GEOGRA PIIIC LITER A TURE -,<i 



four government, parties met the exi'iir.sionists at Crater lake and en- 

 deavored in various ways to i)romote the success of the occasion. B. W. 

 Evermann, of the Fish Connnission, studied tlie fisii food and s]uivvnin<,' 

 grounds of the hike and made some interesting observations on tiie hike 

 temi)erature. Dr C. Hart IMerriam, chief of the Biological Survey of the 

 Agricultural Department, assisted by Vernon Bailey and Edwanl A. 

 Preble, collected a large number of animals about the rim of the lake ami 

 upon the island, and Mr F. V. Coville, the Department Botanist, assisted 

 by MrLieburg, made a large collection of plants. A geological j)arty under 

 the charge of the writer i>re})ared a geological map of the region. The 

 heads of all the government parties, as well as many others, were called 

 upon for camp-fire talks, addresses, or recitations concerning matters of 

 scientific and pop'ular interest, especially relating to Crater lake. The 

 proceedings were opened August IS by the Klamath Falls club before the 

 Mazamas arrived, but thereafter the great camp-tire of the Mazamas wa.s 

 the rendezvous after the excursions of the day. Among the excursionists, 

 aside from the government parties, were a number of botanists and 

 zoologists, as well as geologists and professors of various departments. 

 Many were armed with cameras to carry away permanent impressions of 

 the lake. As a whole the excursion was a great success, and its fruits are 

 to l)e found, not only in the widespread interest aroused in such proccecl- 

 ings, but also in the forthcoming number of the Mazama, which is to 

 contain full accounts of the lake, both popular and scientific, from various 

 contributors. J. S. Dii.lek. 



GEOGRAPHIC LITERATURE 



Elemmtanj Geology. Ry Rali)h S. Tarr, Professor of Dynamic Geoloiiy 

 and Physical Geography at Cornell University. Pp. xxx + 49it, with 

 25 plates and 268 other illustrations. New York : The Macmillan 

 Company. 1897. $1.40. 

 This is a refreshing book. In the first place the ty|)e is large and well 

 leaded, and the printers have realized the true function of punctuation 

 and largely omitted brain-wearying dots in useless ]»laces ; so the eye is 

 attracted by the clean-cut pages. In the second place illustrations are 

 freely used to supjilement the succinct text, and nearly all the pictures 

 are photo-mechanical reproductions from nature; even the minerals and 

 fossils are represented mainly by half-tone engravings; thus the facts of 

 nature are represented with a vividness and brought home to the under- 

 standing with a vigor not to be attained in any other way. Agjain the 

 author has realized, at least in some measure, that the progress of knowl- 

 edge is ever from the remote toward the near, and he has had the courage 

 to directly assail the last fortress of the unknown by depicting the every- 

 day and commonplace features of the earth which every child may see, 

 and by explaining the principles of earth-science in terms of connnon 

 things; no geologic book ever written is less affected by mysticism, scholas- 

 ticism, metaphysics, dialectics, and other pernicious vestiges of intel- 

 lectual barbarism. Then the work must appeal to the teacher, because 



