Bibliographical Notices. 53 



"saccharine;" the sugar- character of the rock being more readily 

 recognizable by the sight than the taste, we think the accepted term 

 "saccharoid" better in every respect. Lastly, we believe that, by 

 referring to some of the " Explanations of Maps and Sections," of 

 the Geological Survey, relating to Wilts and Oxfordshire, Mr. Jukes 

 will find that his proposed term "Inlier" (p. 201) has already been 

 invented by some of his colleagues as a good and useful word for 

 valleys-of-elevation and such like. 



Few of the foregoing remarks at all affect the intrinsic value of 

 the ' Student's Manual of Geology.' It is a good work, already 

 enhanced by careful emendations and by the detersive process of 

 being re-edited by an author who has truth alone in view whilst 

 striving to serve the rising generation in mastering the intricate 

 history of the globe, — a task becoming more and more necessary for 

 the young, from the exigencies of the period, and more and n.ore 

 useful to man in every part of the globe. 



An Appendix "On Geological Surveying," of considerable value, 

 and a full Index, which is also glossarial, complete the work. We 

 think that a careful pruning of the theoretical portions, and condensa- 

 tion of some descriptive parts, will be required to balance the addi- 

 tional information that the author must have accumulated, however 

 soon a new edition of this really serviceable Manual is called for. 



The Coal-fields of Great Britain : their History, Structure, and 

 Resources. With Notices of the Coal-fields of other parts of the 

 World. By Edward Hull, B.A. With Map and Illustrations. 

 Second Edition, 1861. 



The history of coal-mining affords an interesting chapter at the 

 commencement of this little volume. Possibly used by the abori- 

 gines, coal seems to have been worked in Britain by the Romans, 

 and was certainly in household use among the Saxons, and has con- 

 tinued to be an article of commerce, with a gradually increasing 

 consumption, until the quantity now annually raised from the British 

 area alone is nearly 80,000,000 tons. The difficulties in arriving at 

 exact information as to the quantity of coal raised in Great Britain 

 and Ireland are being mastered by the energy of the Mining Record 

 Office ; and an approach to an exact knowledge of the extent and 

 thickness of the available coal-seams is being gradually made by the 

 Geological Survey, — the labours of previous as well as contemporary 

 geologists, and the willing co-operation of coal-owners and practical 

 coal-workers, aiding these researches to a very great extent. To put 

 together in a tangible form the results of the elaborate coal-statistics 

 already made, and to define with anything like accuracy the coal- 

 areas, so that the scientific geologist might have a useful work of 

 reference, and the public be supplied with a compendious and read- 

 able treatise, was a laudable and somewhat difficult undertaking. 

 Mr. E. Hull, one of the Geological Surveyors, and hence personally 

 acquainted with the real character and condition of some of the 

 English coal-fields, boldly took in hand the large and important 



