12 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. YI., No. 126. 



regarded Mr. Darwin's career or the requirements of 

 a work of art, no site could be so appropriate as tliis 

 great hall; and they applied to the trustees of the 

 British museum for permission to erect it in its 

 present position. That permission was most cor- 

 dially granted, and I am desired to tender the best 

 thanks of the committee to the trustees for their 

 willingness to accede to our wishes. I also beg 

 leave to offer the expression of our gratitude to your 

 royal highness for kindly consenting to represent 

 the trustees to-day. 



" It only remains for me, your royal highness, my 

 lords and gentlemen, trustees of the British museum, 

 in the name of the 

 Darwin memorial 

 committee, to re- 

 quest you to ac- 

 cept this statue of 

 Charles Darwin. 

 We do not make 

 this request for the 

 mere sake of per- 

 petuating a mem- 

 ory ; for, so long as 

 men occupy them- 

 selves with the 

 pursuit of truth, 

 the name of Dar- 

 win runs no more 

 risk of oblivion 

 than does that of 

 Copernicus or that 

 of Harvey. 



"Nor, most as- 

 suredly, do we ask 

 you to preserve 

 the statue in its 

 cynosural position 

 in this entrance- 

 hall of our Na- 

 tional museum of 

 natural history as 

 evidence that Mr. 

 Darwin's views 

 have received your 

 oflBcial sanction ; 



for science does not recognize such sanctions, and 

 commits suicide when it adopts a creed. 



"No: we beg you to cherish this memorial as a 

 symbol by which, as generation after generation of 

 students of nature enter yonder door, they shall be 

 reminded of the ideal according to which they must 

 shape their lives, if they would turn to the best 

 account the opportunities offered by the great insti- 

 tution under your charge." 



«-m«- RAILROADS BUILT 



RAI L ROADS PRWEC"|[e^ [{ 



....BOUNDARIES OP STA 



ROUTES INTO THE INTERIOR OF 

 WESTERN CHINA.^ 



A GLANCE at the map shows in Yun-Nan and the 

 adjacent part of Burmah the proximity of several 

 large rivers, which separate farther south, and empty 

 1 Condensed from Science et nature. 



along the coast between the Yellow Sea and the Bay 

 of Bengal. Evidently the solution of the problem of 

 reaching western China is to be sought in the course 

 of these rivers or on their banks. The first of these 

 rivers to the east is the Yang-Tze-Kiang, which may 

 be easily ascended for seven hundred kilometres. 

 Junks can proceed above that as far as Sion-Choo, 

 in Se-Chuen; but it is impossible to go higher, and 

 consequently impossible to reach Yun-Nan. South of 

 the Yang-Tze-Kiang is the Si-Kiang, or Canton Kiver, 

 navigable to the city Pe-se, nine hundred kilometres. 

 Regular caravans then proceed by land to Yun-Nan, 

 a route which is shorter than by the Yang-Tze-Kiang. 



But Song-Ka, the 

 river of Tonquin, 

 offers a shorter 

 route than this ; 

 and Lieut. Ker- 

 garadec says that 

 steamers of light 

 draught can reach 

 Laos-Kai, on the 

 Chinese frontier, 

 while junks as- 

 cend to Mang- 

 Hao, in the cen- 

 tre of the Yun- 

 Nan territory. 



We have noth- 

 ing to hope from 

 the Me-Kong. Its 

 outlet is much far- 

 ther away, and 

 rapids are numer- 

 ous. It is impos- 

 sible at present to 

 seriously think of 

 building a railway 

 on its banks a 

 thousand kilome- 

 tres in length, 

 and, what is more, 

 in an unknown, 

 savage, and hostile 

 country, and one 

 of the most moun- 

 tainous regions of the world. The Saluen empties 

 into the Indian Ocean; but in most of its course it 

 flows near the Me-Kong and Yang-Tze-Kiang, and 

 traverses with them the province of Yun-N^an. Start- 

 ing from Martaban, a stone road could proceed to 

 the junction of the Main-Long-Gye, follow this river, 

 traverse the mountain range which separates the 

 basins of the Saluen and the Me-Nam, proceed to 

 Zimme, then to Kiang-IIai, descend the He-Kok to 

 the Me-Kong, and ascend this river to the frontier of 

 China, and even as far as Talifu. This is a long and 

 very hilly course ; for it is necessary to pass from one 

 basin into a second, then into a third, and, further, to 

 build the route into the valley of the Me-Kong, — a 

 plan any thing but practicable. It means gigantic 

 labor and incalculable expense, without considering 

 the probable hostility of the population. 



