194 



.VA TURE 



[July 2, 1908 



accepted as a criterion for the differentiation of several 

 of the stellar groups. 



Approached with the above reservations the volume 

 is certainly attractive, and the only serious omission 

 appears to be the complete absence of references to 

 sources of the information, so that a reader desirous 

 of further study on any point is left entirely unaided. 



The plates chosen for illustrating' the volume are 

 excellent and beautifully reproduced. The usefulness 

 of many of them to the beginner will be somewhat im- 

 paired on account of the orientation letters being en- 

 tirely omitted, and in several cases the plates are 

 oriented differently from the majority, thereby leading 

 to further confusion. Illustrations of many old por- 

 traits and ancient impressions of the solar and stellar 

 systems are included, which will be the more interest- 

 ing in that they are not easily available elsewhere. 

 The index, well planned in general, contains many 

 useless references, in some cases quoting names 

 which, when referred to, prove to be merelv names 

 with no record of work done or other points of interest. 



It will thus be evident that opinions on the volume 

 will probably diverge along two lines; to the more 

 advanced reader it is likely to appear superficial, as 

 only touching with note-like brevity a few of the 

 many chapters of the science ; to the reader merely 

 interested in astronomical development, however, it 

 should appeal as a popular and very attractive account 

 of many interesting sections of nature-study. 



I'OiV RICHTHOFEX'S CHINESE DIARIES. 



Ferdinand von Richthofcn's Tagcbiicher aiis China. 



.^usgewahlt und herausgegeben von E. Tiessen. 



Two vols., illustrated. Vol. i., pp. xv-l-588; vol. ii., 



pp. iv+375. (Berlin : Dietrich Reimer, 1907.) 



Price 20 marks. 

 A ^T THEN Ferdinand von Richthofcn's life was 

 * * ended his great work on China still remained 

 unfinished. The third volume was not only unwritten, 

 but had become unwritable, for, besides a description 

 of southern China, it was intended to contain an 

 account of the culture, civilisation, and organisation 

 of China as a whole, and, apart from the magnitude 

 of the subject, the complete alteration in the conditions 

 of this " uncjianging " country since the date of his 

 travels had made much of his observation and ex- 

 perience inapplicable to the existing state of affairs. 

 Besides the missing volume of his great work, von 

 Richthofen also left unfinished the popular account 

 of his travels, a work which he regarded as a duty 

 owed to his fellow-men by every traveller in unex- 

 plored or little-known countries, and had, indeed, 

 nearly half completed when the publication of his 

 great work was assured, and monopolised the whole 

 of the time and energy which was not devoted to his 

 duties as professor. To fill in, so far as was possible, 

 these gaps in his published work, and to meet a 

 generally felt wish among Baron von Richthofen's 

 old students and friends, Herr Tiessen, with rare skill, 

 has compounded from von Richthofcn's unpublished 

 manuscripts, his diaries, and his letters home, one of 

 the most interesting and enlightening books of travel 

 which have been published. ' 



NO. 2018, VOL. 78I 



On .\ugust 3, 1 868, von Richthofen left San Fran- 

 cisco with the deliberate intention of undertaking 

 a geological examination of China. His hope was 

 that if he could manage to spend a year in that 

 country he would be able, by the importance of 

 the results, to interest the Government and obtain 

 from it the assistance needful for the prosecution 

 of his purpose. This first year of work was provided 

 for by the enlightened liberality of Californian 

 capitalists, who foresaw the practical importance of a 

 scientific investigation of the resources of China, and, 

 through the. Bank of California, provided funds for 

 an expedition, .\rriving in China, von Richthofen 

 was soon disillusioned of any hope of assistance from 

 the Government, but nevertheless, and in spite of every 

 discouragement, determined to pursue steadfastly his, 

 resolve. After some short excursions, mostly devoted 

 to the examination of real or reputed discoveries of 

 coal or ores, his first important journey was the 

 descent of the Vangtse and the examination of its 

 banks from Hankow to its mouth. This journey was 

 an important one in more than one way, and in none 

 more so than in the acquisition of Paul Splingaert, a 

 Belgian, who had acquired an intimate colloquial 

 knowledge of the Chinese language and an insight 

 into the character and habits of thought of the 

 Chinese people. The value of his services appears 

 repeatedly throughout the book, and the importance 

 of the results of von Richthofen's travels is very 

 largely due to the fortunate combination of the man 

 who knew how to collect and utilise information with 

 the man who was able to obtain it. On this journey, 

 too, von Richthofen made the first of those observ- 

 ations on the loess which led to the development of 

 his well-linown and now generally accepted theory of 

 the origin of that remarkable formation ; between 

 Nankin and Chin-kiang he found remains of Helix in 

 the loess near the hill of Fangshan, and remarks that 

 this discovery is inconsistent with the theories of Pum- 

 pelly, who regarded the loess as a fresh-water, or of 

 Kingsmill, who looked upon it as a marine, deposit. 



The next journey took him through the province of 

 Shantung, where he discovered large and important 

 coalfields, and was the first to recognise the value of 

 Kiao-chau as a port of access to, and an outlet for, the 

 mineral wealth of the province, a discovery of which the 

 German Government took advantage at a later period, 

 ."^fter a long journey through Mongolia to Pekin and 

 back to Shanghai, he accepted a proposal from the 

 Shanghai Chamber of Commerce for an exploration of 

 the interior of China ; and so, in spite of the failure 

 of his hopes of Government support, von Richthofen 

 found himself in a position to carry out the design 

 with which he left .America, and on January i, 1870, set 

 out from Canton on the first of his two great journeys 

 through the heart of the Chinese Empire, which ended 

 with his return on May 21, 1872, to Shanghai ; whence, 

 after a stay of five months, devoted to preparing a 

 report on his travels for the Shanghai Chamber of 

 Commerce, he returned to his native land after an 

 absence of just over twelve and a half years. 



These are the travels of which we are given a simple 

 and straightforward account devoid of all scientific 

 technicalities. Those who wish to make use of von 



