The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-23 00:00:00

SCIENTIFIC MISSION TO INDIA.

An‘important paper has .just been read to the
Academy of Sciences on a mission sent to India and
Upper Asia in 1854 by the King of Prussia and the
East India Company. The members of the mission
consisted of three brothers, MM. Herrmann,
Adolphus, and Robert Schlagentweit, two of whom,
MM. Herrmann and Robert, returned in June last;
the third, M. Adolphus, is still among ttu, Hima-
laya mountains, and is expected soon to return,
via the Punjab and Bombay. During the winter
of 1854-55, these enterprising travellers visited-the
region lying between Bombay an .1 Madras : in the '
followingSummerM. Herrmann explored theeastern
parts of the Himalaya, the Sikkim, Bhootan, and
Kossia mountains, where he measured the altitud, s
of several peaks. Tile highest of all the summits
known throughout the world appears, by his mea-
surements, to be the Gahoorishanka, situated in
the eastern portion of Nepaul—the same announced
as such by Colonel Waugh, but called by him Mount
Everest, because he had been unable to ascertain
its real name in the plains of Hindostan, %here he
effected his measurement. This peak is scmewh at
more than 29,000 English feet iu height, mid bears
another name in Thibet, where it is called Chingo-
pamari. The other two brothers, MM. Adolphus
and Robert, penetrated by different roads into the
centralpart sof the Himalaya,Kumaon, andGurwahl;
they then visited Thibet in disguise, entered the
great commercial station of Gartok, explcred the
environs of Like Mansarowr, and that remarkable
crest which separates the waters of the India from
those of the Dihong, often erroneously called the
Burrampooter. They ascended the Ibi-Gatnine,
22,260 feet in height, that being an altitude never
before attained in any part of the world. After
having been separated from each other fora space
of 14 months, during which M. Robert ascertained
that the tatleland of Amarkantak, in Central India,
which is generally stated to be 8,000 feet above the
level of the sea, is not more than 3,300 feet in
height, the three brothers again Met at Sin* pre-
vious to commencing the operations intended for
the summer of 1856. M. Adolphus, on leaviog
that place, crossed the Himalaya, went over Thibet,
Baltistan, and visited the interesting spot where
several mountain crests meet, and the Eindoo
Koosh
**ins the range lying to the north of India.
He then returned to the Punjab through the
valley of Cashmere. MM. Herrmann and
Robert proceeded to Ladak by diff,rent routes.
Under good disguises, they were enabled to pene-
tra'e into Turkish proper by crossing the Karako-
room and the Kuenluen mountains and descending
into the great valley of Yarkand, a region never
visited 1 efore, not even by Marco Polo. It is a vast
depression of between 3,000 and 4,000 feet, sepa-
rating the Kuenluen, on the northern frontier of
India, from the Syan-Chane, or mountains of
Central Asia, on the southern border of Russia.
They then returned to Ladak, and entered the
Punjab by different routes through Cashmere.
After a two years' negotiation M. Herrmann was,
at the commencement of 1857, admitted into Ne-
paul, where he determined the altitudes of the
Machipoora and Mount Yassa, which have hitherto
been vaguely called the Dhawalagery, which means
nothing else but " snowy crests," and is applicable
to all snow-capped mountains. M. Robert proceeded
to Bombay through Scinde, Kutech, and Guzerat,
where he surveyed the chain called the Salt Range,
and determined the changes effected in the course
of centuries in the course of several films.
Before returning to Europe he stayed three
months in Ceylon. M. Adolphus visited various
parts of the Punjab and Cabul, previous to
returning to the Himalaya, where he still is.
The chief results obtained from this careful explo-
ration of Asia are the following :—The Himalaya
mountains everywhere exercise a decided
uinfluence
over all the elements of the magnetic force ; the
declination everywhere presents a slight deviation,
causing the needle to converge t swards
the
cen-
tral parts of that enormous mass, and _ the mag-
neticw er
e else u
i rit ensilder an equal is greataraltlthaaiii itude. u
twolldtheeti!ntyh.
h
of India tbe inerea-e of the magnetic intensity
from south to north is extremly rapid. The
line
form, i
s equalof
smilar a
magneticn perhapsintensityparallel
havea remark-
able to those
of certain groups of iEo.hertnal lines. The three
travellers have collected all the materials neCeS-ary
to ascertain this important fact. Irregular local
variations in terrestrial magnetism are rare in those
anal Behar
at altitudes
of
rmegagnionestio. In
Otte Dccatheoauiniay
17,000, and even 20,000 feet, the daily maximal?,
and minimum variatiens of the barometer oc-
curred nearly about the same hours as in the plains
below. Again, at the above altitudes, the inversion
of the curves of daily variation which is met with
on the Alps does not take place. At the altitude
`of 17,00) feet the duninution of transparency pro-