Abstract
A LIFE of de Saussure, author of the “Voyages dans les Alpes,” has long been desired, and that has now been supplied by an Englishman singularly fitted for the task, Dr. Douglas Freshfield, who was incited so long ago as 1875 by Ruskin, and has been ever since, directly or indirectly, gathering materials. The handsome volume before us is the result. No one has a better knowledge of mountains than Dr. Freshfield, for when a boy, in 1859 and 1860, he accompanied his father and mother on riding tours through several parts of the Alps, and has repeatedly returned thither. He has also explored many other mountain chains, and has published his experiences. In 1869 he described a journey through the Central Caucasus and Bashan, in the course of which he ascended Kasbek and one of the twin summits of Elbruz. In 1896 he published his splendid work on “The Exploration of the Caucasus,” and his journey of 1899 “Round Kangchenjunga” was yet more adventurous, though rendered rather less successful by persistently bad weather; while since then, in “Hannibal Once More,” he has discussed the route of the Carthaginian general across the Alps, suggesting one considerably south of those generally supported, for which there is undoubtedly much to be said.
The Life of Horace Bénédict de Saussure.
By D. W. Freshfield, with the collaboration of H. F. Montagnier. Pp. xii + 479. (London: Edward Arnold, 1920.) Price 25s. net.
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BONNEY, T. The Life of Horace Bénédict de Saussure . Nature 106, 753–754 (1921). https://doi.org/10.1038/106753a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/106753a0
