Reviews — Professor B. D. Salisbury's Physiography. 223 



exerts restraint and skill in the subordination of his geological 

 knowledge to the strict requirements of his subject, which, in his 

 introduction, he defines thus: "Physiography has to do primarily 

 with the surface of the lithosphere, and with the relations of air 

 and water to it. Its field is the zone of contact of air and water 

 with land, and of air with water " (p. 4). And in discussing the 

 relation of the science to geology, he adds : " Geology has to do with 

 the history of the earth ; while physiography has to do with a late 

 chapter only of that history, — the history of the present surface." 



As thus defined, physiography is a sufficiently vast subject, dealing 

 always with phenomena and processes that embrace the whole earth 

 in their scope. Its far-reaching conceptions rise clear above the 

 tangle of minute detail so repellent to the imj)atient imagination ; and 

 if in these days of specialized education there should ever be 

 attempted a course of scientific instruction for budding poets and 

 other aspirants in imaginative literature, assuredly physiography, 

 equally with astronomy, should be one of the subjects to be taught. 

 And really, when one thinks of it, the want of such a course is serious ; 

 for, more than ever, we need the stimulus of an inspiriting utterance 

 of our new ideas in perfect form, while the poets, mostly helpless 

 from imperfect education, can still only harp upon obsolete instruments, 

 or set our teeth on edge when they venture to touch the new strings. 

 Nor, if the imaginative person can keep pace with the strenuous 

 American student, need his grounding in physiography take long, 

 for, in the preface to this comprehensive book, we read that the work 

 outlined in it "is essentially the work covered in the University of 

 Chicago in a twelve weeks' course, taken most largely by students who 

 have but recently entered college." 



Lest the somewhat massive proportions of the book should daunt 

 the beginner, let iis note, however, that of its 770 pages the half 

 are occupied by the text-figures Avhich illustrate every feature that 

 is described. By their numbers and excellence these figures aiiord 

 admirable aid to the letterpress. 



Notwithstanding the size of the volume. Professor Salisbury's 

 treatment of his subject is designedly simple and elementary. The 

 new-fangled terms of the American school of physiography, when 

 introduced, are clearly explained and illustrated, and there is no 

 attempt to bring forward the whole battery of them. Thus, while 

 ' consequent ' and ' antecedent ' streams are discussed, there is no 

 mention of such further refinements as ' obsequents ' and ' sub- 

 sequents.' Every new science must require the introduction of new 

 technicalities, and the word in which an idea first conveniently 

 crystallizes out is likely to survive, even though it be no better 

 than, say, ' peneplain.' Still, our innate conservatism forbids too 

 hearty a welcome to the strangers, and it is perhaps pardonable in 

 a British reader who chanced to light upon the picture of a butte 

 (p. 171) to which is appended as an explanatory note "The butte 

 is really a monadnock," that the phrase should bring with it a 

 reminiscence of Lewis Carroll's quaint line " Por the Snark was a 

 Bojum, you see." But let that pass ; ' butte ' is good, and ' monadnock ' 

 also has its uses ! 



