224 JRcvic/rs — Professor R. D. SalisbHri/s Phijsiorjrctphy. 



And now for a rapid glance at tlie contents of the work. It is 

 divided into four parts of unequal length. Part i, the longest, of 

 480 pages, deals with the Lithosphere, in ten chapters, entitled : 

 "Relief Features," "The Work of the Atmosphere," "The Work 

 of Ground - water, " "The Work of Running Water," "The Work 

 of Snow and Ice," "Lakes and Shores," " Yulcanism," " Crustal 

 Movements: Diastrophism," "Origin and History of Physiographic 

 Features," and " Terrestrial Magnetism." Part ii, on Earth 

 Relations, containing only one chapter, of 24 pages, discusses the 

 astronomical aspect of our globe. Part iii, on the Atmosphere, has 

 200 pages, divided into eight chapiters, headed: "General Conception 

 of the Atmosphere," " Constitution of the Atmosphere," " Temperature 

 of the Air," " The Moisture of the Air," " Atmospheric Pressure," 

 " General Circulation of the Atmosphere," " Weather Maps," and 

 "Climate." This part is bountifully illustrated with meteorological 

 maps of all kinds, both general and local, the local examples being 

 here, as throughout the book, almost wholly American. Part iv 

 treats of the Ocean, somewhat disproportionately as it seems to 

 an islander — a prejudice of environment perhaps — in no more than 

 50 pages, divided into seven short chapters : " General Conceptions," 

 " Composition of Sea-water," " The Temperature of the Sea," " The 

 Movements of Sea-water," "The Life of the Sea" (brief and poor), 

 "Materials of the Sea-bottom " (the same), and "Relation of the Sea 

 to the Rest of the Earth " (only a little over a page of elementary 

 generalizations by way of summary). 



With a book of this kind it is of course impossible in our limited 

 space to do more than thus roughly to indicate its range. The outlook 

 throughout is centred on the United States of jS'orth America, for 

 ■whose students it vras primarily written ; but to the British reader it 

 is stimulating from the freshness of its illustrations and examples, 

 which bring vividly before him the magnificent diversity of conditions 

 that obtains within the limits of the great republic. 



A special feature of the book are the contour-maps which constitute 

 the twenty-six plates, and are arranged to exemplify the various 

 topographical forms described in the text and pictorially represented 

 in the figures. These are intended to familiarize the beginner with 

 the reading of such maps, and to lead him on to the systematic study 

 of the larger official maps mentioned in lists given at the end of most 

 of the chapters, where also the advanced stiident will find references 

 to the technical literature of each subject. These map-plates are 

 rendered pleasing in appearance by being printed in the three con- 

 ventional colours, black, blue (water), and brown (contours). Among 

 many advantages, this method of printing has some disadvantages, for 

 one needs sharp eyes to read the contour - heights, so very sparsely 

 bestowed on most of the maps ; and there is also a too frequent 

 recurrence of faulty registration, by which streams are displaced 

 from their vallej's, and contours are made to cross surfaces of 

 standing water (e.g. j)ls. xviii and xx). 



Some minor points that seem open to criticism (e.g. the too limiting 

 definition of 'ravine' on p. 119; and the apparent hair-splitting in 

 the sentence on p. 338 — " The cones are often called volcanoes, 



