Vol. VIII. No. 90. 
IMPERIAL INSTITUTE JOURNAL. 
[June, 1902.] 157 
and in reflecting the national life they strove also to make their pictures a form of protest 
against existing evil. Perov, with his Iiogarthian presentments of everyday life, was the 
leader of this “ didactic ” school ; and Verestshagin, with his sensational exposures of the 
horrors of war, is closely allied to it. So also are Yaroshenko, Prianichnikov and Savitsky. 
Gradually the tendency to paint pictures “ with a purpose” died out, and this literary school 
gave place to one in which instincts of form and colour took the first place, and the 
“purpose” became subordinate to emotion. Among this later generation of artists we may 
reckon Makovsky, Kramskoi, Schwartz — the Meissonier of Russia ; Ge ; Yakobi ; Maximov 
and — perhaps the strongest and most racy of all — Repin, now President of the Academy of 
Arts. These men put us in touch with the national life of Russia, for they have reconstructed 
its past and reflected the present with astonishing truth and insight. Mrs. Newmarch also 
spoke of the effect of this realistic tendency on religious art, and wound up her paper with 
an account of the new iconography-~the reconciliation of modern technique with ecclesi- 
astical tradition — as exemplified in the decorative works of Victor Vasnietsov. The lecture 
was illustrated by about fifty limelight views of representative Russian pictures from the 
principal collections in Moscow and St. Petersburg. 
After the reading of the paper Mrs. Henry J. Wood, accompanied by her husband, sang 
songs by Dargomijsky and Borodin. Miss Sandra Droucker, the great pianist, who has won 
a well-deserved reputation in St. Petersburg, played pieces by Skriabin ; and the Russian 
tenor, Mr. Louis Arens, sang several most original folk-songs, and an air from Rimsky- 
Korsakov’s opera “ Sadko.” 
In returning hearty thanks to the talented lecturer and artists, who had so generously 
and splendidly entertained the numerous assembly, Mr. Cazalet referred to Mrs. 
R. Newmarch’s acquaintance with Mr. Stassov, the famous Russian Art critic and director of 
the Imperial Public Library at St. Petersburg, where she carried on her literary researches. 
It was hoped that Mrs. Newmarch’s book on Tchaikovsky would, ere long, be followed by 
other productions. 
— 
PROCEEDINGS OF INSTITUTIONS. 
THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 
A meeting of the Royal Geographical Society was held on the 28th April, when 
Lord Ronald SHAY and Mr. Edward Penton read papers on “A Journey from Quetta to 
Meshed, vid the Nushki-Seistan Trade Route.” Sir Clements Markham presided. 
Lord Ronaldshay said that, with a view to travelling over the recently-opened trade 
route between India and Persia across Baluchistan, he journeyed to Quetta at the end of 
October, 1900, reaching that place on November 1. Having engaged seven Indian servants 
and a daffidar and three sowars of the local levy from Nushki, as an escort as far as Meshed, 
he started his caravan of baggage camels on the 9th, and left Quetta himself on the 10th of 
the same month. After leaving the main road a few miles from the town, the route became a 
camel track running over flat stretches of sand and gravel, covered, for the most paid, with 
brown tufts of aromatic wormwood, while low ridges of barren hills shut in the view on either 
side. Here and there small villages were to be found, consisting of mere clumps of low 
flat-roofed mud huts. 
Sixteen miles beyond Quetta they passed the first of the levy posts, Girdi Talab, and 
another 16 miles brought them to the second, Karnak, where they camped for the night. 
These levy posts consisted of small mud forts, which exist, or are in process of construction, 
at intervals of from 15 to 30 miles, the whole way from Quetta to Seistan, and were held by 
a daffidar and a few sowars raised locally, who carried a mail-bag from post to post, thus 
maintaining the only communication that existed between Seistan and Quetta, a distance of 
500 miles over the deserted wastes of Baluchistan. On the 13th they reached Nushki, which 
was only little more than a glorified edition of all the other villages, and consisted of some 
200 houses, the population being about 250. It appeared to him that a line from Quetta to 
Nushki would be by no means an impossible undertaking, and, in the event of such a line 
being constructed, Nushki would undoubtedly become a large and flourishing place. It was 
far more suitable as a starting point and terminus to the caravan route than Quetta. Since 
he was there, sanction had been given for a survey to be made with a view to building 
a railway from Quetta. 
Lord Rohaldshay described the route from Nushki, which he left on November 15, and 
remarked that the road, thanks to the energy of Captain Webb Ware, the officer in charge of 
the route, was in most places clearly distinguishable from the rest of the plain. The road led 
at times through ground broken by low ridges and mounds, at other times over great plains 
of black gravel, where vegetation all but ceased, and then again over stretches of sand, 
where tamarisk and dwarf palm grew, and very little in the way of human life was met with. 
