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THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 1883 
GEIKTE’S GEOLOGY 
Geological Sketches at Home and Abroaa. 
Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S. With fllustrations. 
and New York: Macmillan and Co., 1882.) 
Text-Book of Geology. By Archibald Geikie, LL.D., 
F.R.S. With Illustrations. (London: Macmillan and 
Co., 1882.) 
HESE two works, by the same author, are presented 
to the public at nearly the same time, but there is 
no other reason why they should be described together. 
The first is a collection of short papers, each presenting 
some matter of personal observation or some contribution 
to geological philosophy. The second exhibits the science 
of geology in a systematic way, and of necessity deals 
chiefly with the results of the work of others. The first 
is addressed to the general reader, and in part to the 
geologist ; the second is addressed specifically to the 
student. 
The sketches of the first volume are not new, but are 
here collected for the first time. Several of them received 
their first publication as magazine articles, others have 
been presented to scientific societies, and a few have 
taken the form of lectures. They constitute but a small 
portion of the author’s voluminous contributions to scien- 
tific literature, and have evidently been selected because 
of their popular interest. A few are addressed to the 
popular audience only, and merely present some of the 
elements of stratigraphical and dynamical geology, with 
familiar Scottish scenes as texts ; but the majority embody 
original contributions to knowledge, couched in so simple 
language that the layman reads them without being fully 
aware that they belong to the frontier of geological thought. 
Prof. Geikie possesses the happy faculty of addressing 
himself simultaneously to a professional and an unpro- 
fessional audience in such way that the former do not 
find his science too dilute nor the latter too condensed. 
One of the sketches describes a journey to central 
France, undertaken for the purpose of studying the ex- 
tinct volcanoes of that region as an aid to the imagination 
in restoring the condition of Scotland during the Car- 
boniferous period ; and another describes a journey to 
Norway with the parallel purpose of rendering vivid the 
mental restoration of Scotland in Glacial times. These 
two are perhaps the most instructive of the collection, for 
besides making definite additions to the geological] history 
of Scotland, they present admirable illustrations of one of 
the most valuable methods of scientific investigation. 
The principles which distinguish modern scientific re- 
search are not easily communicated by precept, and it is 
by no means certain that they have yet been correctly 
formulated. However it may be in the future it is certain 
that in the past they have been imparted, and for the 
present they must be imparted, from master to pupil 
chiefly by example ; and whoever in publishing the result 
of a scientific inquiry sets forth at the same time the pro- 
cess by which it was attained, contributes doubly to the 
cause of science. 
Two chapters are devoted to a journey in the United 
States; a journey undertaken, like the others, for a 
VOL. Xxvil.—No. 689 
By Archibald 
(London 
definite purpose—that of enabling the author to see 
with his own eyes the monuments of erosion for which 
the Rocky Mountain region is soillustrious. His account 
deals also with a variety of geological topics, as well as 
with the peculiar aspects of American frontier life. He 
describes the geysers of the Yellowstone country, some of 
the extinct glaciers of the head-waters of the Missouri, 
the parallel shore-lines of the great extinct lake of Utah, 
and the great lava field of the Snake River Plain. In 
another chapter he appears as the apostle of massive 
eruptions, first recognised by Richthofen, and afterwards 
by many American geologists, but so foreign to European 
experience, that the accounts of them had seemed to 
many English geologists to border on the marvellous. 
and had even thrown discredit upon American science, 
Perhaps the most important paper of all is that upon 
geographical evolution. It was originally read to the 
Royal Geographical Society, and has received in various 
ways so wide a publication, that it is probably accessible 
already to the majority of the readers of NATURE. The 
lecture on the weathering of rocks, as illustrated by tomb- 
stones, is also included, and a lecture on the geological 
influences which have affected the course of British 
history. 
In the whole collection there is nothing polemic, nor 
anything that could even be called controversial. Atten- 
tion is never directed to an error, exceptas the merest 
incident to pointing out that which is true. No words 
are given to the censure of others, but many to their 
praise, and one of the chapters has for its theme a eulogy 
on the work of the early Scottish school of geology. 
The style is peculiarly genial and entertaining—a merit 
unfortunately rare in the writings of modern geologists ; 
but accuracy of statement is not sacrificed to vivacity. 
As in all his writings, there is nothing sensational, either 
in description or in speculation. His inductions are not 
expanded into brilliant, universal theories, but are niodestly 
advanced with all those limitations which impress them- 
selves on the mind of one who constantly questions 
nature. 
Turning now to the text-book, we come to consider a 
work of greater importance, and one especially deserving 
of careful criticism by reason of its relation to education. 
The text-books of this generation must furnish to the 
geologists of the next their fundamental principles, so 
that those who prepare them and those who commend 
them are responsible, not merely to the youth of to-day, 
but to the science of the future. z 
There are four features in regard to which a work 
designed for geological instruction should be scrutinised : 
Its scope, the arrangement of its matter, the quality of 
its matter, the manner of presentation. 
In the scope of geological text-books, on the range o 
subjects considered and the relative space allotted to 
each, there has been a progressive development, parallel 
with and dependent upon the evolution of geology and 
cognate sciences. Our knowledge of the earth’s history 
is so dependent upon and interwoven with other depart- 
ments of knowledge, that a clear presentation of it cannot 
be made without either reciting the elements of other 
sciences or assuming them to be known. In the early 
history of the subject, when the volume of geological ma- 
terial was smiall, and when the elements of zoology, 
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