50 



NA TURE 



[May 19. 1904 



gard to the huge blocks of dolomite in Tyrol (p. 548), 

 and beHeves that these weighty masses have sunk 

 down amid the yielding tuffs and sediments deposited 

 upon their fianks. The reef problem is dealt with 

 cautiously (p. 541, &c.), and the term " reef " is used, 

 following Prof. Suess, as the equivalent of " massive 

 unstratified limestones and dolomites," rising amid 

 strikingly contrasted sediments. It is unfortunate 

 that the latest evidence brought forward by Mrs. 

 Ogilvie-Gordon as to the age of the igneous intrusions 

 round Predazzo was published too recently to receive 

 adequate notice in this volume, though her arguments 

 and those of Rothpletz are briefly mentioned. 



For those who desire a general history of the Alps, 

 adorned with modern references, we may commend 

 the whole seventh " Abschnitt " (pp. 589-610) as a 

 clear and even spirited summary. The discussion of 

 mountain-structure that follows shows the indepen- 

 dence and vitality of the school which Suess has 

 founded in Vienna, a school of progressive inquiry 

 unhampered by dogmas, active in unearthing prob- 

 lems, but willing to wait for explanations. 



Dr. V. Uhlig is given 260 pages for the exposition 

 of the Karpathian lands, and occupies them with 

 admirable clearness. Like his predecessor, he 

 balances arguments, and states his own conclusions 

 with the modesty of a true explorer. This is 

 particularly noticeable (p. 904, &c.) in his account of 

 the origin of the central massif of the Karpathians, 

 which he regards as pushed up by pressure from all 

 sides into and partly through its former Mesozoic 

 covering. One-sided tangential movement will not, 

 in his opinion, in any wa^- satisfy the facts observed 

 (p. 910). 



The illust»-ations and sections accompanying Dr. 

 Uhlig's descriptions are more than usually attractive. 

 We see patches of Eocene conglomerate resting on 

 the central granite of the Tatra, and crystalline schists, 

 on the other hand, thrust up over Neocomian lime- 

 stone at Bdrat Lehota, and sending off dyke-like 

 tongues into the cracks opened in the latter. The 

 fascinating question of the " Klippenzone," referred to 

 by us in a previous review, receives full treatment. 

 The beautiful landscape on p. 771 recalls many of the 

 deep wooded valleys, among sheer limestone cones, 

 which intersect the frontier lands of Arva. The 

 tempting theory that the " Klippen " float as detached 

 fault-blocks amid the softer Flysch deposits is set 

 aside ^pp. 791-4), in face of the banks of Upper 

 Cretaceous conglomerate worn from them, and found 

 so repeatedly against their flanks. Examples of these 

 occur from the west end of the chain down to 

 Transylvania (p. 809). 



The great Flysch or Karpathian Sandstone series 

 has yielded foraminifera in places, but is otherwise 

 singularly devoid of organisms. Zuber has aptly 

 compared it with the huge delta deposits of the 

 Orinoco. Rock-salt and mineral oil characterise the 

 Miocene horizons in Galicia, and Dr. Uhlig (p. 864) 

 accepts an unconformity between these and the 

 Karpathian Sandstone. He then shows how the pre- 

 sent broken condition of the salt-beds may be due to 

 post-Miocene earth-movements. 

 NO. 1803, VOL. 



The important volcanic zone on the inner side of the 

 mountain-ring raises again (p. 879) the question of 

 the relations of the igneous rocks at Selmeczbdnya. 

 Prof. J. W. (not " C. W.") Judd is quoted, and the 

 existence of a great central volcano is left as a possible 

 solution. It is pleasant to find a photograph of the 

 lofty obsidian cliff of Geletnek among others of this 

 picturesque area. The rich ore-deposits of northern 

 Hungary occupy cracks in the Miocene lavas, and are 

 among the latest manifestations of the solfatara stage 

 of the eruptions. While the Mesozoic rocks of the 

 Karpathians were folded in early Eocene times, the 

 volcanic outbreak can only be connected with the 

 slighter post-Miocene movements, and appears to have 

 accompanied the general sinking of the lowland. 



We cannot do full justice, in concluding this notice, 

 to Dr. Rudolf Hoernes's section on the plains. The 

 Cainozoic history of the empire is involved in that of 

 these great wind-swept level lands. We are taken 

 from the basin of Vienna, which is really an area of 

 depression formed within the body of the Alps, to the 

 sandy reaches on the edge of the Government of 

 Warsaw, where soil and vegetation have difficulty in 

 clinging to the surface (p. 1049). The salt-beds of 

 Wieliczka (p. 942) again come in for treatment, since 

 the separate publication of the four divisions of the 

 volume renders some overlapping unavoidable. 



The ravine of the Danube east of Passau, already 

 touched on picturesquely by Dr. F. E. Suess (p. 105), 

 receives full discussion here after an interval of a 

 thousand pages. Following Penck, the general con- 

 clusion is that the Danube flowed in pre-Glacial 

 times over the detrital deposits of late Cainozoic age, 

 cutting broad valleys in these, and ravines where it 

 reached down to the underlying ancient rocks. The 

 present prominence of the latter rocks is due to the 

 denudation of the more yielding Cainozoic strata. 



Of the four authors. Dr. F. E. Suess perhtips best 

 realises the landscapes in his word-pictures ; but the 

 whole book has a literary value, and is thus all the 

 more competent to stimulate observation and research. 

 Its modernised spelling, such as " Zentralkern " and 

 " Gneise," is perhaps a sign of its virility. The 

 absence of an index will surely soon be rectified. 



Grenville A. J. Cole. 



A NEW FRENCH TREATISE ON CHEMISTRY. 

 Traitd de Chimie Minerale. Published under the direc- 

 tion of Henri Moissan, with many collaborators. 

 Tome Premier — M^talloides ; Tome Troisifeme — 

 M^taux. Pp. xiii + 527 and 672. (Paris: Masson 

 et Cie. , 1904.) Price 125 francs net. 

 "■ I "HE recent advance in inorganic chemistry, 10 which 

 ^ M. Moissan has in no small degree contributed, 

 has rendered it advisable, in his opinion and in that 

 of his co-workers, to take stock, so that those engaged 

 in research in that branch of chemistry may have in 

 an accessible form an account of the whole field and 

 a full bibliography of published memoirs. It is the 

 laudable ambition of the editor to point out what gaps 

 still remain unfilled, and where research may most 

 profitably be undertaken. The atomic theory is 



