OCTOBEB 12, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



46: 



drawn above from the atmospheric and in- 

 ternal influences.' On p. 338 it is said of 

 waves normal to the shore that ' the advance 

 and recoil of the water move particles toward 

 and from the shore, but effect no transfer in 

 the direction of the shore,' probably meaning 

 along the shore. Again at p. 429 it is said: 

 ' If the heat factor in metamorphism be suf- 

 ficiently increased, aqueous solution may ac- 

 tually grade into magmatic solution through 

 various degrees of softening and melting, and 

 the cycle of changes be closed in upon 

 itself. 



Personally, we do not think well of the fre- 

 quent personification of natural objects. For 

 example, streams are spoken of in Vol. I. as 

 if they had designs: they are said to struggle 

 (p. 95), to steal (p. 98), to commit piracy, to 

 drop out of the race (p. 96), to refuse to re- 

 main (p. 169), to have feeding grounds (p. 

 516), senility and death (p. 85) ; a lava stream 

 chooses its direction (p. 580), and in one place 

 a- volcano is said to be ' enjoying its customary 

 period of rest' (p. 571). This sort of lan- 

 guage is as much out of place in geology as it 

 would be in chemistry or physics. 



While some subjects are treated with great 

 fullness others are passed over with next to 

 no attention. The theory of isostacy, for ex- 

 ample, is barely mentioned twice, while the 

 process and importance of flocculation in the 

 deposition of finely divided sediments is only 

 referred to on p. 360 of Vol. I. as a limited 

 and obscure action. A brief bibliography of 

 the subject of flocculation is given in Nature, 

 LXIV., 279, and some of its obscurity has 

 been removed by Joly and others there men- 

 tioned. 



The general subject of coral reefs is dis- 

 missed (I., 630) with the remark that, ' The 

 contribution of coral polyps to the formation 

 of limestone is most important, and is too 

 familiar to require elaboration here.' Most 

 of us who think that corals form only dolo- 

 mites and dolomitic limestones can not be 

 expected to accept this dismissal of the subject 

 as a fair disposal of it, especially in view of 

 the promise made on p. v of the introduction 

 to Vol. I., where it is stated that ' Antecedent 



elementary courses in geology will not be 

 necessary to the use of these volumes.' 



There are many oversights that must annoy 

 teachers of geology, especially in view of the 

 fact that students, as every teacher knows, are 

 so much disposed to regard text-books and 

 statements in print as infallible. The follow- 

 ing are some of the statements in Vol. I. that 

 do not seem to be altogether above question 

 or require modification or explanation: on 

 page 501 it is said that 'faults rarely show 

 themselves in the topography of the surface.' 

 A California geologist could hardly be expect- 

 ed to support such a statement with a straight 

 face. On p. 150, figure 146, a syncline is 

 called an anticline. On p. 170 the decrease 

 in the volume of a stream is explained in 

 every way except the one in which we most 

 frequently see it decreased, namely, the run- 

 off of 'flood waters. It is said on p. 184 that 

 theoretically the rotation of the earth should 

 increase erosion on ' the right bank of streams 

 in the northern hemisphere and the left in the 

 southern,' when no reference is made to the 

 direction of the streams. On p. 188 mention 

 is made of Hhe load except that in suspen- 

 sion,' when solution seems to be meant. The 

 branching of streams amidst their delta de- 

 posits is explained (p. 189) by water breaking 

 over side-levees. Some branches may possibly 

 be so formed, but this explanation can not be 

 accepted for the main divisions of the Missis- 

 sippi at its mouth. In explaining river ter- 

 races (p. 198) no mention is made of a stream 

 swinging back and forth across a flood plain 

 in which it is cutting a channel. It is stated 

 (p. 213) that the deposition of mineral matter 

 from boiling water is the same process as that 

 by which it is deposited upon evaporation: 

 we have not been accustomed to think so. In 

 listing the factors of deposition from solution 

 no mention is made (p. 214) of either increase 

 of temperature (with the carbonates), or of 

 the escape of gases, such as carbon dioxide, 

 from waters disturbed at waterfalls. On p. 

 218 natural bridges are called ' unique fea- 

 tures.' The statements on p. 277 lead one to 

 suppose that fiords are only made by glaciers. 



