SOME NEW BOOKS 



Annals of British Geology, 1892. A Digest of the Books and Papers pub- 

 lished during the Year with Occasional Notes. By J. F. Blake, M.A., 

 F.G.S. Pp. 310, 8 plates, and text illustrated. London : Dulau & Co., 1893. 

 Price I OS. 



This is the third volume of an extremely useful work, the previous 

 volumes of which were noticed in Natural Science (vol. i., p. 69, 

 and vol. ii., p. 234). The labour of preparing such a record is so 

 enormous that we should under any circumstances have offered our 

 thanks to Mr. Blake ; but the present volume is so great an improve- 

 ment on its predecessors that we must also tender him our congratu- 

 lations. The work has passed through the fire of criticism and has 

 emerged all the better for its ordeal. It has occasionally been 

 thought that Mr. Blake was too unwilling to distinguish between the 

 functions of annalist and analj^st. The pungent notes that he used 

 to interject in the middle of an abstract sometimes caused as much 

 wrath as merriment. These are now absent, to the delight of authors 

 if not of readers. Not but what our recorder still has his say, only 

 his criticisms are now placed together in the form of an introductory 

 review. This, he thinks, can scarcely be objected to if we admit the 

 principle that " thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the 

 corn." To judge from this review the authors also seem to have 

 improved, at least in Mr. Blake's opinion, and we do not think any of 

 them are likely to reply, in the words of Agamemnon's watchman, — 



'• For the rest I must be silent, a great ox hath trod upon my tongue." 



The abstracts now seem still more carefully done, and if they do 

 not satisfy authors, then the authors have only themselves to blame, 

 since they are now afforded the opportunity of revising the manu- 

 script itself, and this is a privilege of which we are glad to see the 

 majority have availed themselves. The illustrations are also greatly 

 improved, partly owing to original blocks having been lent by some 

 societies and individuals, a mode of assistance which might very well 

 be extended. It is, however, to be hoped that the wretched appear- 

 ance of fig. 2 is not due to the fact of the author having changed his 

 printer. 



Except for the addition of the interesting introductory review, 

 which the authors mentioned will save us the labour of criticising, 

 the arrangement of the volume follows the old lines. One or two 

 papers, however, seem to have gone astray. The Cave Men of 

 Mentone, for instance, were hardly Britishers, while Mr. Teall's 

 paper in Natural Science on the " Sequence of Plutonic Rocks " took 

 its examples from foreign rather than home sources. The inclusion 

 of a section dealing with papers on foreign geology published in 

 England is probably intended as a bait for foreign purchasers ;. 



