Review. 475 



distribution of the land and water ; the directions of certain 

 physiographic lines, in conformity with which the boundaries of 

 the continents, the ranges of islands and chains of mountains are 

 arranoed ; the system in the rehefs or surface-forms of the con- 

 tinental lands ; the system of oceanic and atmospheric currents' 

 and the general laws of the distribution of forests, prairies and 

 deserts. All these phenomena are within the domain of physical 

 geography, but they can never be well understood unless investi- 

 gated through geology, as their origin dates far back in time. 



2. LitholoctICal Geology. — Relating to the composition and 

 different kinds of rocks. 



3. Historical Geology. — Under this title is discussed the main 

 portion of the subject; the description in their order, of all the 

 formations from the most ancient up to the most recent. Here we 

 have, for the first time, the science of geology elucidated by spe- 

 cial reference to the series of American rocks ; thus removing the 

 great diificulty we have pointed out in the first lines of this notice. 

 Full details of all the deposits, their lithological composition, their 

 characteristic organic remains and geographical distribution are 

 given. There appear to be about YOO figures of fossils, nearly 

 all of which were drawn on wood by Mr. F. B. Meek, an accom- 

 plished artist, and one of the best palaeontologists of the continent. 

 Most of the species figured are American, and several of them are 

 from the Decades of the Canadian Survey, representing peculiar 

 forms only possessed by the Provincial Collection of Canada. It is 

 not uncommon to find works on general geology illustrated bv 

 figures, which, for all natural-history purposes, are perfectly worth- 

 less. This must happen when neither the artist nor the author is 

 a naturalist. In the book before us, the illustrations are first-class 

 for the reason that all the parties engaged in their production, per- 

 fectly understood how to prepare them. 



4. Dynamical Geology. — This division treats of the causes 

 of even sin the earth's geological progress. " These events include 

 the formation of all rocks, stratified and unstratified, with what- 

 ever they contain, from the earhest Azoic to the modern beds of 

 gravel, sand, clays, and lavas; the oscillations o' the earth's 

 crust ; the increase of dry land, elevation of mountains, and elimi- 

 nation of the surface features of the globe ; the changes of climate • 

 the changes of life." 



The work concludes with an appendix and a copious index. 

 Geology is a science of such vast extent, and so largely com 



