Abstract
AT the present time we all acknowledge the value of the accepted classification of the relief-forms of the earth's surface in continents and islands, mountain chains, plateaus, plains, &c.; into ocean-basins, seas, lakes, and the like. But few of us ask ourselves the very natural questions, “What is the fundamental unit among all these morphological individuals, great and small? Is there any surface unit existent among them which, like the species of the biologist, once identified, will not only be found to group its individuals rank over rank into the genera, the families, the orders, and the kingdoms of the surface world; but the study of whose life-history and necessary interactions with its fellow-species will eventually afford us some clue to the relationships and the natural classification of the whole?”
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
The Face of the Earth. Nature 49, 614–617 (1894). https://doi.org/10.1038/049614b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/049614b0