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argues that the existing distribution of land is so extremely 
irregular—such an undue proportion being near the poles, 
while there is such a deficiency at the equator and in 
the south temperate zone—that whatever differences may 
have occurred in past time, they can hardly fail to have often 
been such as to cause a more uniform climate. Therefore he 
believes that if the poles were tolerably free from land, so as 
to admit of the uninterrupted circulation of the warmer equa- 
torial waters and to afford no lodgment for great accumula- 
tions of snow and ice,a glacial epoch would be impossible 
even during the most extreme phases of excentricity. 
We have now much evidence to show that three distinct 
modifications in physical geography occurred just before or 
during the Glacial epoch, which would each tend to lower the 
temperature. The first is the submergence of the Sahara, 
which would have caused the southerly winds to be charged 
with aqueous vapour, condensing on the Alps into snow in- 
stead of being, as now, dry and heated and acting powerfully 
to melt the glaciers. The second is the submergence of 
Lapland, which would have admitted the cold iceberg-laden 
waters of the Arctic Sea into the very heart of Europe. 
The third is the probable submergence of part of Central 
America, causing the Gulf Stream to be diverted into the 
Pacific. The only proof of this is the fact that one-third 
of the known species of marine fishes are absolutely 
identical on the two sides of the isthmus of Panama; but 
it is impossible to conceive any means by which such an 
amount of identity could have been brought about except 
by a recent, if only a temporary, communication. A sub- 
sidence and elevation no greater than what occurred in 
Wales about the same time—as proved by Arctic shells of 
existing species in drift 1,300 feet above the sea—would 
have effected the communication by a broad and deep 
channel. Now if any two of these changes of physical 
geography occurred together, we may be sure that a very 
small increase of excentricity would have led to a more 
severe glacial epoch than would be possible, under existing 
conditions, with a much larger excentricity. We must 
keep this in mind when attempting to fix the most pro- 
bable date for the last glacial epoch. A. R. WALLACE 
FARADAY 
The Life and Letters of Faraday. By Dr. Bence Jones. 
Two vols. 8vo. (Longmans, 1869.) 
i 
none but Apelles was fit to paint Alexander, where 
shall we find a biographer worthy of Faraday? 
Shortly after his death, many sketches of his character 
and work appeared, among which that of De la Rive may 
be specially mentioned. These were succeeded by Tyn- 
dall’s two Friday evening discourses on “ Faraday as a 
Discoverer,” which were afterwards embodied in an ad- 
mirable little book, Buta more complete biography was 
wanted, and the question was frequently asked, “ Who 
understood him sufficiently well to draw his portrait?” 
Eventually it was rumoured that the materials had been 
placed in the hands of Dr. Bence Jones. First there 
appeared an unusually long obituary notice in the Pro- 
ceedings of the Royal Society, consisting of little else 
than a catalogue of the papers published, lectures deli- 
vered, reports written and honours won by the great 
philosopher in each year during half a century ; showing 
that Dr. Jones had a rare collection of interesting docu- 
ments, so as to whet our appetite for the coming work. 
Now it is before us—“ The Life and Letters of Faraday” 
—in two goodly octavo volumes. 
The preface tells us what we are to expect : not a com- 
plete likeness either of the man or of the philosopher ; but 
a kind of “ autobiography ”—for, as the author truly says, 
“from his letters, his laboratory note-books, his lecture- 
books, his Trinity-house and other manuscripts, I have 
arranged the materials for a memorial of Faraday in the 
simplest order, with the least connecting matter.” The 
very abundance of that material was a source of embar- 
rassment, and the necessity for omissions seems to have 
been felt more strongly as the work advanced ; so that 
while very nearly half the first volume is devoted to three 
years of Faraday’s life—when he was between twenty and 
twenty-three years of age and before his “ earlier scientific 
education at the Royal Institution” commenced—the latter 
years of his life are so rapidly passed over, that some of 
his latest scientific work—for instance, the adjustment of 
apparatus in lighthouses—is not even alluded to. 
An autobiography has great advantages, especially when 
it is, as in this instance, an unconscious one ; but it is not 
without its defects. It gives a picture only from one 
point of view, and Faraday was too modest always to do 
himself justice. We want to know what impressions other 
people formed of him, and those who have enjoyed his 
company would wish to find, in the book, some reflex of 
his own brightness, some of those characteristic anecdotes 
which are told in scientific circles. The best, almost the 
only sketch of this kind in the book, is by one of his 
nieces, Miss Reid, who gives charming details of her 
uncle’s treatment of her when a little girl, and of his 
habits both at work and play. Tyndall’s book, though 
professing to describe Faraday only as a discoverer, gives 
a far more vivid impression of the man. I propose at 
some time to write down my own reminiscences of him ; 
but at present there is not room to deal with more than 
the way in which heis presented to the world in the “ Life 
and Letters.” 
The career of Michael Faraday was marked by steady 
progress rather than by striking events ; there were few 
changes in his life save such as rose naturally from his 
increasing knowledge and ever-growing fame. We find 
him born in London in 1791, of poor parents, taught little 
more than the rudiments of reading, writing, and arith- 
metic; beginning active life as an errand-boy at a 
bookseller’s in Blandford Street, and shortly afterwards 
apprenticed to a bookbinder. Here, however, we see him 
taking every opportunity of gaining knowledge, making 
experiments in natural science, and presently, on intro- 
ducing himself to the notice of Davy, obtaining the post 
of assistant in the laboratory of the Royal Institution. 
That was in March 1813. His travels with Sir Humphrey 
about the Continent, fora year anda half, are minutely 
described in copious extracts from his diary and his 
letters home: we see here how he came into contact with 
many other bright intellects, and learned what to copy 
and what to avoid. In 1816, at the City Philosophical 
Society, he gave his first lecture, and, in the Quarterly 
Fournal of Science, he published his first paper 
—on native caustic lime—the beginning, in each case, 
of a series which for many years delighted and 
instructed his contemporaries. In 1821 commenced his 
happy domestic life, through his marriage with Miss Sarah 
