464 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 615. 



The depression of the island of tiawaii would 

 produce remarkably fine fiords. 



In explaining the movements of sea water 

 (p. 319) no mention is made of the lagging 

 of waters moving over a revolving globe. On 

 the same page the difference in densities of 

 sea water is said to be due to differences in 

 temperature and salinity, as if salt were the 

 only mineral in solution in sea water. On 

 p. 478 it is said that a dip of 40° S. 20° W. 

 is the same as dip 40° strike W. 20° N. It 

 may be the same, but it may also be N. 20° E., 

 that is, in exactly the opposite direction. 

 Moreover, it is customary to read the compass 

 from the N. or S. end, not from E. or W. 

 In Fig. 399 on p. 482 the strike should, there- 

 fore, read N. 80° E., instead of E. 10° N. 

 The figure seems to be intended for a note- 

 book record, but unless placed on a map it 

 would be useless, for no direction is given for 

 the dip. The writer's experience shows that 

 dips indicated by arrows never mislead, while 

 dips shown by, plain lines (pp. 482-4) require 

 an effort of the memory on the part of the 

 student. 



It is suggested (p. 507) that earthquakes 

 cause the great waves that sometimes accom- 

 pany shocks by thrusting their ' waters off 

 shore by their sudden impact.' The late Cali- 

 fornia earthquake was certainly violent enough 

 to have given us an example of this kind of a 

 wave if such a thing had been possible. 



On p. 615 is ' the inference that a vegetal 

 covering of the land extended as far back in 

 the history of the earth as clay shales, quartz- 

 one sandstones and limestones form the pre- 

 vailing sediments.' The reasons for this in- 

 ference are not clear. Long ago Daubree dem- 

 onstrated that feldspars mechanically ground 

 up in the presence of water become kaolinized ; 

 this process would account for clay shales 

 without the intervention of organic acids to 

 decompose feldspathic rocks. Neither is it 

 clear how land plants are indispensable to the 

 formation of limestones. The carbon dioxide 

 of waters is derived partly from the atmos- 

 phere. Lime carried to the sea by waters so 

 carbonated would contribute to lime-secreting 



organisms, and limestone would thus be formed 

 without the intervention of land plants. 



The examples of deposits of diatoms (I., 

 625) might well include some of the great de- 

 posits such as those of the Santa Cruz Moun- 

 tains of California, where they are five thou- 

 sand feet thick. 



In regard to the meteorite figured in Vol. 

 II., p. ,24, after Liversidge (not Liveridge) 

 we venture to suggest the possibility of its 

 having been artificially shaped. Its size and 

 form appear to lend support to this idea. The 

 authors do not say where it is described, but 

 the original paper is in the Jour, and Proc. 

 Roy. 8oc. of N. S. W., Vol. 36, p. 341. The 

 description of the finding seems to preclude 

 the possibility of its artificial origin, but ex- 

 perience shows that the stories associated with 

 the finding of such things often require close 

 scrutiny. The form of this meteorite is too 

 unusual to be accepted without question. 



In Vol. II., p. 653, the advent of the Am- 

 monites is spoken of as occurring in the Per- 

 mian. It was shown several years ago that 

 the Ammonites were abundant in the Coal 

 Measures (Mon. XLIL, U. S. G. S., 22-28, 

 Washington, 1903). In Vol. IIL but little 

 attention is paid to the stratigraphy of the 

 west coast, and one might iniev that the stand- 

 ard sections of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic 

 were all in the eastern part of the United 

 States. As a matter of fact, the finest sec- 

 tions of the Trias, Jura, Cretaceous, Miocene, 

 Pliocene and marine Quaternary in North 

 America are found on the west coast. One 

 would also be led to infer from the illustra- 

 tions that only land life was known in the 

 Pleistocene of the United States, whereas 

 marine life is certainly of equal importance 

 and has been fully described. 



The discussions that stand forth promi- 

 nently in the entire work on account of their 

 far-reaching importance and on account of 

 the care, seriousness and comprehensiveness 

 with which they are discussed are: (1) the 

 planetesimal hypothesis of the origin of the 

 earth; (2) the origin of the atmosphere; (3) 

 the origin of the ocean; (4) of volcanic phe- 

 nomena; (5) of the hydrocarbons; (6) of life. 



