NA TURE 



451 



THE FACE OF THE EARTH. 



Das Antlitz der Erde. By Prof. E. Suess. Vol. iii.. 



pt. ii. Pp. iv + 789; 3 plates, 5 maps. (Vienna: F. 

 . Tempsky; Leipzig: G. Freytag, 1909.) 

 Namens und Sachregister fiir SdtntUche Bdnde. 



By Dr. L. Waagen. Pp. 158. (Vienna : F. 



Tempsky ; Leipzig : G. Freytag, 1909.) Price, 



including index vol., 50 marks. 

 The Face of the Earth. Vol. IV. Translated by 



H. B. C. SoUas, under the direction of Prof. W. J. 



Sollas. Pp.* viii + 673. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 



1909.) Price 255. net. 



ALL geologists will join in hearty congratulations 

 to Prof. Suess bb the completion of his great 

 Acnk, the influence oP which has been spreading 

 lily since the appearance of its first part in 1883. 

 ....:. Suess 's views were opposed to such cherished 

 traditions that they were naturally at first regarded 

 (vith suspicion ; but many of his conclusions have 

 been now generally accepted, and his illuminating 

 suggestions have stimulated much fertile research. 

 The last section of the work (vol. iii., part ii.) is 

 accompanied by a series of most valuable maps and a 

 detailed locality index of 158 pages, prepared by Dr. 

 Lukas Waagen. The concluding part shows Prof. 

 Suess 's wide acquaintance with the whole literature 

 of stratigraphical geology, which he interprets with 

 characteristic insight and originality. The summary 

 of recent geological work on various remote regions 

 ;ld alone ensure this volume a warm welcome 

 •■ its usefulness as a work of reference, apart 

 its place as the completion of one of the standard 

 .^s in geological literature. 



1 he conclusion has been awaited in the hope that it 



. u!d be largely devoted to a general summar\- of 



Suess 's results and his explanation of the exist- 



-, plan of the earth. This expectation has, however, 



iir been fulfilled. This part includes the tenth to 



vstnty-seventh chapters of the third volume, and 



hirteen of the eighteen chapters continue a revision 



Ijf the mountain systems of the world, dealing with 

 those of Europe, America, Africa, and Oceania. The 

 remaining five chapters discuss various general 

 |;)roblems, including the three zones of the earth's 

 j:rust, which, from the chemical symbols of their 

 Heading constituents. Prof. Suess calls Nife, Sima. 

 11 and Sal, the trend of mountain folds, isostacy, the 

 irncess of igneous intrusion, the structure of the 

 n, and a final chapter on some lessons from the 

 -i.^Mfibution of life. There is no attempt at a com- 

 jplete general theor}- of the distribution of land and 

 J water on the earth, as Prof. Suess apparently holds 

 that none such is yet possible. He recognises on the 

 2arth several superposed plans, but makes no sugges- 

 tion as to their causes. Thus the reason for the 

 difference between the Atlantic and Pacific types of 

 ::oast structure he describes as still unknown, and 

 lie leaves "to the future" (p. 724) the explanation of 

 'he great marine transgressions, the fundamental 

 importance of which he was the first to appreciat? 

 NO. 2120, VOL. 8;,] 



correctly. The explanation that they are due to the 

 shallowing of the ocean basins by the spheroidal 

 recovery of the earth after periods of deformation is 

 not mentioned, though it may once be vagilfely alluded 

 to. 



The first impression made by a perusal of this 

 volume is the greatness of the changes between it and 

 its predecessors. Prof. Suess 's essential principle that 

 the face of the earth owes its expression to dimples 

 and wrinkles due to the earth having shrivelled with 

 age is maintained ; but the view that all vertical 

 movements are necessarily downward is abandoned. 

 The ingenious explanations by which Prof. Suess 

 endeavoured to explain away Darwin's evidence as to 

 the vertical uplift of the coast of Chile after the earth- 

 quake of 1822 are resigned, in face of the well-estab- 

 lished vertical uplifts along the western coasts of 

 North America. Prof. Suess, however, does not 

 admit uniform regional elevation, and he therefore 

 necessarily rejects the principle of isostacy. He dis- 

 cusses this question in one of his final chapters, and 

 expresses his strong distrust of mathematical evidence 

 on such problems. Its uncertainty is illustrated by his 

 proposal to alter the widely accepted conclusions by 

 simply modifying the formula by which they were 

 reached. Suess points out (p. 703) that the omission, as 

 suggested by Faye, of the second factor in the formula 

 used in deducing the weight of the earth's crust 

 from gravity observations would remove the evidence 

 obtained in some cases that the weight of mountains 

 is compensated by a deficiency in material underneath. 

 .As the factor in question is a correction for the 

 weight of the material between the point of observa- 

 tion and sea-level, its inclusion seems reasonable. 

 Prof. Suess 's further statement that deficiencies in 

 mass beneath mountains •' would be contradictory to 

 all geological knowledge" (p. 708) is unexpected, as 

 it is the weight of the geological evidence for the 

 action of isostacy that has induced so many geologists 

 to accept the mathematical arguments in its favour. 

 Less stress is laid in this volume upon variations of 

 the shore line in consequence of local disturbances of 

 sea-level; and Prof. Suess remarks (p. 694) that there 

 is no precise knowledge of the effect of continental 

 attraction upon it. He also changes the meaning of 

 the term batholite, which he proposed for masses of 

 plutonic rocks injected into cavities due to radial 

 contraction ; he now attributes the formation of batho- 

 lites to the replacement of the original rock by 

 absorption and assimilation. Though most geologists 

 are prepared to admit that igneous absorption takes 

 place to some extent, many will probably hesitate 

 before accepting it on so vast a scale. 



Some modification was expected in the definition 

 of the Atlantic and Pacific coast t}pes, the establish- 

 ment of which was one of the great contributions of 

 Prof. Suess 's earlier volumes. The Pacific coast type 

 was originally characterised as bounded by mountain 

 chains folded towards the ocean ; this view has proved 

 untenable without considerable modifications, and 

 Prof. Suess now accepts (p. 577) the absence of 

 mountain-making activity on the Atlantic coasts as 

 the essential difference; he seems, however, disposed 

 to regard the structural basis of this classification as 



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