62 CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



the Rev. Andrew Cricliton, with a head from a bust in Visconti's Icono* 

 graphic Grecque, are prefixed to the volume. To point out defects, and 

 spots and flaws in a work which has long since made its impression upon 

 the public, is little more than a gratuitous assumption of critical nicety ; 

 we may therefore refrain from marking out a few inelegancies of expres- 

 sion, such as ** the feel,*' &c. but we cannot pass over the want of true 

 taste in heralding in Audubon's name with the prefix of " Mr." it is 

 nearly as bad as " Mr. John Milton, the Poet." Why not Audubon 

 only f 



Illustrations of the Natural History of Worcestershire, with information 

 on the Statistics, Zoology, and Geology of the County, including a 

 short account of its Mineral Waters, by Charles Hastings, M. D. 

 Published at the request of the Council of the Worcestershire 

 Natural History Society. Sherwood and Co. 1834. 



We are perfectly conscious that an apology is due to our readers for the 

 condensed notice which at the present time necessity compels us to take 

 of this elaborate and scientific work. Had we not referred to the subject, 

 it perh[ips might have been imagined that we had neglected or overlooked 

 it. Fully aware of the importance and estimation of such a production, 

 we should most willingly have devoted our time and attention to an ex- 

 amination of its merits — but the gentleman to whom the review of this 

 article was confided, had not completed it in time for the present publi- 

 cation, and its appearance is, therefore, unavoidably deferred until our 

 next number. 



Outline of the Geology of Cheltenham, and its Neighbourhood. By Roderick 

 Impey Murchison, F. R. S., &c. &c. Murray. London, 1834. 



The name of Mr. Murchison is a suflScient guarantee for the execution 

 of any work on the subject of Geology. The one before us was published 

 (as is stated in the Introduction) at the suggestion of several members of 

 the Literary and Philosophical Institution of Cheltenham. 



Taking the town of Cheltenham as a centre, with a radius of five or 

 six miles, Mr. Murchison proposes to confine his observations to the 

 formations contained within this circle. The rocks in this space being 

 all marine sedimentary deposits, and occupying only a portion of the 

 secondary class, the Geologist has necessarily a limited, though very 

 interesting, field of investigation. 



To our countryman, Mr. Wm. Smith, the Author pays a just tribute, 

 in acknowledging that he first taught us to identify strata by " help of 

 the imbedded organic remains ;" a few lists of these are given in the 

 course of the work ; but the investigation of this district not having been 

 much followed up, they are necessarilv very incomplete; they serve, 

 however, to give a stimulus to research, particularly as several new 

 varieties have already been discovered. 



Taking the strata in ** descending order," Mr. Murchison commences 

 with a description of the celebrated Stonesfield Slate, being the youngest 

 solid strata of the district ; then proceeding in regular descent through the 

 Fuller's Earth, Inferior Oolite, and Lias; which is subdivided into — 1. 

 Upper Lias, or Alum Shale ; 2. Marlstone; 3. Lower Lias Shale; down 

 to the New Red Sandstone, or (Red Marl.) 



After stating that the whole of these rocks are of mechanical origin, 

 and are made up of a great number of beds or layers ; he proceeds to 

 remark, that each formation possesses an individuality of mineral cha- 



