Reviews 



Geologic Elementar. Preparada com referenda especial aos Estudi- 

 antes Brazileiros e a Geologia do Brazil. Por John C. Brax- 

 ner. Segunda Edicao, pp. 396, figs. 174. Francisco Alves e 

 Cia, Rio de Janeiro, 191 5. 



Previous to the appearance of the first edition of Geologia Elementar 

 in 1906, about the only textbooks in geology available to Brazilian 

 students were those written in foreign languages and the Portuguese 

 translation of an abbreviated text of De Lapparent, published in Rio 

 de Janeiro in [898, and a much earlier translation from the French 

 which appeared in 1S40. Such works, however, are founded to a largt 

 extent upon the geology of Europe and North America and thus fall 

 short of being the most appropriate subject-matter for South American 

 students whose greatest interest naturally centers in the phenomena 

 of their own continent. References to familiar scenes and places are 

 not only more impressive and instructive than citations from remote 

 regions, but they stimulate direct observations on local formations and 

 had on to practical studies of home phenomena. 



Recognizing the urgent need of a Brazilian textbook of geologv for 

 Brazilian students. Dr. Branner prepared this Geologia Elementar by 

 drawing on the geology of Brazil as largely as possible for illustrative 

 and descriptive matter. He was singularly qualified to do this by 

 virtue of his very extensive field studies in that country. Few countries 

 offer a richer field for selecting material illustrative of geologic processes 

 than brazil, even though great portions of it, in spite of the activity oi 

 the Brazilian survey, yet remain unexplored geologically. Its illustra- 

 tive resources are attested by the success of this endeavor. 



The book is divided into three sections: Part I, Dynamic Geology; 

 Part II, Structural Geology; Part 111, Historical Geology. 



Part III, both on the physical side and on the biological, is almost 

 entirely a history of the geology of Brazil. The faunas represented and 

 discussed are, with the exception of the Jurassic, almost exclusively 

 Brazilian. The work thus gives, in convenient form, a summary of 

 what is known of the geological history of Brazil. 



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