SitfJyleiiiCHt, "1 

 January i8, 1894J 



NATURE 



111 



SUPPLEMENT TO "NATURE." 



THE STORY OF OUR PLANET. 



The Story of our Planet. By T. G. Bonney, D.Sc, 

 LL.D., F.R.S, &c. Pp.592. (London : Cassell ar.d 

 Co., 1S93.) 



IN the workshop of science there are many labourers, 

 both skilled and unskilled, and the particulars of 

 their toil, which are not always interesting even to fellow- 

 workers, can seldom be appreciated or even understood 

 b\- the majority of well-educated persons. The increas- 

 ing detail of geological work and the number of technical 

 terms introduced, necessary as they are to progress, 

 are calculated to repel not only the unemployed, who 

 might like to gain a general knowledge of the subject, 

 but also the numerous workers in other branches of 

 science, who cannot keep themselves informed on the 

 meaning of the many new terms. Nor can text-books, 

 intended for serious study, be made interesting to the 

 .general reader, for the student wants his mental food 

 m a concentrated form, with particulars sufficient for 

 the class-room and examination ; while the general 

 reader can only be tempted with the net results of 

 science in a diluted and yet attractive form. Such a 

 reader, too, may approve of the Frenchman's dictum 

 quoted by William Spottiswoode in his address to the 

 Ilritish Association, 187S), that no scientific theory "can 

 be considered complete until it is so clear that it can be 

 explained to the first man you meet in the street.'' It 

 may, however, take a long time or a big book to do this, 

 though we may agree that conclusions are not of much 

 service unless they are intelligible. 



In old days, L) ell's "Piinciples of Geology," as re- 

 marked by Prof Bonney, " would have been understood 

 with little difficulty by any man of good general educa- 

 tion.'' Twenty-one years have passed since the last 

 edition of that work was published, and we quite agree 

 with the present author that there is "room for a book 

 which covers somewhat the same ground." 



The " Story of our Planet'' is intended " for men and 

 women of good general education who might desire to 

 know something of the methods of reasoning which are 

 adopted in geology, and of the general conclusions to 

 which these have led." Thinking it would be helpful to 

 get an independent opinion on the book, the writer, after 

 cutting its leaves, placed the volume in the hands of his 

 wife (who is by no means geological), and asked her to 

 read a few pages. She did so, and without a pause read 

 steadily to the end of the first chapter, exclaiming " It is 

 most interesting." This independent testimony was 

 satisfactory, but it requires a little qualification when 

 applied to the volume as a whole. The author commences 

 his work with an account of three specimens, taken almost 

 haphazard, from a collection of fossils. Curiously enough, 

 and perhaps unconsciously, he has returned to an old 

 lo\e, for one of the fossils is Melania tnqiniiata, a shell 

 which he obtained thirty-four years ago from the Eocene 

 beds of Charlton, near Woolwich. It is mentioned among 

 others in a short account, perhaps his earliest geological 

 communication, which was printed in the Geologist for 

 1859 (p. 296). Since then the author has wandered in 

 NO. 1264, VOL. 49] 



many fields, and has found much happiness of a kind 

 he is wishful to impart to others. Around Cambridge he 

 has examined and written about the Cretaceous and 

 Jurassic strata. He has gone deeper, and discussed the 

 origin of Triassic rocks. Finally, he has descended to 

 the lower regions, and plied his hammer among " The 

 Foundation Stones of the Earth's Crust," as he would 

 call them. Thus from the top to the bottom of the series 

 he has studied tlie records of the rocks, but ever and 

 anon the vestiges of ancient volcanoes have attracted 

 great attention, and fired an enthusiasm that had, per- 

 haps, to be tempered by many a visit to the Alpine 

 glaciers. 



Leaving the first chapter of the book, w hich, as we have 

 hinted, is well calculated to attract ar.d interest, we are 

 introduced to "The Land Region," and find ounelves 

 confronted with a good many statistics, after which we 

 are led on to the study of the earth's crust and its rocky 

 constituents. Then we come to " The Air Region," in 

 which atmospheric pressure, winds and tornadoes, and 

 rainfall are considered; and pass on to "The Water 

 Region," to an account of oceans and seas, of tides and 

 currents, of snow crystals and glacier ice. This con- 

 cludes the first part of the woik, which is almost wholly 

 devoted to physical geography and meteorology. We 

 had expected to proceed into the " Fire Region," but that 

 is dealt with in Part iii. On the whole, this first part is 

 somewhat disappointing from a geological point of view. 

 Lyell would doubtless have given a good account of the 

 geological results of the C//«//^»^^;' Expedition, but these 

 are nowhere summarised. 



Part ii. is devoted to the processes of sculptuie and 

 moulding, to the polishing of rocks by nature's "sand- 

 blast," to the raising of sand-dunes and the formation of 

 earth-pillars. The formation of escarpments is pointed 

 out, with especial reference to those of the Weald, as 

 explained by Foster and Topley, and the general action 

 of rivers is described. Landslips receive attention ; and 

 here the author has himself made a slight slip, for we are 

 told that near Lyme Regis " the cliffs rise to a height of 

 full a hundred feet," but where the great landslip of 1S59 

 took place, the chalk cliffs rije to 400 or 500 feet. " Ice 

 as Sculptor" forms the subject of one chapter, and homely 

 illustrations are given of the bursting of water-pipes, and 

 of the crumbling of moitar and bricks in the jerry-built 

 structures of the nineteenth century, facts which supply 

 the tenant and landlord with useful object-lessons. On 

 the more serious subject of glacier-erosion, the authors 

 conclusions have certainly the weight of personal ex- 

 perience. He believes the effects of a glacier are con- 

 siderable, but that it acts like a plane or file rather than 

 a chisel or gouge. Yet he admits that the tarns in 

 mountain corries, the lakelets in mountain valleys, may 

 be attributed to the action of ice, but not the broad sheets 

 of Geneva or Constance. The discussion is by no means- 

 dead, for quite recently Dr. A. R. Wallace strongly 

 maintains the truth of Ramsay's theory (^Fortnightly 

 Revietu, December). " Ice as a Carrier "and " The Work 

 of the Ocean" are duly considered in reference to the 

 transport of material and the carving of features. We 

 now come to the somewhat formidable heading, •' The 

 Proletariat of Nature," which may be taken to mean the 

 actions of the lower classes of organisms, some of which- 



