

Dec. 25, 1879] 



NATURE 



175 



067? BOOK SHELF 

 The Climate of Eastern Asia. By Dr. H. Fritsche, 



Director of the Imperial Russian Observatory at 



Peking. Pp. 210, Maps 18. (Printed at the Celestial 



Empire Office, Shanghai.) 

 In this memoir Dr. Fritsche has very fully gathered 

 together the various meteorological observations which 

 have been made in Eastern Asia up to the present time, 

 and discussed them in such a way as to cast addi- 

 tional light on the laws of meteorological phenomena 

 ruling in that part of the globe. With the aid of the 

 fresh information obLained from the observations of the 

 past dozen years which it may be remarked have been 

 made with instruments generally of improved quality and 

 at known heights above sea-level, he has made several 

 important rectifications on the isothermal and isobaric 

 lines of Eastern Asia ; and stated with more adequate 

 emphasis than has been done heretofore the extra- 

 ordinary climatic influence of that enormous mass of 

 unbroken land practically destitute of lakes and of the 

 cold arctic currents which wash its eastern coasts. 



In winter, atmospheric pressure is high on the con- 

 tinent, and the general movement of the atmosphere 

 being from north-west and north, intensely cold air-cur- 

 rents set in southward from the arid wastes of the interior, 

 and are carried into lower latitudes than in any other 

 quarter of the globe. Hence the mean temperature of 

 January in the territory of the Amoor is i8 0- o lower than 

 that of the eastern coast of North America in the same 

 latitudes ; and even at Canton, which is just within the 

 tropics, the temperature sometimes sinks to freezing and 

 snow falls. On the other hand, in summer atmospheric 

 pressure is low on the continent, and the prevailing winds 

 being south-east and south the cold ocean currents flowing 

 along the coast from the north powerfully affect the 

 climate in moderating the summer-heat for some distance 

 inland. Dr. Fritsche's isothermals show that this influence 

 is much greater than is usually indicated on isothermal 

 charts. An extremely interesting comparison of climates 

 is made by an elaborate discussion of their monthly and 

 annual absolute maxima and minima of temperature, but 

 the conclusions would have been more valuable as well as 

 more telling if the methods of observation had been 

 uniform throughout. Indeed, in dealing with extreme 

 temperatures, want of uniformity of observation frequently 

 lays a complete arrest on all discussion. 



Dr. Fritsche places in a striking light the influence on 

 climate respectively of the warm waters of the Gulf Stream 

 and of the colossal dry continent of Asia. In January 

 the difference between the mean temperature of the North 

 Pole and that of the equator is, according to Dove, io6°'o. 

 Now, since Western Europe, which is the same distance 

 from Eastern Asia that the equator is from the Pole, has 

 a January temperature 5o°4 higher than that of Eastern 

 Asia, it follows that the influence of the distribution of 

 land and water on the mean temperature of January is 

 nearly a half of that occasioned by latitude. 



An elaborate comparison of Buchan's charts of isobaric 

 lines for the coasts and islands of Eastern Asia with 

 recent observations is made, with the result of an average 

 error of one millimetre (o'040 incK). Much, however, 

 remains to be done in settling this important physical 

 datum of the climate of Asia ; and it can only be satis- 

 factorily accomplished by the substitution of mercurial 

 for aneroid barometers where such are used, a more 

 accurate determination of the heights above sea-level, 

 and the establishment of additional meteorological sta- 

 tions in eastern and northern Siberia. 



Report on the Pathological Histology oj Epizootic 



Pleuropneumonia. By Charles S. Roy, M.D. (London : 



published by the British Medical Association, 1879.) 



Among the many infectious diseases which domestic 



animals are subject to, pleuropneumonia of cattle is one of 



serious importance to this, and indeed to every country. 

 Owing to the facility with which infection spreads, the 

 comparatively long duration of the malady, and the high 

 mortality of the affected animals, an epidemic outbreak 

 of this disease inflicts heavy losses on the holders of live 

 stock and on the community at large as the consumers 

 of articles of food derived from cattle. Every con- 

 tribution to elucidate its intimate pathology, is, there- 

 fore, of value, not only in furthering a better under- 

 standing of this particular malady, and thus probably 

 enabling us to grapple more successfully with its pre- 

 vention, but also in throwing light on infectious diseases 

 in general. 



The British Medical Association, by the assistance of 

 grants, which it bestows with laudable liberality in all 

 cases where they are deservedly needed, has for some 

 years been foremost in promoting the advancement of the 

 various branches of medical science, and it has in a 

 similar manner enabled Dr. Roy, at the suggestion of 

 Dr. Burdon Sanderson, to carry out an important in- 

 vestigation into the anatomy of pleuropneumonia. To 

 enumerate all the details of this investigation would be 

 more than is possible in a short notice like this, and, 

 probably more than is customary in this journal, but 

 some of the more important results may be here briefly 

 mentioned. 



In the earlier stages of the disease the lymphatics, 

 especially those of the sub-pleural plexus and of the con- 

 nective tissue separating the individual lobules of the 

 lung tissue, are found very much distended, being filled 

 with an exudation which at first is chiefly fibrinous, but 

 later on becomes crowded with cells of various sizes. The 

 lung-tissue itself is the seat of an inflammatory process, 

 which is chiefly characterised by the " absence of uni- 

 formity " ; in some parts it is similar to what is known to 

 pathologists as lobular pneumonia, in others it resembles 

 croupous pneumonia. In this respect the pleuropneumonia 

 does not differ from the lung affection in many other 

 infectious diseases. 



Dr. Roy states that in some parts of the lung there is 

 also a hypertrophy of the muscular tissue of the paren- 

 chyma, and illustrates this with a drawing, viz., Fig. VII. j 

 but to this we must take exception, for this figure illus- 

 trates merely the structure of a normal infundibulum, 

 very distinct as such by its epithelium and muscular 

 tissue. 



As the morbid process advances, large sections of 

 the lung tissue become involved in the inflammatory 

 change, and amongst them the bronchi themselves 

 and the lymphatic trunks leading into the bronchial 

 lymphatic glands. No distinct evidence of the presence 

 of minute organisms in the affected parts could be 

 obtained. 



That the malady involves, to a great extent, the 

 lymphatics of the lung, Dr. Roy learned by first making 

 a special investigation into their distribution in the normal 

 lung of cattle, and as the result of this investigation 

 several important facts were ascertained : the individual 

 lobules possess a certain independence from one another 

 both in their blood- and lymph-vessels ; the subpleural or 

 superficial lymphatics form a stellate plexus for each 

 lobule ; the efferent branches of this plexus join the peri- 

 bronchial and perivascular lymphatics. In this last 

 respect the lung of cattle differs from that of many other 

 animals, for in these latter there exist special vessels 

 leading from the subpleural plexus through the ligaments 

 of the lung to the root of this organ. 



The Report is accompanied by ten lithographed draw- 

 ings illustrating very capitally the more striking features 

 of the morbid process. We should have liked, however, 

 to see their number increased by several additional 

 drawings showing the distribution of the lymphatics of 

 the normal lung. 



E. Kleix 



