Die hochgebirge der Erde

Abstract

THIS is a most conscientious piece of bookmaking. The author appears to have read and made a summary of all the more important descriptions of the mountain masses of the globe. Beginning with a sketch of the physiography of mountains, their development and sculpturing, he passes on to describe them chain by chain. As he has himself travelled much, he can often speak from personal experience, while the numerous and generally excellent illustrations enable the reader to realise the different types of scenery. Reproductions of photographs are used in most cases, but occasionally, of course, copies of engravings, variable in quality, were alone available. Some, both of the one and the other, have done duty before, and a few perhaps may be more attractive to the general than to the scientific public. Pictures, for instance, of climbers in a mist seem more appropriate to a book of travels, and some of those representing mountain plants or animals are hardly such as to enhance the value of the book. Attractive also as are all Mr. E. T. Compton's sketches, we cannot but feel that in a treatise of this kind reproductions of photographs would have been better, for accurate delineation is sometimes sacrificed to artistic sensibility. This is especially true of the drawing of the Grivola on p. 128. in which we have not found it easy to make out the topography. These, however, are matters of opinion. The book contains a vast mass of information, brought down to the latest possible date, and collected with a thoroughness and accuracy truly German.

Die hochgebirge der Erde.

Von Robert von Lendenfeld. Mit titelbild in Farbendruck 148 Abbildungen und 15 Karten. Pp. xiv + 532. (Freiburg im Breisgau: Herdersche Verlagshandlung, 1899.)