A post at the foot of the Saindak mountains was reached on December 6, and the party 
proceeded in a north-westerly direction, by way of Robat, on the Perso-Baluch border, 
distant from Quetta 460 miles, and thence to Girdi Thana, a post recently constructed under 
the direction of Major Chenevix Trench, at that time Consul at Seistan. From this point, 
dotted all over the plain, were to be seen remains of ancient cities. 
The last 20 miles, before reaching Nasratabad, the capital of Seistan, the whole face of 
the country changed, and, instead of a dry, waterless plain, it became a plain intersected 
with ditches and canals, and covered with low scrub jungle. Thus, the journey from Quetta 
could be performed with ease and comparative comfort ; supplies were forthcoming at all the 
larger posts, and water and grazing existed for camels at every stage. 
The climate in winter was, as a rule, fine and dry ; the nights and the early mornings 
were cold, and there was a warm sun in the middle of the day. It was in winter that 
caravans at present travelled through this country. Lord Ronaldshay said that the 
capital of Seistan was a tumble-down, dilapidated mud city without roads. There 
had lately sprung up some neat buildings belonging to the British Consulate. The Ameer 
of Seistan, in conversation with Lord Ronaldshay, spoke with the greatest assurance of the 
advantage of a line from Quetta to Robat, which he looked upon as a certain production of 
the near future ; and the lecturer said that he heard the advent of a line along the new trade 
route discussed with much more certainty by the higher-class Seistanis than he did at the 
Quetta-Nushki end of the route. 
Though the merchandise which came along the route from India eventually found its 
way to many places far beyond Seistan, the actual trade route known as the Nushki-Seistan 
route was between Quetta and Nasratabad. Judging from the progress of the past the future 
prospects of the route were decidedly bright. The amount of trade which passed over it the 
first year it was taken up — 1896 — was a lakh-and-a-half. Since that time the trade had 
been steadily increasing, and showed returns for the years 1S97 to 1901 of 5 lakhs, 12 lakhs, and 
15 lakhs. At Quetta a caravanserai had been built near the station, and placed under the 
superintendence of a trustworthy native, for the use of traders coming from Persia, and a 
rebate of one-third was given on the railway freight of certain goods exported from and all 
goods imported into India through Quetta and Nushki. There was every reason, therefore, 
to suppose that, if the ultimate construction of a railway depended solely upon the increase of 
trade such a railway might be looked for in the not very distant future. 
Lord Ronaldshay next described his journey, after leaving Seistan in the middle of 
January, 1901. Some of the country resembled very strongly the dry and arid wastes of 
Baluchistan. At the end of the month, Birjand, a great trading centre, with a population 
of 30,000, was reached. Leaving this place on February 4, the party travelled in 4 northern 
£/ 64 - 
direction over flat country, much of the land being ploughed. On the 5th they crossed the 
range in front of them by the Saman Shahi Pass, and, after some difficulties caused by bad 
roads, came to Gunabad, a large and fertile oasis. Beyond this stretched a vast and 
inhospitable plain, the crossing of which occupied two days. Another day, through 
mountainous country, brought them to Turbat-i-Haidari, whence a toilsome journey of some 
80 miles, across mountain ridges covered with ice and snow, took him to Meshed, and the 
end of the caravan journey. 
THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
The usual monthly meeting of the Council was held on the 7th ult.. Prince 
Christian (President) in the chair. Thirty-seven candidates were admitted into the Society 
as members, and Mr. Wheeler reported from the Botanical and Zoological Committee that 
arrangements had been made for a conference on the 5th inst., with representatives of the 
Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, for the purpose of ascertaining whether it 
would be possible for the two national societies to agree upon a common line of action with 
reference to the general question of testing farm seeds, and upon a uniform method of testing 
seeds and reporting the results. Sir Nigel Kingscote presented a report which had been 
submitted to the Veterinary Committee by the sub-committee, appointed in July last, to 
supervise the experiments conducted at the Royal Veterinary College as to the possibility of 
infecting bovine animals with tuberculous material from the human subject. These experi- 
ments were carried out on a cow, two young calves, and two yearlings. In the case of the 
cow the tuberculous material was injected in the udder, in the calves it was given by the 
mouth, and in the yearlings it was injected into the veins. In the strict sense of the word it 
could not be said that the experiments proved the impossibility of infecting cattle with 
human tubercle bacilli, for at least, in the case of the cow, the human bacilli had multiplied in 
the body, and had induced a manifestly diseased condition. In the other cases, also, re- 
actions to tuberculin after the attempt to infect with human bacilli would appear to indicate 
that infection had actually taken place. On the other hand, the absence of distinct evidence 
of tuberculous disease when the animals were killed would indicate that infection was of a 
temporary nature. It ought to be noted, however, that in the case of the cow the recovery 
was not complete six months after infection. Taking all the facts into account, the experi- 
ments indicated that the risk of cattle becoming affected naturally from consumptive human 
beings must be very slight. The sub-committee did not feel justified in drawing from the 
results of the experiments any conclusion as to the risk of infection in the opposite direc- 
tion, viz., from cattle to man. 
