414 Reviews — Marr's Study of Scenery. 



obvious portmanteau word for physical geology) has already been 

 annexed, and the meaning of the term ' physiography' has apparently- 

 expanded indefinitely, like the atmosphere, losing in attraction as it 

 departs further and further from any ' solid ground.' But surely 

 some more popular term might be found for the science of scenery. 



After a brief introduction on the attributes of scenery, the author 

 proceeds to discuss the nature of the earth's exterior, which he 

 considers under the heads of Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, and Litho- 

 sphere ; the greater part of chapter ii being taken up with the 

 description of the mode of origin of the rocks composing the 

 Lithosphere, and the changes they have subsequently undergone 

 in position and structure. 



In chapter iii we have a short essay on the production of 

 dominant forms due to accumulation, elevation, depression, and 

 sculpture, and the similarity in form assumed by the Atmosphere, 

 Hydrosphere, and Lithosphere is strongly emphasized ; we think, 

 however, that the parallel instituted between the formation of cloud, 

 sea, and earth-waves is open to misconception, and that the student 

 might very easily close the book with the idea that the form of the 

 earth-waves was originated by meteoric agents, as in the case of 

 clouds and sea- waves, when he reads on p. 24, " similarly the 

 earth-waves are carved out by the graving tools of nature, and the 

 effects are generally similar to those produced on ocean-waves by 

 the wind." 



Chapter iv deals with the atmosphere, but is practically take^n up 

 with a description of the form and mode of origin of clouds. It is 

 difficult, no doubt, in treating of a subject like Scenery for the 

 author to decide exactly how much to take the reader into his 

 confidence regarding the causes which produce the visible effective 

 scenery, and we think that compared with the rest of the subjects 

 dealt with in the book, the atmosphere has a distinct grievance 

 with regard to the space allotted to it, though the description of the 

 various forms of clouds is unusually clear and full. 



In chapter v we have a description of the continents and ocean 

 basins. In the consideration of their main features the author 

 adopts Professor Lapworth's very suggestive views as propounded 

 in his remarkable address to Section C at the Edinburgh Meeting of 

 the British Association. If the exigencies of space permitted we 

 should like to see the subject of this chapter dealt with at 

 somewhat greater length. We have, for instance, no allusion to 

 the Hemihedral Tetrahedral theory (of Lowthian Green, 1875, 

 and J. W. Gregory, 1899), which alone attempts to account for the 

 curious wedge-like termination of the continents to the south. 



The three following chapters are devoted to the origin and 

 structure of mountains, the first being confined to mountains of 

 upheaval, among which the ' Laccolite ' of Gilbert and the Alpine 

 form of folding of Heim are taken as types; mountain uplift 

 generally being classified under symmetrical, unsymmetrical {sic), 

 and compound types. The second of this group treats of the 

 sculpture of mountains, forestalling, somewhat, the subsequent 



