538 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1058 



Members of the non-glacialist group are by 

 no means in agreement among themselves as 

 to the origin of fiords. They agree on one 

 thing only, — that ice did not excavate these 

 deeply submerged canyons. Some consider 

 fiords the product of normal stream erosion 

 followed by a partial submergence which per- 

 mitted the valleys ta be drowned. Others 

 think that peculiar jointing of crystalline 

 rocks enabled streams to carve peculiar valleys 

 which were later submerged. A few even ap- 

 peal to "some force not yet known to the 

 geologist." Formerly many observers were in- 

 clined to regard every fiord as either a gaping 

 chasm or a rift valley formed by the dropping 

 down of a narrow strip of the earth's crust 

 between two parallel faults. This tectonic 

 theory of the origin of fiords, once much in 

 vogue as an explanation for all valleys, is now 

 generally regarded as obsolete. It is this 

 theory which Professor J. W. Gregory de- 

 fends in a spirited manner, in his recently 

 published book on "The Nature and Origin 

 of Fiords."! 



Gregory divides his volume of more than 

 500 pages into three parts. Part I. outlines 

 the problem which fiords present to the geolo- 

 gist, and discusses at much length different 

 classifications of shorelines. Perhaps most 

 readers will feel that here the author has laid 

 undue stress on unimportant details of classi- 

 fications which are empirical at best, and 

 would have welcomed some attempt at a classi- 

 fication more truly genetic than any of those 

 considered. In Part II., comprising about 

 two thirds of the printed text, the author 

 describes the fiord systems of the world, with 

 the object of proving that the fiords of each 

 district can best be explained on the basis of 

 the tectonic theory. With the fiords of Nor- 

 way, New Zealand, and other typical fiord 

 areas, he classes the drowned valleys of the 

 Dalmatian coast and other submerged normal 

 river valleys which few besides the author would 

 regard as fiords. Part III. is in part a resume 



1 ' ' The Nature and Origin of Fiords, " by J. 

 W. Gregory. John Murray, London, 1913. Pp. 

 452. 



and amplification of the author's arguments 

 against the glacial theory of fiord formation 

 and in favor of the tectonic theory; and in 

 part an elaboration of a theory of polar oscil- 

 lations which might fracture the earth in such 

 a manner as to explain the actual distribution 

 of fiords. For in the author's opinion " the 

 ultimate cause of fiords is the rupture of wide 

 areas of the earth by the pulsation due to the 

 titanic forces started by those disturbances 

 which upheaved the existing mountain sys- 

 tems of the world." 



The book is abundantly illustrated with 

 sketch maps and diagrams and a limited num- 

 ber of excellent engraved plates. A partial 

 bibliography of the subject of fiords covers 26 

 pages, while the text is filled with citations 

 from the works of other investigators. Sub- 

 ject, authority and locality indexes are pro- 

 vided. A fairly long " errata " slip suggests 

 inadequate proof-reading, and appears itself 

 to stand in need of revision. Thus a reference 

 to page 468 tells us that the sentence " The 

 occurrence of the chief fiords and mountain- 

 systems on the western sides of the continents 

 is probably a consequence of the rotation of 

 the earth from east to west," should be made 

 to read " is probably a consequence of the ro- 

 tation of the earth whereby raised areas lay 

 from east to west." (Presumably " lay " 

 should be changed to "lag.") But there is 

 inserted on page 468 another erratum slip 

 which advises us to read the sentence as fol- 

 lows : " The occurrence," etc., " is probably a 

 consequence of the rotation of the earth from 

 west to east, whereby raised areas lag." The 

 reader may take his choice of these correc- 

 tions; but after he has arranged this sentence 

 satisfactorily his troubles are not over, since 

 three additional corrections must be made in 

 the two sentences which succeed it. Under 

 such circumstances the reader may be par- 

 doned if he is unable to discover what the 

 author meant to say. 



A word of explanation may properly precede 

 the more detailed examination of Gregory's 

 book. "When an author of recognized ability 

 produces a book which, however valuable, does 

 not contain much novel material nor many 



