The Scientific Study of Scenery. By John E. Marr, F.R.S.
With Illustrations and Diagrams. (Methuen and Co. 6s.)—So far as this reviewer may be taken as a fair example of the general reader whom Mr. Marr professedly desires to interest this book is calculated to disappoint. The truth is that an introductory treatise on geomorphology, which is the true description of this volume, has no more to do with the study of scenery than a manual of anatomy has to do with physiognomy. We are not prepared to criticise it as a scientific work; but from the general reader's point of view we should say that the facts which it conveys relating to the influences of denudation, accumulation, and so forth could have been made plain to an intelligent reader in about a tenth of the compass. For students it may be all very well, but we object on principle to a misleading title. The word " scenery " involves a reference to artistic appreciation, and Mr. Marr does nothing to promote that. "The Scientific Study of the Earth's Features" would have suggested the real purpose of the work.
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