Fuly 2, 1885] 
NAGORE 
195 
idea of the great amount of matter which Dr. Lansdell 
has collected in these two volumes, so that we must 
content ourselves with a brief glance at a few of the 
more salient features. 
To geographers the account of the Thian Shan Moun- 
tains will be among the subjects of interest. These 
mountains, estimated by Réclus as. forming a mass 
twenty-five times larger than the Swiss Alps, and a 
protuberance on the earth’s surface larger than the 
united mountains of all Europe, begin in Mongolia, and 
develope by the addition of successive ridges until they 
occupy from north to south above eight degrees of 
latitude. The heights of the several ranges vary from 
about 10,000 to 14,000 feet above the sea, and in the 
Pamir range exceed 15,000. The number of glaciers 
exceeds 8000, The principal lakes are the Alakul, the 
Balkash, and the Issikul, the waters of which are 
brackish ; the first and second are believed to have once 
been connected. Volcanoes have been stated to exist in 
the Thian Shan, but this appears to be incorrect. Much 
information of interest is given about the Ili Valley, a 
meeting ground of the Tatar and Mongol races. From 
this region Dr. Lansdell diverged; eastwards from the 
course of his journey to reach Kuldja, a town within 
the Chinese frontier, for some time in Russian occupa- 
tion. He then continued his journey in a westerly direc- 
tion, passing through Semirechia, of which region he 
gives many particulars of interest, dwelling especially on 
the patriarchal life of its nomad inhabitants. From the 
Kirghi Steppe he passed into Turkistan. The climate of 
portions of the Aralo-Caspian region does not appear 
inviting: the summer temperature is from 68° to 77° F., 
the winter from 5° to 23°. In the lowlands rain falls rarely 
in summer, and in only a small amount at any season, 
Hence there is a general desiccation. The beds of 
tributary rivers are dry ; the main streams lose themselves 
in sands or terminate in brackish marshes ; the smaller 
lakes have evaporated, leaving behind them beds of salt ; 
the larger are much reduced in size. The land is barren ; 
trees are scarce ; vegetation is stunted, and limited in its 
species. The geology, as might be supposed, has not 
been exhaustively worked, but from a small work of M. 
Mouchketoff the author has obtained an outline, from 
which it appears that in one part or another of the dis- 
trict almost every formation, from the oldest to the 
newest, is represented, and that the mountain-chains 
consist largely of igneous rocks. 
Dr. Lansdell spent some days in Bokhara, which town 
no English traveller had visited since the time of Wolff’s 
adventurous journey. The fear of the Russian is, how- 
ever, now upon this people, and he appears to have met 
with little difficulty, though subjected to some surveill- 
ance. On his way to the city he visited the Emir, then 
at Kitab, and had a gracious reception. The description 
of the author’s invention of a court costume for the cere- 
mony of presentation is amusing: the chief components 
were a cassock, a D.D. hood, some masonic jewels, and a 
square college cap. From Bokhara Dr. Lansdell tra- 
velled through Khiva, and thence by a rarely-traversed 
route, which, after following the general direction of the 
_ Abu-Daria for some distance, runs in a_west-south- 
- westerly direction to Krasnovodsk, near the Karaboghaz 
Bay of the Caspian. Thence he returned to England, 
having accomplished in 179 days a journey of 12,000 miles 
—laborious, with considerable hardships, and not without 
some danger, though the Russian influence has rendered 
many places, farmerly all but inaccessible, comparatively 
safe. 
Dr. Lansdell does not profess to be a scientific traveller, 
but he is a careful observer, noting with an experienced 
eye the physical peculiarities of the regions through which 
he travelled; and he has been at immense pains to 
gather together a large mass of information concerning 
the flora, fauna, and ethnology of Central Asia,! which has 
been to a great extent accumulated by Russian men of 
science, and which, from being written in their language, 
is practically inaccessible to most Europeans. The 
appendices on the flora and fauna of Russian Turkistan 
occupy 148 pages of rather small print, and there is in 
addition a very full bibliography of the same district which 
extends to twenty-five pages. But much information, 
both from books and from personal observation, is also 
incorporated into the narrative of travel. Dr. Lansdell’s 
picture of the desiccation of the western part of Bokhara, 
of the moving sands between the Oxus and the Karakul, of 
the “barren and dry land” of the Aralo-Caspian region, 
and of the Karaboghaz Gulf—a great area of evaporation 
which, should any physical change close its narrow and 
shallow communication with the Caspian, would soon 
become one vast salt-pan—cannot fail to interest the 
student of physiography. In a word, the ethnologist, 
geologist, and naturalist will find these volumes not 
only very pleasant reading, but also most valuable for 
reference. 
OUR BOOK SHELF 
Bulletin of the Bussey Institution. Vol. 11., 1884. 
Allyn, 30, Franklyn Street, Boston, U.S.) 
THE Sulletin of the Bussey Institution has many claims 
to be considered as original in its design and in the 
character of its reports. It contains a large amount of 
information upon out-of-the-way topics, mostly treated 
upon from the chemical side, and in all cases communi- 
cated by Prof. F. H. Storer, Dean of the Institution, and 
Professor of Chemistry. 
The Bussey Institution is apparently a branch of Har- 
vard University, having special endowments, and its 
objects comprise the teaching of young men intended to 
become practical farmers, land agents, gardeners, florists, 
or landscape gardeners. 
The investigations conducted by Frof. Storer, reported 
in the 4zz//etin before us, are highly interesting to such 
students, and are characterised by a keen practical bias. 
The first paper is devoted to results of analysis of the 
leaves of Awmex crispbus and the common milk-weed 
(Asclipias cornuté), with a special view to their economic 
value. The second paper is upon an ingenious plan of 
ascertaining the rate at which various fertilisers may be 
scattered by hand, or, in the Professor’s own language, 
“about how much of a given fertiliser would a man natu- 
rally throw from his hand in sowing an acre of land?” 
Surely no learned professor ever set himself a more 
homely task! Next we find “ Experiments on Feeding 
Mice with Painters’ Putty and with other Pigments and 
Oil.” This is almost revolting, and raises a feeling of 
pity for the mice, together with a certain sense of loss of 
appetite on the part of the reader if he is indulging in an 
ante-prandial study of scientific novelties. Mice, how- 
ever, do eat putty, and, more curious still, red lead 
**See an artic!e by Dr, Lansdell, NATURE, May 21, p. 56. 
(John 
