May 9, 1901J 



NA TURE 



II 



SCOTCH SCENERY AND GEOLOGY.'' 



"T^HE five-and-thiny years which have elapsed since 

 ■•■ the first edition of this work appeared have wit- 

 nessed great advances in certain departments of geology, 

 especially those which are all-important in that of Scot- 

 land. In 1865 the northern and central Highlands were 

 confidently asserted to be metamorphosed Silurian sedi- 

 ments, and the complexities of the southern uplands were 

 unsuspected. Now the secret of the Highlands and the 

 mystery of the Lowlands have been discovered, thanks 

 mainly to Prof. Lapworth, and although riddles yet re- 

 main unsolved in the former, particularly near the 

 southern border, the members of the Survey can work 



omissions, for several points, open to debate in 1S65,. 

 may now be taken for granted ; while on others, opinions 

 then commonly entertained are now repudiated. For 

 mstance, we are no longer told that the greywacke and 

 shale of the southern uplands have been in some places 

 changed into serpentine, felstone or granite. 



But, though many disputed points are now settled, 

 others still remain. Personally, we should not assume 

 that an ice-sheet had crossed from Scandinavia to the 

 eastern coast of England, or had deposited the boulder 

 clay on the northern heights of London ; we should not 

 have left, without fuller discussion, the possibility of the 

 larger lake basins being mainly formed by earth 'flexures 

 after the valleys had been excavated ; nor should we 

 have so readily accepted the parallel roads of 

 Lochaber as produced on the shores of lakes the 

 waters of which were retained by dams of ice. 

 But time will settle these disputes, as it has 

 settled, during the last quarter of a century, 

 differences yet more fundamental. Enough to- 

 say that the new edition of " The Scenery oS 



-Erect Coniferous 



1 basalt, Grilon, Isle of MulU- 



with confidence on their leading principles of interpreta- 

 tion. Even since 18S7, the date of the second edition, 

 no small advances have been made, so that we are not 

 surprised to read that the present edition has been 

 thoroughly revised and considerably enlarged. Since 

 the first one, in fact, the greater part of the book has 

 been rewritten, and so much new matter incorporated 

 that we soon lose our way in trying to compare the two 

 volumes page by page. In some respects there are 



I "The Scenerj- of Scotland viewed in Connection with its Physical 

 Geology." By Sir Archibald Geikie. Third edition. With four maps and 

 numerous illustrations. Pp. .\xii -f 540. (London : Macmillan and Co. 

 Ltd., 1901.) Priceioj.net. 



Scotland " ought to be the companion of every- 

 one who does not visit the country merely to 

 kill animals or to say he has been there. The 

 itineraries at the end, with their references to 

 the volume, and the four maps, bringing out so 

 clearly the geology and physical features, will 

 teach the traveller, pleasantly and as easily as 

 may be, to interpret the works of nature in that 

 wonderful land. 



The excellent illustrations — much more numerous and 

 far better executed than those in- the first edition — of 

 which we give specimens, will greatly help the learner. 

 Besides this, the book, though so much enlarged, has 

 not lost its original literary charm. We have always con- 

 sidered the first edition to rise even beyond the high level 

 which the author is wont to maintain, and so took up this 

 with some apprehension that, as often happens in real 

 life, the child had lost its beauty in growing up. A 

 change there has been ; the book has reached its full 

 stature but retains its attractiveness, while it has increased 

 in power. Hence, in congratulating Sir Archibald Geikie 



NO. 1645, VOL. 64] 



