400 Bibliographical Notices, 



The Ancient World ; or Picturesque Sketches of Creation. By D. T. 

 Ansted, M.A., F.R.S. &c. Post 8vo, with 149 Illustrations. 

 Van Voorst. 



The grandeur of the phsenomena with which geologists deal, and 

 the abundant use they have made of the free scope for generaHzation 

 afforded, have enabled them to take a firmer hold upon popular at- 

 tention than any of their scientific brethren — the organic chemists 

 of the last few years not excepted. There is a greater breadth as it 

 may be called about the nature of geological facts, and for the com- 

 prehension of its more general principles, less application to minute 

 detail is required, so that a large class of persons find interest in and 

 opportunity of acquiring a certain amount of information as to the 

 causes which have been at work in the production of the present 

 structure of the earth they live on, who would not, in these busy 

 times, think it worth while to inquire into the nature and habits of 

 the animals and plants around them. 



The dependence however of Geology upon Palaeontology has 

 opened a new source of interest in the history of organic life, and the 

 speculations which have arisen out of the investigations of the suc- 

 cessive phases presented during the world's existence by the animal 

 and vegetable kingdoms, have within a recent period been " com- 

 mon talk," — with how much profit to the generality of persons we 

 will not stop here to examine. 



Prof. Ansted has done a good service in affording to the unsci- 

 entific public a record of the real facts of Palaeontology, and an au- 

 thoritative account of the extent to which generalization has as yet 

 been safely carried ; and although his book may want some of the 

 poetic richness which has embellished the imaginings of the " deve- 

 lopment " theorists, we believe that the sincere and earnest exposi- 

 tion of his subject will not be the less attractive. 



The vividness of some of his ** picturesque sketches," in which he 

 successively groups together the most striking features of the various 

 geologic periods, we may illustrate by an extract. Speaking of Eu- 

 rope during the formation of the older tertiaries, he says : — 



" The shores of the islands or of the tract of main land then existing 

 were apparently low and swampy, rivers bringing down mud in what 

 is now the south-east of England and the neighbourhood of Brussels, 

 but extensive calcareous beds near Paris. Deep inlets of the sea, 

 estuaries and the shifting mouths of a river, were also affected by 

 numerous alterations of level, not sufficient to destroy, but powerful 

 enough to modify the animal and vegetable species then existing ; 

 and these movements were continued for a long time. The seas 

 were tenanted by sharks, gigantic rays, and many other fishes of warm 

 latitudes, and abounded also with large carnivorous mollusca, capable 

 of living either in fresh or brackish water. The shelving land was 

 clothed with rich tropical vegetation to the water's edge, presenting 

 to view the palm and the cocoa-nut, besides many of those trees 

 which now lend a charm to the Spice Islands of the Indian Seas. All 

 these abounded also with indications of animal life. 



