ABSTRACT
Landscape evolution results from a complicated series of physical processes which are, or at least should be, capable of scientific evaluation. Yet whereas most sciences originally adopted calculation and measurement as a natural form of discipline, their rigid application does not appear to have been generally introduced into geomorphology until comparatively modern times. The reasons for the belated growth of scientific facts on physical processes was partly due to distractions; first, the vertical superimposition of strata proved of more interest to geologists; and second, the horizontal distribution of rocks and of landscapes also attracted much attention. This is almost as true today as of the early nineteenth century.
