Dunbar, M.J.

English

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REVIEWS 201 is to give the average  reader  a  general introduction to the Arctic and to help him in understanding its peculiarities. In eight  chapters the author treats  the arctic  lands  and  seas  and  describes the history of their exploration, the role  of men in the north and the political  and economic importance of the Arctic  and even the subarctic  regions.  Each of these topics in its general outline is covered sufficiently  to  meet the reader’s  require- ments.  The  German  speaking  reader should be grateful for this work as it fills  a gap in recent  German litera- ture. But unfortunately its purpose is not completely fulfilled. Although the general text is satisfactory, the author is  sometimes  careless in his  details.  Only a  few  examples  will be given  here: Ice  islands (p. 15) do  not  originate  in the calving of glaciers, they are con- sidered to be drifting parts of the ice shelf. Fort Ross (p. 39) is situated on Somerset  Island and thus cannot be  the northernmost  point of the American mainland. The Commander Islands (p. 74) lie  in the Bering  Sea,  not the Okhotsk  Sea.  The  nickel  mine at Rankin Inlet  (p. 134) is  no  longer in operation; it was  closed  down in 1962. The  Hamil- ton  (Churchill)  Falls  (p. 138) are to be found in the Forest zone of Labrador, not in the Barren Grounds.  More atten- tion should be paid to the drawing of a  few of the maps.  On  p. 7 the  tree line is  inaccurate in its position  in the Siberian Far East,  Western  Alaska  and the west  side of Hudson  Bay.  The  author should also have mentioned that only the distribution of sporadic permafrost is  shown.  On  p. 30, the West Greenland Current needs the colour of a warm current. And  finally, the picture  on  p. 65 obviously shows an ice chisel, hardly a fish spear. A short bibliography for further reading would be useful. Interspersed  throughout the text is  a great number of brilliant, often large sized  photographs,  excellently  repro- duced, illustrating nearly every topic and  covering  many  arctic  areas. In these pictures lies the strength of the book: they are a real delight. ERHARD TREUDE EUROPE:  A  NATURAL  HISTORY. By K A I  CURRY-LINDAHL.  New York: Random House. 1964.9% x 12% inches. 299 pages, 264 photographs - 108 in colour. 2nd in series: “The Continents we  live  on”. $20.00 (U.S.A.) $18.95 (Canada). The  excellence of this  book  marks it as very  moderately  priced. It comprises a truly outstanding  collection of  photo- graphs, a scattering of useful and un- usual maps, and a text which is often engrossing  and at all  times,  or SO it ap- pears  to  your  reviewer,  factually  sound. This achievement is the result of the collaboration of an able author (the Director of Natural History at the Nordiska  Museum in Stockholm),  a  for- midable  list of photographic  virtuosi and,  according  to the preface,  a  number of biological experts whose  advice  and criticisms  have  been  sought in the writ- ing of it. Some of the pictures are breath- taking - Scandinavian  upland  scenery, an oak forest in England, a German spruce forest, beechwoods in Denmark -and all of them are good. But this is by no means just another coffee-table picture-book. It confronts the reader with the life of a continent, its beauty and its fascination, and the effects of man  upon  it.  The  unstated burden of it is that this great wealth will continue to  exist so long as man  leaves it alone, but that  the process of erosion  and  ex- tinction has begun  long  ago.  One  chap- ter, on the Mediterranean  lands, is called  “Eden  in  a  ruined  landscape”, and  describes  with  power the effects of human  civilization:  “During the past three thousand  years the soils  have  been dissipated,  and  although the climate  has hardly  changed, its effects are no  longer what  they  were  when the land was  rich in forest.  Today the Mediterranean countries are living on a rapidly di- minishing  capital,  with  fertile  soils  be- ing  washed  into the sea  or  blown  away; unless  a  radical  change  occurs  soon,  all the land  is doomed to exhaustion.”  The Dust  Bowl, the Red  River and the Mis- sissippi are not  alone; and one  may wonder indeed where Hannibal found his  elephants. 