Page:Laws of Hammurabi, King of Babylonia.djvu/40

 Scientific Works BY PROFESSOR GEORGE FREDERICK WRIGHT. D. D., LL. D., F. G. S. A., Professor of tke HsLrmony of Science aivd Revelation in Oberlin College. THE ICE AGE IN NORTH AMERICA, and its Bearings Upon the Antiquity of Man. With an Appendix on "The Probable Cause of Glaciation." By Warren Upham, F. G. S. A., Assistant on the Geological Sur- veys of New Hampshire, Minnesota and the United States. Fourth and Enlarged Edition, With 150 Maps and Illustrations. 8vo, 645 pages and Index, Cloth, ^5, This Is without doubt one of the most important contributions made of late yeai-s to the literature of post-tertiary geology. — The Athenxum [Ijondon]. The most exhaustlre study yet made of the glacial period In North America. — Chicago Times, The volume is one of remarkable interest, and It may be said to be the first in which the subject has been exhaustively treated.— -Boston Tmnscrifpi. Dr. Wright's book is the most valuable contribution that has been made in America to the study of gla- ciation. — Sunday News [Charleston, S. C.]. The array of facts as detailed in Professor Wright's work, seem to the uninitiated like the discoveries of the diviner's loi.— Army and Navy Journal. The arrangement and method of the work are ad- mirable. The style is clear and interesting, the text is beautifully Illustrated by many cuts and maps, all well selected, and a large number of them new and made expressly for this wovTi.— Christian Vnion. Professor Wright has very clearly and strongly grasped his subject and worked out its details with an infinite amount of patience and painstaking. His book is -the most important contribution to, American geology which has been made by any American since the death of Agasslz.— Boston Herald. Though his subject is a very deep one, his style is so very unaffected and perspicuous that even the un- scientific reader can pursue It with intelligence and profit. In reading such a book we are led almost to wonder that so much that is scientific can be put in language so comparatively simple.— JVew York Observer. It is the result of years of indoor study and of out- door personal investigation, and although it is inde- pendent in reasoning and frank in expressions of opinion, it is notably modest, cautious lest unwar- rantable conclusions be suggested, and candid in the statement of the views of others. It illustrates con- spicuously the spirit and method of the true scien- tist. — The Congregationaliet. Professor Wright's work is great enough to be called monumental. There is not a page that is not Instructive and suggestive. It is sure to make a rep- utation abroad as well as at home for its distin- guished author, as one of the most active and intelli- gent of the living students of natural science and the special department of glacial action. — Eoening Bulletin [Philadelphia]. Not a novel has in It any pages of more thrilling interest than can be found in this book by Professor Wright. There is nothing pedantic In the narrative, and the most serious themes and startling discoveries are treated with such charming naturalness and sim- plicity that boys and girls, as well as their seniors, will be attracted to the story and find It diflicult to lay it aside.— JbuTOoZ of Comvurce [New York]. This comprehensive volume will undoubtedly take its place as the standard work for a long time on this important subject. The author writes with more skill than most geologists, while he wastes no space on fine paragraphs. So much has been discovered of late that a full treatise needed to be produced, and it is matter for congratulation that the work has been done so fairly, so skillfully and so attractively.- I^'ferorj/ Worm. Dr. Wright is a professor of theology at Oberlin, as well as a geologist, and it is significant of his wide de. votlon to either profession that in a volume whose ul- timate result is to establish an antiquity for man far beyond that usually supposed to be given in the Scrip- tures, he has refrained from making any illusions what- ever to its theological bearings, beyond the brief pref- atory remark that he sees "No reason why it should se- riously disturb the religious faith, of any believer in the inspiration of the Bible." He shows a practical ap- plication of his belief "that it is incumbent upon us to welcome the truth from whatever source it may come," in the thoroughness with which he gives all the observed facts that bear upon a given phenome- non before his conclusions, as well as in his scrupu- lousness In acknowledging the aid he has received from fellow-workers, whether derived from their writings or from personal communications. In both these respects he presents an example worthy of im- itation by fellow scientists.— IVie Nation. The author has seen with Ms own eyes the most Important phenomena of the ice age on this continent from Maine to Alaska. In the work itself, e'.ementary description is combined with a broad, scientific and philosophic method without abandoning, for a mo- ment, the purely scientific character. Professor Wright has contrived to give the whole a philosophi- cal direction, which lends interest and Inspiration to it, and which in the chapters on Man and the Glacial Period rises to something like dramatic Intehsity.— The Independent. A work worthy of the importance and interest of his subject. It is not always, nor Indeed often, that a work of pure science can be made both instructive and attractive to readers not familiar vrith the prin- ciples of the science Involved. In this instance, how- ever, the subject naturally lends itself to what may be styled popular treatment; and the author has aided his explanations by a profusion of maps and pic- tures, the latter mostly photographic, which render his descriptions and consequent Inferences plain to aniy' readeir of ordinary Intelligence.— IKe Oriiic.