June 24, 



■ 1 



SCIENCE. 



851 



ornamentation with drumlins and gravel 

 beds, such as must greatly aid the field 

 work of any enterprising teacher who leads 

 her classes in geography out of doors. The 

 practical difficulty that the teacher of to- 

 day will find in using such a guide as this 

 essay will arise, first, from a want of a suffi- 

 ciently comprehensive scheme of geograph- 

 ical study, by which the facts of local 

 observation shall be correlated with geo- 

 graphical facts generally ; and second, from 

 the absence of a series of comparative ex- 

 amples, by which local features may be used 

 to illustrate the various parts of the world 

 which they resemble. 



JAMAICA. 



Spencer continues his Antillean studies 

 in an article on Jamaica (Late Formations 

 and Great Changes of Land in Jamaica, 

 Canadian Journal, V., 1898, 324-357), from 

 which the following notes are taken : The 

 White-limestone uplands, deeply dissected, 

 abound in caverns and are in part uninhab- 

 itable from the numerous sinks, or ' cock- 

 pits,' 200-300 feet in diameter and ' deeper 

 than they are wide.' The border of the 

 uplands is dissected by torrential wash- 

 outs, which enter broad-floored valleys 

 ' almost reduced to the base level of ero- 

 sion.' The northern coast, is comparatively 

 abrupt in its descent into the sea ; this 

 " suggests great dislocations off that part of 

 Jamaica, and that the forces which squeezed 

 up the island also rammed down the sea 

 floor to the north." On the south coast 

 broad valleys floors independent of structure 

 form embayments sloping to the shore line 

 from among highland spurs. The lower 

 portions of certain streams have cut can- 

 yons beneath former broad valleys floors, 

 indicating recent uplift ; several examples of 

 this kind being shown on the northern coast. 



CUBA. 



A ' TIMELY ' article on Cuba from the 

 competent pen of R. T. Hill is the leading 



article in the ' Cuba number ' of the Na- 

 tional Geographic Magazine (IX., 1898, 

 193-242). Besides a brief summary of 

 physiographic features, it gives a good gen- 

 eral account of population and industries, 

 in which the physiographic control is well 

 brought forward. A contour map, com- 

 piled from the best known authorities, is a 

 valuable contribution to the geography of 

 the island. 



APPALACHIA. 



The latest number of Appalachia, March, 

 1898, includes a number of good illustra- 

 tions of the Canadian Rocky Mountains 

 from photographs, some of which are from 

 the great series taken by the Dominion To- 

 pographical Survey. The usual mountain- 

 climber's narratives are by Thompson and 

 Habel. The region is of strong Alpine 

 scenery — grand snow fields aloft ; great 

 glaciers descending into the upper valleys ; 

 old moraines of huge size farther down ; 

 avalanche paths on steep slopes beneath 

 high cliffs ; lakes curiously related to the 

 larger valleys. Although as yet not pro- 

 ductive of many physiographic essaj'S, 

 there is no part of his continent that offers 

 so good and so accessible a field for the 

 careful study of Alpine forms. 



W. M. Davis. 



CORBENl NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 THE RATIO OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 



At the last meeting of the British As- 

 sociation, Mr. George lies read a suggestive 

 paper, 'Why human progress is by leaps.' 

 He points out that the triumphs of man 

 over nature in the discovery of its laws of 

 action are not simple additions to his re- 

 sources, but are multipliers of high potency, 

 often extending over the whole field of his 

 activity. This he illustrates by the mani- 

 fold applications of electricity in our own 

 day, and by the use of fire in prehistoric 

 times. He draws the conclusion that man's 



