April 16. 1903] 



NA TURE 



555 



chief usefulness as a book of reference ; and in this 

 connection it is to be regretted that the index is not 

 so complete as it might be. The reviewer can find, for 

 instance, no mention of oxygen or St. Moritz in the 

 index. The latter omission is perhaps excusable in 

 that Davos is indexed, but the former should certainly 

 not have been omitted. The treatment of cyanosis by 

 oxygen is, however, mentioned in the text under acute 

 pneumonia, and though discussed somewhat insuffici- 

 ently, forms a paragraph heading. To continue with 

 the article on pneumonia, the author draws attention 

 to the value of bleeding in this disease, and clearly 

 points out its indications. 



In the opinion of the reviewer, one of the best written 

 chapters in the book is the one on respiratory neuroses, 

 including under this term asthma, whooping cough 

 and Cheyne-Stoke's breathing, the section devoted to 

 the latter condition being of especial interest, and con- 

 taining the clinical notes of a case which presented 

 this phenomenon continuously for eight weeks. 



Under the subject of broncho-pneumonia, the author 

 adopts an original classification for the disease, which 

 he illustrates by cases. He brings forward evidence 

 to show that this classification has a bacteriological 

 justification. Some 200 pages are devoted to phthisis, 

 and of these approximately thirty are concerned with 

 the treatment of the disease. The subject is not treated 

 in a specially exhaustive manner, and certain state- 

 ments of the author will not meet with general accept- 

 ance. That fever rarely requires treatment in phthisis 

 is a statement that requires modification ; also it is 

 somewhat odd that in the treatment detailed for fever 

 by the author, no mention is made of rest in bed, 

 although in a very short account of the open-air treat- 

 ment of phthisis, obtained apparently second hand, it 

 is distinctly stated that the patients are not permitted 

 to take exercise if the morning temperature be above 

 normal. 



The book contains a mass of clinical fact, and the 

 author has spared neither words nor illustrations in 

 recording what must be regarded essentially as the 

 result of his own clinical experiences. Judged from 

 this standpoint, the work is interesting and valuable. 

 As is clearly pointed out in the preface, the task was 

 no easy one; the greater, however, will be the satis- 

 faction of having succeeded in accomplishing it. 



THE GEOLOGY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 

 Memoirs of the Geological Survey, United Kingdom: 

 The Geology of the Isle of Man. By G. W. Lam- 

 plugh, F.G.S., with Petrological Notes by Prof. 

 W. YV. Watts, M.A., F.G.S. Pp. xvi + 620. (His 

 Majesty's Stationery Office.) Price 12s. net. 

 IV T OT only will this memoir, which embodies the ri> 

 -L ^ suits of a recent survey of the Isle of Man by the 

 author, be appreciated by those who are interested in 

 the stratigraphy of the island, but the volume will be 

 equally welcomed by geologists generally for the valu- 

 able additions which it makes to our knowledge of 

 dynamical and glacial geology. 



NO. 1746, VOL. 67] 



The term " Skiddaw Slates," formerly applied to 

 the rocks which form the hilly massif of Manxland, is 

 now wisely abandoned in favour of " Manx Slate 

 Series." Neither top nor bottom of this group is ex- 

 posed, nor is its age certainly known, though Cambrian 

 is suggested. The general structure is held to be most 

 probably of the nature of a synclinorium (Dana) or in- 

 verted fan-structure (Heim) in opposition to the older 

 view that it was an anticline, but the stratigraphical 

 difficulties have not allowed this important point to 

 be definitely established. Worm-tracks are not un- 

 common in some of the beds, but the author thinks 

 that the so-called trilobite and graptolites obtained 

 from the series are more likely to be imitative inor- 

 ganic structures than true fossils. 



When we read that the pebbly-looking tracts in the 

 slates are pseudo-conglomerates, that igneous dykes 

 simulate and have been regarded as interbedded grey- 

 wackes, that truly interbedded grits have acquired an 

 intrusive aspect and seem in some way to be connected 

 with the metamorphism of the adjacent slates, and that 

 earth-movements can also manufacture ripple-marks, 

 oblique lamination, and " graptolites," it is evident 

 that the stratigraphy has presented special difficulties, 

 and that the surveyor has had to exercise extreme cau- 

 tion to avoid committing serious mistakes. 



The effects of earth-movements on the Manx Slates 

 are most interestingly described, though the principal 

 evidence and conclusions are already familiar from 

 Messrs. Lamplugh and Watts 's paper on " The Crush- 

 conglomerates of the Isle of Man," published in 1895. 

 Some additional details are, however, now given. A 

 more suitable term than " crush-conglomerate " is 

 needed. It is liable to be confused with " crushed con- 

 glomerate," and is not sufficiently expressive of the 

 fact that the rocks described were never true con- 

 glomerates. Another term, " autoclastic," introduced 

 by American writers and frequently used in this memoir, 

 might with advantage be changed to " authiclasti. 

 ( = brecciated in situ). 



In the chapter on the Carboniferous Rocks of the 

 Castletown area, the remarkable structures exhibited 

 in the volcanic and associated beds, as originally de- 

 scribed by Mr. Lamplugh in 1900, engage most atten- 

 tion. The details are very carefully and clearly set 

 forth, and the conclusions, though at first startling, 

 appear to be warranted by the evidence. The author 

 claims that, owing to the thrusting of the Carbon- 

 iferous Rocks towards the central massif of the island, 

 interbedded lavas were broken up into blocks and dis- 

 placed, and that fragments of them and of the under- 

 lying limestone were torn off and involved in the-ad- 

 jacent volcanic ash, thus forming an agglomerate- 

 looking rock which is practically an uncrushed " crush- 

 conglomerate." He suspends judgment as to the 

 origin of the limestone " knolls " of the Locality. 



The author takes the view that the Peel Sandstone- 

 are of Lower Carboniferous age, whereas Prof. Boyd 

 Dawkins asserts that they belong to Permian time. The 

 age of these rocks is admitted to be a difficult question, 

 but the two writers are at conflict as to facts which 

 ought not to be in dispute. Thus, Dawkins states 



