April 3. 1902J 



NA TURE 



507 



stead of '■^ insiiiiosum," as, from his own showing, it 

 ~.hould be. Similarly, the bacillus of hog cholera, the 

 /i. suipestifer, Kruse, becomes the B. Salmoni ; the 

 organism of chicken cholera the B. cholerae ; Koch's 

 comma bacillus of cholera Microspira comma, &c. 



In a work which as a whole is so excellent, it would be 

 invidious to criticise minor points, and the following re- 

 marks should therefore be regarded as suggestions for 

 amendment in a future edition. 



The description of the Bacillus enieritidiSy Gartner, is 

 too brief, and this organism does not ferment lactose. 

 .All peritrichic forms are indicated by a "B" in heavy 

 type. Those which are presumably so, but about which 

 there is no definite information, are designated by a " 13 " 

 in lighter type ; the distinction between the two letters 

 should be made more marked. The B. Welchii and 

 B. cmphysematosum (p. 183) are, according to Welch, 

 identical. In places the terminology needs revision, e.g. 

 M. ec^etnae (p. 86) and M. epidermis (p. 62). The re- 

 viewer has searched in vain for any mention of the 

 Aficrococcus metitensis. 



While the index is a very full one, it might be yet more 

 complete with advantage — for example, in all cases both 

 the ordinary name and the one adopted should be given, 

 but this is not done. Anyone searching for the M. agilis 

 would not find it unless he knew that the organism was 

 flagellated and belonged to the genus Planococcus. 

 There is no reason why "Bacterium" should be indexed 

 before " Bacillus." The B. acrogenes capsulafus is wrongly 

 indexed (p. 269, instead of p. 183). The work concludes 

 with a glossary of terms and a short bibliography. 

 As regards the latter, one reference reads "Trevisan-de- 

 Toni, &c." ; it should be"Trevisan (t«(/deToni in, &c." 

 Moreover, another work by Trevisan, " Gen. e spec, delle 

 Batteriace;e " ( 1 889), although frequently alluded to in the 

 text, is not mentioned in the bibliography. 



R. T. Hewlett. 



STRATIGRAPHICAL GEOLOGY. 



The Studenfs Handbook of Stratigraphical Gcolot^y. 

 By A. J. Jukes-Browne, B.A., F.G^S. Pp. xii -t- 589. 

 (London : Edward Stanford, 1902.) Price I2j-. net. 



AS stated in the author's preface, "this volume is 

 based upon the ' Student's Handbook of Historical 

 Geology ' published by Messrs. G. Bell and Sons, and 

 may be regarded as a second edition of that book." It 

 has been entirely rewritten, however, and brought up 

 to date ; moreover, the alterations and additions are so 

 numerous and important that to describe it without 

 qualification merely as a second edition of that work is, 

 we think, to give a wrong impression of its increased 

 merits. 



The former book, which was published in 1886, was in 

 most respects an excellent work and contained a surpris- 

 ing amount of information ; but, in our opinion, it had a 

 serious defect. It was somewhat lacking in interest, dry, 

 and not very readable. Fortunately for the student, this 

 fault, which it is very difficult, often impossible, to avoid 

 when, as in this case, the information to be imparted 

 consists in the main of the statement of a host of details, 

 has in the present volume been largely remedied ; and 

 the author is to be congratulated upon the manner in 

 NO. 1692, VOL. 65J 



which, while greatly augmenting the number of recorded 

 facts, he has succeeded in maintaining the general interest 

 of his subject. 



Of the eighteen chapters which comprise the text of 

 the volume, the first four deal with the principles in- 

 volved in the science of stratigraphy. They follow the 

 same general plan as was previously adopted. The fifth, 

 however, is quite an innovation. It gives information 

 to the student as to the principal works on general 

 stratigraphy which are available in this country, and as 

 to the facilities which exist for ascertaining what has 

 been published, in the way of maps and special treatises, 

 concerning the stratigraphical geology of any district in 

 the British Isles of which he may wish to acquire a 

 deeper knowledge. It should prove especially useful to 

 students who are self-taught. 



The remaining chapters are devoted to the study of 

 the several geological systems, which are taken, as 

 before, in the ascending order. The nomenclature 

 adopted for the systems is simple and satisfactory. The 

 substitution of the terms Palaeogene and Neogene, 

 originally suggested by Hojrnes for the Tertiary systems 

 and now widely employed on the continent, in place of 

 the terms Hantonian and Icenian used in the first edition, 

 is, we think, an improvement in terminology. The 

 chapters dealing with the PaUeozoic systems have been 

 very considerably expanded, with the result that these 

 systems now receive a fairer share of attention than was 

 the case in the first edition. 



The author has adopted a capital plan of placing the 

 literature-references at the end of each chapter, where, 

 with the addition of such others as are necessary to 

 make the list tolerably complete, they constitute a most 

 useful bibliographical index of the subject dealt with in 

 the chapter. 



The main bulk of the book treats of British strati- 

 graphy. Such accounts as are given of foreign rock- 

 groups are comparatively short, and, except in a few 

 special cases, are confined to those of the European con- 

 tinent. This, to some extent, limits the use and value of 

 the book ; but to us it seems that the author has done 

 well to make his description of foreign strata quite sub- 

 ordinate to that of beds at home which every student has 

 the opportunity of seeing and examining in the field for 

 himself. In order to have included a satisfactory treat- 

 ment both of British and foreign stratigraphy it would 

 have been necessary to increase the size of the volume to 

 such an extent that its cost would be prohibitive to most 

 of those for whom it is especially written. 



One of the greatest improvements in the book in its 

 new form is the addition of a number of sketch-maps 

 illustrating the geology of many of the more specially 

 interesting districts in England and Wales. These, 

 which are in part derived from previous publications 

 and in part have been prepared for the work, from the 

 maps of the Geological Survey, are clearly and effectively 

 drawn, and greatly facilitate a ready comprehension of 

 the text. The author's suggestion that the student 

 should tint them with suitable washes of colour is a good 

 one ; the exercise intelligently carried out, besides en- 

 hancing the value of the diagrams, should also serve to 

 impress the geology of each district more permanently 

 upon his mind. 



