Scheme defines some convenience functions for you. One of them is cadr, defined by
(define (cadr L) (car (cdr L)))That is, the cadr (pronounced "cadder") of L is the second member of list L.
Here is a definition of descending.
(define (descending L) (cond ((null? L) #t) ((null? (cdr L)) #t) ((> (car L) (cadr L)) (descending (cdr L))) (else #f) ) )