40 Revieus — Miirs International Geography. 



waters find a resting-place upon the bottom, the great feeding- 

 ground of the ocean, and which seems to be very densely peopled. 

 He holds to the view " that in early geological times there was 

 a nearly uniform high temperature over the Avhole surface of the 

 globe, and a nearly uniformly distributed fauna and flora ; and 

 that with the gradual cooling at the Poles, species with pelagic 

 larvfB were killed out or forced to migrate towards the Tropics, 

 while the great majority of the species which were able to survive 

 in the Polar areas were those inhabiting the mud-line " (p. 95). 



"The Peoples of the Earth and the Distribution of Mankind," which 

 forms the subject of a chapter by A. H. Keane, deals with the human 

 race from a geological as well as a zoological standpoint. Of course, 

 the Pliocene man from Java, Pithecanthropus erectus (spelt in error 

 'erectis'), takes a prominent place, but we have always felt that 

 Dr. E. Dubois's discovery rested upon extremely slender evidence, 

 and that too large a superstructure of theory should not be built 

 upon so small a foundation of fact. After treating of the various 

 races of mankind, the writer remarks that from Neolithic times 

 the Ethiopic and American groups have been losing, whilst the 

 Caucasians and Mongols have been everywhere gaining ground, 

 with results expressed in terms of population as under : — 



Caucasians 770,000,000 



Mongols 540,000,000 



Ethiopians 175,000,000 



Americans 22,000,000 



Total 1,507,000,000 



We can only hope that in the struggle of races the Caucasian may 

 maintain his superiority over the Mongol, but time alone will show 

 whether he will be able to do so or not. 



Part I ends with a chapter on Political and Applied Geology, by 

 Dr. J. S. Keltic, Secretary of the Koyal Geographical Society, 

 carrying us to p. 121, which may be considered to conclude the 

 introductory matter of the volume. 



Part II contains the sum and substance of the work itself. 

 Commencing with the geography of Europe, pp. 123-421, Asia 

 follows next, pp. 422-574, taking in Japan and the East Indian 

 Islands. The next section deals with Australia and Polynesia, 

 pp. 575-663. North America commences book 4, pp. 664-781. 

 Central and South America occupy book 5, pp. 782-888. Africa 

 forms book 6, pp. 889-1024. The last section of the book treats of 

 the Arctic and Antarctic regions (pp. 1025-1053), a chapter full of 

 interest both for geologists and geographers. 



As a proof of the value of this book as a handy work of reference, 

 it may be mentioned that the index contains about 15,400 names of 

 places described and localized in the body of the work, besides 

 references to temperatures, winds, climate, population, animals, 

 plants, geology, minerals, rivers, mountains, fisheries, timber, and 

 endless other matters that may well be included in such a com- 

 prehensive work. 



