536 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. IV., No. 97. 



mountain ranges. Under the former heading 

 there is an extended essay on the deluge, which 

 has been printed apart, and briefer chapters on 

 earthquakes, dislocations, and volcanoes. The 

 second heading includes, thus far, only the 

 Alpine system. 



The work shows a broad acquaintance with 

 the subject ; and, in spite of its title, it is not 

 a 'popular • book. Yet its style is much more 

 attractive and readable than one usuany ex- 

 pects in a geological essay. Among the more 

 novel topics, there may be mentioned the brief 

 account of Fischer's and Hann's studies of 

 the deformation of the ocean's surface by con- 

 tinental attraction ; a summary of the evidence 



RESTORATION OF A DISTURBED REGION OF PALEOZOIC ROCKS IN BELGIUM 



contradicting the often quoted elevation of 

 the Chilian coast in the earthquakes of 1822, 

 1835, and 1837; the series of forms devel- 

 oped in an eruptive region b}- deeper and 

 deeper denudation ; and the relations of the 

 curved trends of the Alpine system to the 

 generally northward tangential thrust that pro- 

 duced it. 



A moderate number of well-executed cuts, 

 and several long lists of authorities, add to the 

 value of the work. The first of the illustrations 

 here copied shows an overturned fold on the 

 Mamrang pass, in the north-western Himalaya : 

 the second is a restoration, by Cornet and 

 Briart, of a greatly disturbed region of pale- 

 ozoic rocks in Belgium, over part of which 

 cretaceous strata are laid unconformably. Of 

 the three great faults, AA is the oldest, and 

 CC the 3 7 oungest. 



A POPULAR WORK ON AMERICAN 

 NATURAL HISTORY. 



Tenants of an old farm , leaves from the note-book 

 of a naturalist. By Henry C. McCook, D.D. 

 New York, Fords, Howard, and Hulbert, 1885. 

 456 + 4 p., illustr. 8°. 



Scientific men are accustomed to consider 

 themselves an exclusive bod} r . They collect 

 bits of knowledge, which they seem to look 

 upon as their private propert} T , and, either 

 wisely or unwisely, spend their time making ob- 

 servations, and rigidly describing them for sci- 

 entific ears, with no attempt to put the material 

 within reach of the ordinary mind. The re- 

 sult is, that the 

 popular books of 

 science, from 

 which the general 

 reader must get 

 his information, 

 are usually com- 

 piled by persons 

 who have never 

 seen what they 

 are describing, 



but have obtained 

 their information 

 entirely from oth- 

 ers. A book like 

 the one before us 

 is therefore of 

 special value, for 

 we have in it a 

 popular account 

 of scientific sub- 

 jects by one who 

 has himself ob- 

 served every 

 thing he describes. The scientific statements 

 of the author are not only reliable, but, coming 

 directly from nature, they still retain evidence 

 of direct contact with life, which is so sure 

 to disappear with too many repetitions ; and 

 when, further, these statements are put in a 

 form to appeal to the general reader, we may 

 be sure of an addition, perhaps not to science, 

 but to the knowledge of the reading public. 



The author informs us, that under the persua- 

 sions of friends, and rather against his own 

 inclination, the plan of the book is colloquial 

 in form. What the book might otherwise 

 have been cannot be said, but the persuasion 

 of friends seems here to have had a happy 

 eifect. The desirable quality of a popular 

 scientific book is to obtain as many readers as 

 possible, and thus spread the knowledge widely. 

 However interesting facts of natural history 



