244 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Sept. 7, 1888. 



It is impossible for me to touch on these important matters at any 

 greater length, but I doubt if the theory of fermentation, as 

 applied to the diseases of organisms, has as yet more than opened 

 its first page. It seems to me possible that, besides the rational 

 explanation of zymotic diseases, it may throw light on others where, 

 owing to abnormal conditions, the organism, as in the case of 

 Berard's plants, is itself the agent in its own fermentative processes. 



And now I must conclude. I have led you, I am afraid, a too 

 lengthy and varied a journey in the field of botanical study. But 

 to sum up my argument : I believe I have shown you that at the 

 bottom of every great branch of biological inquiry it has never 

 been possible to neglect the study of plants ; nay, more, that the 

 study of plant-life has generally given the key to the true course of 

 investigation. Whether you take the problems of geographical 

 distribution, the most obscure points in the theory of organic evo- 

 lution, or the innermost secrets of vital phenomena, whether in 

 health or disease, not to consider plants is still, in the words of 

 Mr. Darwin, "a gigantic oversight, for these would simplify the 

 problem." 



ABSTRACT OF THE ADDRESS TO THE GEOGRAPHICAL 

 SECTION OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION, 



By Colonel Sir C. W. Wilson, R.E., K.C.B., K.C.M.G., 

 D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., F.R.G.S., Director-General of 

 the Ordnance Survey, President of the Section. 

 The great civilisations of high antiquity appear to have risen and 

 expanded in four riverain districts ; Chinese in the basins of the 

 Hoang Ho and the Yang-tse-Kiang ; Hindu in those of the Indus 

 and the Ganges ; Chaldrean and Assyro-Babylonian in those of the 

 Tigris and Euphrates ; and Egyptian in that of the Nile. India is 

 separated from China, on the one hand, by rugged, lofty monntain 

 ranges, and the high-lying plateau of Thibet ; and from Mesopo- 

 tamia, on the other, by the Suleiman Mountains and the Perso- 

 Afghan plateau. Intercommunication between these early seats of 

 man's activity must, therefore, have been of slow growth. From 

 Mesopotamia, on the contrary, there is easy access to the Nile basin 

 by way of Syria and Palestine, and there are indications of traffic 

 between these districts at a very remote period. Enquiry into the 

 causes which first led to intercommunication and into the means by 

 which it was effected is needless. Desire of gain, lust of power, 

 were as much a part of human nature in the earliest ages as they are 

 now. The former induced the pioneers of commerce to feel their 

 way across trackless deserts, and to brave the hidden dangers of the 

 sea ; and for nearly three hundred years it led gallant men to seek a 

 way to the wealth of India through the ice-laden seas of the Arctic 

 region. The latter brought the great empires of Assyria and Egypt 

 into hostile conflict, and carried Alexander to the banks of the Oxus 

 and the Indus ; and it is largely answerable for the land-hunger of 

 European states in our own generation. 



Nations rise, fall, and disappear, but commerce extends in ever- 

 widening circles, and knows no limits. Efforts are constantly being 

 made to discover and open up new fields of commercial activity and 

 to connect the great centres of commerce by quicker and shorter 

 trade routes. The earliest traffic was conducted by land ; men 

 travelled together in caravans for mutual protection, and rested 

 where food and water were to be obtained ; at the most important of 

 these halting places cities were founded. As trade extended it 

 became necessary to carry goods through independent tribes or 

 countries which often insisted on retaining the transit trade in their 

 own hands, and this led to the rise of cities at points convenient for 

 the transfer of loads and the exchange of the commodities of one 

 country for those of another. Generally speaking this early overland 

 trade was co-extensive with the geographical limit of the camel. 

 Next in order to land traffic came that by water, first on rivers, then 

 on the sea ; and cities naturally sprang up at places on the coast 

 where the merchandise brought down the rivers in boats could, 

 conveniently and safely, be transferred to galleys or ships suitable 

 for coasting. Increased knowledge of the globe, improvements in 

 the art of shipbuilding, and the invention of the steam-engine have 

 gradually led to the ocean traffic of the present day, conducted by 

 large steamers which, regardless of wind and tide, follow the most 

 direct course from one point to another. The trade routes of the 

 world are subject to two great modifying influences, one physical, 

 the other political. The inland trade of India, for instance, can only 

 reach Central Asia and the West by way of Herat or Bamian ; 

 caravan roads across the deserts of Asia and Africa must follow lines 

 of springs or wells ; climatic conditions render all Polar routes 

 impracticable ; and the removal of a physical obstacle, by the con- 

 struction of the Suez Canal, is now causing a remarkable 

 redistribution of the channels of commerce. So, too, disturbance of 

 traffic by war, or its designed destruction by conquerors ; and great 

 political changes, such as the establishment of the Persian Empire, 



the rise of Rome, the disruption of the Roman Empire, and the 

 advent of the Arabs to power in Western Asia, divert trade from its 

 accustomed routes and force it into new channels, to the ruin of 

 some cities and states and the enrichment of others. The general 

 tendency of trade so diverted is to seek, where possible, a maritime 

 route, for water transport is not only less costly but less liable to 

 interruption than land transport. 



