Eos,Vol. 81, No. 43, October 24,2000

B O O K R E V I E W

Melting the Earth:The History of Ideas on Volcanic Eruptions PAGE 501

HARALDUR SIGURDSSON Oxford University Press, New York, ix + 260

pp., ISBN 0-19-510-665-2,1999, $30.

The last words in the subtitle of this excellent book are somewhat misleading, as this is a history of concepts of magma generation rather than eruption. Haraldur Sigurdsson traces the evolution of ideas on the generation of heat within the Earth, from the ancient view that air in subterranean voids was compressed by ocean waves and tides, through combustion of fossil fuels, remnant heat from a primeval hot Earth, and exothermic reactions, to radioactive decay

In addition to sources of heat, its mechanism of transfer, the process of melting, the identity of the material being melted, and the depths at which magmas were generated were subjects of early inquiry by D'Arezzo,Michell,and Spal-lanzani, among others. Most 19th century geolo­gists, however, followed Charles Lyell in his reluctance to speculate on causes.This left the

ABOUT A G U

Albarede to Lead JGR-Solid Earth

PAGE 499

The Solid Earth section of the Journal of Geophysical Research (JGR) has expanded its horizon with the recent appointment of Francis Albarede as Editor. Albarede, professor at the Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon in France, began handling manuscripts for review on October 1,2000, and will assume full responsi­bility on January 1,2001.

"Becoming a JGR Editor is as formidable a challenge as it is a special honor. It is like being given the keys to the safe. JGR-Red is clearly the flagship journal of both AGU and the deep Earth sciences," Albarede said.

Among his many goals as Editor, Albarede will focus on increasing the journal's interna­tional audience.

"I am more of a world citizen and am really worried about the future of the non-English speaking scientists in Europe. I want to see the journal bring more areas of interest together.The presence of Europeans is not big enough. I want to teach the process to younger people," he said.

field to William Hopkins, Gustav Bischof,and others whose names are not well known to 21st century penologists.The large cast of players in this book also includes the ever-popular Des-marest, Hamilton, Holmes, Hutton, and Scrope, and an occasional scoundrel.The last chapter, on the source of magmas, makes no mention of contributions from trace element and isotope geochemistry and none concerning high-pres­sure minerals that indicate localized deep bur­ial of continental crust and ascent of material from the lower mantle.

Steven Weinberg has commented that the history and philosophy of science are as inter­esting to most scientists as ornithology is to birds. In his preface, Sigurdsson expresses a dissenting opinion:"The scientist.. .should also be responsible for linking the present with the past and maintaining a record of the history of knowledge in that field."

Sigurdsson will convince most readers that a study of history is pertinent, even essential, to understanding science. However, at the end he seems to question his own position:"One is

"My most critical aspect is to keep relations between U.S. and Europe strong," he added. "I want to reach out to make sure things go well. AGU is opening up more and more every day to the scientific community outside of the North American continent and this trend is very positive."

Albarede is optimistic about the future of cyberspace and its relation to the journal. Although he finds print easier to peruse, he hopes to extend the journal's use of AGU's Web site in the near future.

"Moving the complete editorial handling of the manuscripts into the electronic age is simply a matter of survival with respect to the growing pressure on publication media, but also with respect to the breadth of distribution, to costs, and to publication expeditiousness," he told Eos. Also, he plans to concern himself with other editorial issues such as manuscript turnover, the length of papers, and page charges.

Albarede is very mindful of the challenge of working with a U.S.-based publication office and residing in Europe. However, with today's technology, he has a positive outlook on his leading role. "I think that with easy access to e-mail and file compression, worldwide com­munication is not as difficult or expensive compared to local interaction," he noted.

reminded of the chilling words of Sir William Osier:'In science the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to whom the idea first came.' Is it more important in science to convince than to discover?" Still, it is chastening to learn that the concept of mantle convection was available in a presti­gious journal more than a century before data forced its general acceptance.

All this is documented in historians' format by superscript numbers keyed to end-of-book notes arranged by chapter, and there is no free standing bibliography (regrettable for a work of such thorough scholarship).The illustrations, more than half from Sigurdsson's own collec­tion, are entertaining and instructive (compare Kircher's 1665 cross section of the Earth on page 89 with present-day diagrams of geochem­ical reservoirs in the mantle).

There are some editorial lapses, largely in the spelling of names, and Benjamin Franklin is described as "American ambassador to the court of King Louis XIV" in 1783.This recalls the Monty Python line "When you're King of France .. .you've got better things to do than go around all day remembering your bloody num­ber" These are obviously minor complaints, and the book is a bargain to be read and enjoyed by penologists and volcanologists.

Reviewer

Daniel S. Barker Department of Geological Sciences The University of Texas, Austin,Tex., USA

The new editor is clear about his mission to improve and maintain the quality of JGR-Solid Earth.

"AGU and its journals efficiently contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of our planet, and more generally to the well-being of our society and to the education of the coming generations. Upon receiving the leadership of one of its foremost publications, I will strive to maintain these high standards," Albarede said.

A geochemist, Albarede conducts research into the evolution of the mantle-crust system and the origin of magmas. He also explores other areas, ranging from heat and mass trans­port to ancient oceanic environments.