28 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLII. No. 1070 



whose names and activities are familiar and 

 impressive. The worth of the chapters can in 

 no wise be measured by the fugitive charac- 

 ter of the occasion that has brought them into 

 existence. The fairs will soon be over and 

 we may hope that before long the great world 

 will again be opened to the traveler, but the 

 scientific men of the west have erected a mon- 

 ument here which wUl serve not alone as a 

 present guide to the coast but will retain its 

 worth even while its own trees of knowledge 

 continue to bear more fruit. 



The scope of the book is rather extraordi- 

 nary. Dedicated to the late John Muir, it 

 seems, as one might say, to cover every theme 

 into which that genius of the west came into 

 active contact. The chapters begin with a 

 historical approach to the country, touching 

 upon the Spanish occupation; then passing 

 through the meteorology and physiography, 

 reach the solid foundations in a series of im- 

 portant essays on the geological features. 

 The foundations being thus laid, biological 

 chapters follow, the flora and fauna of land 

 and sea being taken up, each after its kind; 

 then ethnology and the skies which bend 

 themselves about the Pacific coast to give it 

 its cosmic individuality. In the sequence 

 come the practical applications of these scien- 

 tific factors, in agriculture, in irrigation, in 

 chemistry; much on the out-of-doors, some- 

 thing on the literature, a little on the special 

 mode of juridical and political development, 

 and, in fine, a chapter on things to see and 

 how to see them. 



The chapters of this book can, of course, 

 be referred to only in the briefest way in a 

 notice of this kind, but it may be said that 

 the text throughout is supplemented with ef- 

 fective half tones and useful maps, 29 of the 

 former and 14 of the latter, in addition to 

 which is a considerable number of text dia- 

 grams and sketches. The maps are, for the 

 most part, of the greater cities and their vicin- 

 ity, but there are double-sheet maps, one of 

 the geology of the west coast and one of the 

 life zones of California. 



I. The Approaches to the Pacific Coast. 

 By Frederich J. Teggart. — The early outpour- 



ings of Asia; the advance of Spain from the 

 victorious armies of Cortes at the south; the 

 individual initiative of the English explorer 

 coming through from the north; the persist- 

 ent endurance and final triumph of genera- 

 tions of frontiersmen pressing overland in 

 defiance of natural barriers, constitute a ro- 

 mantic adventure in settlement which, some- 

 how, seems to laugh at " gateways " and 

 "geographic control" and to trifle with some 

 of the most sacred dogmas of " human geog- 

 raphy." 



II. Spanish Settlements on the Pacific 

 Coast. By Charles E. Chapman. — A valuable 

 record of the Spanish occupation and of the 

 Mission Fathers — " California under Spain, 

 beside which Acadia and Utopia were unat- 

 tractive, a dream life for over half a century." 

 With a map locating the missions, pueblos 

 and presidios of California. 



III. Historical Shetch of the Panama 

 Canal. By Rudolph J. Taussig. — For the 

 contemporary reader somewhat gorged with 

 recent history of the canal, the early dreams 

 of the " Secret of the Strait " and the birth 

 of the idea of the Canal, "which is almost as 

 old as the discovery of America itself," will 

 present a singular attraction. 



IV. Weather Conditions on the Pacific 

 Coast. By Alexander McAdie. — ^Premising' 

 that we know little of the causes of " weather " 

 anywhere, the accomplished author of this 

 chapter explains how very much that little is 

 by a series of temperature charts and statis- 

 tical records of weather variations, sunshine, 

 wind, fog, rainfall, etc. Some interesting 

 statements are found in these paragraphs, in- 

 teresting at least to those who have become 

 used to the glowing reclame of California 

 weather. " The amount of sunshine received 

 at San Francisco is not as large as might be 

 expected, but nevertheless compares favorably 

 with that of other cities of the United States." 

 " One of the most marked climatic features 

 of San Francisco is the prevalence of fog. 

 . . . the summer afternoon sea fog shuts out 

 50 per cent, or more of the possible sunshine 

 between 3 and 1 p.m. during June, July and 

 August." " In addition to the summer after- 



