102 



HARDWICKE'S S CI ENCE- GOSSIP. 



they have completed an arduous and often thankless 

 task. 



The little but well got-up " Handy-book of Rock 

 Names," just published by Mr. Hardwicke, Picca- 

 dilly, is by another Survey man, one who is well 

 known as an able writer and extensive observer, 

 Mr. G . H. Kinahau. Lithology has never had the 

 attention paid to it in this country it has received 

 in Germany, and the book before us supplies a want 

 long and extensively felt by students. We do not 

 know any British geologist better fitted for the 

 task than Mr. Kinahan, who has done his work as 

 if he knew the importance attached to it. Students 

 and advanced geologists alike cannot fail to derive 

 great advantage from the succinct manner with 

 which the author has arranged his matter. There 

 is a classified table of rocks, after which we have 

 them divided into two groups, called, respectively, 

 Ingenite (or igneous) and Derivate (or stratified), 

 Dana's termination of yte having been adhered to, 

 instead of the less correct but more common ite. 

 Everything the student requires to know concerning 

 rocks, their distribution, stratigraphical position, 

 mineralogical character, &c., may be readily found, 

 and thus much time be saved. We cord^'ally 

 recommend this cheap and convenient little work to 

 every student, and to science-teachers especially, 

 than whom no class of men require more available 

 knowledge. 



Wewishwecould speak words of equally undiluted 

 praise of the next book on our list, — " The Story of 

 the Earth and Man," by Principal Dawson (London : 

 Hodder & Stoughton). It is attractively got up, 

 and well written. The author is a well-known 

 geologist, whose field-work is largely appreciated 

 and widely known. Had it not been for his bitter 

 and often frantic hatred of anything approaching 

 "Darwinism," or the "Doctrine of Evolution," we 

 should have had nothing but a favourable notice to 

 give. And this we say, not because we are wedded 

 to these theories, but that we hold the true spirit 

 of science to be investigation, not vituperation. It 

 would be impossible for any young student to be 

 otherwise than ignorantly prejudiced against some 

 of the grandest speculations of our time, after reading 

 this volume ; and we more than surmise that the 

 author would feel gratified by such a result. But, 

 if either "Darwinism" or "Evolution" be true or 

 false, let them be proved so on scientific grounds, not 

 by wordy declamation or unconscionable praise. 

 Surely Prof. Dawson had temporarily forgotten his 

 usual scientific calmness when he wrote of what is 

 ncknowledged to be the grealest philosophical 

 system of our day as follows :— " This Evolutionist 

 doctrine is itself one of the strangest phenomena 

 of humanity ... a system destitute of any shadow 

 of proof, and supported merely by vague analogies 

 and figures of speech. ... It might be taken as an 

 indication that the human mind has fallen into a 



state of senility, and, in its dotage, mistakes for 

 science the imaginations which were the dreams of 

 its youth." And in previously referring to the 

 philosophy, he alludes to it (p. 249) as "the advent 

 of those poisoned streams and mephitic vapours 

 which threaten intellectual obscuration." The book 

 bristles with absurd and unscientific declamations 

 of this kind. But when the author accuses the 

 systems of Darwin and Spencer as having retarded 

 the progress of natural science, he states what is 

 extremely incorrect ; for all will concede that 

 there has been given to every department of natural 

 science, since the appearance of " The Origin of 

 Species," an impetus which has extended its con- 

 quests in a marvellous degree. We are sorry, for 

 the sake of Professor Dawson's reputation, that he 

 has disfigured a capital book by uncalled-for abuse 

 and rash assertions, and we conclude our notice by 

 recommending him carefully to study (what the 

 perusal of his book has convinced us he has not yet 

 attempted) Herbert Spencer's "Principles of 

 Biology." 



Our next notice is of a little volume, also on 

 geology, carried out in a philosophical spirit quite 

 the reverse of that we have been compelled so far 

 to condemn. It is a new edition of the " School 

 Manual of Geology," by the late Professor Jukes 

 (Edinburgh : A. & C. Black), and now edited by his 

 nephew, quite a young man, Mr. A. J. Jukes-Browne^. 

 Many will remember it when it quitted the hands of 

 the late Professor, and we cannot bestow higher 

 praise on this edition than by stating it has been 

 brought down to the present time, and includes the 

 most recent discoveries, not only without interfering 

 with its original good character, but improving 

 upon it. What Mr. Jukes-Browne has added is 

 well done, and strictly in the spirit and temper of 

 the lamented author. 



A charming little volume or " Monograph," as it 

 deserves to be called, is that entitled " Harvesting 

 Ants and Trap-door Spiders," by J. T. Moggridge 

 (London: L. Reeve & Co.). It is illustrated by 

 full-page chromoliths that are beautifully drawn and 

 coloured, and is got up in altogether a very attrac- 

 tive style. Mr. Moggridge here delineates the 

 habits, characters, &c. of an extremely interesting 

 class of animals, and traces the instincts of these 

 remarkable' groups. The reader will find many long- 

 continued assertions relative to the storing habits 

 of ants, &c., here disposed of for ever ; so that lazy 

 people need no longer be troubled by having the 

 ant perpetually set before them as a model of in- 

 dustry. We w'elcome this book as a conscientious 

 contribution to the natural history of two almost 

 unknown groups of animals, well written, and 

 whose facts have been carefully and even labori- 

 ously described. The author amply deserves the 

 credit which his little volume has already obtained. 

 '•■ The History of Polperro " (Simpkins & Mar- 



