360 
NATURE 
[Sepz. 4, 1873 
sphere, the lowest aérial strata or those nearest the influ- 
ence of this radiation will be warmer than those at higher 
elevations.” But it is a thoroughly well-established fact 
that the atmosphere is scarcely at all warmed by radiant 
heat, except when charged with vapour, but almost wholly 
by contact with the heated earth, and that the diminution 
of temperature upwards is due to the cooling by expansion 
of the air which rises from below, and to its greater 
diathermacy, owing to the comparatively small amount of 
vapour at great elevations. In the whole of this part of the 
book there is no allusion to the effect of atmospheric 
vapour in checking radiation, so that the learner is left 
without a clue to the comprehension of some of the most 
important and interesting facts in climatology. 
The latter division of the volume treats of the distri- 
bution of life, but it deals chiefly in vague generalities, 
and shows little acquaintance with the large amount of 
research which has of late years been bestowed on this 
subject. The distribution of plants is illustrated by 
means of the eight zones, from equatorial to polar ; and 
there is no hint to the student that this is not a natural 
system or that there are any other causes than climate, 
soil, and altitude that determine the flora of a region. 
Here, too, we are not free from absurd errors, such as 
rhododendron and azalea being given as characteristic of 
the “American Arctic zone,” while “box, saxifrage, and 
gum” (!) are said to grow up to 4,200 ft. on the Pyrenees, 
and “rice and wheat” in “those provinces subject to the 
influence of tropical seasons !” (p. 257). Animal life is 
treated in an equally loose and obsolete fashion. We 
find such terms as “homoiozoic zones” and “latitudinal 
distribution” repeated ad nauseam, but in illustration of 
these the student is told that the opossum is peculiar to 
the north temperate zone, and the kangaroo to the 
southern, apparently'in complete ignorance that opossums 
abound all through tropical South America, while 
kangaroos inhabit tropical Australia and equatorial New 
Guinea, as well as the more temperate regions. “The 
eagle and falcon” are also given as peculiar to the tempe- 
rate zone, while “ the wolf” is said to be peculiarly arctic 
(p. 261). We are next informed that—-“ it has been 
attempted to arrange the earth’s surface into certain 
zoological kingdoms and provinces, but it must be con- 
fessed with much less precision and certainty than in the 
case of the vegetable world ”—which is exactly the reverse 
of the fact,—and then we have the now obsolete arrange- 
ment of Edward Forbes put forth, without a word about 
the labours of Sclater, Giinther, Murray, Blyth, Blandford, 
Huxley, and others, who have established what all agree 
are natural zoological divisions of the earth (which has 
not yet been done in botany), although they may still 
differ as to the comparative rank of those divisions. We 
are not therefore much surprised when (at p. 263) we are 
told that in the Moluccas and Timor “,there is a great 
abundance of carnivora and other orders of animals (!)’ 
or that we have (at p. 269) the entirely novel assertion 
that “on the introduction of some new exotic, animals 
hitherto unknown in that locality usually make their 
appearance.” Having perhaps read or heard of Mr. 
Darwin’s celebrated case of the heartsease, bees, mice, 
and cats (“ Origin of Species,” 6th ed., p. 57), Dr. Page 
holds forth as follows :—‘ Certain birds, for example, feed 
on certain insects, and these insects again find their 
chosen food in certain plants; remove the plants and 
you destroy the insects, and by the destruction of the 
insects you compel the birds to remove and find othe 
habitats, or if these supplies cannot be found the birds 
are extirpated.” Mr. Darwin gives a possible and very 
probable case founded on careful observation, but here we 
have a very improbable, if not impossible case, founded 
on imagination ; because no birds feed on “ certain ”— 
that is definite species of—insects only, and com- 
paratively few insects again are restricted to certain 
definite species of plants, so that there is no reason to 
believe that any insectivorous bird could ever be extir- 
pated, or even rendered scarce, by the destruction of a 
single species of plant with the insects that feed upon it. 
Next we come to the subject of mankind with the 
inevitable five races of Blumenbach, no notice whatever 
being taken of more modern classifications. Thus, the 
hill-tribes of India are left with the Caucasians, and the 
New Zealanders, Papuans, Australians, and Malays, are 
all jumbled together as forming one race. In the con- 
cluding chapter, which is a kind of summary of the whole 
work, we find it stated that the new world is charac- 
terised by more “uniformity of vegetable and animal 
life” than Europe, the exact contrary being the case ; 
that “the vegetation of Africa is much less varied than 
that of Europe or Asia,” which is equally untrue as regards 
Europe; the Cape of Good Hope alone equalling it in 
the number of families and genera of plants, while the 
difference between its northern and southern extremities 
is far greater than any corresponding difference in 
Europe ; and, that the Polynesians are “utterly uncivi- 
lised.” Having now gone through the book, we find 
that several classes of earth-knowledge have been totally 
omitted. The great subjects of terrestrial magnetism and 
atmospheric electricity are altogether ignored, while such 
phenomena as the rainbow, the blue sky, and meteoric 
stones, are never once mentioned. 
The great and radical defects which have now been 
pointed out are not however the only ones, although they 
are by far the most important. The work is carelessly 
written, and the author seems not to have thought it 
worth while, even in a second edition, to correct errors, 
erase repetitions, or make sentences intelligible A 
passage is repeated word for word about the middle and 
near the bottom of p.27. “ Contour” and “vertical relief” 
are defined in almost the same words three times over at 
pp. 62,66 and 72. The two first lines on p. 21 are un- 
intelligible, owing to some omitted words ; and the second 
line of p. 28 is palpably ungrammatical. These, how- 
ever, are small matters,and would not have been noticed 
had the author carried out with any approach to complete- 
ness and accuracy his somewhat lofty pretensions. He 
tells us that it is his object to “ present an outline of the 
science inits higher bearings,” to rise above mere ex- 
ternal appearances, and seek to explain the causes that 
produce them, and that “he has endeavoured to embrace 
all that is important in recent discovery and hypothesis.” 
The numerous quotations and references now given will 
enable the reader to judge how far the opinion expressed 
at the commencement of this article is well founded, and, 
if they agree with that opinion, they will feel some indig- 
nation‘that periodicals of high standing should (through 
ignorance or something worse), mislead the public so far 
as to tell them that this is “a thoroughly good text-book 
of Physical Geography.”(!) This is the more to be 
