SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIX. No. 473 



contraction of area at the poiat of fracture, makiag it diffi- 

 cult to believe that during fracture the molecular arrange- 

 ment of the particles affected by the fracture has been the 

 same as when specimens of the same plate have shown per- 

 haps 18 per cent elongation and 30 per cent contraction of 

 area in the testing machine. These facts would almost lead 

 to the conclusion that a sort of wave of molecular change 

 may arise in a steel plate, during which abnormal fracture 

 may occur, and after which the material of the plate may be 

 found in its ordinary condition. By working at a blue heat, 

 it is known that such a molecular change is produced, and 

 the fracture of a mild steel bar thus treated shows that the 

 metal has become brittle, but such a change is permanent. 

 It is, moreover, certain that liability to this class of fracture 

 is increased by the presence of certain impuri.ties in the metal, 

 the amount of which is often astonishingly small, and much 

 light will probably be thrown on these points, says En- 

 gineering, by investigations now in progress. 



It is not necessary that these investigations should, in the 

 first place, be conducted on steel itself, as it frequently hap- 

 pens in scientific work that a problem is more easily solved 

 by first dealing with simpler analogous cases than by a direct 

 attack on it in all its complexity. For a flank attack of this 

 character, gold, apart from its value, offers many advantages, 

 as it is easily obtained in the pure state, and is at the same 

 time profoundly affected by alloying it with very small 

 quantities of other metals, which changes it is difficult to 

 explain on any other hypothesis than that of an altered 

 molecular grouping. 



JOURNEYS IN THE PAMIRS AND ADJACENT 

 COUNTRIES.' 



This was the subject of the papei' read at the meeting of 

 the Royal Geographical Society, on Feb. 8, by Capt. F. E. 

 Tounghusband. The author described two journeys, one in 



1889 across the Kdrakorum and into the Pamir, the other in 



1890 to Yarkand and Kasligar, and south to the Pamirs 

 again. 



"The country," he said, " which I now wish to describe 

 to you is that mountainous region lying to the north of 

 Kashmir, which, from the height, the vastness, and the 

 grandeur of the mountains, seems to form the culminating 

 point of western Asia. When that great compression in na- 

 ture took place this seems to have been the point at which 

 the great solid crust of the earth was crunched and crushed 

 together to the greatest extent, and what must have formerly 

 been level peaceful plains such as we see to the present day 

 on either hand, in India and in Turkistan, were pressed and 

 upheaved into these mighty mountains, the highest peaks of 

 which are only a few hundred feet lower than Mount Ever- 

 est, the loftiest point on this earth. It was amongst the 

 peaks and passes, the glaciers and torrents of this awe-in- 

 spiring region, and anon over the plain like valleys and by 

 the still, quiet lakes of the Pamirs that my fate led me in the 

 journeys which I have now come before you to describe." 



Starting from Leh, in Ladak, Captain Younghusband's 

 first objective point was Shahidula. This place is situated ou 

 the trade route to Yarkand, and is 240 miles distant from 

 Leh. This he left on Sept. 3, to explore the country up to 

 the Tagh dum-bash Pamir. 



The I'oute now led up the valley of a river, on which 

 were several patches of fine grazing, and till last year this 

 had been well inhabited, but was now deserted on account 



' Nature, Feb. 11. 



of Kanjuti raids. The valley is known by the name of 

 Khal Chuskftn. Cliusktin in Turki means resting-place, and 

 Khal is the name of a holy man from Bokhara, who is said 

 to have rested here many years ago. The mountains bound- 

 ing the north of this valley are very bold and rugged, with 

 fine upstanding peaks and glaciers; but the range to the 

 south, which Hayward calls the Aktagh Range, was some- 

 what tame in character, with round mild summits and no 

 glaciers. The Sokhbulak is an easy pass, and from its sum- 

 mit to the east could be seen the snowy range of the western 

 Kuenlun Mountains, while to the west appeared a rocky 

 mass of mountains culminating in three fine snowy peaks, 

 which Hayward mistook as belonging to the main Mustagh 

 Range, but which in fact in no way approach to the height 

 and magniBcence of those mountains, and really belong to 

 the Aghil Range, which is separated from the Mustagh 

 Mountains by the valley of the Oprang River. 



On Sept. 11, the party crossed the remarkable depression 

 in the range which is known as the Aghil Pass. 



"From here is obtained one of the grandest views it is 

 possible to conceive ; to the south-west you look up the valley 

 of the Oprang River, which is bounded on either side by 

 ranges of magnificent snowy mountains, rising abruptly from 

 either bank, and far away in the distance could be seen the 

 end of an immense glacier flowing down from the main 

 range of the Mustagh Mountains This scene was even more 

 wild and bold than I had remembered it on my former jour- 

 ney, the mountains rising up tier upon tier in a succession 

 of sharp needle like peaks, bewildering the eye by their 

 number, and then in the background lie the great ice moun- 

 tains — white, cold, and relentless, defying the hardiest trav- 

 eller to enter their frozen clutches. I determined, however, 

 to venture amongst them to examine the glaciers from which 

 the Oprang River took its rise, and leaving my escort at the 

 foot of the Aghil Pass, set out on an exploration in that 

 direction. The first march was easy enough, leading over 

 the broad pebbly bed of the Oprang River. Up one of the 

 gorges to the south we caught a magnificent view of the great 

 peak K 2, 28,278 feet high, and we halted for the night at a 

 spot from which a view of both K 2 and of the Gushirbrum 

 peaks, four of which are over 26,000 feet, was visiWe. On 

 the following day our difficulties really began. The first 

 was the great glacier which we had seen from the Aghil 

 Pass; it protruded right across the valley of the Oprang 

 River, nearly touching the cliffs on the right bank;, but for- 

 tunately the river had kept a way for itself by continually 

 washing away the end of the glacier, which terminated in a 

 great wall of ice 150 to 200 feet high. This glacier runs 

 down from the Gushirbrum in the distance towering up to a 

 height of over 26,000 feet. The passage round the end of 

 the glacier was not unattended with danger, for the stream 

 was swift and strong, and on my own pony I had to recon- 

 noitre very carefully for points where it was shallow enough 

 to cross, while there was also some fear of fragments from 

 the great ice- wall falling down on the top of us when we 

 were passing along close under it. After getting round this 

 obstacle we entered a gravel plain, some three quarters of a 

 mile broad, and were then encountered by another glacier 

 running across the valley of the Oprang River. This ap- 

 peared to me to be one of the principal sources of the river, 

 and I determined to ascend it. Another glacier could be 

 seen to the south, and yet a third coming in a south-east di- 

 rection, and rising apparently not very far from the K4ra- 

 korum Pass. We were, therefore, now in an ice-bound 

 region, with glaciers in front of us, glaciers behind us, and 



