Geology and Natural History. 269 



opens with a historical chapter in regard to the discovery of oil, 

 particularly in Kansas, from 1860 down to the present time, the 

 third or most important period beginning with 1890. Chapters 

 follow on the history of field work, the stratigraphy, etc., while 

 the subjects of the chemical composition of both gas and petro- 

 leum are taken up in much detail. J. W. Beede and A. F. 

 Rogers (pp. 318-389) contribute an account of faunal studies 

 from the Coal Measures, and E. H. Sellards chapters on fossil 

 plants (pp. 386-480) and on fossil cockroaches (pp. 501-541). 



8. Das Antlitz der Erde ;/ von Eduaed Suess. Third vol- 

 ume, second half; conclusion of the entire work. Pp. iv4-789, 

 55 text illustrations, three tables and five colored maps. Accom- 

 panied by an index of 153 pp. bound separately. — The publica- 

 tion of this final volume of " The Face of the Earth " marks the 

 consummation of the life work of the distinguished leader of 

 European geology, the completion of a labor so important and so 

 vast that at the recent annual meeting of the Geological Society 

 of America a resolution of congratulation and admiration signed 

 individually by the entire body of geologists present was trans- 

 mitted to its author. 



In this work, the publication of which has extended over a 

 generation, the entire geological literature of the past century of 

 both the old and new worlds has been drawn upon for the mate- 

 rials of construction. The more important papers have been 

 abstracted and numerous references will enable the future investi- 

 gator to use these volumes as a starting point for research on 

 any geological province or to acquaint himself with that degree 

 of progress in the earth science which marked the nineteenth 

 century. It must not be thought of, however, as primarily a 

 compilation, for Suess has done this work with a breadth of view 

 which has made all subsequent generations of geologists his 

 debtors and has used the materials to achieve ends of his own, 

 bringing forth conclusions which the individual workers did not 

 perceive. 



The volume opens with a description of the regions folded at 

 the close of the Paleozoic in the old and new worlds and goes on 

 in later chapters to consider folded tracts of later date, faulted 

 regions, and the island arcs of the Pacific. Later parts treat of 

 the theories of origin of these structures and of igneous activity. 

 A chapter is devoted to the Moon and a concluding chapter to 

 the life of the earth. 



In a brief notice of a voluminous work such as this no discus- 

 sion can be given of the subject matter and conclusions, as space 

 would only permit a partial view of a few arbitrarily selected 

 topics. It may be noted, however, regarding the mode of treat- 

 ment that the work is built upon an exhaustive study of areal, 

 structural and paleontological geology. It sums up, therefore, 

 and uses with great power the modes of research which were 

 especially employed in the nineteenth century. The youngest 

 member among the family of geological sciences, physiography, 



