Feb. 17. 1887] 



NA rURE 



369 



the nerves of llie animal buiiy of the chemical affinity evvlved 

 as electricity from a few si|uare inches of decomposing zinc, it 

 may well be contended that the energy of chemical affinity 

 evolved from so great an area of decomposing organic substances 

 cannot be innocuous, and that the fact of its action not being 

 acknowledged by the subjective sense of feeling is no proof that 

 it is non-existent. 



Thus it becomes conceivable how the energy evolved in the 

 Soonderbunds may, when vapour-borne across the interval, 

 affect the inhabitants of Oude, and so alter the individual con- 

 dition as to admit of local causes producing foreign eftects. 



Many of the most careful observers have asserted that malarious 

 fevers arose from chill ; yet, while this did not solve the question, 

 it at least established one fact, that malarious fevers arose under 

 circumstances which necessitated vapour condensation, one gallon 

 of which would set free energy sueScient to melt 45 pounds 

 of cast iron. 



Familiarity with malaria will furnish many arguments in 

 support of the contention that fever infection is at least coincident 

 with vapour condensati in. A boat's crew ashore at night on a 

 West .Vfrican station will often be affected, while those but a few 

 miles seaward will remain exempt. 



In the deep valleys of Zululand leading from the St. Lucia 

 swamp, fever is contracted at a distance of many miles inland, 

 while high ground much nearer to the swamp may be occupied 

 with impunity. In the Terai, at the foot of the Himalayas, a 

 night's sojourn brings to the unseasoned traveller certain fever, 

 while a day journey is aim 1st free from risk. 



Since, then, the search for a material cause of cholera and of 

 malaria has been as unsuccessful as if one sought a material 

 cause for sunstroke, it may legitimately be suggested that, aa 

 the more rapidly fatal affection is the result of the action of 

 direct solar energy upon the sentient nerve-endings, so the less 

 rapid maladies may result from subordinate rates of the same 

 energy acting upon subdivisions of the nerve-endings, which, as 

 Dr. Goldscheider has shown, are specialised to respond to lower 

 velocities of that force, and that the chill to which so many 

 attribute the origin of fever is re.ally the acknowledgment, by 

 what Dr. Goldscheider terms " the special nerves of temperature 

 usually cognisant of cold,'' of that obscure energy hitherto un- 

 regarded as a factor in the production of disease, but which the 

 investigations of thermoelectricity may one day bring within the 

 ken of man. N.-vTHL. Alcock 



Military Prison, Dublin 



THE CRUISE OE THE '' MARCHES A" ^ 



THIS is one of the most interesting books of trave 

 that it has been our good fortune to meet with 

 for several years. Apart from its excellent maps and 

 wealth of illustration, it commends itself by a charm of 

 style not usually to be met with in works of this 

 nature, and by the judgment shown in the narrative. 

 Many countries were visited which lie in the well-beaten 

 track of every tourist round the world, but these ha\e not 

 even been alluded to. The attention is riveted to the 

 details of discoveries among little-known scenes, and 

 sometimes in quite une.\plored regions. 



The Marchcsa, an auxiliary screw schooner of 420 tons, 

 Mr. C. T. Kettlewell, captain and owner, was commissioned 

 in the Clyde in November i88i,and leftCoweson the 8th of 

 the January following. She reached Colombo on April 24, 

 having touched at Socotra and Oolegaum Island, one of 

 the Maldive group, on her way from Aden. From Ceylon 

 she proceeded via Singapore to Formosa ; and, coasting 

 along the south-eastern side of Formosa, she visited the 

 small Island of Samasana. While she was running 

 nearer to the coast at Chock-e-day, the stupendous cliffs 

 of this part of Formosa were seen rising, to a height of 

 some 5000 feet, upright from the water's edge. 



The little-known islands of the Liu-Kiu group were next 

 visited. These lie some 250 miles to the east-north-east of 

 Formosa ; they are partially volcanic, and lie just north of 

 the tropic. The account of the short sojourn at Napha, 



' " Th= Cruise of tlie MarJusa to Kamschatka and New Guinea : wiih 

 Moliccs of Formcsa. Liu-Kiu.'and various Islands of the Malay Archipelago." 

 Uy F. H. H. GuillemarJ. M.A.. M D. (Cantab.), &c. With Maps anj 

 numerous Illustrations. Two Volumes- (Londo.i ; John Murray, i836.) 



and of the wonderfully successful visit to Shiuri, the 

 capital, where are the ancient palaces of the Liu-Kiu 

 kings, will be found in Chapters II. and III. Some time 

 was spent at Japan, then the yacht's head was turned 

 northwards for Kamschatka, and on the morning of 

 August 13, when the fog lifted, the sharp peak of Vilu- 

 tchinska \'olcano enabled them to steer for Avatcha Bay, 

 within which lies the once well-known little harbour of 

 Petropaulovsky. 



" Avatcha Bay is one of the finest harbours in the 

 world, if not actually the finest. Rio and Sydney have no 

 mean claims for this position of honour, but those of us 

 who had seen both were unanimous in awarding the palm to 

 their Kamschatkan rival. A nearly circular basin of some 

 nine miles in diameter, and within a narrow entrance 

 opening to the south-south-east, it is roomy enough to 

 accommodate the navies of the world. It is entirely free 

 from dangers, has an even depth of ten or twelve fathoms , 

 and owing to its affording excellent holding ground and 

 being well protected from all winds it is perfectly safe in 

 all weathers. But the ordinary traveller will be struck 

 not so much with its nautical excellences as with the 

 superb scenery with which it is surrounded. To the south 

 rises the Vilutchinska \'olcano, now quiescent, a graceful 

 cone of about 7000 feet ; and a little farther eastwards a 

 huge fiat-topped mass exceeding it in height by a thousand 

 feet or more obtrudes itself, as a rare exception to the 

 rule of cone-shaped mountains which seems to obtain 

 throughout the country. It is nameless in the charts, for 

 we are in the land of volcanoes and it is only 8000 feet 

 in height ! On either hand on entering aie the two 

 secondary harbours, Rakova and Tareinska — the latter 

 nearly five miles in length— and within them again are 

 others on a still smaller scale. Nature here at least has 

 treated the mariner right royally. The iron-bound coast 

 without may be as bad a lee shore as any skipper need 

 wish to see, and the Pacific Octan may too often belie its 

 name, but here he can rest quietly, and sleep sur les deux 

 orcilles, until such time as he weighs anchor for the home- 

 ward voyage" (vol. i. p. 67). 



In spite of its imposing name, it did not take the 

 explorers long to see all the sights of Petropaulovsky, and 

 a plan was soon formed to make an expedition into the 

 interior. Travelling northwards from Avatcha Bay, they 

 soon struck the head waters of the great Kamschatka 

 River, on which they floated down to the sea. The 

 well-known naturalist Dr. Dybowski gave them great 

 assistance in their undertaking. The yacht was to remain in 

 harbour for some six weeks, and then to proceed, as it did, 

 to the mouth of the river to await their arrival. Of this 

 delightful river journey our space will permit us to give no 

 details. As far as Narchiki, where they met the river, they 

 journeyed on ponies, and then they floated down its stream, 

 sometimes in boats, sometimes on rafts, until, after many 

 an adventure, and, indeed, many a trial, they readied Ust 

 Kamschatka in safety. In places, the river swarmed with 

 salmon ; bears were in abundance ; the weather, though not 

 always of the best, was generally bright and clear ; but th" 

 natives were very difficult to deal with — always exorbitanv 

 in their charges, and often placing the travellers iri saa 

 dilemmas ; and constant rows took place about the hire of 

 the canoes. One morning, after a harder fight than usual 

 with the Mashura men, with much time and some temper 

 lost, they came in sight of the magnificent range of 

 volcanoes on the lower reach of the great river. The five 

 already-known volcanoes have elevations of from 11,700 

 to nearly 19,000 feet, and there were two much lower 

 cones, now first described, which they called after Gordon 

 and Herbert Stewart. The account of the travellers' first 

 view^ of these mighty peaks must be told in their own 

 words. 



" We floated silently down stream for a couple of hours 

 or more, thinking over the discussions that we knew only 

 too well would be renewed at the earliest opportunity, 



