NATURE 



501 





THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 1918. 



ITALIAN GEOLOGY. 



1} Bibliography of the Geology and Eruptive 

 Phenomena of the More Important Volcanoes of 

 Southern Italy. Compiled M^ith the assistance 

 of Madame A. Johnston-Lavis by Prof. H. J. 

 Johnston-Lavis. Second edition, completed after 

 the author's death by Miss B. M, Stanton and 

 edited with a preface and short life of the author 

 by B. B. Woodward. Pp. xxiv+374. (London: 

 The University of London Press, Ltd., 1918.) 



2) Italian Mour.tain Geology. By Dr. C. S. Du 

 Riche Preller. Part i. The Pidmontese Alps, 

 Ligurian Apennines, and Apuan Alps. Pp. 

 1^-99. Part ii. The Tuscan Suhapennines and 

 Elba. Pp. 101-92. (London: Dulau and Co., 

 Ltd., 1918.) Price 25. 6d. net each. 



i)TrHE late Prof. H. J. Johnston-Lavis was an 

 ■*• untiring worker, and the bibliography 

 now so handsomely published is a monument to 

 the thoroughness with which his studies were pur- 

 sued. The Italian volcanoes, on account of their 

 position in the heart of Mediterranean culture, 

 and their consequent accessibility to every inquir- 

 ing pilgrim who made his way to Rome, have 

 formed, almost unaided, the foundation of the 

 science of vulcanology. Sir William Hamilton, 

 our Ambassador at the Court of Naples at the 

 close of the eighteenth century, brought systematic 

 and continuous 'observation to bear upon the 

 phenomena of Vesuvius. Spall^anzani, very little 

 later, undertook the description of Sicily. The 

 contemporaneous and acute researches of Faujas 

 de Saint-Fond among the extinct volcanoes of 

 France owed their influence on geological thought 

 to the author's comparisons of chilled materials 

 with the products of active cones in Italy. Werner 

 of Freiberg, the exponent of cabinet geology, was 

 defeated when his pupil von Buch travelled south- 

 ward of the Alps. The bibliography of South 

 Italian volcanoes, as we look back on memorable 

 pontroversies, is indeed a conclave of great names. 

 !f we could rearrange the papers cited in the 

 >rder of their dates, instead of the far more 

 onvenient author-system here employed, we 

 -hould have a history of alarm and wonder- 

 peeking, passing into more or less -sober specula- 

 ion, and finally into patient observation varied 

 ijy exciting episodes. 



The division of the subject in this work into 

 papers on various areas has led to a repetition of 

 many entries. This could have been avoided if 

 each entry had been numbered and a cross- 

 reference made when requisite. This matter is 

 worth mentioning, since the repeated references 

 have very different bibliographic values. That to 

 the famous " Campi Phlegraei," for example, under 

 ■'Hamilton " in the section on the yEolian Isles is 

 far better than the previous one in the section on 

 \''esuvius. The ^Eolian reference to " Der Aetna," 

 NO. 2548, VOL. lOl] 



by Sartorius von W^altershausen (edition of 1880), 

 is, on the other hand, less satisfactory than that 

 given later under Etna. This finely printed work 

 is of value to all geologists and also to all public 

 libraries. It contains, moreover, a characteristic 

 portrait of the compiler, standing among the Vesu- 

 vian tuff-beds, as some of us remember him in 

 1906, a year highly memorable in the history of the 

 mountain that he loved. 



(2) Dr. Du Riche Preller 's colkcted papers on 

 the structure of western and north-western Italy 

 are the result of much close observation in the 

 field and of careful consideration of the published 

 work of others. After each descriptive exposition, 

 the author stales his own conclusions, and the 

 numerous referenpes, given as footnotes, render it 

 easy to pursue any controverted point in detail. 

 He reasons that the marble of Carrara (p. 96) is of 

 Triassic age, since it has none of the schistose 

 character of the Alpine Permian. He furnishes 

 interesting remarks on the pictre verdi of various 

 types, assigning them generally to submarine basic 

 eruptions, dating from Palaeozoic to Eocene 

 epochs. The penetration and overriding of Meso- 

 zoic rocks by granite in western Liguria are attri- 

 buted to intrusion in Cainozoic times, rather than 

 to transport of the crystalline rock by over- 

 thrusting. The more extreme movements 

 demanded by Termier are viewed with some sus- 

 picion. The tone of the papers is far from contro- 

 versial, and the bringing together of so much 

 matter of diverse interest is distinctly helpful to 

 geologists. We do not know why the author pre- 

 fers " Piemont " to the English form, and he cer- 

 tainly must not be allowed to use "euphodite," as 

 he does quite con.sciously, for "euphotide." The 

 term is due to Haiiy and not to Delesse (p. 24), 

 and we must hot forget its author's charming 

 explanation — " parce que le fond de la roche 

 reflechit le blanc . . . et que le diallage refl^chit 

 tantot le vert, qui est la couleur amie de Toeil." 

 Grenyille A. J. Cole. 



THE GROWTH OF SCIENCE. 



An Introduction to the Historv of Science. By 

 Prof. W. Libby. Pp. x + 288. (London : G. G. 

 Harrap and Co., Ltd., 1918.) Price 55. net. 



WE cordially recommend this book to the 

 general reader as well as to educable 

 teachers and students of science. It is ad- 

 mirably written, the work of a scholar and 

 thinker who knows the value of restraint. 

 By careful selection of his illustrative material, 

 and by aiming, not at a chronicle, but at 

 an exposition of the great factors in the develop- 

 ment of scientific thought, he has succeeded in 

 giving us a really useful short history of science. 

 With what Prof. Libby says in his preface regard- 

 ing the educative value of school instruction in the 

 history of science we are in entire agreement, and 

 he has supplied the introductory book that was 

 \Aantcd. It helps us tq re;i1i<e how the sciences 



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