Review Author(s): E. B. Bailey Review by: E. B. Bailey Source: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 41, No. 2 (Feb., 1913), pp. 151-154 Published by: geographicalj Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1778870 Accessed: 27-06-2016 07:43 UTC

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This content downloaded from 128.163.2.206 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:43:55 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms EEVIEWS. 151

vessel under steam. The stands high in the history of ships for her three great voyages, the north Polar drift with Dr. Nansen, which carried her farther north than any other ship, the long exploration of the north- western channels with Captain Sverdrup, and the last voyage to the farthest south. We hope that she may live to make the one more voyage to which Captain Amundsen is pledged in honour, the second drift across the Arctic area, for which the funds he used for his achievement were subscribed. The second appendix, by Mr. B. J. Birke- Iand, deals with the Meteorology, the observations at being printed in extenso. The third appendix deals with Geology, and is in the form of a preliminary note by Mr. J. Scheteleg on the specimens brought home from the mountains of South and King Edward Land. In Appendix IV., Mr. Alexander, whose work is approved by Prof. H. Geelmuyden, summarizes the result of his investigation of the observations made at the , and expresses his conviction that they flx the position of the last camp, , as south of 89? 57', but not south of 89? 59', as close an approximation as could be obtained with portable instruments during a short stay. The last appendix is a discussion of the oceanographical work carried out on the Fram, written by Prof. B. Helland-Hansen and Prof. , and dealing with the results obtained during a preliminary cruise in the North Atlantic before the final departure from , and with those obtained during a long winter cruise in the South Atlantic between the arrival at the river Plate from the Barrier and her return to Buenos Aires to refit for her return voyage to pick up the expedition.

REVIEWS,

EUROPE.

The Btjilding of the Alps.

* The Building of the Alps.' By T. G. Bonney, sc.d., f.r.s., etc. Pp. 384, plates 32. London and Leipzig: T. Fisher Unwin. 1912. Price 12s. 6d. net.

Dr. Bonney has attempted a task of extreme difficulty, the presentation in a single volume of an account of the Alps such as shall meet the needs both of the scientific student and the general reader. We are afraid that the first chapters of the book, those mainly concerned with geological problems, may put the latter class to a somewhat severe test. It is interesting, however, to have set before us the lifelong experience of one who is a past president, not only of the British Association and the Geological Society, but also of the Alpine Club. In a charming preface the author tells his readers that he has " endeavoured to write from the point of view of one who is a lover of the Alps, is somewhat of a geologist, and a little of a naturalist; " who has, moreover, done what he could to see things for himself in years " numbering more than forty, during

