280 Reviews—Prof. Dr. M. Newmayr— 
that the author’s conclusions are of no geological value. At the 
same time we can but admire his enthusiasm, and admit that many 
of his remarks are exceedingly suggestive. 
We have yet to consider the author’s views of the “rise and fall 
of the sea in relation to the Jand.” While he believes that beach- 
lines oscillate periodically backwards and forwards, he accepts the 
view that the great ocean depths and the great continents have, in 
all essential respects, retained their original relations to each other 
from the remotest times. When, however, he comes to discuss the 
form of the earth and the possible changes it has undergone, he 
finds that the cooling and contraction of the body of the globe are 
insufficient to account for all the phenomena. He believes that the 
lengthening of the sidereal day has had much influence on the form 
of the solid globe. The tidal wave which rises and falls, in some 
measure, with the eccentricity of the earth’s orbit, is considered the 
most powerful agent in altering the sidereal day and in lengthening 
it; and as the centrifugal force diminishes during the lengthening of 
the sidereal day by tidal friction, strain accumulates in the solid 
earth, until the limit of resistancé is reached. Hence arose vertical 
displacements of beach-lines. 
The author remarks that most earthquakes are caused by disloca- 
tions, and that in countries where the inner strain has been relieved 
by great displacements in recent periods, earthquakes will probably 
be rare, and less destructive than in countries where there is still a 
great strain in reserve. Thus he concludes that great upheavals and 
subsidences are caused by strains, which have accumulated through 
very long periods. 
He considers that the shore-lines in higher latitudes may be brought 
to recede, either by the rising of the land in the same region, or by 
the subsidence of the sea-bottom in lower latitudes. During the 
Tertiary period each oscillation did not exceed a few metres. Those 
who desire fully to understand the arguments of the author must 
consult his papers. For our own part we feel that very many of the 
geological facts to which he appeals lend no real support to his 
hypotheses ; and that while his contention that precession has left its 
imprints on the strata is in itself plausible, yet the particular con- 
clusions he draws on the means of measuring geological time rest on 
too oscillating a foundation to have any permanent value. 
BS We 
IJ.—Die Stamme pes TurerrercuHes; von M. Neumayer. Wirr- 
BELLOSE ‘luterE. LHrster Band, mit 192 Textbildern. Royal 
Svo. pp. 608. (Wien u. Prag, Tempsky, 1889.) 
ee aim of this work is to trace out the descent-relationship 
of the various forms of animal life so far as they can be 
ascertained from geological and paleontological sources. Firmly 
impressed with the idea that the Darwinian theory of descent 
affords a reasonable interpretation of the phenomena of the succes- 
sion of life as shown in the rocks, Prof. Neumayr set before himself 
the arduous task of working out the history and relationships of 