Sir Nigel Kingscote said the committee of selection presented the following unanimous 
recommendation That His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales be respectfully 
approached with an expression of the unanimous desire and earnest hope of the Council 
of the Society that His Royal Highness will be graciously pleased to accept the office of 
President of the Society for the ensuing year.” Lord Egerton of Tatton having cordially 
seconded the resolution, the President said he was sure the Council would be quite 
unanimous in adopting the resolution. They all knew the great interest which His Royal 
Highness took In every matter connected with agriculture, and with their shows, at 
which he had been a successful exhibitor. He felt it would not be possible to have for 
their meeting of the ensuing year a better President than the Prince of Wales. The 
resolution was then carried by acclamation. 
Mr. Dugdale, from the Dairy Committee, reported that since the last meeting of the 
committee, the Board of Agriculture had issued a regulation under which, where the 
proportion of water in a sample of butter exceeds 16 per cent., it shall be presumed for the 
purposes of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, 1S75 to 1S99, until the contrary is proved, 
that the butter is not genuine by reason of the excessive amount of water therein. In 
view of the resolution which was passed by the Council at the instance of the Dairy Committee 
on March 5 last, the committee regarded with satisfaction the action of the Board of 
Agriculture in this matter. 
In reply to the desire expressed by the Council His Royal Highness the Prince of 
Wales has been graciously pleased to accept the office of President for the ensuing year. 
THE SOCIETY OF ARTS. 
“ENGLAND AND THE PERSIAN GULF.” 
At a meeting of the Indian Section of the Society of Arts, held on the 8th ult., a 
paper on “ The Past and Present Connection of England with the Persian Gulf,” was read 
by Mr. T. J. Bennett, of the Times of India. Sir E. A. Sassoon,, M.P., presided. 
Mr. Bennett, after dealing with the historical aspect of his subject, said that if our 
efforts to keep the Gulf free from slavery had fallen short of the success that we had hoped 
for, it had not been through lack of vigilance, either in the old days or in more recent 
times. Among other services which England had rendered in the Gulf was the systematic 
survey of its coasts, at one stage of which every officer engaged broke down — a fact which 
would surprise none who knew the climatic conditions under which naval service in the Gulf 
was performed. Another noteworthy respect in which England had contributed to the 
peace of the Gulf was in the help which her representatives had given to the Persian Govern- 
ment in repressing the illicit trade in firearms. 
The importance of the success of England in bringing about the opening of the Karun 
river to foreign navigation had perhaps been at first somewhat exaggerated, but the con- 
struction of connecting roads was at length having the desired effect, and Consular reports 
showed that trade was increasing, and that certain products had now, by means of the new 
route, been for the first time brought down to the Gulf for exportation. And England stood 
on precisely the same footing in regard to the Karun as the rest of the world, for whereas, 
when France, in the later Seventies, was seeking for a concession for the irrigation of the 
plain through which the Karun runs, she stipulated for an exclusive right of navigation on 
the river, England asked for no exclusive right whatever. Our commercial monopoly in the 
Gulf, if such it might be called, had been acquired through no policy of selfish exclusiveness, 
but by what might fairly be called commonplace shop-keeping enterprise. 
The virtual non-existence of Russian commercial interests in the Gulf was a fact to 
which strangely little attention had been paid by the advocates of what was vaguely called 
a concession to that Power. If the inference that should be drawn from that fact should be 
that Russia’s object in seeking for railway communication with the Gulf was a political and 
strategic, and not a commercial one, then we had pressed on us in a peremptory fashion the 
Indian factor in the problem, a factor which had been more or less efficient at intervals 
during the greater part of three centuries. 
The appearance of Russia in the Gulf, whether as owner in sovereign right of some 
port or island, or as lessee of some maritime terminus of a railway joined to her - Trans- 
caspian line, would involve a large and costly recasting of onr naval resources in Indian 
waters. This was one reason why, in carrying out their policy, the British Government 
would do well to give the fullest weight to such promptings as might reach them from India. 
Another reason was, not that there happened to be at the head of the Indian Government 
at this moment a statesman fully primed with the knowledge of that question, but because 
normally the Indian Government was fully on the alert with regard to it, and had more 
expert knowledge within its reach concerning it than the authorities in this country were 
believed to possess. 
