722 REVIEWS 



economic products of the Miocene, pp. 579 to 580, of the glacial and 

 interglacial stages of the Pleistocene, pp. 648 to 651, and of other equally 

 important topics. On the other hand, many topics are treated with 

 unnecessary detail. The relatively unimportant subjects of geysers, 

 cirques, icebergs, coral reefs, and earthquakes are given too much 

 space. Throughout Part II life is given a more prominent place than 

 physical history. The physical history of the Devonian occupies 

 4 pages, the life-history, 13 pages; Mesozoic stratigraphy has 15 pages; 

 life, 48 pages; Tertiary history covers 18 pages, Tertiary life, 52 pages. 



Perhaps the greatest fault of the book has to do with order. The 

 author has seen fit to exclude separate chapters on lakes, sedimentary 

 rocks, and diastrophism, and to scatter these important subjects through 

 other chapters. The result is disorganization. In Part II the various 

 life-forms are discussed as life-forms rather than as earth inhabitants at 

 stated times in geologic history, resulting in better biologic than geo- 

 logic treatment. Stream erosion and stream deposition are badly mixed 

 (monadnocks, for instance, on p. 1 1 1 belong on p. 105), lacustrine deposits, 

 even peat, the origin of rock salt, extinct lakes, are all discussed under 

 the work of streams; ice in lakes, cuestas, and sedimentary rocks appear 

 nowhere save in the chapter on the ocean ; chalk is found under deep sea 

 deposits; hinge faults are separated from other types of fault and 

 included under earthquakes; igneous rocks are classified before minerals 

 are referred to; Pennsylvanian coal is scattered; Cretaceous sequoias 

 are treated in the Tertiary; on pp. 545 and 646, " 1. Other Continents" 

 and "2. North America " should be in reverse order. 



On the whole, the book shows an excellent attitude toward unsettled 

 and controversial questions. In most cases both sides are fairly stated 

 and the reader is allowed to take either view. The author is orthodox 

 in most of his views. Geologists, however, will tend to disagree with 

 some of his statements, such as the origin of geodes, p. 79, the history of 

 the Tennessee River, p. 117, and the peneplaination of the larger part 

 of North America during the Cretaceous period, pp. 518 to 520. It is 

 doubtful if marble weathers to calcareous clay (p. 350). On pp. 417, 

 437, 451, and 590 there is intimation and definite statement that climatic 

 zones did not exist until recent stages in the history of the earth; this is 

 easy to write but not so easy to explain. There is grave doubt whether 

 Devonian vulcanism in New England and Nova Scotia had anything to 

 do with Permian diastrophism in the Appalachian Mountains (p. 455). 

 The author of the book will hardly convince the majority of geologists 

 of the unimportance of diastrophism and the relative importance of life- 



