May 1^5, 1883. 



- KNOWLEDGE - 



311 



Jxfbiftu?* 



GEOLOGY AFIELD.* 



THE second edition of this most useful and interesting 

 work has been sent to us for review ; and though it is 

 not among the publications of the year, we gladly call the 

 attention of our readers to a book from which the young 

 geologist can gain more than from many volumes of more 

 geological lore, however valuable. For this work shows 

 liim how to set about observing for himself, how to trace 

 strata, lay down their boundaries, work out their dip, 

 ascertain the character, peculiarities, and geological age of 

 the rocks, and how to discover, determine, and classify the 

 rocks which they contain. The directions for these pur- 

 poses are simple and clear. 



Yet it is not to be inferred that the book is without 

 vaXxie for those who have not time for actual geological 

 exploration. On the contrary, we know of no work on 

 ,i;eology which is better calculated to give the mere student 

 of the subject clear conceptions of the value and signifi- 

 cance of actual geological work and observation. He can 

 accompany the worker in imagination, though unable to 

 take hammer, pick, and spud, for the work of survey. 



The section on paheontology is well written, and full of 

 interest. Those who imagine that paheontology has no 

 practical value, and picture the paheontologist as a mere 

 collector of old fossils, will do well to note how thoroughly 

 unpractical are those who neglect the teachings of this 

 department of geological inquiry. " I have known," says 

 the late ^Ir. J. i!. Jukes, "even in the rich coal district 

 of South Stalibrdshire, shafts continued down below the 

 coal measures, deep into the Silurian shales, with crowds 

 of fossils brought up in every bucket, and the sinker still 

 expecting to find coal in beds below those Silurian fossils. 

 I have known deep and expensive shafts sunk in beds too 

 far above the coal measures for their ever being reached, 

 and similar expensive shafts sunk in black shales and slates 

 in the lower rocks, far below the coal measures, where a 

 pit miglit be sunk to the centre of the earth without ever 

 meeting with coal. Kor are these fruitless enterprises things 

 of the past. They are still going on, in spite of the silent 

 warnings of the fossils in the rocks around, and in spite of 

 the loudly-expressed warnings of the geologists who under- 

 stand them, but who are supposed still to Vie vain theorists, 

 and not to know so much as the ' practical man.' Within 

 ray own experience large sums of money have been abso- 

 lutely thrown away which would have been saved by the 

 slightest acquaintance with the laws of paheontology." 



ENGINEERING GEOLOGY.f 



A SMALLER, but not less valuable, work by the same 

 author. A knowledge' of engineering is incomplete with- 

 out an acquaintance with geology, and in turn geology- 

 has been much advanced by engineering operations. This 

 book deals in an admirably clear and succinct manner with 

 the relation of geological strata to practical engineering 

 works ; the proper methods of procedure in field work ; the 

 economic products of tertiary, secondary, and Pahcozoic 

 rocks ; springs and water supply ; and the selection of 

 building sites. It is a thoroughly useful treatise. 



• " A Textbook of Field Geolofry." By W. H. Penning, F.G.S. 

 With a Bection on " PalaeontoloKv," by Ai J. Jukes-Browne, F.G.S. 

 Second edition. (London : Bailliere, Tindall, & Cox.) 



t " Engineering Geology." By W. H. Penning, F.G.S., Geologist, 

 Government Survey o£ England and Wales. (London : Bailliere, 

 Tindall, & Cox.) 



WHERE TO^FIND FERNS.* 



This little book, meant for the pocket, will be found an 

 invaluable companion by all lovers of ferns. The hunting 

 of ferns, as the autlior remarks, is one of the most delight- 

 ful of pastimes. It also adds a charm to open-air life, 

 which makes it a very valuable aid to the health and 

 strength. " The seeker after ferns," as Mr. Heath says, 

 " must ride his hobby into the wildest and most out-of-the- 

 way districts, and into the most delicious nooks of greenery 

 — must climb hills, wind through valleys, plunge into 

 woods, follow the course of streams ; search rocks, hedge- 

 banks, and forest clumps ; examine old walls and tree- 

 forks, and look everywhere, in short, where green life has 

 a chance of existence." Tliose who know Mr. Heath's 

 " Fern World," and " Ff.rn Paradise," will not need to be 

 told that in such wanderings the student of ferns will find 

 Mr. Heath's pocket companion a most trustworthy guide. 

 Every species of British fern is dealt with in its pages, 

 its peculiarities described, the general nature of its habitat 

 noted, and the places mentioned where it can be found, in 

 England, Scotland, and Ireland. A special chapter on the 

 ferns round London, and an index of localities, add much 

 to the value of the work. 



GUIDANCE FOR YOTJTHS.f 



This is a thoroughly practical common-sense guide, a 

 little in advance, perhaps, of the age in teaching 

 emphatically the dignity of honest work, but all the better 

 worth studying, not only by the young, but by those who 

 have charge of the young. Early in its pages it shows the 

 value of artisanship. It is hardly too much to say that 

 every man who values his independence should learn a 

 trade, though it will be long before every man thinks so. 

 " Experientia " tells the story of the clerk who, being in 

 the employ of the wealthy Stephen Girard, was advised to 

 learn the cooper's trade ; having learned it, he made for 

 his old master a splendid barrel, for which Girard gave 

 him two thousand dollars, saying, "Now, sir, I want you 

 in my counting-house ; but henceforth you will not be 

 dependent upon the whim of Stephen Girard. Let what 

 will come, you have a good trade always in reserve." Years 

 ago — but in such matters they are a century ahead of us 

 in America— Horace Greely wrote :— " It is a source of 

 consolation to us" [he was speaking editorially] "that 

 when the public shall be tired of us as an editor, we can 

 make a satisfactory livelihood at sotting type or farming ; 

 so that while our strength lasts, ten thousand blockheads, 

 taking ofience at .some article they do not understand, 

 could not drive us into the poorhouse." But snobs think 

 meanly of independence of that honest sort. 



In dealing with moral duties, " Experientia " takes » 

 manly, sensible view (it is not the author's fault nor ours 

 that " Experientia " is feminine). He teaches honesty 

 Vjecause it is right, not on the low ground that it is the 

 best policy — though he fails not to show that it is so. He 

 gives wise advice about temperance, treating, smoking, 

 feeding, and so forth. (He goes rather farther, by the way, 

 in saying that man in his food, his moral and animai 

 character being constituted by his food, than facts warrant.) 



The soundest advice is given when the youth is advised 

 to give his employer no half-hearted work. "Good measure, 



* " Where to Find Ferns, with a Special Chapter on the Ferns 

 Round London." By Francis Heath, " Editor of Forestry," 

 ic. New and Cheaper Edition. (Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 

 London.) 



t" The Youth's Business Guide. A Practical Manual for Those 

 Entering Life." By Experientia. (London : Wyman & Sons.) 



