334 SOME NEW BOOKS [april 1899 



PAGE AND LAPWORTH. 



Intermediate Text-Book of Geology. By Charles Lapworth, F.R.S., 

 Professor of Geology, Mason University College, Birmingham. 

 Founded on the Introductory Text-Book of Geology by the late 

 David Page, LL.D. 8vo, pp. xvi. + 414, with 174 figures. Edin- 

 burgh and London : William Blackwood and Sons, 1899. Price 5s. 



Since the publication of the first edition of Page's " Introductory Text- 

 book " in 1854, the twelve editions through which it has run have faithfully 

 recorded the evolution of modern geology. The present excellent compendium 

 of what is known on the subject may be viewed as the thirteenth edition, 

 though so much expanded as justly to deserve Prof. Lapworth's new title. 

 Part I. treating of Dynamical Geology, though brief, gives a fair summary of 

 the external and internal agencies at work modifying the surface of the globe, 

 special attention being directed to slow secular movements of the crust. In 

 Part II. Petrological Geology, following upon a short chapter on aqueous rocks, 

 a clear account is given of the igneous rocks, including a convenient working 

 classification, while the chapters on the metamorphic rocks are particularly 

 good, especially the resume of the recent opinions on the various modes of 

 formation of foliated rocks. In Part III. Historical Geology, after a general 

 classification of the stratified rocks and a short chapter on palaeontology giving 

 a modern classification of such animals and plants as are likely to occur in a 

 fossil state, follows an account of each of the great formations as developed in 

 the British Islands — their foreign equivalents being also indicated — and good 

 figures of their characteristic fossils are given. As might be expected from 

 Prof. Lapworth's experience among the older Palaeozoic rocks, the chapters on 

 these formations are particularly strong, and the figures of the zonal forms of 

 Cambrian trilobites and more especially of the graptolites of his Ordovician 

 and Silurian systems form an especially valuable and new feature of the work. 

 Another valuable new feature is the introduction of a series of geological maps 

 of the British Isles, by means of which the student is made to realise how our 

 country has been gradually built up around the axis of ancient crystalline rocks, 

 the remains of which are now exposed in the North-West Highlands of Scotland 

 and Ireland and a few small scattered inliers which peer through the newer 

 formations of England and Wales. 



The resume given at the end of each chapter cannot fail to be of service to 

 teachers. Altogether the book is excellent, and thoroughly recommends itself. 



B. N. P. 



STILL THEY COME. 



A Text-Book of Botany. By J. M. Lowson, M.A. 8vo, pp. viii. + 394, 

 with 247 figures. London : W. B. Clive and Co., 1898. Price 6s. 6d. 



This is a preparatory book for London University Intermediate and 

 Preliminary Scientific Examinations. It is well illustrated, but it has not 

 acknowledged diagrams taken from other sources. The subject-matter, as far 

 as space admits, is up to date, but too much condensed for a beginner to follow 

 intelligently. The opening chapters are presented as summaries of facts before 

 the student has become acquainted with individual plants, hence they are of 

 little educational value. Chapter IX., on the Structure of the Flower, or 

 Chapter VII., on Nutrition and Growth, slightly modified, would have made a 

 better beginning. In the hands of a private student the book may hinder 

 rather than help ; under the guidance of a judicious teacher the pupil may use 

 the book with advantage. R. T. 



