock, often 3000 to 4000 feet high, clothed 

 and softened by dark green foliage, are peaks weathered 

 into most fantastic forms, and rising to 6000 feet. But if 

 this grand scenery could become monotonous, there are 

 English moorlands on the Paul da Serra, barren tracts of 

 rock at the extremities of the island, cultivated country 

 with lanes hedged by fuchsias and hydrangeas at Ca- 

 macha. The coast-line is magnificent in the extreme, one 

 headland on the south presenting a vertical cliff to the sea 

 of 2000 feet, and another, a mountain clothed with myrtle 

 on the north, being scarcely inferior to it. The ascent of 

 some of the peaks might tax even an experienced Alpine 

 climber's nerves; but the effect of ocean rising to the 

 skies like a blue wall all round is very striking when seen 

 for the first time from a lofty island peak. In summer the 

 heat is not oppressive among the mountains, and now that 

 the fares are no longer unreasonable, one with an overtaxed 

 brain seeking rest might make a worse choice than Madeira 

 for a ramble. To him Miss Taylor's exhaustive book is 

 inexhaustible, and the itineraries in it, sketched by Mr. 

 Charles Cossart, invaluable. 



No mention of Madeira is complete without allusion to 

 its staple produce — wine. The export seems never to 

 -have exceeded 20,000 pipes annually, and though this was 

 reached as early as 1750, yet this is far below the pro- 

 ducing power of the island. The vines, destroyed by 

 Oideum, have again severely suffered from Phylloxera, but 

 the shipments, owing chiefly to the persistent efforts of 

 Messrs. Cossart Gor Jon, are steadily recovering. It can- 

 not be too widely known that Madeira is a pure wine, for 

 at the price of grapes there, there is no incentive to use 

 anything but grape juice in its production, though Madeira 

 is exported to other wine countries, presumably for manu- 

 facture into sherry. The retail price is only artificially 

 maintained by a pretended scarcity. 



J. Starkie Gardner 



Tscherma&s Lehrbuch der Mineralogie. Part II. 



(Vienna : Alfred Holder.) 

 In this part of Prof. Tschermak's text-book the discus- 

 sion of the optical and physical characters of minerals is 

 continued and concluded in a manner more scanty than 

 was perhaps to be anticipated from the first part. The 

 results of many of the most recent additions to our know- 

 ledge of the structure of mimetic and twin-crystals, such 



as milarite, microcline, &c, as shown by their optical 

 properties, are, however, included. In the chemical 

 introduction which follows, too much space is devoted to 

 the exposition of the fundamental principles of chemistry, 

 such as those of equivalents, atoms, and the theory of 

 types ; as also to the principal simple tests for the various 

 elements. A fair knowledge of chemistry is absolutely 

 necessary to the mineralogist, and Prof. Tschermak 

 might well have expected his students to bring such a 

 knowledge with them. In this case his exposition is un- 

 necessary, while if the student is ignorant of chemistry, 

 it is hardly likely to be adequate, and it undoubtedly 

 diminishes the space available for the principles of 

 isomorphism and polymorphism. 



Considerable space is given to the description of the 

 situations in which minerals are found, and of their 

 associations in beds and veins. Another chapter is de- 

 voted to mineral genesis and to the decompositions and 

 transformations which minerals are liable to under the 

 action of natural agencies. These subjects, common to 

 the mineralogist and geologist, are apt to suffer through 

 being relegated by each to the other, and we are glad to 

 see the importance attached to them by Prof. Tschermak. 



The systematic description of the principal minerals is 

 to occupy the whole of the third part. This volume ex- 

 tends as far as the elements and sulphides, and gives 

 us a foretaste of what is to come. The descriptions 

 are well done, and give much more information than 

 the ordinary text-books do. This information is, more- 

 over, given in general language, and the different forms 

 are better and more fully illustrated than is usually the 

 case. The minerals discussed are those of importance 

 either from their utility, the frequency of their occurrence, 

 or their scientific value ; and the selection, from this 

 point of view, is well made. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 

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 by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, 

 or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications. 

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 of communications containing interesting and novel facts.] 



Scientific Exploration in Egypt 

 Now that we have embarked in a war in Egypt, it is to be 

 hoped that steps will be taken to have a proper staff of scientific 1 

 explorers attached to the army with facilities for conducting their 

 investigations. There are periods of rest in a campaign during 

 which soldiers and others may be usefully employed in conduct- 

 ing excavations at comparatively slight cost ; and difficulties in the 

 way of investigation, arising from the requirements of trade and 

 industry, disappear in time of war. The deposits of the Delta 

 require to be examined. The gravels of the Nile Valley have to 

 be connected with their animal remains. Much has to be done 

 for the earliest and best period of Egyptian art, and the Stone 

 Age of Egypt has to be fixed with certainty, the importance of 

 which cannot be over estimated in connection with the earliest 

 civilisation of the world. 



I trust also that we shall not rob Egypt of her antiquities to 

 any great extent. It may be useful to complete our typical 

 series to a limited extent, but if Boulak should be happily pre- 

 served, I hope it will be preserved for Egypt, and not brought 

 home. Nothing would serve more to prove that we go there to 

 civilise and not to rob. The means of communication are now 

 so easy that all who are intere ted in Egyptology can see it there. 

 Steam and railways have materially altered the requirements of 

 education in this respect. Humanity, and British humanity in 

 particular, now pours through all the great arteries of the world, 



