1396.] Contributiojis to Glacial Geology. 257 



A BiblioiTi'aphy of Irish Glacial and Post-CIacial GeoIog:y. 



By R. Lloyd P^aeger, b.E. {^Proc, Belfast Nat. Field Club, vol. ii., Appendix 

 6; 1S96;. 



This work appears as one of the now well known series of appendices 

 published by the northern Field Club ; but it is also issued in a separate 

 form, so as to be accessible to all geologists. And, indeed, it is difficult 

 to name the geologist to whom it might not prove useful ; even the 

 continental student of post-Pliocene faunas will find such a bibliography 

 of constant service. 



Mr. Praeger brings to his task, involving the selection and cataloguing 

 of 767 works and pamphlets, the knowledge and method of a librarian. 

 But, unlike some bookmen who have essayed such duties, he has also the 

 judgment of a naturalist, and is able to give us a note on every paper, 

 briefly indicating its scope. The arrangement is alphabetical, according 

 to authors, and two indexes follow, one grouping the papers under their 

 geological aspects, while the other classes them under counties. 



No such list can ever be complete, for there must be passing references 

 to Irish soils, or to discoveries of shells or bones, in works dealing with 

 subjects far other than glacial geology. But Mr. Praeger has gone as far 

 as he could, short of reading every work in which Ireland is accor- 

 ded prominence, and he has thus given us Young's reference to 

 Mitchelstown Cave in " A Tour in Ireland," and Parkinson's account of 

 the great Irish deer in " Organic Remains of a former World." Kven 

 human bodies found in bogs, if sufficiently far down, come within his 

 scope ; and he has found it very hard to draw the line between flint 

 gravels and chipped flints, between post-glacial geology and human 

 archaeology. Mr. Praeger's tendency to give even trifling references is 

 surely very much on the safe side, and he seems to have kept well clear 

 of vain repetitions and purely second-hand sources of information. The 

 handsome printing of the list will enable us to insert any later references 

 as foot-notes, or in the margin ; but we shall hope for an appendix 

 from Mr. Praeger himself every ten years or so, and a complete new 

 edition about a.d. 1926. Were the present bibliography never touched 

 or reproduced, its value to geologists v,^ould remain ; it is a pleasant 

 gift from a busy worker to his fellows, and will vastly lighten the 

 labours of all who deal with recent deposits in the British Isles. As to 

 those who call themselves " glacialists," they will do well to keep 

 the list constantly at their elbow ; and its comprehensive character 

 may make us indeed hesitate, before we add one sheet of foolscap to 

 the controversial side of glacial geology. May we look in time for a 

 digest of the whole matter from Mr. Praeger, a history of Ireland in 

 post-Pliocene times, which shall bring together the scientific results 

 of his own observations, together with those of the authors whose works 

 he has so carefully kept before us } 



G. A. J. C. 



A 3 



