278 NATURAL SCIENCE [Apri 



" Geology of England and Wales," but he hardly equals its self- 

 control in adherence to a plan. 



The book opens with a physical description of the county ; not a 

 very happy one. The Cam Valley breaches higher ground and 

 carries the drainage of a basin into the wide plain of the Fen-land. 

 When the a^^thor calls this a division into four parts, he sets before 

 us separation instead of unity. He. gives a good account of the 

 relation of its water channels to its earth-structure, but why force 

 upon his readers the most newly-invented jargon of technical terms ? 

 We object to obsequious or consequential persons, and to ' obsequent ' 

 or ' consequent ' rivers. 



The papers of Teall, Keeping, Eoberts, W. Hill and Jukes-Browne, 

 with the Survey memoirs, have added largely to our knowledge since 

 the time of Dr Bonney's graphic sketch. The author makes good use 

 of them, and his account of the Secondary formations seems in general 

 good and full. He once or twice ventures on a little geological 

 history, in describing the Lower Greensand as accumulated in a 

 narrow strait Hanked by Palaeozoic rocks on the east (the latter state- 

 ment is given without the grounds for it), and again in connection 

 with the Eed Chalk. Generally, however, this highest form of de- 

 scription is entirely left alone. " The Portland and Purbeck Beds are 

 wholly wanting and perhaps never existed in this part of England." 

 " All the Tertiary beds are now absent." What was the condition of 

 Cambridgeshire in these periods ? land ? shore ? or still, pellucid 

 sea ? Silence is strictly maintained. Silence is also maintained as 

 to the buried Palaeozoic floor. We know of no deep boring in Cam- 

 bridgeshire ; still, in the present interest about possible Coal-measures, 

 some persons may consult this handbook for information, and consult 

 it in vain. 



The Pleistocene Deposits are treated at considerable length. Few 

 who take ice in hand can keep cool heads ; we have fifteen pages on 

 the " Mode of formation of the Chalky Boulder Clay." The author 

 gives a temperate account of the different theories, but what place 

 have such theories in such a book ? Why does he not also discuss 

 Permanence of Ocean Basins in connection with the Chalk, or Forma- 

 tion of Coral Eeefs when upon Upware ? He gives just such a review 

 of the theories as a cautious Professor would give to thirsters after 

 certainty, but occasionally he strays into positivism. " The chalk 

 floor beneath the clay does not show any striated or polished surface, 

 owing to its softness and the removal of the original surface by sub- 

 terranean denudation." He probably meant to write ' perhaps owing ' ; 

 chalk fragments in the clay itself are abundantly striated. We should 

 not have expected that more than one writer could be found who 

 would divide the theories ' into two groups (i.) the glacial, and (ii.) 

 the non-glacial ' ; this second group consisting of Sir Henry Howorth's 

 alone. The only place for theories in such a handbook is where the 

 district is providing important evidence which bears upon one or 

 other of them. Thus the author rightly gives some space to the great 

 transported boulder of the Eoslyn pit. His account of the gravels 

 seems good and full : probably some of it is original, but ought not a 

 reader to be enabled to know ? Should not the statements of a hand- 

 book be either matters of universal acceptance, or else opinions of 



