DECEMBER 3, 1897. ] 
tremble and crockery to rattle, ‘as though 
in an earthquake.’ In view of the com- 
pressed condition of the rocks in the Mon- 
son quarries, described by Niles some years 
ago, these indications of local disturbance 
are of much interest and deserve special 
study from local observers. The region is 
one of deformed crystalline rocks, but all 
the disturbances that can be dated geolog- 
ically are of great antiquity. The nearest 
comparatively modern disturbances are in 
the Cretaceous and Tertiary strata of the 
islands south of New England. 
. PHYSIOGRAPHY OF MARYLAND. 
Tue first volume issued by the Mary- 
land Geological Survey contains a sketch 
of the physiography of the State with hyp- 
sometric and geological maps. A good 
illustration of the natural use of the term 
‘plateau’ as indicative of relative and not 
absolute altitude is found in its application 
to the Piedmont region, next inward from 
the coastal plain. Its highest part in Parrs 
ridge is under a thousand feet elevation. 
Sugarloaf mountain seems to be a well de- 
fined monadnock, surmounting the plateau. 
The major drainage of this region is in 
young valleys that show little relation to the 
underlying rocks; their streams give evi- 
dence of having been superposed through a 
cover of sedimentary strata which may have 
been the westward extension of the present 
costal plain, but ‘‘ the broad fertile limestone 
valleys to which the present drainage has 
become partially adjusted are a striking 
feature of the area.’”’ We venture to ex- 
press a hope that the fuller study of phys- 
iographic features promised for later vol- 
umes will not be addressed so much to 
‘those who may seek a home in Maryland ’ 
as to the teachers in the schools of the 
State, from whom the future citizens are to 
learn what the State really is. 
TARR’S FIRST BOOK OF PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
Tarr’s Elementary Physical Geography 
SCIENCE. 835 
has been found too advanced by many 
teachers ; hence a smaller book has been 
prepared. In most respects it presents a 
good view of the subject, especially where 
the treatment turns toward the geological 
side; but in a number of instances it fails 
to ‘start at the beginning and make every - 
thing thoroughly clear.’ There is not a 
clear recognition of what is essential and 
what is unessential in a physical geography. 
The astronomical pages contain a number 
of purely astronomical matters, valuable 
as general information but here occupying 
space that could be better used by expand- 
ing the description and explanation of 
strictly geographical topics. The treat- 
ment of light is too physical and too ad- 
vanced for a First Book. The chapter on 
the earth’s crust is avowedly geological, 
so much so that the beginner cannot really 
appreciate it. For the student of geography 
it is better not to cross these geological 
bridges until they are encountered on his 
geographical journey. Under the lands 
many good lessons are taught, but process 
receives relatively more attention than form; 
and in spite of the importance which process 
deserves, this seems a mistake in a book 
that should be essentially geographical. 
There are a number of careless inaccu- 
racies of statement. It is said of hurri- 
canes that ‘‘their birthplace is near the 
tropics’? (p. 116). ‘‘The north magnetic 
pole lies to the southwest of the true North 
Pole” (p. 54). The redundant ‘this’ is 
too common; for example, ‘in lieu of this 
inability to really conceive this’ (p. 27). 
The treatment of the tides is not lucid ; two 
sentences beginning with ‘therefore’ are 
followed by a third, whose conclusion will 
leave still in the dark those teachers who 
are puzzled about what they call ‘ that tide 
on the other side of the earth.’ In these 
latter respects the book bears too evident 
marks of hasty preparation. 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY. W. M. Davis. 
