128 
NEVO LE 
| DECEMBER 6, 1906 
beds which overlie the great mass of the midland 
Carboniferous Limestone. 
For the next two chapters we have nothing but 
commendation. They deal with the time represented 
by the great gap between the Culm and the Permian | 
rocks. The first is entitled ‘‘ The Great Upheaval,”’ | 
and gives a clear and sufficient account of the post- | 
Carboniferous mountain-ranges which are known as | 
the Hercynian or Armorican system, and of the sub- 
sidiary Pennine range. This is illustrated by a re- 
storation of the physical geography of the British 
area at this time. The succeeding chapter is devoted 
to volcanic rocks, with especial regard to the Carboni- 
ferous and post-Carboniferous volcanoes. 
In the discussion of the Dartmoor granite in chapter 
vii. the author is faced by a problem which has given 
rise to many diverse expressions of opinion. He 
practically adopts the view advocated by the late 
R. N. Worth, and sets himself to show ‘that the 
granite mass of Dartmoor is really the solidified 
upper part of the cooled lava reservoir from which 
the Carboniferous volcanoes of Devon were fed.’’? We 
think he states the case for this theory with somewhat 
of over-confidence, for the dissolving of sedimentary | 
rock in the granitic magma is thought by some to be 
very improbable, and the temperature at 
which the granite solidified is still a dis- 
Cretaceous rocks of Britain respecting the physical 
conditions under which the different parts of the Chalk 
were accumulated. When, therefore, he observes that 
the facts ‘‘ are inconsistent with the idea of a deep 
sea,’’ and assumes that the Chalk (as a whole!) was 
formed ‘‘in a shallow sea perhaps less than 100 
fathoms deep,’’? we can only express our surprise. 
Chapters xii. and xiii. deal with Eocene time, de- 
scribing the ‘‘ Plateau Gravels’”’ and the Bovey 
deposits, which latter the author considers to be es- 
sentially lacustrine, and to have been formed in “ the 
Bovey lake.’’ Chapter xiv., entitled ‘‘ The Rivers of 
Devon,’’ is the most original portion of the book, and 
we only wish that the author had developed this 
subject at greater length. When we say that he 
believes the drainage of the whole of northern and 
central Devon in early Tertiary time to have been 
carried off by one great river flowing eastward, it 
will be obvious that such a supposition raises many 
interesting questions. We are inclined to regard it 
as a very probable theory, but undoubtedly its details 
require fuller consideration than he gives them. 
The modern scenery of the county, how it is partly 
an uncovered Permian surface and partly one carved 
out of an Eocene peneplain, is briefly described in the 
puted point, while the actual evidence for 
the existence of volcanoes over the Dartmoor 
granite is by no means strong. Promin- 
ence is, of course, given to the occurrence 
of peculiar volcanic rocks in the Permian 
breccias, the origin of which is also dealt 
with in this chapter. 
In the chapter on the ‘‘ Salt Lake Period ”’ 
(chapter viii.), an excellent account is given 
of the Devon Trias and of the conditions 
under which its successive beds were de- 
posited, the proofs of its salinity and of 
its barren desert-surroundings being well 
brought out. The illustrations, too, are 
especially good, including photographs of 
“red marl with salt-crystals,’’ ‘‘ the base 
of the Budleigh pebble-bed,’’ and “‘ the tea- 
green marls overlain by the Rhetic 
bone-bed.”’ 
The dawn of Jurassic time and the great 
climatic change produced by the irruption 
of the sea into the salt lake are set forth 
in the opening page of a chapter entitled 
“The Age of Reptiles.’ In this the Lias 
and the Liassic sea are duly described, and the sub- 
sequent sequence of Jurassic rocks is briefly indi- 
cated, with some remarks on the erosion to which 
the surrounding land must have been exposed during 
the whole period, and especially during its closing 
scenes, when the British area was again upraised, and 
the sea retreated far to the south and north-east. 
Under the title ‘‘ The Return of the Sea,’’ chapter 
x. deals with the beginning of the great Cretaceous 
subsidence. The stratigraphy of the Gault and Green- 
sand is briefly but clearly described, and there are 
excellent views of the two cliff sections near Seaton 
Haven cliff and Whitecliff, the former of which we 
have selected as an example. Then follows a chapter 
on ‘“ The Chalk,’? in which the peculiar Devon de- 
velopment of an arenaceous Cenomanian overlain by 
Middle Chalk and a portion of the Upper Chalk is 
fairly well described. We notice, however, that there 
is no mention of the ‘‘ Beer Stone,’’? another Devon 
speciality, which differs greatly from ordinary chalk 
and has been largely used as a building stone from 
Norman times to the present day. 
Mr. Clayden appears to be unaware of the views 
published in the Geological Survey memoir on the 
NO. 1936, VOL. 75] 
Fic. 2.—The 
Crown of the Moor: Yes Tor. From “ The History of Devonshire Scenery.” 
final chapter. Dartmoor also comes in for further 
mention, and its type of scenery is well illustrated, as 
will be seen from the illustration selected. 
In conclusion it may be said that Mr. Clayden has 
succeeded very well in the accomplishment of his 
general intention. The book appeals to a much wider 
circle than the few readers who may be found in 
Devon and Cornwall. It really treats of the whole 
of southern England from Dover to Bude, and should 
be in the hands of all those who are interested in the 
geology and the physical geography of our southern 
counties. 
RAE SUN CIVILISED (COILED 
« HE explanation is rather artistic than scienti- 
fic ’’—so the author admits about what he has 
written on the origin of the ‘‘ couvade.’’ It is a way 
of saying that he has found his explanation does not 
accord with the facts gathered by anthropologists con- 
cerning this custom. Such is the keynote of the 
1 “Savage Childhood: a Study of Kafir Children.” By? Dudley Kidd. 
Pp. xvi + 314. (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1906.) Price 7s. 6d. 
net. 
