262 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 163 



his hearers that in his absence this time, Pr jevalsky 

 had received two of the highest honors conferred 

 on travellers, — the Vega medal of Sweden, and 

 the gold medal of the Italian geographical society. 



It is impossible to see and hear the celebrated 

 traveller without being struck with his fitness to 

 do so difficult and extraordinary a work. With 

 an iron constitution, a rare force of will, the still 

 rarer faculty to command, and communicate his 

 enthusiasm to the picked men who followed him, 

 it was possible for the small band of twenty Rus- 

 sians to explore thousands of miles in the heart of 

 Asia, on the highest plateaus of our globe, amid 

 the greatest hardships and often dangers. 



In going to so distant a country and one so diffi- 

 cult to explore, the personal comforts of the trav- 

 ellers had to be sacrificed, their stock of food 

 consisting of dzamba (wheat or barley flour roasted) 

 and brick-tea, animal food being furnished by the 

 chase. Their principal baggage consisted of arms 

 and ammunition, as their safety, as well as the 

 success of their zoological collections, was depend- 

 ent upon them. Perhaps the greatest hardship 

 encountered by the expedition was the want of 

 good fuel with which to warm themselves, cook 

 their food, and make tea. The greater part of 

 the countries traversed is treeless, and dried dung 

 the only fuel. This is tolerable in winter, spring, 

 and autumn, when the w T ind is from the north. 

 Then Thibet is generally dry : but in summer it 

 rains nearly every day, and snows sometimes, and 

 the air is rather humid. 



The principal results of this fourth expedition 

 of Pr jevalsky consist in an extension of the sur- 

 veys westward from north-eastern Thibet to coun- 

 tries absolutely unknown. Now they are con- 

 nected by lines of surveys eastward to Prjevalsky's 

 former road-surveys, northward to Lake Lop-Nor. 

 and westward to the existing Russian and English 

 surveys in Chinese Turkestan. This expedition 

 has proved that very high chains of mountains, 

 with peaks over twenty thousand feet high, rise 

 southward from the lower northern plateaus of 

 high Asia (as Zai'dam, the basin of the Tarim, etc.), 

 and that these mountains trend from west to east, 

 there being no meridional chains. There are no 

 large glaciers in the greater part of these moun- 

 tains, but there are enormous ones on the northern 

 slope of the Kiria chain (so named from the city 

 and oasis at their foot, in Chinese Turkestan). 



The annual commencement of the St. Peters- 

 burg university was held Feb. 20, in the large 

 university hall. The report was read by Professor 

 Wassiliewsky, and began, as usual, with necro- 

 logical notes on deceased professors or honorary 

 members of the university. The chief remarks 

 were devoted to the celebrated historian of Russia, 



Professor Kostomarow, and to N. W. Kalatschow, 

 an eminent archeologist. Statistical notices fol- 

 lowed. The number of students by faculties, was, 

 compared with the last two years — 



Year. 



Physico- 

 mathematical. 



"E So 



Oriental 

 languages. 



Law. 



Totals. 



Mathe- 

 matical. 



Natural 



sciences. 



Histo 

 philolc 



1884 



534 



568 



253 



57 



834 



2,246 



1885 



485 



552 



263 



76 



906 



2,282 



1886 



531 



437 



252 



79 



981 



2,2 m 



It is seen from this table that the university has 

 a large number of students ; and this is the more 

 remarkable, since it has no medical faculty, and 

 this faculty in other Russian universities has more 

 than one-third of all the students. The most 

 notable feature of the changes in the last two 

 years is the increase in the number of law stu- 

 dents. By far the larger number of Russian stu- 

 dents, after passing their examinations, enter the 

 state service ; and law studies are preferred, as 

 giving a better opening than the other faculties. 

 The decrease of the students in natural science is 

 caused by the easier admission into the Medico- 

 chirurgical academy and higher technical schools. 

 A few years ago this academy abolished its first 

 two ' courses,' which gave a general preparation 

 in natural sciences, retaining only the last three 

 special courses. Thus the medical students were 

 compelled first to enter one of the Russian univer- 

 sities ; and the medical faculty at Moscow, and 

 the section of natural sciences at St. Petersburg, 

 were crowded far beyond their available room 

 and means of their existing museums and labo- 

 ratories. The return to the old system at the 

 Medico-chirurgical academy, and the somewhat 

 easier admission at some of the technical schools, 

 have freed the university of a great number of 

 such students, to the profit of the others. 



Then followed a lecture by Professor Woeikof, 

 "On the cooling of the globe in connection with 

 the distribution of temperatures in the solid crust 

 of the globe and the ocean ; " after which the 

 rector, Professor Andreiewsky, mentioned the 

 medals and other marks of distinction received 

 by the students. Besides these, the university 

 awarded one of the Tljenkow premiums of live 

 hundred rubles to P. T. Brounow, for his works 

 on cyclones and anticyclones in Russia, one of 

 which h;is been printed in the Proceedings of the 

 ( Geographical eociet . 



It is interesting to mention a feature of Russian 



