January 27, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



147 



abstract. The following papers were read 

 by title : ' Tiie Structural Peculiarities of 

 the Eskimo of Suiith Sound,' by Dr. G. S. 

 Huntington ; ' On the Names Glooscap and 

 Ilia Tichi Uira Cocha,' by Mr. Stansbury 

 Hagar ; and ' Belief in Will-Power Among 

 the Pawnees,' by Miss Alice C. Fletcher. 

 Dr. Boas represented the anthropologists in 

 the discussion before the Society of Nat- 

 uralists, and the Section took part in the 

 other exercises and entertainments provided 

 for the affiliated societies. 



A. L. Keoebee. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 Remsed Text-Book of Geology. By James D. 

 Dana. Edited by Wm. Noeth Rice. Amer- 

 ican Book Company. 



It is now more than sixty years since the late 

 Professor Dana produced, in 1837, his first im- 

 portant work, a System of Mineralogy. Dur- 

 ing subsequent years, down almost to the day 

 of his death, in 1895, he was engaged at fre- 

 quent intervals in writing or revising the sev- 

 eral important text-books of geology and min- 

 eralogy that have done so much during the last 

 half century to arouse among English-speaking 

 students an intelligent interest in those subjects. 

 The first edition of 'A Manual of Geology' 

 was published in 1862, the more elementary 

 work, 'The Text-Book of Geology,' following 

 in 1864. So great has been the popularity of 

 the briefer work that extensive revisions were 

 made by the author in 1874 and 1883, while the 

 final revision, begun by him just before his 

 death, has been admirably carried to comple- 

 tion, in the spirit of his old master, by Professor 

 Wm. North Eice, of Wesleyan University. 



Professor Rice started out with the plan of re- 

 taining the distinctive characteristics of the 

 book, bringing it down to the present time as 

 regards its facts, but still expressing Professor 

 Dana's well-known opinions. Although the 

 general plan of arrangement has been kept un- 

 altered in the main, some radical changes have 

 been made in the interpretation of geological 

 phenomena. Especially is this shown in the 

 treatment of the subject of metamorphism, 



where the editor takes a very different view 

 from that held by Professor Dana, and one in 

 harmony with modern thought, when he states 

 that the crystalline schists are ' undoubtedly 

 derived in some cases from granites and other 

 plutonic rocks, a schistose structure being de- 

 veloped bj' pressure and shearing.' 



Another change less radical in its character, 

 but aflecting the whole work, is the fuller rec- 

 ognition given to evolution as a factor in geo- 

 logical history. The editor states that from 

 this standpoint he has entirely rewritten the 

 closing chapter, in which the general bearing of 

 paleontology upon evolution is discussed. 



The zoological and botanical classifications 

 are much modernized, although the anglicized 

 terminology used by Professor Dana in earlier 

 editions is for the most part followed. Professor 

 Dana's plan of terminating names of rocks in 

 yte in distinction from the names of minerals 

 which terminate in ite is abandoned on the 

 ground that the innovation in nomenclature 

 has not been adopted by other writers. 



In general, however. Professor Rice has 

 faithfully reproduced the well-known opinions 

 of Professor Dana in his revision, but has in- 

 troduced enough in the way of modern views 

 to make the book a most acceptable addition to 

 our list of elementary text-books of geology. 

 It is not an easy task to revise the work of an- 

 other, and it often involves much more labor 

 than writing the entire book anew. Professor 

 Rice is to be congratulated on the success of 

 his labor of love in revising ' The Text-Book of 

 Geology,' which, from the earlier relations of 

 teacher and student, he states was entered upon 

 with something like a feeling of filial obligation. 

 W. B. Claek. 



Johns Hopkins University. 



The Groimdivorh of Science. A Study of Episte- 

 mology. By St. Geoege Mivaet, M.D., 

 Ph.D., F. R. S. New York, G. P. Putnam's 

 Sons ; London, Bliss, Sands & Co. 1898. 

 Pp. xviii + 328. 



This book forms the second volume of ' The 

 Science Series,' which is now appearing under 

 the editorial supervision of Professor Cattell 

 and Mr. F. E. Beddard. "Each volume of 

 this series," the prospectus sets forth, "will 



