The Plate which accompanies this article, showing till over-riding and overthrusting in its readvance the gravels on which the yard of Harvard University is built, is of a temporary exposure. This was made in putting in a large apartment house at the north-west corner of Arlington Street and Massachusetts Avenue, North Cambridge. The camera was pointed north. Realizing its ususal character, I got my colleague, Prefessor M. S. Munro, who is a virtuoso with the camera, to take it, and have used it as a postcard to friends. One of them, my old teacher, William Morris Davis, said it was unexcelled, and urged its publication. That is the occasion of this article, for, when I came to think of it, to obtain such a photograph required an unusual combination of circumstances:—(1) The artificial excavation;(2) A strike that suspended work at the critical time (it is an ill wind that blows no one good);(3) Just such conditions of wind and drying out as to bring out the different beds in the sands. The coarser ones dry and crumble more rapidly, while the fine hold the dampness and stand out. We might add:—(4) A man living on the street (myself) to appreciate it, and(5) A friend who is an excellent photographer.
Li Mengyang, the North-South Divide, and Literati Learning in Ming China. By Chang Woei Ong . Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2016. 368 pp. $49.95, £39.95, €45.00 (cloth).
