236 Reviews—LHlisée Reclus on Volcanoes. 
III.—Vorcanozs. 
Les Votcans pe tA Terre. Par Krist Rectus. Premier Fascicule. 
1906. Société belge d’Astronomie, de Météorologie, et de Physique 
du Globe, Brussels. 
HE work of which the title of the first part is given above is the 
outcome of a proposal made by the late M. E. Reclus to publish 
a work descriptive of the volcanoes of the world. The complete work 
is to comprise 1,500 pages and to be illustrated by maps and figures. 
The subscription price is 25 francs for an ordinary copy, and 50 or 
100 francs for éditions de luxe on superior paper. 
The first part consists of 168 pages (10 x 62”), and is devoted to 
“Asie Antérieure.” The first chapter (pp. 11 to 30) deals with 
Persia. After a short sketch of the physical features of the country, 
the chief volcanoes, such as Demavend (of which a map and geological 
section, after Stahl, are given), etc., are described, and the chapter 
' concludes with a bibliography of books, papers, and maps. 
The method followed in succeeding chapters i is similar. The second 
chapter (pp. 31 to 73) treats of Armenia, and in this chapter Ararat 
is described under the unfamiliar Armenian name of Masis, and a map 
of Ararat and Ala-Goézis given. Dr. Felix Oswald’s work on the geology 
of Armenia appeared too recently to be included in the bibliography. 
Chapter iii (pp. 75-98) deals with Syria, Chapter iv (pp. 99-130) 
with Asia Minor, Chapter v (pp. 131-163) with the Caucasus. 
_ The comment: one feels disposed to make is that the descriptions are 
rather those of the traveller than of the geologist. That of Elbruz 
(Caucasus) is rather meagre. The name “of the rock of which its 
lavas consist is not mentioned. All that is said of them is, ‘‘Ses 
coulées sont formées d’une roche a pate noire semi-vitreuse contenant 
de gros grains de quartz et des cristaux d’oligoclase et de pyroxene ; 
un peu de biotite [misprinted biolite] et de magnétite s’y méle.”’ 
This is a mangled quotation from the Guide des “Excursions of the 
International Geological Congress of 1897 (St. Petersburg). There is 
no excuse for go vague, and unsatisfactory a_ description “of the lavas 
of Elbruz, since Dr. A. Dannenberg published in Tschermak’s 
Mineralogische und Petrographische Mittheilungen, vol. xix (1900), 
pp. 218-242, his ‘‘ Beitrage zur Petrographie der Kaukasuslander,” 
in which a full account of the hypersthene amphibole dacite lava of 
Elbruz is given. In the second part of Dr. Dannenberg’s paper in 
vol. xxii (1904) of the same periodical a pyroxene andesite from 
Ala-gds in Armenia is described, though in Reclus’ description only 
obsidian, scoria, basalt and pumice, and artificial tombs of trachyte 
are mentioned. Interesting as this great work on volcanoes is, more 
attention must be paid to geological structure and composition of 
volcanic products if the work is to have scientific value. The names 
of collaborators are not given. A competent geologist and petrographer 
should be among them to check the loose petrographical names often 
given by travellers. It is as important that species should be correctly 
named in the case of rocks as in that of fossils. 
B. Hosson. 
