September 9, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



127 



marine, then alternating brackish and fresh, and finally wholly- 

 fresh. This, of course, implies the occurrence of great physical 

 changes upon the North American continent during the Cretaceous 

 and Eocene periods, which, however, did not interrupt sedimenta- 

 tion in a large part of its interior. 



Dr. White has also done stratigraphic geology an important 

 service in his concluding remarks upon the value of fresh-water 

 fossils in geological determinations. 



" The differentiation of the moUusca into generic, family, and 

 ordinal groups, and the diversification of specific forms among these 

 groups, are immensely greater in marine waters than in any other. 

 In brackish waters it is much less than in the open marine, and in 

 lacustrine waters the minimum of differentiation is found. The 

 large collections of fossil moUusca which have been made in differ- 

 ent parts of the world indicate that this slight tendency to differen- 

 tiation among fresli-water moUusca has always obtained in past 

 geological time ; also, that types once established have persisted 

 through a long series of geological periods. Therefore it has be- 

 come known that fossils of fresh-water origin are of little value, 

 compared with those of marine origin, as indices of the true geo- 

 logical age of the strata containing them. In consequence of this, 

 the real value of fresh-water fossils as aids in the study of strati- 

 graphical geology has been underestimated. While it is admitted 

 that these fresh-water forms are of little value in determining the 

 geological age of strata, they are really of as great importance in 

 the study of local, and even of continental, geology as are any other 

 fossils. Indeed, it would be quite impracticable to ascertain 

 whether the waters in which formations have been deposited were 

 marine, brackish, or fresh, except by the character of the contained 

 fossils. 



" Fresh-water formations of considerable extent can only be pro- 

 duced upon continental areas, and they consequently record phases 

 of continental history of which marine formations give no indica- 

 tion. In western North America the fresh-water deposits rival in 

 extent and thickness the gireat marine formations ; and it would 

 have been impossible to arrive at the knowledge of them which we 

 have now attained except by a study of their fossils. Each of these 

 ^reat lacustrine formations has its own distinguishing fauna, the 

 uniform character of which over great areas is quite remarkable. 

 So large has been the area of some of the fresh-water seas in which 

 these deposits were formed, and so uniform the conditions under 

 which they existed, that the geographical distribution of species in 

 them has been nearly or quite as great as the average of that of 

 marine mollusca. For example, some of the species of the Laramie 

 group have been found at points more than a thousand miles apart ; 

 and in the fresh-water Eocene groups the moUuscan fauna is prac- 

 tically identical at points as much as 200 miles apart." 



The Margin of Profits. By Edward Atkinson. New York, 

 Putnam. 12°. 



Mr. Atkinson's writings on practical economy are among the 

 best that we have. They are always interesting and suggestive, 

 and frequently contain information and advice of much value to 

 those for whom they are intended. They are not original in a scien- 

 tific sense, and do not profess to be, Mr. Atkinson being a man of 

 business rather than of science ; yet all his arguments rest on a 

 scientific basis, and on carefully collected statistics. He is, more- 

 over, in hearty sympathy with the toiling poor in their efforts to im- 

 prove their condition in life ^indeed, most of his writings are 

 inspired by this motive ; yet he freely criticises them when he thinks 

 their efforts are in the wrong direction. 



The book now before us contains an address delivered before the 

 Central Labor Lyceum of Boston, together with a reply made on 

 the same occasion by Mr. E. M. Chamberlin, and Mr. Atkinson's 

 rejoinder to the same. The special object of the work is to show, 

 first, that the margin of profits, that is, the share of the capitalist 

 in the products of industry, is much smaller than workingmen gen- 

 erally suppose ; and second, that the progress of industry and the 

 increase of capital, while benefitting the capitalist, of course, ben- 

 efits the laborer far more. To prove and illustrate the first of these 

 propositions, he cites the example of the cotton manufacture, in 

 which the amount of capital used is larger in proportion to the pro- 

 duct than in any other industry ; so that here, if anywhere, we might 



expect the profits to be unusually large. Yet, according to Mr. 

