X PREFACE 



peared in the last five years. In America Schuchert and Bailey 

 Willis are the acknowledged leaders, while in Europe many able 

 minds have attacked the problems of Palaeogeography from all 

 angles. 



It is thus seen that this book was conceived during the period 

 of initial reconstruction of our attitude toward the problems of 

 geology, and that its birth and growth to maturity fell into that 

 tumultuous epoch when new ideas crowded in so fast that the task 

 of mastering them became one of increasing magnitude and, finally, 

 of almost hopeless complexity. To summarize and bring together 

 the ideas of the past decade, and focus them upon the point of view 

 here essayed, is probably beyond the power of one individual. 

 Nevertheless, the attempt to present the essentials of the new ge- 

 ology for the benefit of those who, grown up with it, have perhaps 

 treated it with the lack of consideration usually bestowed on a con- 

 temporary, as well as for those who will carry on the work during 

 the next decade or two, cannot but serve a useful purpose. May 

 this attempt be adjudged not unworthy of its predecessors, nor 

 unfit to stand by the side of its contemporaries. 



Scarsdale, New York, 

 The first of November, 

 One thousand nine hundred and thirteen. 



