606 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1407. 



tries outside of the United States. ISTaturally, 

 from the contiguity of Canada, the largesj 

 number of those foreign members reside 

 there, the list showing 230 names of residents 

 of Canada. This number is larger than the 

 total membership of the Eoyal Society of 

 Canada, which, however, limits its member- 

 ship. But it is small in comparison with the 

 total membership of the Association, although 

 not insignificant in view of the fact that no 

 meetings have been held in Canada since the 

 last Toronto meeting thirty-two years ago. 

 After the meeting of 18S9, the next following 

 list contained 85 names of members and fel- 

 lows resident in Canada. While only seven 

 of these 85 persons now survive as members, 

 the present Canadian niembership of 230 in- 

 dicates that accessions have been increasing, 

 and doubtless there will be further increases 

 as a result of the meeting about to be held. 



The place of the meeting is also a reminder 

 that the Geological Society, at the time of 

 the last meeting in Toronto, took a step to- 

 ward organization as an independent body, 

 which was the beginning of a movement that 

 has eventually contributed to the remarkable 

 growth of the Association. The recently is- 

 sued volume shows that in addition to the 

 large membership of nearly 12,000, there are 

 now 93 affiliated and associated societies, 

 most of which have been organized since 

 1889. 



A. F. Hunter 



Normal School Building, 

 Toronto, Nov. 15, 1921 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



The Life, of the Pleistocene or Glacial Period. 

 By Frank Collins Baker. University of 

 Illinois Bulletin, vol. XVII., No. 41; June 

 7, 1920, iii, 476 pp. 8, pi. 1-57. Urbana, 

 Illinois. 



This portly volume is divided into two 

 parts, the first including beside a historical 

 summary of preceding researches an account 

 of the postglacial geology and Ufe of the 

 Chicago area, followed by a resume of our 

 present knowledge of the postglacial life of 

 the entire glaciated region of the United 



States and Canada. Each locality investi- 

 gated is taken up separately, its stratigraphy 

 and fossil content described and listed, and 

 at the end of each chapter the collected data 

 are summarized. 



In the second part the life of the inter- 

 glacial intervals is discussed and the species 

 of plants and animals listed from data fur- 

 nished by an indefatigable search of all avail- 

 able literature. 



The difficulties attending the reduction to 

 a common nomenclature of the records ex- 

 tending over many years, can easily be under- 

 stood and the author frankly acknowledges 

 that in some cases his judgment may have 

 been at fault, but such instances do not 

 materially affect the general conclusions and 

 are inevitable in any such bringing together 

 of scattered data of varying degrees of au- 

 thenticity. The volume concludes with a 

 bibliography of forty-five pages, covering the 

 literature from 1846 to the date of publica- 

 tion and an ample index. Among the plates 

 are interesting maps showing the fluctuations 

 of the geographical features of the Chicago 

 area and the region about Toronto, as well 

 as the extensions at numerous periods of the 

 continental ice sheet. It would have added 

 to the convenience of those who use the vol- 

 ume if legends had been added to the plates, 

 obviating the necessity of turning back in 

 each instance to the printed explanation. 



Much of the work, and presumably of the 

 most carefully observed and valuable part 

 of it, is the result of field work prosecuted by 

 the author. The labor involved in the search 

 for and correlation of the data in the litera- 

 ture was evidently prodigious, and reflects 

 credit on the industry and patience of the 

 author. His work in bringing together in 

 orderly shape the data bearing on his subject 

 will be a boon to all later students of the 

 American Pleistocene. We may be permit- 

 ted to regret the instrusion in a scientific 

 work of a few of the " simplified spelling " 

 futilities; we really oi not to imply that 

 that renders either the sound or the mean- 

 ing of the word thought. 



Wm. H. Dall 



