Nov. 6, 1873] 



NATURE 



given any proof that such is the case. He says : — " We 

 may never in our waking hours be wholly free from the 

 stimulation of the senses, but in the exuberance of ner- 

 vous power, our activity is out of all proportion to the 

 actual solicitation of the feelings." What is the right 

 proportion of activity to feeling ? the proportion that 

 Prof. Bain takes as his standard by which to discover 

 that at times our activity is out of all proportion to feel- 

 ing. Is not the simple and the whole fact this, that the 

 amount of bodily movement that goes along with a given 

 amount of feeling is different in each individual, and in the 

 same individual from hour to hour. He continues : — 

 " The gesticulations and the carols of young and active 

 animals are mere overflow of nervous energy ; and 

 although they are very apt to concur with pleasing emo- 

 tion, they have an independent source ? their origin is 

 more physical than mental." Is not the origin not of 

 these only, but of all movements, entirely physical, though 

 it is also a fact that some movements, and certainly these 

 among the number, concur with pleasing emotion ? Mr. 

 Darwin has instanced the frisking of ahorse when turned 

 into an open field, as an example of joyful expression ; on 

 which it is remarked, this " is almost pure spontaneity 

 it does not necessarily express joy or pleasure at all. 

 How curious ! One must really be a psychologist before 

 he can see common things in such an uncommon light. 

 Perhaps no movement necessarily expresses any state of 

 consciousness whatever : but no ploughboy, we venture 

 to think, ever doubted that the frisking of his horse, when 

 he turned it loose in the field, was an expression of de- 

 light. But, then, ploughboys have no theories about spon- 

 taneous activity. All mental states correspond to certain 

 physical conditions ; that " the nerve-centres and the 

 muscles shall be fresh and vigor6us " is the physical con- 

 dition of much bodily activity, and at the same time of 

 the pleasure that goes along therewith. Granting that 

 " the kitten is not seriously in love with a worsted ball," 

 it thoroughly enjoys the sport nevertheless. Its amuse- 

 ment being mere play does not preclude its being real 

 pleasure. And if our memories can be trusted, the 

 worsted balls of our childhood were far more delightful 

 than the gold and substantial realities we seriously love 

 in our old age. S. 



''LAHORE TO Y ARK AND" 



Lahore to Yarkand. By Geo. Henderson, M.D., and 



Al'en O. Hume. (L. Reeve & Co.) 



TO Mr. Forsyth, the able conductor of the expedition 

 which they describe, the authors dedicate this 

 handsome volume, which, instead of being a continuous 

 narrative, is divided into three separate parts, each of 

 which will appeal to a different class of readers. The 

 description of the route, and the incidents encountered 

 on it, are given by Dr. Henderson, who with Mr. Forsyth 

 and Mr. Shaw were the only Europeans that went to 

 Yarkand on this " friendly " visit, sent by our Government 

 to the Atalik Ghazi ; it occupies two-fifths of the 

 work. The natural history of the living forms met with, 

 mostly by Dr. Hume, fiUs about one-fourth ; the rest 

 consisting of meteorological observations taken by Dr. 

 Henderson on the journey. 

 The difficulties that had to be encountered en rotete were 



many and severe ; the'desert nature of the road between 

 the districts of Ladak and Yarkand made it almost neces- 

 sary to discontinue the expedition, and the great heights 

 that had to be surmounted put a check on rapid progress, 

 in some parts rendering it impossible. 



Several opportunities occurred for the observation of 

 the physiological effects of higher altitudes and rapid 

 clianges of barometric pressure, one pass near Gnishu 

 which had to be traversed, named Cayley's Pass after Dr. 

 Cayley its discoverer, being 19,600 feet above the level of 

 the sea. From Dr. Henderson's remarks, however, it 

 appears that mountain sickness is not dependent on the 

 rarity of the air alone, for during the time that the expe- 

 dition was in the pass mentioned, no note was recorded of 

 any of the number suffering from it, whilst previously, on 

 the Chang-la, which is iS.ooofeet, most of the camp suffered 

 from severe headache, nausea, prostration of mind and 

 body, together v/ith irritability of stomach and temper ; 

 nevertheless observations at the time showed that the 

 pulse was not unusually rapid and the respiration was but 

 little, if at all, increased. The feeling of suffocation occa- 

 sionally experienced on waking during the night usually 

 passed off after a few deep inspirations had been made. 

 It is much to be regretted that, with the opportunities of 

 verifying and extending Dr. Marcet's observations on the 

 effects of ascending and descending mountains, Dr. 

 Henderson was not in a position to do so, which he un- 

 doubtedly would have done if he had been acquainted 

 with them. 



Shortly after leaving Patsalung, and when on the 

 southern boundary of Hill Yarkand, " nearly ten miles of 

 the way was over a plain about five miles wide, which 

 was covered to a depth of many feet (in one place where 

 cracks existed, to not less than twenty feet) with sulphate 

 of magnesia (Epsom salts), pure and white as newly- 

 fallen snow." This shows the abundance of a magnesian 

 limestone in the surrounding higher ground, and as the 

 water-supply of the city of Yarkand was from rivers which 

 rose in this or similar hills, the author's remark that 

 "about every third man we saw was afflicted with goitre," 

 is scarcely more than was to be expected, and we think 

 that if, instead of making "over to the D.ld Khwah a 

 quantity of iodine, for the treatment of goitre, at which 

 he was very much pleased," he had proposed a change in 

 the water-supply, the Yarkandis would have been the 

 gainers in the long run. 



As the Atalik Ghazi was away at the time Mr. Forsyth 

 arrived at his destination, and as the latter had strict 

 orders to return before winter, the mission was partially 

 unsuccessful. The return journey being later in the year, 

 the cold and discomfort were greater than on the march 

 north ; an idea may be formed of the acuteness of the 

 cold from the author's note on the Sukat pass. " My ink 

 was constantly hard frozen, and on several occasions when 

 I thawed it before the fire and attempted to write in my 

 pencil notes, it froze at once on the point of the pen. 

 Several times I tried to photograph, and once or twice 

 succeeded, but usually the tepid water used for washing 

 the plate froze as I poured it from the jug, and instantly 

 destroyed the picture." 



The illustrations of scenery, which in many books of 

 travel are but indifferently drawn, and disappointingly in- 

 accurate, are in this work replaced^ by " heliotype prints " 



