334 _New Books on Geology. 
of view. He was necessarily forced to admire the glorious coast scenery 
with which his paleo-botanical work brought him in contact, including the 
varied and picturesque cliffs between Portlock and Boscastle. Every feature 
in the diversified and picturesque bays and promontories was possible of 
explanation ; and in this volume, besides reproducing a wonderful series of 
photographs of cliff and cave, the author has carefully described the why 
and wherefore thereof. A perusal of the work shews that Devon produces 
a wonderful variety of features, some easily understood, others more 
difficult of explanation. But the author has studied the subject very 
carefully, and in plain English gives the results of his observations. The 
book is by no means technical, but it a really fascinating narrative of the 
geological history of the coast. In the first part Mr. Arber describes in 
detail the six principal districts into which this area is divided, and in the 
second he refers more fully to the special points of geological interest. 
In addition to the photographs, there are a number of diagrams, a biblio- 
graphy, and a good index. 
The Ice Age in North America and its Bearings upon the Antiquity of 
Man, by G. Frederick Wright, LL.D., ete. Fifth Edition. Oberlin, Ohio ; 
Xxlil.+763 pp. 
There can be no question that the present enthusiastic school of 
glacialists has been largely influenced by American writers, in the fore 
rank of which is Prof. Wright. And of his many books, ‘ The Ice Age in 
North America’ is the best. It is twenty years since the first 
edition was published, and it at once ‘ took its place.’ Certainly, all the 
views expressed therein were not generally accepted, but from that time 
there has been a continually increasing army of students of glaciation, 
which has contributed largely to our knowledge of the glacial conditions 
formerly obtaining in the New World. A perusal of the Bibliography 
at the end of the present edition is evidence of the enormous accumulation 
of facts and theories since the appearance of the first edition. Amongst 
the names noted are those of many of the leading scientific men of Europe 
and America. 
The great increase in the number of pages in the new edition is alone 
evidence of the additional matter brought forward by Dr. Wright, but 
when we come to examine the volume in detail it is apparent that every 
care has been exercised in taking new evidence and new facts into con- 
sideration. The excellent work of Prof. Williams and Mr. Frank Leverett 
especially has provided much new material; but, perhaps, the greatest 
changes have taken place in those chapters dealing with the evidence of 
human remains connected with the glacial period. In this direction our 
American friends have worked in a way that causes astonishment amongst 
English geologists. Anyway the great mass of evidence brought forward 
seems to have been seriously and conscientiously summarised by Dr. 
Wright, who carefully puts the case both for and against the existence of 
man in America during the great Ice Age. This part of the work alone is 
of great value from the clear way in which the various evidences are 
reviewed ; but the volume will command a sale far beyond even the enor- 
mous area with which it deals, and certainly many of the chapters are of 
great general interest, We have particularly in mind those dealing 
with the Depth of Ice; Glacial Erosion and Transportation ; Drumlins ; 
Glacial Dams, Lakes, etc.; The Loess; Flight of Plants and Animals 
during the Glacial Period; Europe during the Glacial Period; The 
Cause of the Glacial Period ; The Date of the Glacial Period, etc. 
It is certainly a matter for congratulation that a busy man such as 
we know Dr. Wright to be should be able to keep abreast with the enormous 
literature on the subject with which his book deals, and be able from time 
to time to give geologists so admirable a summary of the progress made 
with regard to the study of one of the most remarkable periods in the 
history of the earth, viz., the Ice Age. 
Naturalist, 
