882 RKVIEW GEOLOGY, KTC, OF WEST YORKSHIRE. 



In the work before us there is every evidence that on the part of each 

 author this labour has been a work of love, and the perusal of the book 

 will convince everyone that the work has been thoroughly and well done. 



Commencing with a useful list of books written on the Geology of 

 West Yorkshire, we have an introductory explanation of the chief 

 physical features, main faults, and measures of the district, which ia 

 followed by a succession of chapters devoted to the several divisions of 

 rocks — from the Silurian to the Post-tertiary — represented in the 

 locality. The county, as a whole, furnishes a most comprehensive field 

 for geological study, for the author says, " If the whole of the county bo 

 taken, we have all the great divisions well I'epresented, except . . the 

 Cambrian and Laureutiau, thus presenting in so small an area a more 

 glorious epitome of the sti'ata comprising the earth's crust than can be 

 found in any other locality of similar, or even much larger extent in the 

 world." 



The Silurian beds are the Coniston Limestone, with the superin- 

 cumbent Flags and Grits and the Bannisdale Slates, which altogether 

 attain a great thickness, and represent the beds above and below the line 

 of division of the Lower and Upper Silurian beds, as laid down by 

 Sedgwick, who devoted a great deal of time and attention to the 

 examination of the Coniston Rocks. The occurrence of a bed of 

 sandstone 20 feet thick, with fossils of the Ludlow type, at so great a 

 depth (1,200 feetj below the Ludlow beds, is an interesting and remark- 

 able circumstance. 



The succeeding period of Sedimentary Rocks (the Devonian) is but 

 imperfectly represented in West Yorkshire. At page -41 the author gives 

 an interesting account of what was going on between the deposition of 

 the Silurian beds and that of the Carboniferous Limestone. 



The Carboniferous Rocks, cons'sting of the Mountain Limestone, 

 Yoredale Beds, Millstone Grit, and Coal Measures, seem all to be 

 peculiarly well developed in this district, and they are very particularly 

 described, with the faults, &c. The numerous sections and long lists of 

 fossils show how accurately these beds have been investigated, and, 

 apparently, they offer a very wide field for examination. The purity of 

 some of the coals of the district is of great economical importance, among 

 which wo may especially mention the lietter Bed Coal, of which the 

 author says (p. 143 :)— " It is extensively worked in the Lowmoor 

 district, for the purpose of smelting the iron ore found in the shale 

 above the Black Bed Coal. Its freedom from sulphur and other 

 impurities renders it peculiarly valuable for smelting purposes ; and it 

 is partially to this coal that tlie excellence of the Lowmoor iron is 

 attributed." We believe it was this bod of coal which Professor Huxley 

 described as being entirely coniposed of lycopod spores, to which, 

 probably, it owes its gre it purity. Wo notice our author does not give 

 us any lists of fossil coal phmts, the study of which seems unfortun itcly 

 to have an attraction for onlv very few of our Botanists. The Permian 

 rocks of the district seem to be more developed than in our own district, 

 but wj notice the abssnse of the several sub-divisions of the Bunter beds 

 W-iich are found in the Midlands. 



There is an interesting chapter devoted to the Glacial and Post-glacial 

 deposits, together with a bi'ief account of the exploration of the Settle 

 and other caves. 



The second part of the work commences with an outline of the 

 physical geografihy of West Yorkshire, and is followed by an examination 

 of the flora of the ten divisions into which the district is sub-divided, 

 according tc river drainage. This is accompanied by a good map, from 

 whicli can be seen at a glmce the several districts treated of in the 

 successive chapters. The flora is au extremely rich one, for the author 



