ABSTRACTS 649 



bodies of fresh water. Our jjresent knowledge of the changes in level 

 in the Baltic region is very incomplete, and the author urges the 

 importance of more observations bearing on the subject. He is of the 

 opinion that a close study of the changes in the shorelines of many 

 other lakes will give important results in this direction. J. A. U. 



The Search for the North Pole. By Evelyn Briggs Baldwin. Pub- 

 lished by the author, Chicago, 111. 



The author was meteorologist to the second Peary expedition and 

 spent the year 1893-4 in northern Greenland. The severe conditions 

 that limited the success of that expedition did not quench Mr. Bald- 

 win's ardor for xerotic work, and this book has been prepared as an 

 expression of that interest and as an aid to the necessary means for 

 further enterprises. Its purpose is to awaken a wider interest in 

 northern exploration, to remove erroneous impressions popularly 

 entertained respecting it, and, if haply it may so be, to evoke aid for 

 its continued prosecution. 



The attempt of the book is to give a summary history of all Arctic 

 expeditions. It is not confined to those whose chief object was to 

 reach the pole. In this respect the book is broader than its title. The 

 selection of matter has been made with a view to popular interest, and 

 it is to be judged on that basis. It makes no pretension to a discus- 

 sion of the scientific problems of the north, although matters of 

 scientific interest are woven into the narrative so far as thought consist- 

 ent with its popular interest. In the choice of extracts from the various 

 narratives there has been only a limited yielding to the allurements of 

 florid coloration, exaggerated heroism and morbid sensationalism 

 which characterize so much of Arctic literature. It is a plain, straight- 

 forward, very readable story of a series of remarkable enterprises. 

 It is probably the most complete compilation, within like limits, that 

 has yet been made. T. C. C. 



Iowa Geological Survey, Vol. V, Annual Report, 1S95, 452 pp., 14 



plates, 7 maps. Des Moines, 1896. 



In the report upon Jones county Professor Calvin divides the 



Niagara series into the Delaware, Le Claire, Anamosa and Bertram 



stasfes. Of these the Le Claire is of considerable interest in that the 



