Die Kalahari

Abstract

NOW if we could imagine that Mr. Shandy the elder were alive, this is a book that, like many another of its class, would have delighted him. Hereby he could have proved triumphantly to Yorick the potency of that great scheme of education—that “north-west passage to the intellectual world”—which he propounded so enthusiastically upon a memorable occasion. His scheme, it will be remembered, was that upon every substantive in the dictionary the Auxiliaries (so gravely misunderstood by the Corporal and Uncle Toby) should be brought to bear exhaustively:—“Every word, Yorick, by this means, you see, is converted into a thesis or an hypothesis:—every thesis and hypothesis have an offspring of propositions:—and each proposition has its own consequences and conclusions; every one of which leads the mind on again, into fresh tracts of enquiries and doubtings.—‘The force of this engine,’ added my father, ‘is incredible.…’”

Die Kalahari.

Versuch einer physisch-geographischen Darstellung der Sandfelder des südafrikanischen Beckens. By Dr. Siegfried Passarge. Pp. xvi + 822; illustrated; and with a “Kartenband” containing 11 maps and 10 sheets of sections, sketches, &c. (Berlin: Dietrich Reimer [Ernst Vohsen], 1904.) Herausgegeben mit Unterstützung der königlich-preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Price 80 marks (unbound).