Beaten Tracks Research Articles

Wild Flowers of Attica

MR. SHIRLEY ATCHLEY, long a member of the British Legation at Athens, was a man who published nothing, but enjoyed a scholar's reputation among men of learning. For he knew the paths and the by-paths, the beaten and unbeaten tracks of Greece as no one else did and probably no other man had ever done; and his knowledge was so great as to become almost legendary of the language and its dialects, the folklore and not least the field-botany, both of the mainland and of the islands. He dreamed of the books he should write some day; he even planned one on the vernacular names of the Greek plants, but nothing came of it. But he kept on sending plants, rare and common, to Kew until he built up a great herbarium, and the more his reputation grew the more kindly and good-humouredly did he answer the countless questions which men were wont to ask him. Wild Flowers of Attica By the late Shirley Clifford Atchley. Prepared for publication by Dr. W. B. Turrill. Pp. xix + 60 + 22 plates. (Oxford: Clarendon Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1938.) 25s. net.

IV.—Notes on Desert-water in Western Australia. ‘Gnamma Holes’ and ‘Night Wells’

In the arid region of the goldfields of Western Australia a knowledge of the conditions under which a search for water is most likely to be rewarded is of prime importance to the prospector who may find himself away from the beaten tracks. There is, in the summer, little hope of finding fresh water in the long narrow bands of goldbearing greenstone-schist that run from N.N.W. to S.S.E. through Western Australia, for both the surface and the deep-seated waters of this rock-formation are then salter than those of the sea. When unprovided with ‘condensers’ for the distillation of these waters, the prospector must therefore turn towards the neighbouring granitic areas, and search either for ‘soaks’ or for the remarkable ‘gnamma’ holes of the bare rocky ridges. The first and most reliable of these sources of fresh water—the ‘soaks’ —presents nothing abnormal and requires little description. They are found in the sandy hollows at the foot of granite slopes. A well is sunk in the sand, and the water is baled as it slowly percolates into the bottom of the hole. The supply may vary from a mere trickle to several hundred gallons in twenty-four hours, according to the catchment, to the season, and to the permeability of the sand that has protected the water from evaporation since it was collected in the rock-hollow.

Scientific Serial

Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, November.—Dr. G. A. Miller gives a short account of the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (held August 21–26) as it bore upon the Society, with a short abstract of some of the mathematical papers. A hope is expressed that the Society and the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education may meet next year with sections A and D respectively of the Association.—Prof. Oskar Bolza reviews Harkness and Morley's introduction to the theory of analytical functions, and Prof. A. S. Hathaway discharges a like office for MacAulay's Octonions. Prof. Bolza considers the former work to be not only of high scientific and pedagogical value, but at the same time of a singular beauty and elegance. A certain freshness and originality pervade the whole, even in places where the authors follow along beaten tracks, and give at every turn evidence of the complete mastery of the subject with which the book is written.—Dr. Lovett gives a résumé of five recent theses in mathematics presented for the doctor's degree at the University of Paris. They are: Sur quelques points de la théorie des fonctions, by M. L. Desaint; Sur une classe particulière de groupes hyperabéliens, by M. H. Bourget; Sur l'integration des équations de la chaleur, by M. E. LeRoy; Les équations différentielles linéaires de la théorie des groupes, by M. F. Marotte; and Essai sur une théorie générate de l'intégration et sur la classification des transcendantes, by M. J. Drach. In the copious mathematical “Notes,” an account is given of the mathematical courses of lectures in the winter semester of several Continental and other universities.

The Highlands of Peru1

THE two first volumes of this work were noticed in NATURE, vol. li. p. 388, and the general remarks made there apply in great measure to the new volume also. We must, however, observe that the highlands of Peru afford material for a much more interesting description than the coast and the capital, which were dealt with in somewhat wearisome detail. Here the narrative form is not unwelcome, for there is always a charm in the record of travel in the Cordillera, even upon the beaten tracks.

