December 17, 1908J 



NA TURE 



'93 



The fixed stars and their spectra and variations are 

 next considered, and the various proposals concerning 

 their classification are discussed; but here we cannot 

 but express regret at the lack of scientific spirit which 

 permeates some of the passages. For example, in de- 

 scribing the classifications, presumably to students and 

 general readers, we find the author stating that the 

 classification proposed by Lockyer, having as a funda- 

 mental feature the evolution of the heavenly bodies, 

 is, in his opinion, based on such uncertain premises 

 that he neglects entirely any further reference to its 

 foundation and characteristics. Surely a classification 

 which yet remains to be proved inadequate in the ex- 

 planation of observed phenomena, and which explains 

 so many of the problems of stellar evolution so simplv, 

 should not be so summarily dismissed from what is, 

 presumably, intended as a standard work on the sub- 

 ject. How different is Hale's attitude mentioned 

 above. There, whilst making the reservations which 

 he thinks necessary, he discusses the matter in relation 

 to the most recent work, and shows that one, at least, 

 of the fundamental points in the temperature classifi- 

 cation is capable of experimental demonstration. 



The remainder of the book is devoted to the dis- 

 cussion of radial velocities, novae, the changes pro- 

 duced in spectra by variation of the conditions under 

 which the light-source is produced, the several types of 

 stars showing e.xtraordinary spectra, and variable 

 stars. In conclusion, there is a chapter (xxviii.) in 

 which the results obtained from celestial photography 

 are discussed, special attention being paid to the 

 [iliotographs of nebulae and of the Milky Way. 



The volume is illustrated by thirtv full-page repro- 

 ductions of photographs and two hundred and ten 

 figures in the text, and should afl'ord German readers 

 a good general view of the studv of astrophysics. 



William E. Rolston. 



PEKING TO MANDALAY.'- 



"T^lIE great development of the facilities for travel 

 ^ in the interior of China that has taken place in 

 recent years is strikingly brought home to us by the 

 narrative of Mr. Johnston, the magistrate of our little 

 port of Weihaiwei, in North China. Since the days 

 of Marco Polo, who himself travelled from the old 

 capital of China to that of Burma, many European 

 travellers, for instance, Baber, Colquhoun, Gill, and 

 Morrison, have passed through much the same localities 

 and mainly by the same route, but none, perhaps, have 

 traversed the greater part of the ground more swiftly 

 than Mr. Johnston. Leaving Peking on January 13, 

 1906, by the great new inland railway, built by French 

 iiul Belgian engineers since the Boxer occupation of 

 I'l king in 1900-1, he reached Hankow, on the Yangtse, 

 'ill January 16, a distance of 759 miles, and the journey 

 could have been done in half the time but for the 

 train running only in the daytime, halting over- 

 ■ il;jht and resuining its journey in the morning. From 

 ' iikow, shallow-draught steamers owned by British, 

 inese, and Japanese companies proceed up the 

 X angtse thrice weekly to Ichang, at the entrance 

 to the great gorges of the Upper Yangtse, 

 described by Little and others, a thousand 

 miles from the mouth of that river and in the very 

 heart of China. In one of the Japanese steamers our 

 author made this journey in three or four days from 

 Hankow; and ten days' more by "red boat" took 

 him 200 miles through the gorges and up the rapids 

 10 Wan-hsien, in the rich province of Ssuch'uan beyond 



" From Peking to Mandalay : A Journey from North China to Burma 

 ugh Tibetan Ssuch'uan .^nd Vunn.in." By R. F. Johnston. Pp. xii + 

 : with Maps and Illustrations, i London : John iVIurray, 1908.) Price 



.\0. 2042, VOL. 79] 



the gorges. Here Mr. Johnston proceeded inland to 

 Tachicn-lu, visiting by the vvay the sacred Mount 

 Omei, to the previous descriptions of which bv Baber,' 

 Little,- and others he adds something, though unfor- 

 tunately he gives no photographs or sketches of the 

 contour of the mountain. 



Mount Omei, which the legends associate with the 

 mythical progenitors of the Chinese race, Fu Hsi and 

 Xu Wo, ascribed to the twenty-ninth century B.C., and 

 who have their caves here, early became a centre of 

 the Buddhists. A temple to Buddha is alleged to have 

 been erected here in the reign of Ming Ti (58-75 .A.D.), 

 under whom Buddhism is supposed to have been intro- 

 duced into China. A remarkable feature of this 

 mountain, and one which has evidently contributed 

 to its sacred repute, is the phenomenon of the antliclia 

 locally known as the " Glory of Buddha." From 

 the summit of the mountain the awe-struck pilgrim, 

 standing on the edge of a tremendous precipice, which 

 Baber describes as probably the highest in the world, 

 sees, under favourable atmospheric conditions, several 

 thousand feet below him, floating on a bank of 

 cloud, this beautiful iridescent halo in all the bril- 

 liant prismatic colours of the rainbow. It is of the 

 same kind as the spectre of the Brocken, and is to 

 be seen under similar conditions in other parts of the 

 .\lps and in the Himalayas. The necessary conditions 

 are said on hearsay by our author, who himself was 

 not so fortunate as to see the spectacle, to be a fairlv 

 clear sky and a bank of cloud below ; but he omits an 

 equally essential condition, namely, that the sun must 

 be on the opposite side of the spectator to the bank 

 of cloud. 



From Mount Omei Mr. Johnston passed to 

 Tachien-lu, the well-known mart and missionary 

 station in western China, and thence down through 

 the wild border country to Burma. The first part of 

 this route lay to the east of the usual track, and led 

 for about a month's march down the valley of the 

 Nya Rong or " Yalung " river to Li-chiang by a 

 road " evidently about the same " as that traversed 

 by M. Bonin in 1895,' and by the missionary, Mr. E. 

 Amundsen, in 1898,' and crossed by Major H. R. 

 Davies in his exploratory survey of western China. 

 This district and its interesting wild tribes, the Lolo 

 or Man-tzu, and others, are so comparatively unknown 

 that we regret to find so little new about them in 

 this book. The author tells us that his journe}' " was 

 not imdertaken in the special interests of geographical 

 or other science," but to gratify a desire for travel 

 and to acquire some knowledge of the various wild 

 tribes. He gives us, however, little fresh information 

 about the tribes, not even photographs of them that 

 are of any use for ethnological purposes. Indeed, 

 the want of new and more precise observation 

 is the chief defect of the book, and for a travel- 

 book there is far too frequent a tendency to 

 theorise and to inflate the text with discursive and 

 speculative views on the general tenets of Buddhism 

 and on commonplace topics of that religion taken 

 from the well-known works of European writers. So 

 again, when he devotes about ten pages to Mr. 

 Kingsmill's extravagant theory which ascribes to 

 the barbarous Man-tzu tribes of China a descent from 

 " the stock of the Maurya family of north-western 

 India," we think that Mr. Johnston takes too seriously 

 the legends fabricated by Buddhist priests in the 

 countries outside India in order to affiliate themselves 

 to the family of Asoka, the great Buddhist emperor 

 of India. Considerable space, totalling about three 

 pages, is taken up by the introduction of Chinese 



^ "Supplementary Papers," Roy. Geog. Soc, vol. i. 

 '■2 " Mount Omi and Beyond." By A. Little. 

 •^ BnUetin de iti Sec. de Geo^., 189S, pp. 3S9 et scq. 

 ■* Geo^?. Joui:, June and November, icoo. 



