No. 483] 



NOTES AND LITER AT V RE 



191 



effects. "But I repeat, he says that until iiicii coiik- to coniprcliciKl 

 a natural cause for every uaiural cfVect they slidiiltl he coiitn.llcd 

 in their attitude toward environnieut, incltidiiio- tli,ir lin.ilicr men, 

 by some code that will have the proper effect, howwcr liascd that 

 code may be." (p. 255.) 



GEOLOGY. 



The reconstruction of the Continents of Tertiary times is the 

 topic discussed in a |)aper by \Y. 1). Mattlunv.' l'siii<: the evidence 

 furnished by the distribution of fossil and recent :Maninials, he tries 

 to reconstruct the outlines of the old land-masses, and illustrates 

 his results by seven niai)s, which represent the geographical conditions 

 of the earth's surface in Postcrctaceous time (immediately after the 

 close of the Cretaceous), in the middle Eocene, in the middle Oligo- 

 cene, in the Miocene, in tlie Pliocene, in the early Pleistocene, and 

 in recent times. 



This pajicr inuloubtedly marks an important progress in this branch 

 of resoarcii. ('..tnparing it with tiic hist att.Miipt to reconstruct the 

 oldconti.KMits. nia.l(> I.v Orli.iaMU in I'.KL' (I'r. Aincr. IMiilos. Soc. 41), 

 we srr that hr.v onix iuo inai.. unv -ixrn, tnr the h.urr and for the 



Mltthcu'. ,na|...'ahh.),ii:h throii.- lor the lou.-r Trnian mnv-ponds 



Tertia^^ tn'ihat nf ih<' Mio.vnr. Hut ' coiiipK't.- amvnncni raiiliot 

 be expected, considcrlD.u- the (>Ntrcmc diniciiitics with which stich 

 investigations an^ {•oiiiicctnl. Indeed, it is rather stirprising that 



