388 



NA rURE 



[August 27, 1896 



intersperse political allusions in biological descriptions : 

 an unnecessary feature, to speak the truth. His innate 

 aggressiveness had again the best of him. A year or 

 two passed, when he received from Geneva the proposal 

 of a botanical chair. \'ogt, not feeling qualified, declined. 

 Well, would he accept a chair of doology and I'ahconto- 

 log^'? Willingly : and now, at last, \'ogt "settled." He 

 became a Swiss citizen, and from 1856 to the day of his 

 death, played a not unimportant role in Swiss politics, 

 having been repeatedly elected to the highest councils of 

 State. He was one of the founders of the Institiit 

 National Genc'ois, and while dulj' attending to his 

 professorial duties, he took an active part in the 

 more important political and scientific discussions or 

 quarrels of the time. He was one of those who before 

 the sixties, ardently advocated the creation of zoological 

 marine stations ; nor could he fail, when the " Origin of 

 Species" was thrown on the world, to become an admirer 

 and supporter of the new theory. The principal events 

 of his life may now be rapidly noticed. In 1861, he 

 travelled north and visited Norway, Jan Mayen, Iceland, 

 publishing an account of his excursion in 1862 under the 

 title " Nord-Fahrt entlang der Norwegischen kiiste," 

 &c. ; in 1S63, were published " \'orlesungen uber den 

 Menschen" — translated in English, French, Italian, 

 Spanish, Russian, Polish, Hungarian — much read, much 

 abused, but also much approved in spite — or because — of 

 the burning ground which they covered ; and the interest 

 A'ogt took there and then in prehistoric archicology was 

 the cause of his investigations on anthropology, later em- 

 bodied in diflferent papers : " Ueber die fossilen .Menschen- 

 schadel der Diluvialbildung," " La Machoire humaine 

 de Naulette," " Le Crane du val d'Arno." His " Vorles- 

 ungen iiber sch.adliche und niitzliche Thiere " were pub- 

 lished at about the same time. In 1865-66 he issued his 

 important " Mt'nioire sur les microcdphales ou Honimes- 

 Singes," where he considered microcephaly as a return 

 to the condition of man's ancestor — a view much opposed 

 by Virchow, while no definite conclusion can be said to 

 have yet obtained. From 1867 or 1869 he wrote little, 

 but spoke much. At that time he travelled in Germany 

 delivering lectures on the origin of man and the Dar- 

 winian theory. "Aftenvogt" — monkey- Vogt, as he was 

 nicknamed by the people, had occasionally a hard time 

 of it. One evening, while he was lecturing, some stones 

 crashed through the window. " I was talking yesterday 

 evening, gentlemen," says Vogt, picking up one of the 

 missiles, " I was talking of our savage ancestors of the 

 Stone age : you may percei\e now, that this age is not 

 entirely a thing of the past." And Broca, writing to him 

 about his book on useful and injurious animals, could 

 rightly say : " Vogt, there are many beasts in this world 

 and of the most injurious, of which you have said 

 nothing." . . . 



Vogt's life is so very full, that it is hard to even men- 

 tion its principal phases. In 1872-74 we find him actively 

 engaged in the task of creating a medical school — a 

 university — in Geneva, and in 1875 he succeeds, having 

 played a very prominent part therein ; at the same time 

 he publishes his " Atlas der Zoologie," translates Gegen- 

 baur's " Manual of Comparative Anatomy " ; writes papers 

 for a number of reviews ; works at Roscoffat his " Loxo- 

 soma" and "Recherches Cotiiires;" and has a good 

 NO. 1400, VOL. 54] 



fight with anli-vivisectionists. In 1879, becomes forward 

 again with a paper on " Archa-optcryx " — the second 

 skeleton discovered. In 1884, he publishes his large book 

 on " Mammals," illustrated by Specht ; and then sets to 

 work at his "Traite d'Anatomie comparee," with E. Yung' 

 co-operation. A large work, and one that entailed miu I 

 eftbrt — this treatise was completed only two years ago- 

 it was \'ogt's c/tant du iy,s:nc, the last work of a ver\ 

 complete and active life, and one which fittingly crowned 

 and closed his career. Carl Vogt was spared the anti- 

 iiior/cm death which too often preys upon brain-workers, 

 and kept his mental vigour to the end. 



Ever liberal in spirit and in doings, he was to the last 

 the champion of liberal measures and laws, and the pro- 

 tector of the oppressed. Scientific men may regret that 

 he did not devote more time to pure science, but he has 

 so much contributed to ventilate the i/uccftiofn^s vexatas 

 of his time, and to render ihcm intelligible to the general 

 public ; he has so liberally devoted much of his time, 

 activity, and talent to the furtherance of measures favour- 

 able to the benefit of all, that this regret must cease to 

 exist. Doubtless, he was often excessive in language, 

 and his undisguised materialism made him a large 

 number of enemies. The latter cannot fail, however, to 

 recognise the fact that the life of this " infidel " has been 

 one of which no orthodox man could be ashamed, and that 

 the guiding motives of Carl \'ogt's thoughts, writings, 

 and acts were generous and elevated. 



M. William Vogt's account of his father's life 

 is most interesting, and we have not been able 

 to do it justice in so short an account. The son 

 has inherited much of his father's wit and hot- 

 headedness ; he writes in picturesque and not over- 

 academical style. Some letters of Vogt's correspondents 

 are interspersed here and there : letters from von Baer, 

 Bunsen, de CandoUe, Darwin, Gaudry, Herzen, de 

 Quatrefages, .Sir John Lubbock, Lycll, ^S;c. ; but we much 

 regret that there are not more of those of Carl Vogt him- 

 self. The large, powerful, lion-headed naturalist had not 

 only power at his command ; wit he had also, and he 

 knew how to use it. The slender and piercing arrow he 

 let fly as dexterously as he wielded the suord or the battle- 

 axe. Many still live who could testify thereto. 



Henry he Varicnv. 



THE EASTERN TIAN-SHAN. 



Description of a Journey to Western China. By G. E. 

 drum C}rzimailo, with the aid of M. E. Grum Grzimailo. 

 \'ol. 1. : Along the Eastern Tian-Shan. With map 

 and thirty engravings. Edited by the Russian Geo- 

 graphical Society. In Russian. 4to. pp. 320. (St. 

 Petersburg, 1896.) 



UNDER the above title the Russian Geographical 

 Society has issued a new addition to its splendid 

 series of works on Central .Asia, which already contains 

 the records of the journeys of Prjevalsky, Potanin, and 

 Pyevtsofi". The yet so little-known mountains which are 

 described under the vague name of Eastern Tian-shan, 

 the great desert of the Hashun Gobi, and the Nan-shan 

 highlands having been the field of exploration by the 

 brothers Grum Grzimailo during the years 1889 and 1890, 



