REVIEWS 317 



barometer readings westward from Croswell gave 765 feet for the alti- 

 tude of a shore line stated by Mr. Taylor to be 780 feet above sea 

 level. In an area so little diversified, more exact measurements are 

 needed to settle some of the questions raised. Notwithstanding these 

 questions, however, we regard the paper as an important contribution 

 to the literature of the glacial recession. C. H. Gordon. 



Elementary Geology. Ralph S. Tarr.B.S., F.G.S.A. The Mac- 

 millan Company, 1897. Pp. xx+499. $1.40. 



This is the most attractive elementary text-book on geology which 

 the writer has seen. The style is generally simple, the illustrations 

 numerous, well selected, and with but few exceptions clearly repro- 

 duced, and the mechanical execution, including the binding, is unsur- 

 passed. The wealth of illustration is shown by the twenty-four full 

 page plates and 268 figures, which adorn its pages. This work differs 

 from most other text-books on geology in the greater stress laid upon 

 the dynamic aspect of the subject. The stratigraphic and historic 

 phases are treated briefly and concisely[in 100 pages as against 275 pages 

 given to the dynamic and 92 to the structural side. The develop- 

 ment of life during the various periods is outlined, but no attempt has 

 been made to teach palaeontology, or to give long lists of fossils. The 

 chapter on the life development precedes the chapter on the evolution 

 of the land and the geography of the different periods. This depar- 

 ture from the more common custom of considering first the geography 

 and then the life of each period will perhaps find favor with some 

 teachers but not with all. Whatever be the success of this arrange- 

 ment, there can be but little doubt but that the author has done well 

 to lay the greater stress upon the dynamic phases of the subject in a 

 book meant for high-school pupils. 



In judging this book due regard must be had for the author's pur- 

 pose,/. (?., to "furnish a companion and adjunct" to his Physical Geog- 

 raphy. It is his hope that the two books will be used together, the 

 geology being taken after a study of the air and ocean, and before the 

 physiography. Knowing the author's purpose, the omission of some 

 topics, such as "river cycles" and "base levels" can be understood, 

 since they have been treated in the Physical Geography. In spite, 

 however, of some omissions, there is considerable repetition in the two 

 books — something hardly to be avoided. The Geology is a more ele- 



