228 The Plant World. 



to been so inexact as n'oai'ds the actual climatic couditioas 

 even of relatively recent periods, — say from two to thr^iC 

 or foni' tlionsiind years a^o, — that any correlation of the 

 piienoMiena of i»lant <listril)ntion with changes of climate 

 in late ucoloiiical times has been an extremelv hazardous 

 uudertakiuii-, and such attempts, while fascinating, have 

 been liable to a very hi,i>h dej^ree of uncertainty. There is 

 no doubt that when the data are all in the problem will still 

 present many, in some cases possibly insuperable, difficul- 

 ties, but it is certain that in such work as Dr. Huntington 

 has been doing in Central Asia, in Palestine and in the 

 south-western United States the foundation has been laid 

 for a far more definite knowledge of the phytogeogeography 

 of these regions from a historical point of view than has 

 hitherto been attainable. His work on Palestine* is a 

 specially noteworthy contribution in that, as pointed out 

 by the autlior, clinuitic variations (with consequent 

 changes of vegetation) would there produce notable varia- 

 tions in habitability, while at the same time its known his- 

 tory extends back to remote antiquity. Such a study as 

 this, therefore, which was carried out by the Yale Expedi- 

 tion in 1901), might reasonably be expected to throw a con- 

 siderable amount of light on the problem of climatic (and 

 therefore vegetational) changes in Palestine during the 

 period covered by recorded history. 



Although many, perhaps a majority of geographers and 

 historians assume that climatic changes within this period 

 are of negligible importance, the author shows, as it seems 

 witli convincing proof, that the climate of the region inves- 

 tigated has been subject in the course of the past five thous- 

 and years to numberless changes and that these have been 

 a potent factor, — largely or chiefly through their effects on 

 vegetation, — in the guidance of some of the greatest his- 

 torical movements. Omitting through sheer necessity all 

 discussion of this most fascinating part of the work, refer- 

 ence may be made to certain facts of special interest to 

 students of plant geography. 



•Hunting-ton, lOllsvvnrtli Pal^stinp nnd its Transformation. Houghton, Miff- 

 lin & Co., Boston and Kew York, 1911. 



