298 Analyses of Books. [May, 
This perfectly true : the desolation of much of Spain, North 
Africa, Syria, Persia, &c., is due to the same cause. Or to look 
at a small, and therefore a definite case, we were shown, many 
years ago, a small stream, a tributary of the Oder, which, within 
the memory of the oldest inhabitant, turned a couple of corn- 
mills, but which now, since the forests about its sources have 
been removed, is throughout the summer merely a dry ravine, 
save for couple of days after a heavy thunderstorm. 
This question has for us, in the home kingdoms at least, little 
direCt practical interest. The denudation of Great Britain and 
Ireland affeCts the farmer and the gardener more by giving play 
to bitter winds than by preventing showers, which, like the poor, 
are “ always with us.” But in India, Australia, and South 
Africa the preservation of the forests is a question of vital 
importance. 
Certain of the author’s remarks on the distribution of vegeta- 
tion show that he is fully alive to the truth first put forward, we 
believe, by Dean Herbert, that plants do not always grow by pre- 
ference in the soils where we find them. On the contrary, a 
barren moorland serves often merely as a refuge where certain 
species retire from encroaching rivals, just as certain human 
tribes have fled to the deserts and the mountains as a refuge 
from invasion. 
The Upper Flambeau region is exceedingly interesting from 
the evidences of glacial aCtion which it presents. The accom- 
panying map shows eight successive belts of moraine, lying in 
nearly parallel curves on a line proceeding from the north-east to 
the south-west. The small lakes and tarns are practically too 
numerous to be counted, and there are likewise a great number 
of “ kettle knolls ” or “ knobs,” sometimes 100 feet in height, 
and often occurring in the midst of marshes. Huge boulders 
are numerous, and may often, except carefully examined, be mis- 
taken for rocks in situ. It is concluded that in this district there 
were three periods of glaciation, whilst the eight belts indicate 
as many minor periods included within the larger ones. 
The entire volume before us proves fully that time and labour 
have not been spared in this geological survey, and that the work 
has been done in the spirit of thoroughness. 
