93 



NATURE 



\_Nov. 27, 1879 



Oxus as far as it flows parallel with the Hindu Kush ; then cross 

 over the pass of Ishkashm to the Upper Kokcha from which in 

 all probability the Anderab valley is accessible, and also 

 Bamian. From Bamian Capt. Conolly passed to the upper 

 waters of the river of Balkh and thence into the valley of 

 Hari Rud, which expands westward to the meridian of Herat. 



Between the meridian of Herat and Kabul, at least three lines 

 of lateral communication are partially delineated. These are 

 the parallel valleys of the Hari Rud, of the Murghab, and of 

 the route traversed by Vambery, and the Russian officer 

 Grodekov. Indeed it can be still further demonstrated that 

 practical lateral communication exits throughout the whole 

 length of the Iranian and Himalayan systems, and probably 

 offers greater facilities of transit than the transverse routes. 

 I On this point a few words appear to be called for, by the 

 statements of a recent writer, a member of parliament, and 

 formerly an Indian Governor of great distinction, who has 

 denied the existence of lateral communication along and within 

 the Sul'man Mountains which form the easternmost part of the 

 Iranian system and extend nearly from the Kabul River to 

 the sea. 



So far •from lateral communication being wanting in this 

 locality, which is now of much importance on account of its 

 being brought by treaty within the scope of British administra- 

 tion — so far from the lateral communication being deficient and 

 much less altogether absent— it constitutes as in the other 

 mountains which we have discussed, a characteristic and marked 

 feature of them. Indeed the outermost slope or scarp of the 

 eastern Sulitnan has been delineated like a rising series of 

 parallel gutters, terraces, or troughs, in the beautiful maps of 

 the Derajat prepared by the surveyors under the guidance of 

 Major-General Sir Henry Thuillier, who for so long a time 

 filled the office of Surveyor-General of India, and whose 

 presence here is such an advantage to the section. 



In the heart of the mountains two lines of lateral communica- 

 tion can be already traced, even with our present very scanty 

 information. Both are on the east of the waterparting of the 

 Helmund and Indus basins, which is formed by the western 

 range of the Suliman. One skirts the very summits of the range 

 and is formed at its northern limit by the uppermost valleys of the 

 Kurram, west of the PeiwarKotul. Itis watered by a stream which 

 descends from near the Shutargarden Pass to the Kurram, where 

 it meets another branch of the Kurram coming from the Mangal 

 country on the southwestern limits of the Kurram basin. From 

 thence there is a communication with the district of Furmul 

 which was known to the Turki Emperor, geographer, and con- 

 queror of India— the famous Baber. Furmul lies at the head of 

 the Dawar valley and river, which descends from it straightway 

 to the Indus, but has never yet been wholly traversed by Euro- 

 peans. Furuiul is occupied by the Karoti tribe of the famous 

 Povindah merchants, unless the Waziri have driven them out. 



From Furmul this lateral line passes on to the Dwa Gummul 

 another haunt of the Karoti people, who, as Povindahs and 

 periodical visitors and traders to India, should have a clear in- 

 terest in being friendly with us. From the Dwa Gummul we 

 pass on to a southern headwater of the Gummul, and so on to 

 the head of the Zhob valley, which is connected with the Thal- 

 Chotiali route to Peshin. 



There is another very important lateral line, a part of which 

 was made known to Lieut. Broadfoot of the Royal Engineers 

 as far back as 1842, by a native name, signifying "the road of 

 the Waziri," a dominant tribe in those parts. This also connects 

 the Kurram valley with the Dawar and Gummul valleys ; and 

 it is prolonged from Gummul up to the Chotiali route, by the 

 great Zhob valley, which has at least been di tinctly seen from 

 both end-, in a direction nearly meridianal. We all know the 

 great road which has been traversed by British troops between 

 Kabul, Ghazni, Kandahar, and Kelat, and eastward of this, on 

 the western side of the western Suliman range, a route has been 

 traversed from Zurmul to lake Abistada, and from the lake to 

 Kelat, British troops have marched over the Toba highland. 



So much by way of proof of abundant lateral communication 

 along the mountains west of the Indus. 



