7^/6' 1 1, 1 8721 



NATURE 



such a construction will be exceedinijly glad that so ex- 

 perienced a man as Mr. Lloyd lends his assistance in so 

 disinterested a way to an establishment which we trust 

 cannot fail to exert a powerful inlluence on the progress 

 of scientific Biology. 



We are further informed that D;-. Dohrn has already 

 received considerable presents for the future library of the 

 Zoological Station. The celebrated firm of Engelmann, 

 Leipzig, has sent all works published by it o i biological 

 topics, and which had not yet formed part of Dr. Dohrn's 

 private library. The value of these books exceeds loo/. 

 Besides this Vieweg, of Brunswick, has sent all that he 

 has published on Biology. Theodor Fischer, of Cassel, 

 the well-known publisher of the magnificent " Pala?onto- 

 graphica," has also made very liberal grants. Others are 

 promised. We trust our English publishers will not hesi- 

 tate to send their publications on biological topics as soon 

 as application is made by the administration of tha 

 Station. 



The entrance of these books, and of whatever goods 

 may be sent to the Station, is freed from any duty by the 

 Italian Government. Dr. Dohrn hopes to o'otain in short 

 time, from a great steamboat company, free transport for 

 all the objects sent from England to the Station. 



On all these and other points we hop; to give more 

 full and special information at th; beginning of next 

 month, when the Committee for the Foundation of Zoo- 

 logical Stations in different parts of the World, v/iU pub- 

 lish its Report to the British Association. 



ON ALPINE MAPS 



MR. LESLIE STEPHEN says that the Alps are the 

 playground of Europe, and he is not far wrong ; 

 but the majority of the boys who frequent this playground 

 are acquainted with only a verv few of its nooks and cor- 

 ners, and not a single one of them can pretend to know 

 the whole of it. The Alps are not likely to be thoroughly 

 explored for several generations yet to come ; and I doubt 

 not that it will be possible for men half a century hence 

 to spend their ten or twelve seasons in the Alps, and still 

 to find at the end of their time valleys which have not 

 been described or even visited. 



The Alps are very imperfectly known, and they are still 

 more imperfectly mapped. A complete map of the entire 

 chain of the Alps is yet wanting. I mean one embracing 

 the whole of the land between the Mediterranean on the 

 south and Munich on the north, and from the valley of 

 the Rhone on the west to the frontiers of Styria and Hun- 

 gary on the east. I beheve it is correct to say that there 

 is no map in existence on a scale of ^07/,, go of nature (or 

 on nearly so large a scale) which contains the whole of 

 the above indicated regions ; and even the scale of 

 "^oo'uoo is much too small to permit justice to be done to 

 the mtricacies of the chain. So long as the Alps remain 

 divided between several countries it is not likely that we 

 shall possess a complete map of them upon an uniform 

 scale ; and as it is improbable that boundaries will be 

 rearranged for the formation of an Alpine State, and more 

 so that private individuals will be enterprising enough to 

 meet the want, it is in the highest degree unlikely that a 

 complete map of the Alps will be produced within many 

 years. Nevertheless, materials for a complete map are 

 rapidly accumulating ; the greater part of the chain has 

 been surveyed with considerable accuracy ; and the atten- 

 tion of the reader is now invited to some of the more im- 

 portant of the maps which have been, or are being, pro- 

 duced after these surveys. 



The Swiss Alps have been surveyed with a thoroughness 

 which leaves little or nothing to be desired. The Govern- 

 ment map of Switzerland, on a scale of yoo^ooo of nature, 

 in 25 sheets, besides possessing in a most remarkable 

 degree the essential qualities of accuracy and clearness, 



has, regarded as a whole, a unity and perfection which 

 place it far in advance of any other maps of mountainous 

 countries with which I am acquainted. I have carried it 

 in hand over a large part of Switzerland ; and whilst I 

 have never been able to detect anything more than trifling 

 inaccuracies, I have been continually filled with admira- 

 tion for the consummate ability displayed even in its most 

 minute details, and for its almost faultless expression of 

 every variety of mountain form. It would be a poor 

 compliment to it to say only that one can distinguish upon 

 it slopes from precipices, jagged ridges from rugged 

 ground, and the " ice-falls " of the glaciers from the gentle 

 undulating snowy slopes of the upper regions. One can 

 do much more than that. When its conventional methods 

 of expression have been mastered (and it must always be 

 remembered that line engraving is necessarily conven- 

 tional), the peaks detach themselves from the valleys and 

 soar aloft, and the mountaineer sees the Alps before him 

 with all their marvellous diversity of architecture ; nay, 

 more, he can fix his line of assault, and will say, " Here, 

 if anywhere, the summit may be gained." 



The eftect of the whole map is as satisfactory as its 

 details. The junctions of the sheets are admirably 

 effected and are scarcely perceptible,* the relief of the 

 hills gradually augments from the lowlands upwards, and 

 the massifs are projected — as it were embossed — with 

 astonishing power ; whilst the great features of the coun- 

 try (such, for example, as the upper valleys of the Rhone 

 and of the Rhine) are depicted so clearly that a single 

 glance is sufficient to fix them indelibly upon the memory. 

 As a work of art (irrespective of its other merits) this map 

 has extraordinary excellence, and, taken as a whole, I 

 believe it to be perfectly unique. 



There were special maps of several of the Swiss cantons 

 before the great survey was undertaken, but the map in 

 25 sheets is the first general official map of Switzerland 

 that has been produced. It is drawn with what is termed 

 oblique iis;ht — that is to say, with the light proceeding 

 from the left-hand top corner to the right-hand bottom 

 corner ; and this treatment (which the Swiss Staff main- 

 tain with reason is the natural and the only effective 

 system possible for a mountainous country) is employed 

 consistently through all the sheets. A great part of the 

 artistic effect of the map when the sheets are joined 

 together is due to this treatment. The system of central 

 light, which is sometimes adopted for maps, does not 

 answer for a mountainous country ; for it is evident, if it 

 is employed in a map with numerous sheets, that each 

 sheet becomes isolated from the surrounding ones, and 

 unity of effect is impossible. 



The claims of the draughtsmen and engravers of the 

 Swiss map are deserving of especial recognition. It could 

 not have been produced in its wonderful perfection unless 

 every person employed upon it had been devoted to the 

 work, and possessed of rare ability. But I believe that 

 the reason of the extraordinary uniformity in the excellence 

 of its parts, and of the unity of the whole, is found in the 

 fact that the entire drawings and plates (and a great part 

 of the surveyt) were executed under the direction of a 

 single head, namely, that of General GuiUaume Henri 

 Dufour.l The map is popularly and properly termed the 

 " Carte Dufour." 



The Swiss are keenly alive to the value and uses of 

 good maps, and since 1S69 have commenced a great one, 

 which, in its dimensions at least, dwarfs the Carte Dufour 



♦ For an example of the admirable way in which these sheets will join 

 together, the reader is referred to a map of the Canton Uri, issued by the 

 Swiss Statsbureau in 1867, which is composed of portions of four of the 

 sheets of the Dufour map. 



t The triangulation was commenced at the end of the last century by the 

 cantons, and in 1828 was taken into the hands of the Confederation. The 

 triangles of the first order were brought to a conclusion in 1840. The 

 first sheet appeared in 1S45, and the last one in 1864. In connection with 

 the survey the names of Betemps, Coaz, Mohr, and Colonel Siegfried 

 should be mentioned. The last-named gentleman is, since 1864, director of 

 th= Topographical Bureau. , 



t Born 1787 ; entered the Federal Staff 1817;. Colonel i3i7.j „ 



