REVIEWS. 
199 
in the light of one who has opened the realms of the sea to be explored by 
the scientific man. We shall think of his name when we come in sight of 
the ocean’s broad expanse; and, finally thanking him sincerely for thus 
unveiling the great wonders of the deep, we conclude. 
Western Himalaya and Tibet. A Narrative of a Journey through the 
Mountains of Northern Indian during the years 1847-48. By Thomas 
Thompson, M.D., F.R.S., &c. London : Lovell Reeve. 8vo. Price 15 s. 
Aided, as the author fairly acknowledges in his preface to have been, by 
Cunningham, Strachy, Hooker, and Winterbottom—able men and well- 
known travellers—we cannot but expect much from his work. He appears 
to have paid attention to physical geography. He points out well, in his 
first chapter, the optical deceptions which have induced the laying down 
on our maps of mountain chains which have no real existence. As he 
proceeds, he recounts the most remarkable plants which fell under his 
notice, giving many interesting particulars as to their distribution, modes 
of growth ; he notices the Prangos and other useful vegetable productions, 
and particularly the Conifers, the occurrence of the Pinus deodara, a tree 
which is likely to prove so important an addition to the aboriculturists of 
this country. He records the effect of elevation on the Flora in various 
places, in some of which an almost European character consequently arises. 
Dr. Thompson differs from the venerable Humboldt in supposing that the 
Himalaya was thrust up from a vast fissure by a sudden effort; on the 
contrary, he considers that he saw evident traces of gradual elevation. He 
states— 
“ I could not find in the structure of the mountains around Simla, any con¬ 
firmation of the view entertained by Humboldt of the sudden elevation of the Hima¬ 
laya out of a vast fissure in the external crust of the earth. However plausible 
such a view might appear when the Himalaya is contemplated as a whole (on a 
map), without any portion of its extent being under the eye, I found it, on the 
spot, quite impossible to conceive in what way, after such a sudden elevation, any 
power, in the least analogous to existing forces, could have excavated out of the 
solid rock those numerous valleys, so various in direction, so rugged in outline, and 
so vast in dimensions, which now furrow the mountain mass. 
“ On the contrary, the conclusion has been forced upon me that these mountains 
have emerged extremely gradually from an ocean, of the existence of which, at very 
various levels, the most evident traces are, I think, discoverable. The present 
configuration of the surface must, I do not doubt, have been given to it during 
periods of rest, or of very slow elevation; the action of the sea upon submerged 
rocks being so very superficial that no denudation takes place at any great depth. 
During the period of emergence of the Himalaya, from the great length of the pre¬ 
sent valleys, which extend between parallel ranges far into the interior, the coast 
must have borne a strong resemblance to that of Norway at the present day—nu¬ 
merous promonteries projecting far into the sea, and separated from one another 
by narrow and deep bays.’’ 