India, partly from its geographical position, partly from the 

 character of its people, has always played a passive role in commerce, 

 and allowed the initiative in commercial enterprise to rest with the 

 West. The greatest advantages have always been derived from the 

 possession of the trade between the East and the West, and, from a 

 remote period, the nations of the world have contended for this 

 rich prize. One state after another has obtained and lost the prize ; 

 England now holds it, but if she is to keep what she has obtained 

 there must be a far closer study than there has hitherto been, of 

 geography and terrestrial phenomena in their relation to commerce. 

 ' Since the discovery of the Cape route there has been one long 

 struggle for the possession of the commerce of India ; who should 

 be the carriers and distributors of Indian commodities was for 

 more than two and a half centuries a much contested point amongst 

 the maritime nations of the West. At first there seems to have 

 been a general acquiescence in the claim of the Spaniards and 

 Portuguese to a monopoly of the southern sea-routes, and this led 

 to those heroic efforts to find a north-east or north-west passage to 

 India which have so greatly added to our geographical knowledge. 

 Failure in this direction was followed by attempts to reach India 

 by the Cape in the face of the hostile attitude of Spain and Portu- 

 gal. The mighty events which in turn transferred weaUh and com- 

 merce from Lisbon to Antwerp, Amsterdam, and the banks of 

 the Thames are matter of history, and it is scarcely necessary to say 

 that at the close of the Napoleonic wars, England remained undisputed 

 mistress of the sea, and had become not only the carrier of all 

 ocean-borne traffic, but the distributing centre of Indian goods to 

 the whole world. A period of keen competition for a share in the 

 commerce of India has again commenced amongst the states of 

 Europe, and symptoms of a coming change in the carrying and 

 distributing trade have been increasingly apparent since Africa 

 was., separated from Asia, nearly twenty years ago, by the genius of 

 M. de Lesseps. 



The opening of the Suez Canal, by diverting trade from the Cape 

 route to the Mediterranean, has produced and is still producing 

 changes in the intercourse between the East and the West which 

 affect this country more nearly, perhaps, than any other European 

 state. The changes have been in three directions. 



First. An increasing proportion of the raw material and pro- 

 ducts of the East is carried direct to Mediterranean ports, by 

 ships passing through the Canal, instead of coming, as it once did, 

 to England for distribution. Thus Odessa, Trieste, Venice, and Mar- 

 seilles are becoming centres of distribution for Southern and Central 

 Europe, as Antwerp and Hamburg are for the North ; and our 

 merchants are thus losing the profits they derived from transhipping 

 and forwarding Eastern goods to Europe. It is true that the carry- 

 ing trade is still, to a very great extent, in English hands ; but 

 should this country be involved in a European war the carrying 

 trade, unless we can efficiently protect it, will pass to others, and it 

 will not readily return. Continental manufacturers have always 

 been heavily handicapped by the position England has held since 

 the commencement of the century, and the distributing trade 

 would doubtless have passed from us in process of time. The 

 opening of the Canal has accelerated the change to the detriment 

 of English manufactures, and consequently of the national wealth ; 

 and it must tend to make England less and less each year the 

 emporium of the world. We are experiencing the results of a 

 natural law that a redistribution of the centres of trade must follow 

 a rearrangement of the channels of commerce. 



Second. The diversion of traffic from the Cape route has led to 

 the construction of steamers for special trade to India and the East 

 through the Canal. On this line coaling stations are frequent, and 

 the seas, excepting in the Bay of Biscay, are more tranquil than on 

 most long voyages. The result is that an inferior type of vessel, both 

 as regards coal-stowage, speed, endurance, and seaworthiness has 

 been built. These " canal -wallahs," as they are sometimes called, 

 are quite unfitted for the voyage round the Cape, and should the 

 Canal be blocked by war or accident, they would be practically use- 

 less in carrying on our Eastern trade. Since the Canal has been 

 deepened they have improved, for it has been found cheaper to 

 have more coal-stowage, but they are still far from being available 

 for the long voyage round the Cape. Had the Canal not been 

 made, a large number of fine steamers would gradually have been 

 built for the Cape route, and though the sailing ships which formerly 

 carried the India and China trade would have held their own 

 longer, we should by this time have had more of the class of 



