viii PREFACE 



have been represented, the aim has been to (Jraw as far as possible 

 upon localities well known to travelers and likely to be visited, 

 either because of their historical interest or their purely scenic 

 attractions. It should thus be possible for a tourist in America 

 or Europe to pursue his landscape studies whenever he sets out 

 upon his travels. The better to aid him in this endeavor, some 

 suggestions concerning the itinerary of journeys have been supplied 

 in an appendix. 



Regarded as a textbook of geology, the present work offers some 

 departures from existing examples. Though it has been customary 

 to combine in a single text historical with dynamical and structural 

 geology, a tendency has already become apparent to treat the his- 

 torical division apart from the others. Again, a desire to treat the 

 science of geology comprehensively has led some authors into in- 

 cluding so many subjects as to render their texts unnecessarily 

 encyclopedic and correspondingly uninteresting to the general 

 reader. It is the author's belief that there is a real need for a book 

 which may be read intelligently by the general public, and it must 

 be recognized that the beginner in the subject cannot cover the 

 entire field by a single course of readings. The present work has, 

 therefore, been prepared with a view to selecting for study those 

 dominant geological processes which are best illustrated by features 

 in northern North America and Europe. It is this desire to illus- 

 trate the readings by travels afield, which accounts for the promi- 

 nence given to the subject of glaciation ; for the larger number of 

 colleges and universities in both America and Europe are surrounded 

 by the heavy accumulations that have resulted from former glacia- 

 tions. 



Emphasis has also been placed upon the dependence of the domi- 

 nant geological processes of any region upon existing climatic con- 

 ditions, a fact to which too little attention has generally been given. 

 This explains the rather full treatment of desert regions, of which, 

 in our own country particularly, much may be illustrated upon the 

 transcontinental railway journeys. 



More than in most texts the attempt has here been made to teach 

 directly through the eye with the efficient aid of apt illustrations 

 intimately interwoven with the text. For such success as has been 

 reached in this endeavor, the author is greatly indebted to two 

 students of the University of Michigan, Mr. James H. Meier, 

 who has prepared the line drawings of landscapes, and Mr. Hugh M. 



