NATURE 



385 



THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1886 



FRESTWICH'S "GEOLOGY" 

 Geology: Chemical, Physical, and Siratigraphical. By 

 Joseph Prestwich, M.A., F.R.S., F.G.S., Correspondent 

 of the Institute of France, Professor of Geology in the 

 University of Oxford. \'ol. I. Chemical and Physical. 

 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 18S6.) 

 'T^HE last few years have been signalised in the annals 

 of geological science by the publication of a number 

 of excellent treatises and students' text-books. Not to 

 mention the appearance of new editions, admirably brought 

 up to date, of such deservedly popular works as Dana's 

 " Manual of Geology," and Credner's " Elemente der 

 Geologie," and of the " Geology for Students and General 

 Readers" of Prof. Green, which is unfortunately still in- 

 complete, we have the revisions of Lyell's " Students' Ele- 

 ments of Geology " by Prof. P. M. Duncan, and of Phillips' 

 " Manual of Geology" by Prof Seeley and Mr. Etheridge, 

 in which last the additions and alterations are so numerous 

 as to make it practically a new work ; among text-books 

 altogether new must be especially noticed the valuable 

 and almost encyclopedic treatises of Dr. Archibald Geikie 

 and Prof, de Lapparent — the necessity for works of this 

 class being shown by the fact that in the course of less than 

 four years they have both reached a second edition. .As 

 compared with all these works, however, the new treatise 

 by Prof. Prestwich will be found to cover a somewhat dif- 

 ferent ground, and indeed to occupy a perfectly unique 

 position among them. It deserves, therefore, to be re- 

 garded from another point of view, and to be judged by a 

 somewhat different standard from any of them. Its 

 author is the acknowledged Nestor of British geology 

 and it may be safely affirmed that no living geologist has 

 contributed in a greaterdegree to the advance of the science 

 by his important original researches. More than fifty years 

 have elapsed since his first original contribution to geologi- 

 cal science was published, and from that date forward his 

 activity has been ceaseless ; it is worthy of remark, that 

 while his earliest papers were occupied with the descrip- 

 tion of some of the oldest formations — the Tild Red Sand- 

 stone of Banffshire, and the Carboniferous of Coalbrook- 

 dale — his later researches have been devoted to the 

 Tertiary and post-Tertiary deposits. But among the 

 writings of Prof. Prestwich will be found some of the most 

 philosophical contributions to geological literature — 

 among which may be especially cited his memoirs on the 

 circulation of underground waters, on the thickness and 

 extension of deep-seated rock-masses, and on the age and 

 relations of the deposits which have yielded the oldest 

 known relics of the human race. A genera! survey of the 

 wide fields of geological science, by one so especially 

 qualified to undertake the task, may be expected to be of 

 the greatest interest and value ; and the expectation is 

 not disappointed by the work now before us. 



Upon the death of Prof. Phillips, the University of Oxford, 

 in seeking for a worthy successor to that erudite and versa- 

 tile geologist, wisely determined to invite Mr. Prestwich to 

 accept the vacant Chair. His able inaugural disserta- 

 tion on " The Past and Future Work of Geology," which was 

 published in 1875 (see Nature, vol. xi. pp. 290 and 315), 

 Vol. xxxiii,— No. 852 



sufficiently informed the world of the position with regard 

 to the different schools of geological philosophy which the 

 new Oxford Professor was prepared to take up. In the 

 present work we find his matured conceptions of the sub- 

 ject, tested in the best possible manner as to their mode 

 of presentation, by having been made the basis of a 

 number of successive courses of University teaching. 

 Every geologist will turn with interest to these pages, and 

 even where they feel compelled to difler from the conclu- 

 sions arrived at by their author, will render a just homage 

 to the great learning and the judicious thought which are 

 everywhere conspicuous in them. 



In the plan of the work, we think Prof. Prestwich has 

 shown the soundest judgment. After a brief introduction 

 treating of the objects and methods of the science, the 

 author proceeds to " give the reader a general sketch of 

 the nature and distribution of the materials with which 

 the geologist has most commonly to deal ; " by the avoid- 

 ance at the outset of difficult and doubtful questions of 

 cosmology, and by reserving those "theoretical questions 

 connected with cosmical and physical phenomena, which 

 relate to the evolution of the globe and historical geology " 

 to the end of the work, he best consults the needs of 

 students — leading them up gradually from a survey of 

 what is simple and known to a consideration of what is 

 complex and unknown. 



The two chapters dealing with chemistry, mineralogy, 

 and petrography, large portions of which are printed in 

 small type as being unnecessary for the general reader, 

 would have proved more satisfactory if the author had 

 been more fortunate in the selection of his authorities. 

 Recent researches in those departments of science have 

 been so numerous and of such importance, that few 

 geologists would regard the " Gesternlehre" of Cotta, or 

 the rehabilitation of Cordier's work by Charles D'Orbigny, 

 as affording a sound basis for a summary of the present 

 state of knowledge on these subjects. 



But when the author comes to a discussion of the results 

 of the decompositionoftheigneousandmetamorphic rocks, 

 he is dealing with questions to which he has evidently 

 devoted a large amount of personal study, and his own 

 observations are of the highest value, while his cita- 

 tions from the works of other authors, are in nearly all 

 cases of a very judicious character. The line of argument 

 adopted in the work is necessarily interrupted for a time 

 by the necessity for giving some account of the " place 

 and range of past life," and here, as in the chapters deal- 

 ing with minerals and rocks, the author has perhaps not 

 consistently followed the best guides. But in the chapters 

 on the formation of sedimentary strata, on the relations 

 of littoral and deep-sea deposits, and on meteorological 

 agencies and the circulation of underground waters, we 

 recognise the hand of a master ; and these portions of the 

 work will be found to be worthy of the most careful study. 

 In the very excellent chapter on ice and ice-action, we find 

 many quotations from recent authorities on the subject ; 

 and some very interesting illustrations and descriptions 

 are taken from Kane's " Voyages." 



In the chapter on volcanoes, the author explains the 

 theory which he first broached at the York meeting of the 

 British Association, and which he has since elaborated in 

 a paper read before the Royal Society. Upon this sub- 

 ject, as well as upon numerous others discussed in the 



