924 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 807 



article, the more one is impelled to say 

 that certain important items are omitted; 

 that such items as are mentioned are in- 

 troduced ia no apparent order; and that 

 the method of treatment is uneven, arbi- 

 trary and accidental, being explanatory in 

 one part and empirical in another. 



By rearranging the facts presented, the 

 reader may form a more systematic de- 

 scription. In the absence of explicit state- 

 ment to the contrary, normal erosion is 

 naturally assumed to have caused what- 

 ever changes have been produced during 

 the development of the existing form from 

 the initial form. The systematic descrip- 

 tion may then proceed as follows: The 

 range, trending north and south, with alti- 

 tudes of from 4,500 to 6,000 feet, is a 

 monocline of heavy sandstones which dip 

 eastward, and which are underlaid by 

 granite along the western flank. The 

 northern termination is a high cliff; 

 the southern end is left undescribed. 

 ("Whether the initial form of the mass was 

 a tilted block or not must be left unde- 

 cided, because no sufficient account is given 

 by the observer either of the constitution 

 or of the form of the loAver ground from 

 which the range rises.) The crest is some- 

 what dissected but not deeply notched; 

 the eastern flank is well dissected by eon- 

 sequent streams; the western flank is pre- 

 sumably more or less ravined by obsequent 

 streams. On the whole, the stage of ero- 

 sional development may be provisionally 

 regarded as submature or mature. 



It is tantalizing to read of the grassy 

 benches at altitudes of 2,000 or 3,000 feet, 

 and not to be told on which side of the 

 range they occur, or how they are related 

 to the structure of the mass; possibly they 

 are granite benches on the western flank. 

 One must discount the statement regard- 

 ing the nearly vertical slope of the upper 

 rocky walls, because vertical walls are al- 



together improbable if not impossible on 

 the back slope, and are hardly possible 

 even on the front slope of a monocline. 

 Uncertainty must also remain regarding 

 the piedmont terraces; perhaps they are 

 remnants of a sandstone formation that 

 once had a greater horizontal extension; 

 but this can not be determined because of 

 the vagueness of the phrase: "On certain 

 lower terraces, horizontal sandstones are 

 deposited." Inasmuch as erosion is ex- 

 plicitly mentioned as having afi'ected the 

 crest of the range and implicitly sug- 

 gested as having ravined the eastern flank, 

 it is unfortunate that its effects on the 

 western escarpment and around the base 

 of the range are passed over in silence. 

 Uneven description of this kind is , disap- 

 pointing. 



The point to be emphasized is that the 

 description prepared by the observer 

 would be much more easily apprehended 

 by the reader if it had been orderly in- 

 stead of disorderly, and thorough instead 

 of fragmentary. " Immediately following 

 the introductory statement concerning the 

 occurrence of a high and isolated range, 

 trending north to south, one must wish to 

 know its general sti'ucture; namely, that 

 it is a monocline of heavy sandstones, dip- 

 ping eastward, with a foundation of gran- 

 ite exposed in the western flank. After 

 exploration is flnished, the preparation of 

 brief and explicit statement of this kind 

 surely imposes no great burden on the ob- 

 server; and as surely it gives great aid to 

 the reader. Brief suggestion as to the 

 initial form of the mass and as to the 

 amount of change that it has suffered since 

 its uplift would be helpful, because the 

 reader could then, as it were, accompany 

 the observer in his attempt to give an ex- 

 planatory account of the present form. If 

 erosion has gone so far that the initial 

 form is altogether uncertain, an explicit 



