1896.] Recent Literature. 



because it will impress him more strongly than ever wit I 

 with which nature constructs her inorganic structures. With Dr. 

 Williams' little book to develop the imagination of the beginner in 

 ei-y-tallography and to interest him in the science, and the present 

 volume to carry him on to a very thorough understanding of the re- 

 lationships of crystal forms, the English-reading student-world is as 

 well, if not as bountifully, supplied with text books on the subject as 

 are the students of any European country. 



The authors discussions are all logical I v developed, and all his state- 

 ments are clear and simple. The figures are well drawn and the sub- 

 jects they illustrate are well selected.— W. S. B. 



York: MaeMillan & Co.. 18S)f». Pp. xxxi and 488; tigs. L'iiT, plates 



The most striking features of Prof. Tarr'a book are the freshness and 



volume is just what its title indicates, except that perhaps the treat- 

 ment of its subject matter is a little more inclined toward the side of 

 physiography than toward physical geography. The book is indeed 

 elementary— more so than one would wish, sometimes; at other times 

 it is elementary in the statement of the facts described, while leaving 

 their causes unexplained, where a word or two might have avoided a 

 difficulty which the teacher will surely meet with in discussions with 

 his brightest scholars. In the arrangement of material, some fault can 

 easily be found, but, as the author himself declares, the treatment is, 

 "in many respects, experimental." In spite of these criticisms, the 



The volume is divided into three parts, with four appendices and a 

 very good index. The first part deals with the air. It includes chap- 

 ters on the earth as a planet, the atmosphere in general, distribution of 

 temperature in the atmosphere, its general circulation, storms, its 

 moisture, weather and climate, and the geographic distribution of 

 plants and animals. Why the first and last chapters included in this 

 part are discussed here is not quite plain. Part second deals with the 

 ocean. It embraces chapters on the ocean in general, waves and cur- 

 rents and tides. Part third treats of the land and its features. A 

 general description of the earth's crust is discussed in the opening 

 chapters. Then follow chapters on denudation, the topographic fea- 

 tures of the surface, river valleys, deltas, waterfalls, lakes, etc., glaciers, 

 the coast line, plateaus and mountains, volcanoes, earthquakes, etc., 



