June 28, 1877] 



NA TURE 



^59 



and such intimate relations. Etymological purists have 

 indeed cavilled at the term "biology," and the opponents 

 of change have disputed its taison d'Hre, but it is im- 

 possible to deny that its invention was the natural con- 

 sequence of the growth of juster views concerning the 

 relations of living beings to one another, or that, on 

 account of its fitness, it bids fair to survive all hostile 

 criticism. 



Now in the same way that the development of our 

 knowledge of the lowest forms of life has led to the 

 breaking down of the unnatural barriers between the 

 animal and vegetable kingdoms, and the union of 

 all the anatomical, physiological, systematic, and a;ti- 

 ological branches of our knowledge of living beings 

 into the federal republic of biology, so the growth and 

 establishment of a juster geological philosophy has 

 greatly modified, and indeed almost revolutionised, our 

 conception and treatment of certain branches of geo- 

 graphical science. 



For more than half a century the principle which 

 demands that the geologist shall interpret the past his- 

 tory of the globe by means of a constant reference 

 to the operations now going on upon its surface, has 

 been steadily gaining ground ; and this postulate may 

 now be said to have taken its place as the very corner- 

 stone in all geological reasoning. But if geology has 

 thus to own her dependence on geographical know- 

 ledge, she has more than requited her obligations by 

 the new vitality which she has infused into her sister 

 science. It is not too much to assert that the growing 

 conviction of the necessity for a more systematic, a more 

 searching, and a more accurate investigation of the phe- 

 nomena of the globe and of the forces by which they are 

 produced— a conviction which has prompted the despatch 

 of expeditions for carrying out carefully organised re- 

 searches both on sea and land— has been to a very 

 great extent created and fostered by the revelations of 

 glaring imperfections in our knowledge of the earth's 

 existing economy which are continually being made by 

 geology. 



The woik before us is an example of the treatment of 

 geographical quest ions from thepointof view of a geologist, 

 and we are not surprised to find that its author is evidently 

 strongly actuated by the conviction of the necessity for 

 a broader and more vivid presentation of the action and 

 reaction upon one another of the various forces operating 

 upon the surface of the globe, than is usually found in 

 works on physical geography, in order to convey a just 

 idea of the character and significance of the features 

 which it presents. Thus, in the introductory chapter, 

 after referring to that complex interplay of agencies by 

 which the fluid envelopes of the globe are maintained in 

 constant circulation, and the elements of its solid crust 

 made to pass through ever-varying cycles of change — 

 a series of phenomena which has suggested to the 

 profounder thinkers of all ages an analogy between 

 our planet and a living being— the author goes on to 

 say ; — 



" Now this life of the earth is the central thought 

 which runs through all that branch of science termed 

 physical geography. The word geography, as ordinarily 

 used, means a description of the surface of the earth, 

 including its natural subdivisions, such as continents 



and oceans, together with its artificial or political 

 subdivisions, such as countries and kingdoms. But 

 physical geography is not a mere description of the 

 parts of the earth. It takes little heed of the poli- 

 tical boundaries except m so lar as tney mark the 

 limits of different races of men. Nor does it confine 

 itself to a mere enumeration of the different features of 

 the surface. It tries to gather together what is known 

 regarding the earth as a heavenly body, its constitution, 

 and probable history. In describing the parts of the 

 earth— air, land, and .<^ea— it ever seeks to place them 

 before our minds as to make us realise not only what 

 they are in themselves, but how they affect each other, 

 and what part each plays in the general system of our 

 globe. Thus physical geography endeavours to present a 

 vivid picture of the mechanism of that wonderfully com- 

 plex and harmonious world in which we live." 



In that easy and graceful style, of which he possesses 

 so perfect a mastery, the author proceeds in subsequent 

 chapters to give a sketch of those vast fields of know- 

 ledge which are opened up to us by this method of look- 

 ing at the phenomena of the globe. The book is exactly 

 what it professes to be— a series of elementary lessons ; 

 but, while it may be read with profit and delight by any 

 fairiy-taught schoolboy, it will not be found wanting 

 in instruction and suggestiveness for more advanced 

 students. On some questions, as for example that of 

 the nature and causes of the great movements of the 

 atmosphere, the author has been particularly successful 

 in embodying within a very small compass a mass of 

 information which the student could otherwise gain only 

 by the perusal of a number of special treatises To 

 teachers of elementary science who desire a model on 

 which to frame their lessons for beginners, so as to secure 

 their attention and interest and to arouse the enthusiasm 

 of such ainong them as are capable of that sentiment, 

 we very heartily commend this admirable little book. 



The author points out in a note that the subject of 

 physical geography, as here treated of, is conterminous 

 with that division of science for which the name of 

 physiography has been suggested. The advances made 

 in recent years in the study of physical astronomy and 

 the relations which have been established between ce- 

 lestial and terrestrial objects by the development of 

 spectrum analysis and the study of meteorites, taken in 

 connection with that strongly-felt necessity for a deeper 

 insight into the mode of operation of the forces operating 

 upon the surface of the globe, both from within and with- 

 out, which geological research has awakened, have inde- 

 pendently suggested to many thinkers the desirability of 

 peimitting certain portions of natural knowledge to crys- 

 tallise around a new centre. The importance of this new 

 science thus growing up on the confines of geography, 

 geology, astronomy, and biology, and linking them all 

 together, a science the study of which would form the 

 most fitting preparation for the detailed pursuit of all 

 and each of the natural sciences, was long ago pointed 

 out by Prof. Huxley ; and in a course of lectures delivered 

 in 1870 he sought to illustrate the objects and methods of 

 this latest-born member of the family of the natural 

 sciences. In that most excellent of geological text-books. 

 Prof. Dana's " Manual of Geology," the term " physio- 

 graphy " is also employed, in the same sense as advocated 

 by Prof. Huxley. Nor is the use of the term confined to 

 English writers, for in several of the best German manuals 



