GEOGRAPHIC LITERATURE 
185 
uplift, deformation, or other genetic processes, the succeeding work of the 
agencies of erosion, the control of dissection by the effective baselevel, 
the gradual and sj'^stematic progress in dissection as determined by the 
advance in time through the geographical cycle, and the termination of 
the normal uninterrupted cycle, of erosion in a plain or peneplain of sub- 
aerial denudation, all these and many other essential features of the 
American treatment are succinctly presented. Numerous illusti’ative ex- 
amples, largely taken from European sources, are presented ; these being 
of particular value to our students of the subject, who are naturally more 
familiar with American occurrences. Following the statement of general 
and special principles, there comes an account of Europe in particular and 
of the world in less detail, which is, I believe, the first serious attempt to 
treat areal geography in this fashion. Local geomorphological studies 
have been attempted elsewhere, but no one has hitheido undertaken to 
discuss the physical geography of the world on these new lines. It goes 
without saying that the treatment must be very unequal, for the physiog- 
raphy of many parts of the world is now as little known as the fauna and 
flora of the remoter regions were known a century ago. 
It is manifest from an examination of this book, as well as from the 
study of various other sources, that the morphology of mountains is in a 
much less advanced state than that of simpler structures. Students of 
the subject will therefore do well to give particular attention to remedy- 
ing this deficiency. At present we read frequently about the height and 
length of ranges, about the rocks of which they are composed, and about 
the influence of mountains on climate, both local and adjacent, as well 
as about their control of the character and distribution of plants and 
animals, but it is very seldom that any critical or detailed morphological 
account is given of the mountains themselves. Their forms are so various, 
so ungeometrical, that they have not yet been reduced to system and 
embodied in a satisfactory terminology, indicative of structure on the one 
hand and of stage of destructional development on the other. Thus de 
Lapparent’s account of the concentric escarpments of the Paris basin is 
more systematically complete than his description of the Pyrenees ; a 
clearer idea is given of the topography characterizing the simplified forms 
of the old mountains of the middle Rhine than of the complicated forms 
of the still vigorous Alps. This is not to be avoided in the present stage 
of the science, but nothing will aid more in carrying us past this stage 
than the preparation of sound general treatises like the one l)efore us. 
Its periLsal must turn many students toward further investigation, and 
new investigators are greatly needed. 
In the matter of citations, the author has been sparing, but this is to 
be the less regretted on account of the exhaustive bibliographic treatment 
of geomorphology in I’enck’s recent MorphoUxjie der Erdoherjldchc vols., 
Stuttgart, 18!)4). The latter book i>resents an exceptionally full account 
of the historical development of physical geography, while the former 
pre.sents a concise acciumt of its present advanced condition, and thus 
the two works comi)lement each other very satisfactorily. 
Whether in [)reparation for a tri|> abroad or for use in study and teach- 
ing at home, de Lapjiarent’s Lxcom must prove very acceptable to Ameri- 
can geographers. W. M. Davis. 
