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direct attention to these faults of “style” and of 
literary composition, in the hope that candidates for 
medical degrees may avoid the many solecisms which 
their theses too frequently display. It is easy to see 
how they arise. The art of literary composition is 
seldom a part of the school training of a youth. 
“If it is taught at all it is too frequently dealt with by 
c master who has no real aptitude for literary crafts- 
‘manship, whose knowledge of our literature is limited, 
and whose critical faculty i is not very acute. To bring 
out the best that is in a boy, to “ enthuse ” him with 
the subject, requires a teacher of rare gifts, of wide 
rea ding, knowledge, and experience. It is far easier 
to teach mathematics, or the elements of physical 
science, or even such subjects as history or a modern 
language, than it is to inculcate the best method of 
handling such a rich and flexible language as English 
written composition. The consequence is that 
literary composition occupies, as a rule, a very sub- 
the youth enters upon his higher education or even 
upon his life’s work with a very limited experience 
of the richness and beauty of his mother-tongue and 
with little or no knowledge how properly to deal 
ith it. 
Sir Clifford Allbutt’s strictures are based mainly 
his experience of the graduation theses of 
€ composition of scientific papers in general. The 
man of science, as a rule, springs from the same class 
is that which furnishes the medical man, and their 
upbringing and scholastic training are identical. It 
is therefore to be expected that they should both 
suffer from the same disabilities. Hence the author 
is fully justified in the selection of the more 
comprehensive title which he has attached to his 
A very limited experience of the periodical 
literature of science affords ample proof of the relevancy 
of his criticisms. Scientific memoirs are too frequently 
mere transcripts of laboratory journals, with no proper 
attempt at selection, logical esac! _€conomy 
al virtues which Sir Clifford Allbutt rightly 
in sists should characterise all literature. 
The book is evidently the result of much careful 
“study of contemporary scientific literature, and it is 
replete with illustrations and examples of faults in 
literary composition to be found in scientific coramuni- 
The author’s criticism is in the main con- 
If he points out a solecism, as a rule he 
‘shows how it should be avoided. At times, although 
he would doubtless deprecate the implication, he 
appears to be a little hypercritical and over-fastidious, 
and some exception might justly be taken to his ruling. 
NO. 2789, VOL. 111] 
NATURE 

491 
The fact is the English language is not standardised, 
and it is contrary to its genius and to its progressive 
nature that it should be. Its character is largely 
determined by use and wont, and by the example and 
influence of the acknowledged masters of literary 
craftsmanship. There is no established standard of 
style. “The style is the man.’ The styles of John- 
son and Addison, of Ruskin and Carlyle are as wide 
apart as the poles: they are individualistic and char- 
acteristic of the men. It is this variety which serves 
to make our language the noble instrument that it is. 
He who constitutes himself a literary censor, and 
takes up an ex cathedra attitude in the matter of 
literary composition, especially in the case of a lan- 
guage such as English, needs to be very sure of his 
ground and to walk warily. Years ago a certain 
Dean of Canterbury was constrained to publish a 
little book on the ‘“ Queen’s English.” That book 
was somewhat pitilessly handled by Mr. Washington 
Moon in a rejoinder entitled the “ Dean’s English.” 
This episode should be a warning to those who would 
rush in where angels may well fear to tread. Sir 
Clifford Allbutt has certainly the courage of his opinions 
and is not slow to tell us of his likes and dislikes, but 
even he, like the great Homer himself, sometimes 
nods, and lays himself open to rebutting criticism. 
At the same time, his book is well worthy of the atten- 
tion and careful study of all who seek to write correctly, 
and with a pious regard to the splendid inheritance 
they possess in their mother-tongue. 

Eastern Tibet. 
Travels of a Consular Officer in Eastern Tibet: together 
with a History of the Relations between China, Tibet, 
and India. By EricTeichmann. Pp. xxiv +248 +64 
plates+8 maps. (Cambridge: At the University 
Press, 1922.) 255. net. 
ASTERN Tibet remains the least known part of 
Asia in spite of its exceptionally interesting 
problems. An important contribution to its geography 
has now been made as one of the indirect results of the 
British expedition to Lhasa in 1904. The Chinese 
then feared the annexation of Tibet to India, and to 
avert this danger immediately sent an agent to Eastern 
Tibet ; in the following year, this ‘‘ Amban ” and his 
escort were massacred, and several French missionaries 
were murdered at their stations along the Tibetan 
frontier. To suppress the revolt Chao-erh-feng in- 
vaded the country, and Chinese authority was estab- 
lished and agents reinstalled in Lhasa. 
Chao-erh-feng was a man of remarkable capacity, 
and he secured the personal trust of the Tibetans by 
a policy which protected them from the tyranny of 
