August 28, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



313 



zoic and middle Mesozoic." He would suggest 

 that a mueh better classification could have 

 been devised by a more careful study of the 

 reports of earlier geological expeditions in 

 China, which have evidently furnished a large 

 proportion of the material embodied in Mr. 

 Ishii's paper. 



The author regards the well-known red beds 

 of Sze-chwan as either Cretaceous or Tertiary 

 and believes that they were deposited in a salt 

 lake or inland sea. The " Coal-bearing Sand- 

 stone Formation appears to include rocks of 

 widely different age, such as the Permo-Car- 

 boniferous coal-bearing beds described by the 

 Carnegie Expedition of 1903-04 and the 

 Ehaetic-Lias of Eiehthofen and Loczy. There 

 is probably little more than a lithologic re- 

 semblance between these two series. In his de- 

 scription of the Paleozoic limestones, the au- 

 thor adds but little to that which is already 

 known and, on the other hand, confuses much 

 that has already been published. He refers to 

 the Cambro-Ordovician limestones described 

 by the Carnegie Institution as a " metamorphic 

 limestone" and implies that its thickness can 

 not be measured. These are surprising errors 

 in view of the reported fact that along the 

 Yang-tze gorges the limestone is almost en- 

 tirely unaltered, fossiliferous, and only gently 

 folded; and the thickness was measured ten 

 years ago as well as the very small amount of 

 time devoted to the act would permit. The 

 very fact that a generous collection of well- 

 preserved fossils has already been taken from 

 these rocks is sufScient evidence that the altera- 

 tion of these strata is not everywhere severe. 

 One finds no mention in these pages of the in- 

 teresting change in metamorphism of the 

 Paleozoic rocks from the Tang-tze River itself, 

 where the beds are merely consolidated, north- 

 ward into southern Shensi, where they are 

 schistose. Nor are the Cambrian glacial beds 

 of Nan-tou, which have attracted wide atten- 

 tion among geologists, given even passing men- 

 tion. Perhaps these points are discussed in 

 that portion of the paper which is a sealed 

 book to the occidental reader. 



The author's interpretation of the geologic 

 structure and history of central China will 



hardly commend itself to other students of 

 the region. He apparently regards the Tang- 

 tse basin as originally a great depression in 

 a granitic foundation, enclosing a great lake 

 or inland sea. This was gradually filled by 

 successive layers of Paleozoic and Mesozoic 

 rocks so that it dwindled in Cretaceous or 

 Tertiary times to small remnants in the 

 neighborhood of central Sze-chwan and the 

 Tung-ting lake. Some time after the Paleo- 

 zoic, the mountain ranges were produced by 

 horizontal pressure which developed the folds 

 and many minor basins. The author appears 

 to hold the opinion that the last of the inland 

 seas overflowed theii" rims and that these out- 

 let rivers cut the magnificent gorges of the 

 Yang-tze and its tributaries. Whether or not 

 the author has given any consideration to the 

 other published explanations of the phenom- 

 ena must remain unknown to a reviewer who 

 is unable to read the Japanese text. 



A perusal of the English summary suggests 

 that the material for the bulletin has been de- 

 rived largely from a somewhat hasty or ill- 

 considered examination of the reports of for- 

 eign geologists who have previously made ex- 

 plorations in China, interpreted in the light 

 of the author's own field work. That the au- 

 thor was adequately prepared for his impor- 

 tant task by sound and thorough training in 

 school and field under competent guidance is 

 not indicated by the available results. One 

 of the most commendable characteristics of 

 the paper is, nevertheless, the distinction 

 which is generally made between inferences 

 and facts, — a virtue which not a few occi- 

 dental writers on geology might imitate to 

 advantage. It is suggested that a more ap- 

 propriate title for Mr. Ishii's paper would be 

 "A Preliminary Geologic Sketch of the Geol- 

 ogy of the Yang-tze Valley." Before the 

 geologic features of so great and complex an 

 area will have been described with even com- 

 parative thoroughness, the product will re- 

 quire many large volumes rather than a small 

 pamphlet. 



Eliot Blackwelder 



Univeksity op Wisconsin 



