450 Reviews and Notices of BooJcs, 



REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



Acadian Geology and a SuppJementa/ry Chapter thereto^. 



The first of the works mentioned in the note at the foot of this 

 j)age contains the only comprehensive account yet published of 

 the highly interesting and difficult geology of Nova Scotia, and 

 the neighbouring regions. This book is too widely known to the 

 geologists of all countries to need any critical examination at the 

 present time. Since its publication the author has removed from 

 the field of his former labours among the carboniferous and 

 New Red sandstone works of Nova Scotia, to the great Silurian 

 plain of Lower Canada. He still labours (as we hope he may 

 long continue to do) to " carry forward " to completion some of 

 the subjects left unfinished in 1855. The results, up to the pre- 

 sent time are now published is a neat pamphlet with the title of 

 " Supplementary Chapter to Acadian Geology." It contains a 

 series of condensed articles giving us the recent discoveries and 

 investigations of the author on various points connected with the 

 geology of the Acadian Provinces, such as the Modern and Post 

 Pliocene formations, — and the minerals and fossils of the carbo- 

 niferous, Devonian and Silurian rocks. We extract an account 

 of some investigations made by Professor How. 



" Professor How's paper announces the discovery, in the great 

 bed of gypsum quarried at Windsor, of a rare boracic-acid mi- 

 neral hitherto found only in Peru.f Its formula, according to 

 Professor How, is — 



Na O 2 B O3 + 2 Ca O, 3 B O3 + 15 H O. 



" With respect to the geological conditions of its occurrence, 

 Professor How quotes from Professor Anderson of Glasgow the 



* 1. Acadian Geology. — An account of the Geological Structure and 

 mineral resources of Nova Scotia and portions of the neighbouring Pro- 

 vinces of British North America. Edinburgh, 1855, 8vo., with a map 

 and illustrations. 



2. Supplementary Chapter to Acadian Geology. — 12mo. pp. TO. 

 Wood engravings of fossils. By Dr. J. W. Dawson, LL.D., F.G.S. Prin- 

 cipal of McGill College, Montreal. Author of Archaia, &c. Edin- 

 burgh, 1860. 



t Professor How has still more recently discovered a second boracic- 

 acid mineral in the gypsum. It consists of borate and sulphate of lime, 

 soda, and magnesia, and Professor H. proposes to name it Cryptomor- 

 phite. 



