176 REVIEWS 



During the past season very thin layers of carbon with some resemblance to 

 organic forms were found in the sandstones of Cotter Island; these have the appearance 

 of lowly organized plant life, lower than the known fossils from the lowest beds of the 

 Cambrian ; and consequently this formation is older than the Cambrian. It is proposed, 

 therefore to class these so-called Cambrian unaltered rocks as Laurentian, as they 

 represent the oldest known sedimentary rocks in the northeast of America, and 

 probably in the world. 



West Virginia Geological Survey. Vol. I, Oil and Gas; Vol. II, 

 Coal; and map showing the occurrence of coal, oil, and gas 

 in West Virginia, By I. C. White, State Geologist. 

 Professor I. C. White, state geologist of West Virginia, has just 

 issued a map showing the distribution of coal, oil, and gas areas in that 

 state. The base of the map is topographic, with contours of 1,000 feet, 

 .and is, all in all, the most accurate map of the state which has ever 

 been published. The map shows both the coal areas and the coal 

 mines of the state. Of the former, the Pittsburg, the Allegheny- 

 Kanawha, and the New River-Pocahontas are differentiated. In the 

 aggregate, the coal areas cover nearly one-half of the state. The areas 

 of natural gas and oil, though more restricted, are still extensive. 



The map, just published, is a welcome supplement to the excel- 

 lent volumes on Oil and Gas (Vol. I, issued in 1899), and Coal (Vol. 

 II, issued in 1903). No state geological survey has issued economic 

 reports of greater worth. While in the case of both volumes the 

 treatment is primarily economic, the general structural relations of the 

 Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, and Permian series, as developed in West 



Virg^inia, are clearly set forth. 



R. D. S. 



■Geographic Influences in American History. By Albert Perry 



Brigham. The Chautauqua Press, 1903. Pp. x + 366; 61 



illustrations. 

 Americaji History and its Geographic Conditions. By Eixen 



Churchill Semple. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 



1903. Pp. 466; 16 maps. 

 The above books are pioneers in a most interesting and important 

 field, too long neglected. American history has been profoundly influ- 

 enced by geological and geographical conditions. To ignore these 

 controls is to make history very largely empirical. To recognize them 

 is to go a long way toward making history a rational science. To 



