JANUARY 15, 1914] 
NATURE 
Sot 
J. Volney Lewis. Pp. v+ 151. (New York: 
John Wiley and Sons; London: Chapman and 
Hall., Ltd., 1913.) Price 6s. 6d. net. 
(1) R, SWAINE’S book represents extensive 
M reading in geological reports and 
journals, some of which are not €asy to procure. 
The references to authors require some correction 
—T. C. Chamberlin, for instance, is consistently 
quoted as Wehariherlaisi *—hbut they are well 
chosen and are thoroughly suggestive to the 
student. Thanks to this free acceptance of the 
results obtained by field observers in many lands, 
a great deal of stratigraphical information is to | 
be found within these pages. The author, how- 
ever, is possessed by an idea, which forms the 
undercurrent of the book, and must appear 
somewhat startling to petrologists, if not also to 
biologists. He holds that the “globes of con- 
densed vapour” (p. 9) that occur in nebulz pass 
into a liquid state, producing, if we read aright, 
globes of water in which certain elements are dis- 
solved. 
Through the development of protoplasm in this 
water, and the withdrawal of the elements from 
solution by organisms seeking to form hard parts, 
a rain of mineral matter descends, and a stony 
nucleus is built up from the centre outwards. 
Calcium carbonate cannot exist in great oceanic 
depths, and consequently the first deposits were 
siliceous, and were followed by calcareous matter, 
similarly arising from the tests of organisms. The 
red clays of deep seas represent material inter- 
mediate between these types; but the chemical 
actions required to produce them from shells are 
admittedly obscure. Wherever deep oceanic basins 
existed during geological times, the same order 
of deposition has been followed (pp. 19—21); the 
quartzites and sandstones in such cases, which 
in reality mark the first sediments in a sinking 
area, are regarded as formed from radiolaria in 
a great persistent hollow which has gradually be- 
come infilled. The calcareous oozes thus represent 
the latest and shallowest stage. 
The application of this theory to the Upper 
Cretaceous series of Europe (p. 22) leads to a 
very confused argument. Terrigenous deposits 
are recognised at the base, and yet these are used 
to support the statement that “the CaCO, 
decreases with the depth.” Petrological examina- 
tion would have kept the author from many un- 
justified suggestions, such as that in regard to 
laterite (p. 198), which is treated, in spite of an 
abundant literature, as an oceanic ooze. The 
book is obviously not a safe one for beginners, 
though its illustrations and mode of production | 
go far to commend it to the reader. 
(2) Prof. Tornquist’s introduction to geology is | 
2307, VOL. 92] 
of a very different order. He also reaches a 
description of oceanic sediments on his tenth page, 
and interestingly refers to Philippi’s suggestion 
that in past times, when no polar ice-caps existed 
to produce unfavourable coldness, calcareous 
| organic deposits could be formed over the deep- 
sea areas in general. As is fitting in a work 
emanating from Kénigsberg, the rocks of the 
“Eozoicum” find their type in the admirable ex- 
posures of Fennoscandia; but the absence of 
many formations from eastern Prussia enables the 
author to be wisely eclectic. Due prominence is 
thus given to the Silurian strata of Wales and of 
Bohemia; the Permian and Triassic systems 
receive far more adequate treatment than is usual 
in English text-books; and we have a good 
account of the Jurassic rocks of central Germany.. 
On the other hand, we may feel that four lines 
(p. 222) form an insufficient reference to the 
Cretaceous beds of northern France and England. 
The earth-movements in the Harz area in Creta- 
ceous times are illustrated on p. 227, and are 
shown to be forerunners of the “Saxon folding ” 
that accompanied the formation of the Alps. On 
p. 263, the essentially modern nature of Europe 
is well expressed. The illustrations are excellent, 
and include the skeleton of Allosaurus agilis from 
the American Museum in New York. We should 
have liked some reference to the gnawed bones 
of the prey in this most terrible of zoological 
reconstructions. 
(3) Prof. Lewis’s manual may be regarded as 
convenient by those to whom the well-known work 
of Brush and Penfield seems unduly large. It 
follows similar lines and covers a wide field, and 
such recently discovered minerals as benitoite and 
purpurite are introduced. In every case refer- 
ences are given to the two text-books by J. D. 
and E. S. Dana. G. AL Ete: 
OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCHES. 
Scientific Papers. By J. Y. Buchanan, F.R.S. 
Vol. i. Pp. xii+15 papers. (Cambridge: 
University Press, 1913.) Price ros. 6d. net. 
HE numerous expeditions which have ex- 
plored the depths of the sea since the 
voyage of H.M.S. Challenger during the years 
1873-76 have added much to our detailed know- 
ledge of the conditions occurring in various seas 
and oceans, and in certain cases have given some 
idea of the periodic and irregular physical changes 
which take place. But the great pioneer voyage 
remains the only one which has surveyed the whole 
world of waters, and it is remarkable how little 
the work of more recent years, with all its advan- 
tages of previous experience and more adequate 
