682 Recent Literature. [ November, 
RECENT LITERATURE. 
ORTON’S ANDES AND THE AMAZON. — This is the work of a natu- 
ralist as well as a traveler, and presents a lively and, so far as we are 
aware, an entirely truthful account of the wonderful regions on each side 
of the Andes of Peru. Though the scientific results of the two expedi- 
tions across the Andes and down the Amazons have been published else- 
where, those of more popular interest are introduced into the narrative: 
The third edition contains much new matter, with a new map of the 
Marañon region, “a vast and interesting country, most rudely laid down 
on existing maps.” The author also presents “ facts illustrating the 
commercial resources and possibilities of the Valley of the Amazons, a 
subject which is destined to arrest the attention of enterprising men and 
nations.” The present edition has been prepared by adding to the nar- 
rative of the expedition of 1867 a description of a more southerly route: 
The book is copiously and well illustrated, and describes a course of 
travel which will prove very attractive to tourists. 
Witson’s Prenistortc Man2— This standard book has passed into 
a third edition, in which “much of the original work has been rewritten. 
Several chapters have been replaced by new matter. Others have been 
condensed or recast, with considerable modifications and a new arrange- 
ment of the whole.” The illustrations are abundant and excellent, a 
number of new ones haying been engraved for this edition. 
Commendation of such a work, so long and favorably known to ihe 
public, is scarcely necessary. A few points seem to us open to correction. 
For example, on page 34 (vol. i.) the author allows the following state- 
ment to appear: “ Fossil human remains have also been recovered from 
a calcareous conglomerate of the coral reefs of Florida, estimated by 
Professor Agassiz to be not less than ten thousand years 0 ” This 
estimate is worthless, as may be seen by a note in the NATURALIST 
(ii. 443) by Count Pourtales, the original discoverer of the bones. He 
says, “ The human jaw and other bones found in Florida by myself 
in 1848 were not in a coral formation, but in a fresh-water sandstone 
on the shore of Lake Monroe, associated with fresh-water shells of 
species still living in the lake (Paludina, Ampullaria, etc.). No date can 
be assigned to the formation of that deposit, at least from present ob- 
servation.” : 
Professor Wilson is cautious in accepting the evidence of the high 
antiquity of man, rather more so than the majority of leading anthropol- 
ogists. 
1 The Andes and the Amazon; or, Across the Continent of South America. By J 
Orron. Third Edition, revised and enlarged, containing Notes of a Second spun 
across the Continent from Para to Lima and Lake Titicaca. With two Maps &™ 
numerous Illustrations. New York: Harper and Brothers’ 1876. 12mo, pp. O*"" 
2 Prehistoric Man. Researches into the Origin of Civilization in the Old and New 
World. By Daxter Witsox. Third Edition, revised and enlarged. With Ilust® 
tions. In two volumes. London: Macmillan & Co. 1876. 8vo. 
AMES 
