Book Reviews 987

Ina'oduction /~ la G6ologie Marine et Littorale. FRANCOIS OTTMANN. I~diteurs MASSON et O e ,

Paris 1965. 259 pp., 124 figures. (In French).

THE author states that his hook was written as a simple introductory text of marine geology to
fill the needs of beginning students and technicians of France. It is a derivative of a previous book
written in Spanish for coastal engineers, oceanographers, hydrographers, geophysicists, and
biologists. About three-quarters of the book is concerned with coastal processes (marine erosion,
transportation, and deposition), classification of coasts, and discussions of rocky coasts, sandy
coasts, dunes, estuaries, and deltas. The remainder is restricted to the characteristics of continental
shelves and submarine canyons, and discussion of their origins.
Examples drawn from the author's experience in France, Italy, and Brazil are supplemented
by others elsewhere in the world taken mostly from secondary sources (chiefly Shepard's Submarine
Geology and Kuenen's Marine Geology). About half of the 160 references are from French sources
and half are older than 1949. Illustrations are good--mostly from earlier publications, and the
type and language are clear and simple. The book is recommended to French-reading students
who desire an introduction to coastal problems.
K~, O. EMERY

Ocbanographie biologique et biologie marine. Tome second. La vie p~lagique. By J. -M. Pl~R~S
and L. DEVEZE. " E u c l i d e " Introduction aux l~tudes scientifiques. Presses Universitalres de
France, 108 Boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris, 1964. 514 pp. Francs 40.
THE first volume of this work appeared in 1961 and dealt with the benthos; the second volume,
that under review, deals with the pelagic life. This will appeal most to those who best assimilate
facts and ideas as words rather than as pictures or numbers. Much the same field has been covered
in Raymont's " P l a n k t o n and productivity in the o c e a n s " using eight times as many text fgures,
many more, much fuller tables and considerable mathematical formulation where this is possible
and desirable. The reviewer finds it much easier to learn from this sort of book but others with a
different mental approach would find the quite exceptionally clear and logical verbal presentation
of the French book the more attractive. It is nowhere dull and never superficial.
Typical is the seven-page section on viscosity of sea water for which many biologists will feel
grateful. F r o m it eddy-viscosity, a difficult concept, may be completely understood, though only
two simple equations are introduced. About one quarter of the book describes the physical and
chemical environment. Much stress is given to the borderlands where several scientific disciplines
meet and indeed in every way the book is a stimulating synthesis of knowledge.
L. H. N. COOPER