Acadiensis/Volume 2/Number 3/Book Notices

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Book Notices

Since the issue of the April number, another of Mr. G. Waldo Browne's very interesting books for boys has been received. It is entitled "The Woodranger," and is one of a series of five volumes named "Woodranger Tales." Although each book is complete in itself, the same characters have been continued throughout the series. Like the "Pathfinder Tales" of J. Fenimore Cooper, this series combines historical information relating to early pioneer days in America with interesting adventures in the backwoods.

The work is dedicated by Mr. Browne to his son Norman Stanley Browne. It is illustrated by L. J. Bridgman, and published by L. C. Page Co., of Boston, from whom it may be obtained. Pp. 312. Price $1.00. Cloth, boards.

"Pensées Poètiques," by Miss Lydia A. Edwards. A booklet containing twenty-three pages of short poems upon various subjects. The work is without title page or index, and the printer's name does not appear upon it. From the personal nature of many of the verses and the style of make-up, it would appear that the work was issued for private circulation only.

"The Physiography of Acadia," by Prof. Reginald A. Daly, printed for the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, Geological Series, Vol. V., No. 3. 31 pps. with 11 plates. Prof. Daly concludes his work in the following summary:

"The attempt has been made in the foregoing sketch to show first, that Acadian land forms may be described in terms of two topographical facets, each a nearly perfect plain of denundation, interrupted by incised valleys and surmounted by residual hills; secondly, that there is evidence to show that the denundation was essentially subaerial and referable to two chief cycles of geographic development. This evidence, though not so complete, is of the same quality as that used in the best extant treatments of similar facets in more southerly portions of the Appalachian system. Finally, the following table will summarize the very striking parallel which can be drawn between the physiographic features of Acadia and New England. The similiarity between the two provinces is being expressed in terms of a theory of development, but the homologies between the greater facets and the details of relief exist independently of theory. Extending the comparison to the central and southern Appalachians would prove this standpoint of physiographic history, and still further establish the organic unity of the whole system from Georgia to the Gulf of St. Lawrence."

​In the appendix is given a bibliography of works bearing upon the subject. The plates are well printed on extra heavy paper, and are engraved by the Heliotype Printing Co., of Boston.

"The Acadian Exile and Sea Shell Essays," by Jeremiah S. Clark, of Bay View, P. E. I. The booklet contains sixty pages of well written verse, and is to be had of Archibald Irwin, publisher, Charlottetown, P. E. I., price 25 cents. Mr. Clark has already been introduced to the readers of Acadiensis, his poem "Glooscap" having appeared in our last issue. He is a young man of much promise, and it is to be hoped that the present work may soon be followed by others equally valuable. Numerous illustrations are scattered through the work. Preceding the main portion of the work, the writer, in an aside, reveals somewhat his hopes and aspirations, as well as his admiration for the poet Longfellow, and concludes as follows:

"A thousand times has the sun set behind the distant hills at the bend of the valley, while the writer inhaled the evening air fresh from the meadows of Cornwallis and Grand Pré; and, often alone, he has hurried over the upland towards the Gaspereau's mouth, or watched the ebb of the receding tide from a suspicious mound in some forgotten hollow, until he knows the country, hill and dale; and here he would simply remark what he has often felt, as his eyes measured the far receding distances: that if the great American poet had ever visited the scene of the exile, certainly he would not have been surprised with the height or nearness of the neighboring mountains, on whose lofty pinnacles 'sea-fogs pitched their tents but ne'er for a moment descended into the happy valley.' Dear spirit of Longfellow if such familiarity of address be not considered sacrilege

"A school boy wandering through the wood To pluck the primrose gay,Starts, thy curious voice to hear, And imitates thy lay."

"A Monograph of the Evolution of the Boundaries of the Province of New Brunswick," by William F. Ganong, M. A., Ph. D., being No. 5 of Contributions to the History of New Brunswick. 450 pp., from the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, Second Series, 1901–1902, Volume VII, Section 11.

The object of the work is to attempt to explain the precise factors which have determined for each New Brunswick boundary line its genesis, its persistence, its position, its direction and its length. The work is copiously illustrated with reproductions of maps any of which might be of value to the student in casting additional light upon the various questions which have arisen regarding New Brunswick boundaries. Concerning this interesting subject, Prof. Ganong remarks that

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"Everyone versed in the history of this Province will readily recall that some of these boundaries have been subjects of serious international contentions, have exhausted the powers of the highest diplomacy, and have brought great nations within sight of war. A few are old, and interwoven with the earlier parts of our history, while others have had experience sufficiently remarkable or curious. Altogether, it is unlikely that any other country of equal size has had its boundaries so often or conspicuously in contention, so fully discussed by many and weighty commissions, so closely interlocked with its general history, or determined by so many distinct considerations as has the Province of New Brunswick."

"Notes on the Natural History and Physiography of New Brunswick," by W. F. Ganong, reprinted from the Bulletin of the Natural History Society, No. XX, 1901. 48 pages. Paper. Barnes & Co., printers, St. John, N. B.

The table of contents, which is as follows, gives a concise idea of the interesting nature of the work:

  1. On Forestry Literature Important for New Brunswick.
  2. On the Physiographic History of the Tobique River.
  3. Great Forest Fires in New Brunswick.
  4. Measurements of Magnetic Dip in New Brunswick.
  5. The Morphology of New Brunswick Water-falls.
  6. The Origin of the New Brunswick Peneplains.
  7. The Physiographic History of the Miramichi River.
  8. On a Lunar Rainbow seen on Trowsers Lake.
  9. On an Unusual Frost Effect of 1901 on the Tobique.
  10. On a Hypsometric Section across Central New Brunswick
  11. On the Physiographic History of the little Southwest Miramichi River.
  12. On the Physiography of the Tuadook (Little Southwest Miramichi) Lake Region.
  13. On the Physiography of the Milnagek (Island) Lake Basin.

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