REVIEWS 829 
charged to old-fogyism by those who like to see the old terms used in 
the new way, and to conservatism by others. The reviewer is pre- 
pared to go a good ways in the application of biological terms to geo- 
graphic evolution, where the terms fit, but when a large and quickly 
built delta is called a “precocious infant” (p. 224), it seems to be 
going a trifle far. Such criticism is, however, on the surface of things ; 
it touches nothing fundamental. Some new terms are introduced to 
designate forms which have been nameless, and some of them are so 
good and so much needed that they should be adopted at once. An 
example is ‘‘wave-base”’ (p. 176) to denote the plane to which waves 
may degrade the bottom in shallow water. It is the correlative of 
base level. Some other terms, however, do not at first seem so neces- 
sary or so happily chosen. To this class belongs ‘winged beheadland”’ 
to denote a sea cliff with a spit on either side (p. 213). 
There are not a few minor points in the essay which might be 
criticised, but it seems almost ungracious to mention them in the 
presence of so many larger matters which deserve hearty commenda- 
tion. Glacial erosion seems not to have due recognition among the 
agencies which shape shore lines. It is true that the author expressly 
disclaims his intention of discussing this point, and it is true that 
glacial modification of coasts are accidental, in the sense of not being 
a part of the normal cycle which is the theme under discussion, but it 
might have been well to recognize more fully the effects of glaciation 
in connection with some of the coasts referred to, even though the 
subject of glacial modification of coast lines is not discussed. The 
writers on Lake Agassiz are gently criticised for describing the shore 
lines of that lake as if they ‘‘were formed once for all and would 
forever remain as constructed” (p. 187), but the truth is, these shore 
lines are still sensibly as constructed, and no one has essayed to write 
up the history of the changes which these shores will yet undergo. It 
will be readily seen that when such minor points are the things which 
suggest themselves for criticism the essay as a whole is strong. 
Not only is the essay a serious piece of work, as suggested at the 
outset, but, by means of the numerous references, both cartographic 
and textual, the author has placed the material on which he based his 
conclusions at the command of future students. From this material 
students may draw their own conclusions, and, judging from the tone 
of the essay, no one would be more ready to entertain alternative 
conclusions than Mr. Gulliver himself. Rebs. 
