638 REVIEWS 



the structure is not yet known certainly. Concerning the fabulous 

 production of the gushers, no definite figures can yet be given, but the 

 production is unquestionably large. Pipe lines connect the field with 

 tide water at Sabine Pass and Port Arthur where refineries are in pro- 

 cess of construction. In quality the oil is a heavy fuel oil, the price 

 of which, in July, 1901, varied from 20 to 40 cents per barrel. 



In connection with the origin of the oil, an investigation was 

 made of the so-called "oil ponds," certain quiet spots in the Gulf 

 near Sabine Pass and popularly supposed to be caused by oil escaping 

 from submarine springs. The areas were found to be over extensive 

 beds of black ooze. The examination of samples of this ooze disclosed 

 the presence of sulphur and of diatoms containing oil globules, but of 

 no free oil except such as manifestly came down from the overflow of 

 the Beaumont wells. Sulphur deposits occur over the Beaumont oil 

 horizon. The possible analogy of the present conditions to the condi- 

 tions prevailing when the Beaumont oil-bearing formation was depos- 

 ited is suggested as well as the possible connection of diatoms with 

 the oil production. 



The report is well printed and illustrated with a number of photo- 

 graphs of characteristic scenes in the different fields, including several 

 of the "gushers" in action, and is in all respects a worthy inauguration 

 of the new survey. 



C. E. S. 



Lessofis in PJiysical Geography. By Charles R. Dryer. Ameri- 

 can Book Co.: New York, Cincinnati, and Chicago, 1901. 



This text-book of high-school grade covers the field of physical 

 geography from the modern standpoint. It has several characteristics 

 for which it deserves recognition as more than a mere variation of 

 what has already been accomplished in other books. It is, first of all, 

 a very concrete presentation of the physiographic principles which 

 have recently come into prominence. Thirty-four pages are given to 

 three typical river systems, the Mississippi, the Colorado, and the St. 

 Lawrence, and thirteen pages to the drift sheet of North America, 

 beside the general treatment of glaciers. The chapters which are 

 devoted to more general subjects also abound in descriptive examples 

 and pictorial illustrations. In the second place, the book has a large 

 number of illustrations which are new to text-books ; many of these 

 are drawn from Indiana and neighboring states and will be welcome 



