REVIEWS 
Earth Features and Their Meaning. An Introduction to Geology. 
By Wiriram H. Hosss. New York: Macmillan, 1912. 
Pp. xl, 506 illustrations, maps, appendices, index. 
While the subtitle would class the book with texts in geology the 
first title is much more appropriate, and suggests the author’s unique 
point of view. The work should be classed with Geikie’s Earth Sculpture 
and Marr’s Scientific Study of Scenery, but it is much more ambitious. 
The author has here expanded the substance of his own course of lectures 
on the subject in the University of Michigan. 
As a textbook in geology it endeavors to cover only dynamic and 
structural geology. In the thirty-one chapters these two fields are well 
covered. The figure of the earth and its materials are described, and 
then discussed as to origin, nature, and interpretation. Rock structures, 
after careful description, are analyzed to get at their history, and to 
discover their effect on topography. The “character lines” of forms 
due to weathering, streams, ground water, waves, glaciers, sun and wind 
without much rain, and diastrophism are described, genetically corre- 
lated, and illustrated by line drawings, block diagrams, and sketches 
from photographs. Rarely are photographs reproduced without adapt- 
ing by cutting out the non-essential and presenting in lines and symbols 
the essential. Twenty-four plates—photographs—against about 500 
figures are used. 
With a conscious effort to illustrate the theoretic work from Ameri- 
can features the author has, possibly unconsciously, given a rather large 
place to glaciers, 140 pages out of about 500. No other overweighting 
seems apparent. 
The introduction of much experimental data, and the forcing of the 
reader to go out and see things mentioned constitute a very valuable 
feature. Extended lists of reading references at the end of each chapter 
put the reader in touch with much of the best literature on the various 
topics. Appendices for the determination of minerals and rocks, and 
for the preparation, interpretation, and care of topographic and geologic 
maps are followed by a list of suggested itineraries for geologic study 
both in America and in Europe. 
The student of physiography will find much more than the geologist 
in the work. The boundary line between the two sciences is pretty well 
concealed. Physiography is made to contribute to geologic interpreta- 
tion and a wealth of data are furnished, ready to be applied to the elucida- 
tion of stratigraphic problems. G. Ds Hes 
192 