 Atkinson, who is thoroughly informed in the matter, the profits are 

 but a very small portion of the cost of the goods. He says : 

 " When you buy 40 yards of cotton cloth at $2.50, you pay the 

 owner of the mill 15 cents profit, but you also pay about 15 cents 

 more to other people for profit ; that is, 30 cents profit in all ; and 

 you pay $2.20 directly for labor" (p. 28). This statement he 

 proves by an analysis of the process of production, illustrating the 

 same by a chart. 



He then goes on to show how greatly the working classes have 

 gained by the improvements that have taken place in production 

 and the consequent increase of capital. He gives it as his opinion, 

 and economists generally hold the same view, that " there has never 

 been a period in the history of the world in which there have been 

 so many important new inventions or so many applications of pre- 

 vious inventions, all tending to human welfare, as in the last twenty- 

 five years " (p. 109). And these improvements, though at first 

 chiefly beneficial to the few, are now, he thinks, tending rapidly and 

 largely to the benefit of the many. He cites some statistics show- 

 ing that during the past twenty-five years the cost of living has 

 been greatly reduced, while the wages of workmen have largely 

 increased. 



Mr. Chamberlin's reply to Mr. Atkinson is very feeble indeed, not 

 one of his opponent's arguments being met, nor any new ones of 

 value advanced. That Mr. Atkinson's views are in the main sound 

 there can be no doubt ; yet the scientific relations of capital and 

 labor are not yet thoroughly understood, and until they are we 

 cannot tell precisely how improvements in production and increase 

 of capital affect the different portions of society. Mr. Atkinson is 

 doing important service, however, in calling attention to the service 

 rendered to society by capitalists, inventors, and other brain- workers, 

 and which laboring men are liable to overlook or underestimate. 

 He gives also valuable hints on the subject of personal and domestic 

 expenditure, showing that the poorer classes might save much 

 more than they now do without diminishing their present enjoyment 

 in the least. The whole book, in fact, though containing little that 

 is new of a scientific character, cannot fail to be of use to working- 

 men, as well as to all others who are studying the labor question 

 from a practical point of view. 



Die Klimate der Erde. Von Dr. A. Woeikof. 2 vols. Jena, 

 Costenoble. 8°. 



Dr. Woeikof, professor of physical geography in the University 

 of St. Petersburg, is well known to American meteorologists as the 

 author of the general explanatory essay in Professor Coffin's 

 ' Winds of the Globe,' published after the death of the latter by the 

 Smithsonian Institution. He has also been a frequent contributor 

 to the Austrian and German meteorological journals and to other 

 scientific periodicals outside of Russia, and his essays on the 

 climate of the glacial period have attracted much attention from 

 geologists. He has travelled and observed widely abroad, as well 

 as read exhaustively at home. Students of physical geography are 

 therefore to be congratulated that he has condensed the results of 

 his labors in a general work on the climates of the earth, and also 

 that an authorized German translation of the Russian original has 

 appeared ; for it is a positive loss to science when an experience as 

 wide and well trained as Dr. Woeikof's is not recorded as far as 

 may be in transmissible form. 



The first volume of the work includes a series of chapters on 

 matters of general importance, several of which have been repub- 

 lished elsewhere, so agreeable are they m style and treatment. The 

 chief headings are, ' Pressure and Winds, including a Consideration 

 of Temperature Changes in Vertical Currents ; ' ' Atmospheric 

 Moisture and Precipitation ; ' ' Influence of Snow and Ice on Cli- 

 mate ; ' ' Temperature of Bodies of Water and their Climatic In- 

 fluences ; ' ' Daily Variations of Temperature, Moisture, and 

 Wind ; ' ' Variation of Temperature with Altitude, with Particular 

 Regard to the Effect of Topographic Form on Temperature 

 Changes ; ' ' Effect of Climate on ^'"egetation and of Vegetation on 

 CUmate ; ' ' General Statement of the Distribution of Temperature 

 and Pressure over the Earth.' There is nothing of text-book style 

 in these chapters : they are rather essays than lessons, fit for read- 

 ing by the well-informed meteorologist rather than for study in 



