April 19, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



439 



birds of eastern America it is bound to 

 supersede all otlier works. It is a boon to 

 the amateur, a convenience to the profes- 

 sional, and will prove a help and incentive 

 to the study of birds. Such books are now 

 among the greatest needs in all departments 

 of natural history. 



C. Hart Meeri.\m. 



National Geographic Monographs, jyrepared 

 under the auspiceg of the National Geographic 

 Society. No. 1, Physiograjthic Processes ; Xo. 

 J, Physiographic Features. By J. AY. Pow- 

 ell, late director of the United States 

 Geological Surve}\ New York, Amer- 

 ican Book Company, 1895. Twenty cents 

 a number. .S1..')0 a year (ten numbei-s). 

 The fii-st two numbers of the geographic 

 monographs, announced in Science No. 10, 

 have latelj' been issued under the above 

 titles. The scries is to appear monthlj- dur- 

 ing the school year, the special object of the 

 pul)lication being '' to sujiply to teachers 

 and students of geography fresh and inter- 

 esting material with which to supplement 

 the regular text-book.'" 



A series of essays like this deserves a 

 warm welcome ft'om those who are inter- 

 ested in raising the standard of geographical 

 teaching, and the two nuinliers now issued 

 are of particular importance in several ways. 

 They affirm, with an emphasis not hitherto 

 given in tliis country, that the proper foun- 

 dation of geogi-aphical study is an under- 

 standing of physiogi-aphical processes ; they 

 mark the entrance of various members of 

 our National scientific bureaus into the work 

 of publishing the best selections fi-om their 

 knowledge in essentially elemcntarj' form, 

 with the intention of aiding teachers and 

 scholai-s in our schools ; they represent not 

 simply the temporary eifort of an individual, 

 but the continued eflbrts of a body of ex- 

 perts to introduce subjects of better quality 

 and treatment into ordinary geographical 

 study. Such an undertaking, if success- 



fully maintained, cannot fail to impress it- 

 self sti'ongly all through our educational 

 system, for, instead of appalling the reader 

 at the outset with a large treatise of heavy 

 cost, it continually tempts him to go further 

 and further by the successive appearance 

 of attractive and interesting but inexpen- 

 sive pamphlets, month after month and 

 year after year. 



The publishers present the monographs 

 in good form, well illustrated, and certainly 

 at a very moderate price. 



It is particularly interesting to receive in 

 these two numbers the results of Major 

 Powell's long consideration of physiographic 

 questions. For some years his attention 

 has been so largely given to administrative 

 work in connection with the National Geol- 

 ogical Survey that we have liad compara- 

 tivelj' little from his pen ; but now we learn 

 the general views that have been gradually 

 forming during his long experience of the 

 many aspects of geogi-aphj^ and geology ; 

 here we find terselj' presented his matured 

 opinions on the essential elementary concep- 

 tions concerning deformation and denuda- 

 tion, about which our teachers are as a 

 body so indifferent, so skeptical or so timid. 

 Mountains are not described as the result 

 of chaotic uplifts, but as the unconsumed 

 remnants of broadlj' uplifted and deeplj' 

 eroded masses. The product of long-con- 

 tinued denudation is not illustrated bj' a 

 canj-on or a valley, as so many of the text- 

 books in current use imply, but by a broad 

 surface of faint relief, close to baselevel. 

 The lesson of our West that volcanic action 

 is not so dependent on neighborliood to the 

 sea as has been generallj' supposed is given 

 perhaps too much importance ; for no as- 

 sociation of vulcanism with the ocean is 

 mentioned. Among geologists, these an- 

 nouncements may not be regarded as novel, 

 nor are they so presented ; but it is certainly 

 novel to have them addressed to teachers 

 of geography, and to have them emphasized 



