374 REVIEWS 
The Sub-Oceanic Physiography of the North Atlantic Ocean. By 
PROFESSOR EDWARD Hutt. In atlas form, folio size; 11 
charts. London: Edward Stanford, 1912. 
This, in the opinion of the reviewer, is one of the most important 
works on oceanography that has ever appeared. It is handsomely 
published and on such a scale as to show satisfactorily the evidence of 
the submarine features from the numerous soundings. While many 
writers have investigated the form and depth of the ocean floor, the 
nature of the valleys and canyons which cross the continental platform 
extending beneath the ocean have generally been passed almost unob- 
served. These omissions on the eastern side of the Atlantic have been 
filled to a large extent by Professor Hull’s investigations, now brought 
together out of the scientific journals where they appeared, in such a way 
as to take on their most convincing form. On the European side, Hull 
shows how the British platform, extending toward Iceland, is deeply 
indented by the great Spencerian Gulf; how it is crossed by the Irish 
Sea river, the English Channel river, and other valleys; how the edge 
of the platform is indented by short embayments such as characterize 
the border of plateaus high above tide. Similar features appear about 
the Bay of Biscay where the canyon of Adour is one of the most remark- 
able. Like features appear also in the canyon of the Tagus and in others 
that lie off Portugal. Like phenomena are also shown to occur in the 
Mediterranean. Such also is the great submarine canyon of the Congo 
to which a separate chapter is devoted. 
The analogous features on the western border of the Atlantic and in 
the West Indies had previously been investigated by Spencer, who 
contributes a chapter to Hull’s book. 
Concerning Spencer’s original work Professor Hull speaks in very 
laudatory terms but in this generous tribute to a coworker it should be 
recognized that this line of inquiry was far from fully deployed until 
Hull had directed attention to the significant features that occur on the 
eastern side of the Atlantic and Nansen had published his Memoir 
touching upon the same subject. Spencer’s chapter in Hull’s mono- 
graph describes some of the most important features of the American 
side of the Atlantic in narrative form and this supplements and renders 
more comprehensive the work of Hull in Europe. 
Thus the leading data relative to the submerged river-like valleys 
and canyons on the border of the continents facing the North Atlantic 
are assembled in convenient and instructive form. 
J. W. SPENCER 