Mr. Thoroddsen's Geological Explorations

ALTHOUGH situated at a comparatively short distance from Europe, and notwithstanding the frequent visits of late years by English tourists, Iceland is yet very far from being a well-known country. The upland is still, for the most part, an unexplored region, and there are whole districts where no man, native or foreign, ever set his foot, owing, chiefly, to the difficulties and dangers which attend travelling through these wildernesses. Foreigners travel mostly along beaten tracks; they come mostly without having acquired any previous knowledge of the peculiar nature of the country, consequently not knowing what parts are most worth visiting or exploring. Yet these regions are eminently interesting for students of natural science, being filled with innumerable glaciers, some of enormous magnitude, with multitudes of volcanoes, eruptive springs, &c., which it is of the greatest importance should be scientifically explored and described. In order to obtain reliable information about these upland wilds of the country, the Government of Iceland have commissioned Mr. Th. Thoroddsen to undertake systematic explorations with a view to establishing the geology of the country on a sound basis, and correcting its geography where necessary; for this purpose he has already undertaken various expeditions. In the course of last summer (1883) he explored the peninsula of Reykjanes and its upland connections. Although this part lies in close proximity to the inhabited parts of the country, it has hitherto remained for the most part a terra incognita on account of the innumerable waterless and utterly barren lavas which are crowded into it, and make travelling excessively arduous. Formerly people only knew that within historic times two volcanoes had been active in these parts. Mr. Thoroddsen has now determined the existence and site of no less than thirty separate volcanoes with at least seven hundred craters. In each case he has made all necessary measurements, and has constructed a geological map of the whole district.1 The aggregate extent of the lavas covers about 44 square (geographical) miles. Out of the lavas up and down this tract there rise mountains composed of tufa and breccia, and through these the eruptions of the volcanoes proper have found their vent. Cases of individual volcanoes being built up in one spot by repeated eruptions are rare. The craters are in most cases traceable in distinct long rows, like pearls on a string, along terraces of tufa, situated along chasms through which the lava welled out. In some places there arc no craters, the lava having boiled out of the chasm over either side of it, in which cases the rift remains open with its brims covered with a glazed crust of lava. In other localities are found volcanoes of colossal size, broad sublevations or convexities of lava, with a large crater at the apex from 800 to l000 feet in diameter, instances of which are Skjaldbreid, 3400 feet, and Heidin-Há, 2000 feet above the level of the sea. Throughout the lava stretches one comes upon enormous fissures all following the same direction as the rows of the craters, namely, south-west to north-east. All about this district there are also found numbers of hot springs, solfataras, and boiling clay-pits. This peninsula, Mr. Thoroddsen maintains, must be one of the most thoroughly burnt spots on the globe, and a pre eminently instructive tract for geologists who make volcanic manifestations the speciality of their study.

Resources of Servia and Bosnia

THE small extent of country upon which the eyes of Europe are now centred lies too far out of the beaten tracks of travellers for much to be generally known as to its capabilities or natural resources; nevertheless the country is described in the few existing works as being very fertile, and the soil might be made much more productive were it not for the idle and dirty habits of the people. In these days of “Special Correspondents,” the breaking out of a war, even in the remotest parts of the world, is a signal for the dispatch of men of observation, whose duty it is to chronicle the movements of the opposing parties, and, in some cases—we wish it were more often so—to give us glimpses into the habits of the people and the natural features of the country. Thus, we may in the course of a few weeks learn from the public press more about these matters in connection with the small districts now at war with Turkey than we are able to gain from books. The mines of Servia and the forests of Bosnia are two of the principal sources of revenue to the countries. Both iron and copper can be obtained, not only in large quantities, but also of excellent quality. The best Bosnian iron resembles that of Sweden, and is largely used in the manufactories of Gratz, in Styria; quantities also pass into Dalmatia and Servia. These mines are mostly worked by English companies under concessions from the authorities. In the forests are several species of oak, including the evergreen, or Holm Oak (Quercus Ilex), the Turkey Oak (Q, Cerris), Q. Ægilops, Q. infectoria, and others. The first two are of little or no use economically, except perhaps, for their woods, and these are not so highly valued as those of other species; the Q. Ægilops, however, which produces large acorcs seated in very large cups, is valuable for the sake of these cups, which contain a large quantity of tannin, and are extensively used by tanners and dyers, being imported to a considerable extent from the Levant under the name of Valonia. Q. infectoria is also a valuable species, producing, most abundantly, the large shining brown galls known as Mecca galls, used for dyeing purposes, in the manufacture of ink, and in the preparation of tannic and gallic acids. The principal value of the oaks in Bosnia seems to be in their timber, the staple use of which is in the manufacture of staves for casks, immense quantities of which are exported. Amongst the pines occurring in the forests are Pinus Laricto. P. maritima, P. halepensis, and others, as well as the Scots Fir, P. sylvestris. Besides these are other forest trees of more or less value, so that if the forests were properly worked, they would not fail to prove of great value. At present, however, the right of cutting timber is held chiefly by foreign speculators, and has proved a source of wealth to many Austrians and Frenchmen who have embarked in it.