One word more relating to the lateral communication through 

 the hills and valleys of the south slope of the great Iranian 

 highland. For it relates to the construction in the near future 

 of a railway to India. From sheer ignorance some have pro- 

 posed to carry such a line along the coast in a deadly climate 

 with the atmosphere of a permanent hot bath. But the true 

 route is found in one of those elongated lateral valleys which at 



a considerable elevation above the sea and in a better climate 

 than that of the lowland on the coast, stretch all along from the 

 Pubb river on the borders of India to Mesopotamia. Among 

 these is the line of the Kej valley and a succession of others 

 leading to Shiraz, from whence there is little doubt that a practi- 

 cal line may be found up to Bagdad . 



UNI VERS IT Y AND EDUCA TIONA L 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Cambridge. — The Professorship of Experimental Physics 

 has been formally continued by the Senate, and there is now no 

 doubt that if Lord Rayleigh is willing to undertake this onerous 

 office, he will be elected Professor. A memorial requesting him 

 to be a candidate signed by almost every elector in a very short 

 time seems like a command. It shows that there is no fear, and 

 every hope for a beneficial result to education following. Lord 

 Rayleigh's knowledge of the working of the University and the 

 Scientific Commission will give him a most commanding posi- 

 tion. It is a clear "call'' from the University when such men 

 as Adams, Besant, Cayley, Dewar, Ferrers, Frost, Garnett, J. 

 W. Glaisher, Hughes, Liveing, R. K. Miller, Peile, Pendlebury, 

 Routh, Salvin, Skeat, Stoke, James Stuart, Todhunter, Venn, 

 James Ward, W. Aldis Wright and others unanimously record 

 their view that it would tend greatly to the advance of physical 

 science and to the advantage of the University that Lord Ray- 

 leigh should occupy the chair of Experimental Physics at 

 Cambridge. 



Messrs. C. W. Moule (Corpus) and S. H. Vines (Christ's) have 

 been appointed members of the Botanic Garden Syndicate till 

 November 20, 18S2 ; Drs. Power and Phear have been appointed 

 on the Museum and Lecture Rooms Syndicate ; Mr. Henry- 

 Sedgwick and Mr. V. H. Stanton are again on the Local Ex- 

 aminations Syndicate ; Messrs. W. D. Niven and G. H. Darwin 

 are appointed on the Observatory Sydicate ; Messrs. Bradshaw, 

 Bensly and Peile, and Dr. Hart and Mr. Aldis Wright are on 

 the University Press Syndicate; the two latter are special elec- 

 tions in view of the publication of the Revised Translation of 

 the Bible ; P. T. Main and F. M. Balfour on the State Medicine 

 Syndicate. 



Mr. S. II. Vines is also appointed on the Natural Science 

 Studies ; and Dr. Paget has been elected on the Council of the 

 Senate, as a Professor, in Prof. Maxwell's place, for one year, 

 and by only one vote over Prof. Stuart. Dr. Paget has on pre- 

 vious occasions been unwilling to come forward for such an 

 onerous post, and would hardly now have done so, but for the 

 short term of office required, and the importance of the medical 

 and natural science rearrangements at Cambridge demanding his 

 aid if the University showed its confidence in him. 



An amended schedule for 2nd M.B. Camb. to come into 

 operation in June, 18S0, as far as regards comparative anatomy 

 differs from that at present in force in introducing excretory and 

 reproductive organs, as being required to be known in addition 

 to the other principal systems : the tapeworms parasitic in man, 

 cockroach, fresh-water mussel, whiting, and rabbit are intro- 

 duced, while the spider and the cockchafer, oyster, perch, and 

 rat disappear. In the specification as to the vertebrate skeleton, 

 the cod di-places the perch, the dog replaces the rat. These 

 changes all seem to be in the direction of providing larger and 

 more conspicuous and accessible specimens to be studied, or 

 those more necessary for a medical student. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 

 Journal of Botany, September, October, and November. — 

 The last three numbers of tins' journal are mainly occupied with 

 articles on descriptive and systematic botany, extracts, and re- 

 views, with the exception of two, to which special attention 

 may be called. — In the September number Mr. S. Le M. Moore 

 has a " preliminary notice" on mimicry of seeds and fruits, ami 

 the functions of seminal appendages. He points out the number 

 of seeds or fruits that bear a striking resemblance to coleopterous 

 or other insects, by means of which he believes they may often 

 escape from their seminivorous enemies by being passed over as 

 insects, or, being picked up and thrown away by insectivorous 

 birds, may thus become disseminated. He adduces striking in- 

 stances of this mimicry in Polygalaceae, Leguminosa?, Umbel- 

 lifera;, and especially Euphorbiace.x", in which the carunculus of 

 the seed closely resembles the head of the insect, and the raphal 



