HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



129 



offensive, and are unpleasant customers to cope 

 with ; in the present instance, shouts in the Welsh 

 language from a man and some boys working at 

 some distance off, caused me to hurry rather 

 -quickly out of a field in which a number were 

 grazing, as soon as the said shouters, changing their 

 tongue for my own, warned me that a very savage 

 bull was among them. 



Darkness now finally setting in, I was glad to find 

 myself at last on a mountain road, which I learned 

 from my map came from Llyn Eigiau above, and led 

 to the village of Tal-y-bont below. After a very steep 

 descent upon it down zig-zags for about two miles, 

 I came upon the high road within the village above 

 named, a place sacred to artists. Inquiring for the 

 -village inn, I speedily made myself comfortable 

 within side, and called for a plentiful supply of tea, 

 «ggs, and bacon, it being then half-past seven o'clock, 

 a few sandwiches having been my only food for 

 the last twelve hours. After partaking of a very 

 good meal, I set off along the road for Tal-y-cafn 

 Ferry, a distance of three miles, where I purposed 

 •crossing the river Conway, and catching the last train 

 for Llandudno Junction. It was a lovely moonlight 

 night, without a breath of wind stirring, and I soon 

 got over the ground to the Ferry, passing en route 

 Caerhun, nestled in the trees to the right. In the 

 park belonging to this house the various Roman 

 remains that have been identified with the military 

 •station of Conovium have been found, including a 

 villa, baths, sundry pottery, vases, &c, and a very 

 fine circular shield. Arriving at the Ferry, which is 

 the old Roman one, whence starts the road running 

 across the mountains to Aber, which I have described 

 above, I summoned old Mr. Roberts from the little 

 inn, a most picturesque and ancient building, the 

 front of which is covered with ivy, looking centuries 

 ■eld. He speedily rowed me over " old Conway's 

 foaming flood," which looked grand by moonlight, 

 and I was just in time for the last train from Tal-y- 

 -cafh to Llandudno Junction. From the latter place 

 I walked over the suspension-bridge, and beneath 

 the shadow of the grand old castle, into Conway, 

 reaching home about ten o'clock, after having much 

 •enjoyed my ramble, in which, in the space of fourteen 

 hours, I had seen so much of interest, while walking 

 about twenty-four miles, mostly over rough moun- 

 tainous country, from the level of the sea up to an 

 altitude of 2500 feet. I naturally slept well that 

 night, feeling my rest well-earned, and looking back 

 with much pleasure to a day's exploration, of what I 

 consider to be one of the most interesting tracts of 

 ■country in North Wales. 



Podophyllum.— In answer to Mr. Sang's query 

 .as to the source of the podophyllin of medicinal use, 

 I beg to say that it is obtained from the dried rhizome 

 ■of Podophyllum peltatum. — A. IV. Griffin, Bath. 



NOTES ON NEW BOOKS. 



jDHYSICAL History of the British Isles, by 

 1 Edward Hull, M.A., LL.D., &c. (London: 

 Edward Stanford.) This is an invaluable volume to 

 students of British geology. It sets forth in a plain but 

 attractive style, how the geological frame-work of the 

 British Islands has been put together, and how our 

 country has gradually assumed all its well-known 

 scenic and physical features. This method of dealing 

 with physical geology is graphically enforced by 

 twenty-seven coloured maps, which show the areas 

 submerged during each geological period, the distri- 

 bution of the exposed strata, and their probably con- 

 cealed extension underground. The design is quite 

 original, and admirably carried out. Professor Hull 

 does not accept Geikie's doctrine that the continental 

 areas and deep sea basins have more or less relatively 

 held their present sites from the beginning of geologi- 

 cal time. On the contrary, he contends that the area 

 of the present North Atlantic Ocean must have been 

 occupied by a continent certainly up to the close of 

 the Silurian period, and that the sediments forming 

 the older formations were derived from its atmosphe- 

 rical wear and tear. The North Atlantic was not 

 commenced as an ocean until towards the end of the 

 Silurian period, and Professor Hull gives abundant 

 reason for believing that it was largely in the condi- 

 tion of a land surface up to the Oolitic period. All 

 our geological readers are acquainted with Professor 

 Hull's arguments respecting the thickening of the 

 Carboniferous, Triassic, and other strata^ in certain 

 directions. He argues that the thickening of strata 

 must necessarily be in the direction whence the sedi- 

 ments were obtained, and he shows that this points 

 to a North Atlantic land surface. The volume is 

 handsomely got up, and its matter cannot fail to add 

 to Professor Hull's well-earned reputation. 



Sketches of Bird Life, by James Edmond Harting. 

 (London : W. H. Allen & Co.) This attractive 

 volume is written by a well-known and enthusiastic 

 ornithologist, and every page is redolent of open-air 

 life and observation. The commoner and character- 

 istic birds of Great Britain are treated to separate 

 chapters, and Mr. Harting gossips about them 

 delightfully, and relates numberless personal anec- 

 dotes and experiences, tells us the newest proved 

 facts about them (as for instance the proof of the 

 woodcock carrying its helpless young with its feet 

 or clutches in its thighs). The author is intimately 

 acquainted with the rich literature of British orni- 

 thology, and he lays his abundant stores of knowledge 

 under liberal contribution, in order to render his 

 topic interesting and instructive. This volume ought 

 to be largely read, as we have no doubt it will be. 

 There is not a dull page in it, and, moreover, it is 

 enriched with exquisite vignettes by Wolf, E. 

 Whymper, Kenlemans, and Thorburn. 



Walks in the Regions of Science and Faith, by 



