68 March, 



REVIEWS. 



THE HISTORY OF GEOLOGY. 



History of Geology and Palaeontology to the End of the 

 Nineteenth Century. By Kari^ Ai^fred von ZiTTKi,. Trans- 

 lated by Maria M. Ogii.vik-Gordon. Contemporary Science 

 Series. Loudon : Walter vScott, 1901. Price 6s. 



Professor von Zittel's original work on the history of geology appeared 

 at Munich iu 1899, and was marked, like his treatises on palaeon- 

 tology, by a wide and accurate view of the most diverse sections of 

 his subject. Mrs. Ogilvie-Gordon's translation is extremely welcome, 

 especially as it is graced by admirable photographic portraits of von 

 Zittel and Suess, and by eleven other portraits. In order to bring the 

 original royal-Svo volume of 850 pp. into the limits set by the Contem* 

 porary Scientific Series, some shortenings and omissions have been 

 made. The most serious of these is the loss of the precise references 

 which form lists at the end of each chapter of the original. In the 

 preface as translated, Prof, von Zittel trusts that these will prove 

 useful : but the translator, in her note immediately following, states 

 that she has omitted them with the author's approval, as also the chapter 

 on topographical geology. The latter dealt with the works and maps 

 devoted to special countries, notably those relating to Germany. The 

 fact that any reduction of von Zittel's book, especially in the way of 

 references to literature, had to be made to suit the publishing trade in 

 England is probably a comment, not on that trade, but on the small 

 number of scientific readers iu our islands. 



It is doubtful if any more suitable translator could have been found 

 than Mrs. Ogilvie-Gordon, with her intimate knowledge of the Munich 

 geological school, and her acquaintance with so wide a range of litera- 

 ture. We may thus, if only on historical grounds, approve her action 

 in retaining for the Triassic system its full original number of pages, 

 while the Jurassic and Cretaceous systems, so dear to Englishmen, are 

 seriously curtailed. But when Mrs. Gordon introduces her own modes 

 of thought into a "translation " of von Zittel, we may reasonably ask 

 that some indication should be given. The Triassic section in the 

 English version is in places as unrepresentative of what von Zittel 

 actually wrote as is the amazing "translation " by American systematists 

 of the same author's wise and eclectic " Grundzlige der PalJiontologie." 

 We may particularly note the passage on p. 488, which charges the 

 Vienna workers — who seem to be regarded, from the translator's point 

 of view, as somewhat hasty generalisers — with utilising fossils picked up 

 by village collectors, who conld not easily remember the localities of 

 each. Even if true, this is not written in the generous Zittelian strain* 

 On p. 492 von Zittel is represented as pointing out how Miss M. Ogilvie 

 (his translator) contested certain conclusions in 1894 which had "been 

 accepted and explained in the geological text-books," and " had rested 



