NOVEMBEK 2, 18S3.] 



SCIENCE. 



593 



has always seemed to ine very important; viz., -nheth- 

 er the light of the corona contains an important 

 proportion of solar liglit. The result surpassed my 

 expectation in this matter. The Fraunhofer spec- 

 trum, so complete as I witnessed it at Caroline Island, 

 proves, that, without denying that a certain part is 

 due to diffraction, there exists in the corona, and 

 especially in certain parts of the corona, an enormous 

 ipiiiniity of reflected light; and as we know, besides, 

 that the coronal atmosphere is very thin, it must be 

 that in tlicse regions cosmic matter exists in the con- 

 dition of solid corpuscles, in order to explain this 

 abundance of reflected solar light. 



" The more we advance, the more we perceive the 

 complex nature of the regions in the immediate vicin- 

 ity of the sun; audit is only by persistent and very 

 varied observations, anil an exhaustive discussion of 

 these observations, that we can arrive at an exact 

 knowledge of these regions. The groat eclipse of 

 ISS;} has allowed us to take a step forward. 



"Photography of the corona. — The result of the 

 studies of the photographs will be given later; for 

 they require a thorough examination, since they 

 record many most interesting phenomena. I will 

 simply say at present, that these photographs show a 

 corona more extended llian that given by telescopic 

 examination, and that tlic phenomenon appeared well 

 defined and steady during the duration of totality. 



"Luminous intensity of the corona. — I had pre- 

 pared a photometric measure, by photography, of the 

 luminous intensity of the_corona. This experiment 

 showed that at Caroline Island the illumination given 

 by the corona was greater than that of the full moon. 

 The exact numbers will be given later. It should be 

 noted, that this is the first time that an exact measure 

 of the luminous intensity of this phenomenon has 

 been made." 



The remainder of the report gives an account of the 

 return journey of the members of the expedition. 

 They visited the volcano of Kilauea on the island of 

 Hawaii, and iiassed a night in the crater on the edge of 

 the lava lake. Mr. Janssen made some experiments, 

 which, he states, "show some curious coincidences 

 between these volcanic phenomena and those of the 

 solar surf ace. I was able, .alsi, to obtain the spectrum 

 of the (lames wliich issue from the lava, and to estab- 

 lish in them the presence of sodium, hydrogen, and 

 the carburetted compounds." W. U. 



THE HIMALAYAS.^ 



My predecessor, Sir Richard Temple, selected for 

 the subject of his address to tliis section last year, 

 'The central plateau of Asia.' Following him in a 

 measure over .^ome of the same ground, I have 

 selected the mountain region south of the Central 

 Asi.m highlands, viz., the Himalayas, and more par- 

 ticularly the western portion of that range, as the 

 subject of this paper. I propose considering this 



' Abstract of an nddresa by I-ieut.-lJol. H II. OoDwis-Ans- 

 TBN. F.K.S., F.G.S., K.K.Ct.S,, etc., president of the Boctlon of 

 gi'ograpby of tlie Brlllitli anxoclation. 



mountain chain with reference to its physical fea- 

 tures, past and present, and consequently with refer- 

 ence to its geological history, so far as that relates 

 to later tertiary times; i.e., the period immediately 

 l)receding the present distribution of seas, land, rivers, 

 and lakes. It is not, however, my intention to enter 

 very deeply into the purely geological branch of the 

 subject. 



The Himalayas, the highest mountains in the 

 world, comprise, strictly speaking, only the snowy 

 range seen from the plains of India, bordering upon 

 the course of the Giinges; but we might, I think, use 

 the term in an extended sense, so as to include that 

 which we may call the north-western Himalaya, 

 north of the Punjab, and also the eastern Himalaya, 

 bordering on Assam. The orography of this moun- 

 tain mass lias been recently ably haiuUed by Messrs. 

 Medlicott and Blanford ; ' and I follow them in all 

 their main divisions and nomenclature, which are, 

 based upon a thorough understanding of the rocks of 

 the country. Some line must be selected where the 

 term ' Himalaya ' must cease to be used, and this can- 

 not be better defined than by the valley of the Indus 

 from Attock to Biinji. On this line we find tlie great 

 beuding-round of all the ranges. To the mountains 

 north of the Indus, on its east and west course, the 

 name 'Himalaya' should certainly never be applied. 

 For this north-west, trans-Indus part of the Asian 

 chain we have the well-known name 'Mustagh,' so 

 far as the head of the Gilgit valley; the -Hindu 

 Kush ' being an excellent term now in common use 

 for its extension to the Afghan country. 



The observations made by many of the assistants 

 of the Indian geological survey, more especially by 

 Stoliczka, and more recently by Lydekker, in the 

 Himalayas, combined with those made by myself iu 

 the same region, have, when considered in conjunc- 

 tion with the ascertained strike of the granitoid or 

 gneissic rocks, led me to separate the great Central 

 Asian chain into the following five principal divisions, 

 with some minor subdivisions: — 



1. The main or Central i 4. Outer or lower Hira- 



Asian axis, Kuenlun. ' alaya. 



2. Trans-Himalaya. .5. Sub-Himalaya. 

 .3. Himalaya. 



In our present ignorance as to the composition of 

 the chain eastward from the Sutlej, we cannot at- 

 tempt to lay down there any axis-lines of original 

 elevation; but the separation of the line of highest 

 peaks into one range, and the water-parting into 

 another, is an acceptable solution of the physical fea- 

 tures, as at present known, of this part of the chain. 

 1 think, however, that when this ground is examined, 

 it will resolve itself into a scries of parallel ridges, 

 more or less close, and oblique to the line of greatest 

 altitude as defined by the line of high peaks, crossing 

 diagonally even the main drainage-line of theSanspu; 

 just as we see the Ladak axis crossing the Indus near 

 Hanle, or the Pir Fanjal that of the Jhelura. Sir 

 Henry Strachcy's conception of tlie general structure 

 was the soundest and most scientific first propounded. 



> A. m.inual of du- Kfology of India, 1S79, p. 9. 