202 REVIEWS The European lynx is shown in its last  ronghold  in the Carpathians. Closer to our own Arctic home, “the walrus . . . has been  almost  exterminated around Spitsbergen. It may still be found at Novaya  Zemlya, but is  other- wise rare in Europe”. The polar bear, on the other  hand,  is  reported as doing fairly well in the European Arctic- but the slaughter at present going on off the Alaskan  coast  will  no  doubt  soon have its effects  upon the whole  circum- polar  distribution.  “The wolf . . . is  now ruthlessly hunted from  helicopters and snow  scooters.  Only  about  wenty  to forty of these animals remain in Swe- den.”  This  means  extinction.  There are happier  moments: the bison,  finally  ex- tinguished in the wild state in 1921 in Poland and in 1925 in the Caucasus,  has been  reintroduced  successfully  to  its natural habitat  from an extremely  ten- uous thread of bison DNA remaining in zoological  gardens.  The  numbers are still small, but they are growing. As the landscape goes, so goes the fauna. Pollution of fresh water is an- other  specialty of man.  To quote  again: LLThe brown trout was  for  a  time  widely distributed in Europe but increasing water  pollution  has  restricted its range. It now  occurs  chiefly in streams in such mountainous  country as Bohemia, Czechoslovakia.” The author does not mention that the brown trout is still abundant in Scotland and in Ireland, although threatened there too, but the message  is  nevertheless  well  taken. Man is the most  corrosive  force in nature. The author does  not talk down to his audience.  The  text  is  straightforward and  without  nonsense, and although  we are brought face to face with the un- palatable  facts of our  own  follies,  we are also inspired by the unusual and the beautiful.  Place-names  have  often  been collected in euphonic anthologies, but what about plants and animals? Here is  talk of suslik, saiga, crake, moufflin, ibex,  hellebore;  amphipod,  otterel, garganey and natterjack. We ought, I suppose, to stick to our last in this journal and consider the North.  The  final three chapters are en- titled:  “the great taiga”;  “the  frozen tundra”; “polar bears and arctic seas”. Here  we  meet  landscape at its best, per- haps  because it is  newest,  and northern biogeography,  because of its  simplicity, is  all the more  intriguing.  “Each  night, over  head . . . birds  spread  out  over the land.  Then,  even the wings of ducks seem to sing, the widgeon whistle; the teal  sound  like  flutes; the wings of the goldeneyes  make  a  musical  noise.”  Odd- ly enough, in these last three chapters the quality of the photographs  falls off a  little,  with  a  few  exceptions.  The  Arc- tic  fjords  provide some of the finest scenery in the world, but they do not appear  here. Is there a  shortage of Eu- ropean  Arctic  photographers?  They have  done  well  in  Greenland. The book as a  whole,  however, fully makes up for  this  partisan  criticism. It is  beautiful,  thoughtful,  provoking.  Buy it. M. J. DUNBAR TRAITE DE GLACIOLOGIE. TOME I. GLACE - NEIGE - HYDROLOGIE NIVALE. By LOUIS LLIBOUTRY. Paris: Masson & Cie. 1964. 10 x 7% inches, vi + 428 pages, 36 plates,  numerous  tables and  diagrams. 140 F.f. This is the first of two volumes of a monumental text on  glaciology. In this volume the emphasis is more on the physical side for which the author has special  qualifications.  Each  chapter  con- tains an extensive bibliography; it is, however, awkward that full references are lacking for a considerable number of the publications  discussed  in the text. An  introduction  defines  and  delimitates glaciology  as  a  special  branch of science and  gives  a  brief  history of the subject. The latter is undoubtedly the weakest part of the book as it contains a con- siderable  number of errors. Chapter I deals with the physics of pure ice, its molecular and crystalline structure, its  optical  and  electrical  prop- erties and particularly the changes  be- tween the solid and fluid states. The 

Europe: A Natural History, by Kai Curry-Lindahl

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Europe: A Natural History, by Kai Curry-Lindahl

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