September 2 x. 



1909J 



NA TURE 



369 



travel were so great in the early centuries of our era. 

 We read of regular posts and connected lines of open 

 route which must have been furrowed by the feet of 

 thousands where never a soul passes in these later days. 

 With new history we have also to welcome a broad 

 expanse of new geography. Dr. Stein's methods are 

 nothing if not thorough. We have no uncertainty as 

 to whereabouts he found this or that most ancient 

 site ; and when he records his remarkable discovery 

 of a long extension of the time-worn wall of China he 

 is able to define, not only its exact position, but its 

 geographical significance as a defensive work with 

 regard to surrounding topography. He does ample 

 justice to the ability of his geographical assistant, Rai 

 Sahib Ram Singh, but Ram Singh would never have 

 effected such results without Dr. Stein's effective guid- 

 ance and active help. One hundred and thirty sheets 

 of the standard degree size, on the scale of four miles 

 to the inch (which is what has been secured for the 

 records of the Indian Survey), is a solid addition to 

 our geographical knowledge which ranks well even 

 with his vast store of accumulated archjeological lore. 

 Perhaps the most noteworthy discovery made by Dr. 



-Frescoed Wall in Cave Temple at " The Ten-thousand Huddhas." 



Stein during his investigations was the extension of 

 the Turkestan basin eastwards to a point some seven 

 degrees farther east than had been previously re- 

 corded. From the Chinese frontier town of Suchau 

 a clearly defined line of drainage follows a course 

 parallel to the extension of the Great Wall towards 

 the central depression at Lop-nor; nor can there be 

 much doubt that in the early days of Buddhist settle- 

 ments in this region this now partially desiccated line 

 of drainage marked the main trade-route from China 

 to Turkestan. That route now hugs the foothills of 

 the Altyn Tagh to the south between Anshi and Lop- 

 nor, but it is a desolate and forsaken route, untrodden 

 bv the trader and unsanctified by the pilgrim. 



It may be long yet ere we are able to appreciate 

 as thev deserve the discoveries and collections of Dr. 

 Stein in relation to their bearing on the history of 

 India; for the mass of raw material which has yet 

 to be classified is so great as to have proved almost 

 an embarrassment to its owner. In the meantirne the 

 short and instructive booklet on the subject now issued 

 bv the Geographical Society is well worth careful study. 

 NO. 2082, VOL. 81] 



IRE SIXTEENTH INTERNATIONAL 

 CONGRESS OF MEDICINE. 



TV/TEDICIXE is so self-centred, and its practice is 

 ^^^ conducted so largely in private, that an inter- 

 national congress, where men meet on a level, rub 

 shoulders, and part again once in three or four years, 

 is an excellent corrective. It serves the same function 

 in the profession as is answered by a public school for 

 the only son of wealthy parents. It is not so much 

 what is taught as what is seen and heard. The 

 knowledge which is obtained by conversing with men 

 brought up in different schools of thought, under 

 various forms of civdisation, and often with wholly 

 divergent ideals, is in itself remarkable, and is 

 sufficient to start new trains of thought in many 

 lines of research. In a great gathering like the 

 International Congress of Medicine, where five or six 

 thousand medical men are gathered together at fixed 

 intervals, old friendships are cemented, new ones are 

 formed, and whilst the scientific reputation of some 

 falls to the ground, others are exalted. The quack is 

 taken at his true value, for his work is judged by 

 those who know the truth, whilst the 

 humble and earnest worker in the 

 difficult paths of research goes home 

 strengthened by the encouragement 

 which he has received from fellow 

 toilers. 



The sixteenth International Con- 

 gress of Medicine was held at 

 Budapest during the first week of 

 September. The seventeenth con- 

 gress will be held in 1913 at some 

 town in Great Britain. Budapest 

 lends itself especially to a large 

 gathering of foreigners. It is a 

 splendid city, magnificently placed 

 on the Danube, easy of access both 

 to the northern and eastern races of 

 Europe. The inhabitants are active, 

 intensely patriotic, eager to show 

 the progress that has been made, 

 and to prove that the youngest 

 civilised State in Europe has not 

 much to learn, and is in some re- 

 spects already ahead of the older 

 civilisations the best points of which 

 it has endeavoured to copy. It is, 

 indeed, very diflicult to realise that 

 Budapest was a Turkish possession 

 little more than two hundred years 

 ago, though the vigilant observer will notice 

 the very faintest trace of orientalism as he 

 walks amongst the people and through the smaller 

 streets of the town. For a medical congress, Buda- 

 pest is ideal, because it is full of springs and baths 

 which would in themselves have brought it fame, the 

 Hunyadi and Apenta springs being known throughout 

 the world. 



The congress was excellently organised, and the 

 greatest credit is due to the president. Prof. Kdlmdn 

 Miiller, and the general secretary. Prof. Emil de 

 Gr6sz, for the manner in which they brought 

 things to a successful issue. His Royal and Imperial 

 Highness the Archduke Joseph, acting on behalf of the 

 King of Hungary, was indefatigable in the cause of 

 the congress, for he not only attended the inaugural 

 meeting in the municipal buildings, where 5000 

 persons were gathered together on one of the hottest 

 days in the year, and remained throughout the whole 

 sitting of three hours, but later in the week he wel- 

 comed the members to the palace and spoke personally 

 to a verv large number of the more important official 



