REVIEWS 499 
in the processes of earthquake movements, and only a part of this vapor is restored 
to the surface through volcanic action, there is a secular desiccation of the oceans, 
but the process is excessively slow and not certainly recognizable during the 
historical period, though a part of the lowering of the strand line in later geologi- 
cal ages is no doubt traceable to this cause. 
21. The elevation of the plateaus depends on the same cause which upheaved 
the mountains; and all plateaus, like the mountains, are underlaid with various 
forms of pumice, which accounts for their feeble attraction as shown by geodetic 
observations. 
22. No doubt various chemical changes go on under the earth’s crust where 
the water has penetrated the lava and the steam becomes superheated, but the 
predominance of water vapor in volcanoes shows that the other gases are only 
by-products, incidental to the moisture and great heat. Dissociation of water 
vapor is one of these effects. ; 
23. The details of mountain structure admit of explanation on the present 
hypothesis, while heretofore no such explanation was forthcoming. A theory 
which accounts for the position of the ranges relatively to the sea, the slopes of 
the ranges, and the side spurs, and the relation of mountains to earthquakes and 
volcanic phenomena, should have a strong claim to acceptance. This theory 
was partially foreshadowed by the Arabian astronomer Avicenna, in the tenth 
century of our era. 
24. The theory of the penetration of sea water into the crust of the earth and 
its connection with volcanoes and earthquakes dates back to Lucretius and Aris- 
totle, while the upheaval of the land is distinctly announced by Strabo. We 
have, therefore, been simply verifying and extending the impressions of the an- 
cients formed from the general aspects of nature long before the sciences had 
become exact. (Pp. 403-7.) 
It is only fair to Avicenna, Lucretius, Aristotle, Strabo, and other dis- 
tinguished authors quoted in this paper, to remark that they are not to be 
held responsible for all of the assertions of putative fact and physics with 
which their views are associated in this paper. 
CxO} 
1. Some Additions to the Carbonijerous Terrestrial Arthropod Fauna 
oj Illinois. By A.L.MELANDER. (Journal of Geology, Vol. XI, 
No. 2, February-March, 1903, pp. 178-98, Plates V—VII.) 
2. Some New Structural Characters oj Paleozoic Cockroaches. By E. 
H. SELLARDS. (American Journal of Science, Vol. XV, April, 
1903, pp. 307-15, Plates VII, VIII.) 
3. Discovery of Fossil Insects in the Permian oj Kansas. By. E. H. 
SELLARDS. (Lbid., Vol. XVI, October, 1903, pp. 323-324.) 
