716 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1914. 
earth which seem refractory to folding, and which are traversed by 
fissures whose direction almost follows the meridian; he makes us see 
that in central Asia the overthrust of the chains is usually toward 
the south. The conclusion of this rapid journey around the globe 
is that in terrestrial deformation there is no simple geometry; that 
the mountains result from the irregular and unequal contraction of 
a planet devoid of homogeneity; finally, that this lack of homogeneity 
goes back to the period of consolidation of the lithosphere. It could 
not become hard all at once; it presented for a long time the appear- 
ance of an archipelago of scoriaceous masses floating on a fluid and 
incandescent sea. The earth was then a variable star. 
The influence of the book was great. It was short, readable, per- 
fectly clear; it revealed a new geology, unsuspected, immediately 
accessible; it is written in language simple and beautiful. * * * 
It has directed young geologists of every country toward the study 
of the mountains; it definitely destroyed the old theories. It substi- 
tuted, in the minds of all geologists, for the principle of direction the 
principle of continuity; it accustomed investigators to the idea of 
transportations of strata; it fixed attention on the great movements 
of advance and of retreat of the sea. In a word, it was the preface 
of ‘Das Antlitz der Erde,”’ the prelude of that incomparable sym- 
phony. 
“Das Antlitz der Erde”’ is an essay on geologic synthesis, extended 
to cover the entire earth; and it is the first essay of its kind. The 
work, of gigantic dimensions, comprises three volumes. The first 
appeared in 1883; the last part of the third in 1909. Twenty-six 
years were required for the complete achievement of this magnificent 
work. It is well known that by the care of M. Emmanuel de Mar- 
gerie the entire book has been translated into the French language 
and published in Paris under the title, “‘La Face de la Terre.”” The 
last part of the-third volume of this French edition is at present in 
press! ‘Lia Face de la Terre” is enriched with notes, maps, and 
cuts, added by the translator, which happily supplement the text 
and illustrations of the German edition. 
The general plan of ‘Das Antlitz der Erde” will be recalled. The 
first volume comprises two parts—the movements of the outer crust of 
the earth and the mountain ranges. Thesecond volume is given to the 
third part of the work, the oceans. The third volume, much more 
voluminous than the first two, embraces the fourth part, which is 
the detailed study, not only geographic, but also, and especially, 
geologic, of the face of the earth. The first half of this third volume is 
composed of 9 chapters, in which the author describes entire Asia, 
and northern Europe. The second half comprises 18 chapters, in 
which are delineated, first, the rest of Europe, the east of northern 
1 This volume has since been issued. 
