Review of Rccciit Geological Literature, \2J 
"With the numerical results of the investigation before us we 
may now recur to the main subject and ask whether the evidence 
warrants the conclusion that a general, gradual tilting of the basin 
is in progress. In the discussion of the data used in comparing the 
several pairs of stations it has been found that, taken at their face 
value, they indicate a tilting in the hypothetic direction, but it has 
also been found impossible to resolve all doubts as to the stability 
of the gages and benches and the accuracy of the measurements. By 
reason of these doubts the result from no single pair of stations is 
conclusive, but when assembled they exhibit a harmony which argues 
strongly for their validity. * * * Not only do all these results 
indicate a change of the same sort, but they agree fairly well as to 
quantity. The computed change for lOO miles in a century ranges 
only from 0.37 to 0.46 foot, and the greatest deviation of an individual 
result from the mean is 12 per cent. This measure of harmony ap- 
peals strongly to the judgment, and is also susceptible of approximate 
numerical expression." 
"It seems to m.e that the harmony of the measurements and their 
agreement with prediction from geologic data make so strong a case 
for the hypothesis of tilting that it should be accepted as a fact, despite 
the doubts concerning the stability of the gages." 
The geographical changes resulting from this earth movement are 
outlined. Chief among them is the reversal of the drainage of the 
Great Lakes, causing the outlet to be by way of Chicago and the 
Illinois river. Attention is also called to a paper by Mr. E. L. Mose- 
ley in which evidence for the sinking of the land, or the rising of 
the water, near the west end of lake Erie is presented. Mr. Gilbert 
offers a plan for the taking of further and more accurate observations 
in regard to the tilting of the land in this district, and it is greatly 
to be hoped that some agencJ^ preferably one of the scientific bureaus 
of the government, will undertake this interesting investigation. 
u. s. G. 
Physical Geography. By William Morris Davis, assisted by Wil- 
liam H. Snyder. Small 8vo, pp. 428, $1.25. Boston: Ginn & Co., 1898. 
One occasionally hears the complaint made that physical geography 
is not a proper subject for the public school curriculum. The com- 
plaint alleges that the subject is lacking in contiimity; that it is merely 
a disconnected and often misleading mass of facts gathered liere and 
there from a number of other sciences; that aside from the information 
given it has little or no educational value because of the lack cf a 
great underlying principle to bind the facts together and give unity 
to the subject. 
However great our enthusiasm fcr the subject nia> be now. we 
are bound to admit that until a few years ago such charges had some 
l)asis in fact. The average text-books on the subject have ton often 
been little more than loose descriptions of isolated facts, sometimes 
lacking even in systematic arrangement. 
Such a condition is not at all surprising. The systematic study, 
in detail, of the earth's surface is a relatively recent thing. DitTerences 