This content downloaded from 128.163.2.206 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:43:55 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 152 KEVIEWS. which Alpine climbing has gradually yielded place to Alpine geology." He writes with a first-hand knowledge of his subject unequalled among British geologists, and it is with regret that we learn that he may have looked his last on the Alps, that " the irksomeness of railway journeys is greater, the miles are longer, and the mountains steeper than they used to be." The personal element in such a work has, doubtless, its drawbaeks as well as its attractions. The reader of this book who comes new to the subject may be led to do less than justice to the investigations of the many continental workers in the glacial and mountain problems of the Alps. Geology and geography are still separate, if allied, subjects, and this is hardly the place to go at any length into Dr. Bonney's geological chapters or to criticize his well-known views. But we may venture to point out some instanceg in which he has passed over work which is worthy of mention. Thus, for instance, the author might have alluded to the fundamental glacial discoveries of Venetz, Charpentier, and Agassiz, and to their world-wide influence. So, too, when he introduces references to results obtained by Lapworth in the mountain-structures of Scot- land, he might well have told how much of inspiration Lapworth himself owed to early work carried out by Heim and others in the Alps. These remarks refer to researches which are now mainly of historical interest; but investigation in the Alps has never stood still, and, especially in the domain of mountain- building, the last twenty years have registered a development so rapid that many speak of it as revolutionary. The reader who turns to the chapter which sets out to tell how the Alps grew, hoping to find a complete resume of the " Bertrand-Schardt-Lugeon theory" of the structure of the range, will be disappointed. The first steps are discussed: Escher's interpretation of the Glarus Alps, long supported by Heim, is placed side by side with that given by Bertrand, Suess, and Rothpletz (of whom only Rothpletz is mentioned by name), and this very impartial comment is offered : " the view of Rothpletz seems to involve fewer mechanical difficulties and better to suit the facts of the case ; " there is no mention that Heim has of late years adopted the new gospel and become one of its foremost prophets. Put briefly, the position in regard to the structure of the Alps is as follows: the pioneers realized very fully that mountain-building sometimes involved great horizontal displacements of one part of the Earth's crust over another; but they were naturally conservative in respect of the magnitude of the displacements they invoked, and accordingly they were apt to assign any particular travelled mass to its nearest imaginable source, without due regard to the other probabilities of the case. The interpretations thus developed might perhaps lay claim to the saving grace of " simplicity; " at any rate, they were useful for a time, if indeed they were not the inevitable first step in the process of evolution. But even at an early stage they led to complications. Thus it happened that in the Glarus Alps, according to Heim's own frank admission, the mistake was made of regarding the two portions of a single thrust-mass, severed by erosion, as two radically distinct masses, driven forward from opposite directions, and so brought to face one another across an intervening valley. What at last induced Heim to set aside the famous conception of the Glarus " double fold " was the brilliant work of Schardt and Lugeon, which showed that movements had occurred elsewhere in the Alps on a scale far transcending that required for a single-thrust interpre? tation of the Glarus example, and that everywhere these movements had been overwhelmingly in the one direction, from south to north. With the conclusions drawn from much of this recent work Dr. Bonney does not agree ; still we cannot

This content downloaded from 128.163.2.206 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:43:55 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms REVIEWS. 153 but regret the virtual omission of a theory of Alpine structure which has now fought its way to very general acceptance, and has been so developed as to comprehend the whole mountain system in its generous interpretation. Leaving any description of recent discoveries bearing on the origin of schists and gneisses for another opportunity, we pass on to a few other points in which local or recent research has not been taken full advantage of. In dealing with glacial questions, the author would have put English readers under an obligation if he had given them a sketch of the main features of Penck and Bruckner's ' Die Alpen im Eiszeitalter.' As it is, he has done little more than enumerate their various glacial and interglacial periods, without discussing the evidence upon which these are based ; for the rest, he acknowledges the value of the book as a storehouse of observation, adding that he " cannot accept some of its chief conclusions." This brings us to the question of glacial erosion, where in conse- quence of the subjectivity of much of the evidence relied upon, opinions are very strongly divided. The author's view that ice has played very little part as an erosive agent is well known to readers in this country. It may seem gratuitous to state that, although this opinion finds favour with Prof. Garwood and other experienced geologists in Britain, as well as abroad, it does not in any sense represent the teaching of a united " British School." Prof. Bonney lays himself open to misconception in this matter when he writes (p. 180) that " certain geologists in America and in Germany have attributed to the action of snow and glaciers the following features?corries and cirques, the formation of many valleys, the deepening and enlarging of others." The chapter on avalanches and floods cannot fail to arrest the reader with its tale of almost unimaginable disaster. That on the vegetation of the Alps is very pleasantly written, but treats of the distribution of plant-life almost wholly from the standpoint of altitude. If the author had embodied with his own observations some of the ecological results obtained by such workers as Schroter he would have appealed even more strongly to fellow climbers and naturalists. We have left no room to comment on the three concluding chapters, " Wild animals of the Alps," " The Alps in Relation to Man," and " Fifty Years of Change," in which a large amount of information is gathered together. The book is lavishly illustrated with photographs drawn from divers sources, and many of them are admirable. On the other hand, maps are altogether absent. A few carefully prepared sheets might have supplied in a more con- venient form information conveyed in many pages of letterpress where, for instance, an outline is given of the distribution of geological formations, of structural features, of rivers, and of glaciers. The same criticism may be urged in connection with the account of the Alps in relation to man ; here also maps would have been of great assistance?one, for example, to indicate the positions and altitudes of the main passes, and another to elucidate the detailed account given of military operations at the end of the eighteenth century. E. B. Bailey.

