December 23, 1909] 



NA TURE 



The author admires this potentate's pushfulness, and 

 would welcome the advent of such another ruler, or a 

 reincarnation of Chin, to awaken China from her 

 sleep of a^es — that is, Chin modernised and shorn of 

 his wickedness. He may not have long to wait. Dr. 

 Geil's historical notes on the life and doings of this 

 famous emperor are written with force and an enter- 

 taining display of humour. But, after all, the manner 

 of building, it is a sordid tale of suffering, of which 

 the wall is a lasting memorial. 



Dr. Geil pauses at intervals in his journey to copy 

 ancient tablets of local wall interest, and to consider, 

 at length, the myths and superstitions of the Chinese, 

 and the condition of the world coeval with Chin the 

 hero. The rise and progress of Genghis Khan, "the 

 red raider,"- who eventually pierced the barrier and 

 conquered China, are dealt 'with.. He is described as 

 ".\ man of elemental fury beyond the. sweep of twen- 

 tieth century imagination," whose bloody career did 



of Europe and Japan urging forward the Chinese, 

 aiding tnem in rearing a great wall of militarism 

 more formidable than the barrier built by Chi-Hwangti 

 to bar all foreign interference with the internal affairs 

 of "The Central Flowery Land." 



In conclusion, this modern view of the Great Wall, 

 with its wealth of illustrations, and the author's dis- 

 cussions over a wide field, should afford instruction 

 and entertainment to the general reader. As a book 

 of travels, further details regarding the route traversed 

 would have been welcome. J. T. 



DR. LUDWIG MONO. F.R.S. 



BY the death of Dr. Ludwig Mond this country 

 has lost one of the most eminent of her chemical 

 technologists, and the world is the poorer by the 

 passing away of one who, himself a man of science 

 of no mean attainments, gave liberally of the wealth 



not end until he had slain as many people as now live 

 in all New England, New York, and Pennsylvania — a 

 monster of cruelty. Yet his grandson, Kublai Khan, 

 who came to the throne, proved one of the most en- 

 lightened monarchs known to Chinese history. He 

 excavated the Grand Canal, and extended his sway as 

 far as Moscow and the Levant. Dr. Geil gives a 

 brief risumi of medieval China since the building of 

 the wall to the present dynasty — the Manchu. He 

 eulogises the good work done by the Christian mis- 

 sions, and hails the light of a reformation that in the 

 future will make China a world Power of the first 

 rank. 



To anyone who knows the intellectual, as well as 

 practical, potentialities of the Chinese, the eventual 

 rise of this Yellow Peril seems far from impossible. 

 Besides the missions of peace that are at work, there 

 are other and rival missions from the armed camps 

 NO. 2095, VOL. 82] 



which his - knowledge and skill as a technologist 

 brought him in order to promote the dignity and 

 usefulness of science. Dr. Mond, as he would have 

 been the first to admit, undoubtedly owed much to 

 England, and he gave practical recognition of the 

 extent of his indebtedness by the open-handed gener- 

 osity with which during his life-time he supported 

 and endowed her scientific institutions. He never 

 forgot that it was through science he had prospered, 

 and he was ever ready to return to the service of 

 science a large measure of the riches she had con- 

 ferred upon him. 



The International Catalogue of Scientific Literature, 

 and the establishment and endowment of the Davy- 

 Faraday Laboratory, are splendid monuments more 

 enduring that bras's. With these Dr. Mond's name 

 will for ever be associated. But in reality they con- 

 stitute only a fraction of the benefits he conferred upon 



