January 15, 1920] 



NATURE 



5C3 



put forward that the Oriental mind, though it may 

 assimilate the ideas of Western science with ease, 

 is yet incapable of applying- the principles of that 

 science to original research. It is true that the 

 author in his preface modestly admits that the 

 book is in the main a compilation; yet the able 

 manner in which he has marshalled the facts, and 

 the clearness of his reasoning, especially when 

 dealing with matters that are still open to con- 

 troversy, show that -he is by no means lacking in 

 originality of thought and expression. 



As a text-book for the use of the elementary 

 student, perhaps, the work is not all that is re- 

 quired. There is still room for a book which 

 would lead the student gradually to a knowledge 



are the dry bones of the science ; they must be 

 clothed with flesh and blood by comparing the 

 processes and actions which prevailed when they 

 were formed with those which are taking place 

 before our eyes in the world of to-day. A sand- 

 grain or a pebble of the rocks is not a mere 

 particle of inanimate matter, but is a word or 

 phrase in the history of the earth, and has much 

 to tell of a long chain of natural operations which 

 were concerned in its formation. Similarly, a 

 fossil shell is not a mere chance relic of an animal 

 that once lived, but a valuable document whose 

 preservation is to be reckoned an important 

 event in the history of the earth. . . ." (The 

 whole passage is too long to quote, but it fur- 



-Beilary (iranilc-Gneiss Country 



of the science, by illustrations drawn from the 

 rich field of observation that lies open to him in 

 India itself. No systematic attempt is made to 

 explain the meaning of geological terms, and the 

 book presupposes a knowledge of the subject 

 which the average student certainly would not 

 possess. To the advanced student, in the sense 

 that every scientific man is a student throughout 

 his life, the book must prove extremely useful. 



There are many pitfjills awaiting the student who 

 fails to profit by the pertinent advice (p. 41) "not 

 to commit the mistake of merely trying to memorise 

 the dry summary of facts regarding the ' rocks ' or 

 ' fossils ' of a system, or consider that the idea of 

 a geological system is confined to these. These 

 NO. 2620, VOL. 104] 



om " Geology of India for Studenls." 



nishcs a good example of the author's style.) In 

 the making of tables of rock-sequence and cor- 

 relation it is impossible to avoid what appear to 

 be definite statements regarding a formation the 

 position of which may be doubtful ; and when 

 the student merely learns these tables by heart 

 for examination purposes (a practice which too 

 often defines the limits of the candidate's know- 

 ledge of the subject), he is apt, having missed 

 the qualifying explanation given in the text, to 

 unload his modicum of knowledge with results 



' disastrous to himself. Thus, in the general table 

 of formations (p. 47), the rocks of the Simla area, 



! from the Blaini boulder bed upwards, are boldly 

 correlated with the \'indhyans of the peninsula, 