' Provence and Languedoc.' ByC. Headlam. (London: Methuen. 1912. Pp. xi., 313. Maps and Illustrations. 10s. M.) The picture of the physical geography and characteristics of the region dealt with in this volume is clearer than in most books of the kind, so that we are given some opportunity to understand the association between the geography, the people, and the romantic history of these two ancient provinces. For the rest, the familiar features of the famous old

This content downloaded from 128.163.2.206 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:43:55 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 154 REVIEWS. towns of this region are appreciatively described. Travellers of musical inclina- tion will find interest in the collection of old local airs in an appendix. ' Austria: her People and their Homelands.' By J. Baker. (London : Lane. 1913. Pp. xiv., 310. Map and Illustrations. 21s. net.) The author comments rightly on the paucity of English works on Austria; he is less f ortunate when he adduces as an example of English ignorance certain views as to the extent of the Carpathians, and then describes them as sweeping " round southern and eastern Austria for the length of over eight hundred miles." He has travelled widely to collect material for this volume, which contains a mass of miscellaneous informa? tion under a fairly systematic arrangement; there are some excellent iUustrations, and it is unfortunate that that chosen as the frontispiece, and representing Cattaro, is quite inaccurate in regard to the position of that town. 'Langholm as it was.' By J. and B. Hyslop. (Sunderland: Hills, etc. 1912. Pp. xv., 922. Maps and Illustrations. 7s. 6d. net.) This is a local history of Langholm and Eskdale, beginning from the earliest times, and carried down to the recollections of a lifelong inhabitant but recently dead. It is interesting to trace the development of modern methods of transport in these more remote districts. The whole volume is a monument of patient research; it is also one of the heaviest of its size which has ever come into our hands. Some interesting maps are given, such as the reproduction of Bleau's map of 1662, still retaining miniatures, and, of course, showing relief in perspective. * A Wanderer in Florence.' By E. V. Lucas. (London : Methuen. 1912. Pp. xi., 391. Maps and Illustrations. 6s.) Mr. Lucas is well known as an author of what may be termed " wayside " books, so that, although the subject which he treats in this volume is thoroughly covered by previous writers, it may be taken for granted that what he has to write of it is worth reading. We are also provided with many photographs, of which those showing close details of art are specially good, while some of the coloured pictures are well above the average. ' The Cities of Lombardy.' By Edward Hutton. (London : Methuen. 1912, Pp. ix., 322. Maps and Illustrations. 6s.) Mr. Hutton, again, is a writer who is splendidly qualified to deal with Italy on "wayside" lines. The familiar histories of the great Lombard cities of the north Italian plain are here retold, and we find also some pleasing descriptions of the plain itself, given with an intimacy far beyond that of the ordinary traveller. The northern lakes also come in for treatment, and the whole is well illustrated.

ASIA.

The Indian Survey.

' Records of the Survey of India.' Vol. 1: 1909-10. Prepared under the direction of Colonel S. G. Burrard, c.s.i., e.e., f.e.s. Calcutta. 1912.

The Indian Survey Beports have assumed the above title with the new issue which marks the reorganization of the Department. The report is distinctly technical in character, and it is, at the same time, comprehensive, without includ- ing anyof those picturesque narratives which enlivened the pages of formerpub- lications. A good deal may be said in f avour of compressing a report of this class into the smallest compass consistent with full and fair explanation of its sub- ject matter, but there still remains something to be regretted in the loss of much interesting and useful geographical information which, unless it appears in the pages of this report, will certainly never appear at all.

This content downloaded from 128.163.2.206 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:43:55 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms