De la Bech<^s Geological Ma?maL 1 1 1 



so interesting to the geologist, and important to civilised 

 society from their products, occupy less than 4 pages. The 

 author has loitered so long among the shells in the upper 

 strata, that he appears panting to arrive at the end of his 

 journey, and hurries through some of the most valuable parts 

 of the science: like Shakspeare in Hamlet, he kills off his 

 principal characters in one short scene, to arrive at a conclusioov 

 Every reader acquainted with geology will agree with u^, 

 that there is an extreme disproportion between the relative 

 value of the different subjects, and the space they occupy in 

 this volume. The author has bestowed much diligence in 

 collecting facts from foreign journals respecting the secondary 

 and tertiary strata, but they are not arranged in such a manner 

 as to give the most essential parts of his subject a sufficiently 

 prominent place ; so that the geological student, for whose 

 use the work is professedly written, will frequently find himself 

 Jbewildered among the details of facts, fossils, and opinions. 

 ^|v To the experienced geologist, who has not the opportunity 

 of consulting foreign journals, the Geological Manual may 

 serve as a useful book of reference, and save him much 

 trouble when wanting information respecting the progress pf 

 geology on the continent of Europe. From an objection to 

 Crowding a work like the present with catalogues of shells, 

 it may be believed that we are disposed to undervalue the 

 j^udy of fossil organic remains ; but this is not the case : we 

 fconsider that a cheap manual on fossil remains is at present 

 nauch wanted by the geological student. A work like this would 

 require great judgment in the selection, and should contain 

 a clear ^nd brief description, with a figure, of the most cha- 

 racteristic species in each formation ; and also of others which, 

 though not so characteristic, are the most abundant : it should 

 commence with the lowest beds, and describe the fossils in an 

 ascending series, that the student might mark when particular 

 forms of organic life first appear. The species figured and 

 described should not be too numerous, that the whole might 

 be contained in a cheap pocket volume. If Mr. Lonsdale, or 

 bome competent fossilist, would execute well a work of this, 

 kind, he would, to borrow the words of our author, " render 

 ^gpod service to geology." 



.. . In the Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France^ yol. i|. 

 p. 355., is the following notice of the second edition of Mr. De 

 la Beche's Manual of Geology, by M. Boue, foreign secretary, 

 .^delivered by him to the Society : — t f -r?^ 



i,;>'" He remarked, that the author is still too exclusively 

 |j?j0cupied with England. Thus, in his article on the tertiary 

 iJSi>cmations, he does ,i}^|^iye ey^p ^n idea, o| the geological 



