yiine 20, 1872] 



NATURE 



139 



We regret to be obliged to call attention to these serious 

 defects in what might have been made a useful book. 

 We still more", regret to think that this volume, owing to 

 Mrs. Marcet's excellent name, will find its way into fami- 

 lies and schools ; many will thus gain their only know- 

 ledge of science from a volume which contains not only 

 many obsolete phrases, but which also omits all reference 

 to the conservation of energy or the correlation of the 

 physical forces. W. F. B. 



THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF OHIO 



Geological Survey of Ohio. Report of Progress in 1870, 

 by J. S. Newberry, Chief Geologist, including Reports 

 by the Assistant Geologists, Chemists, and Local Assis- 

 tants. (Columbus : Nevin and Myers, State Printers, 

 1S71, pp. 568.) 



THE labours of Prof. Newberry and his colleagues 

 during the year 1870 have resulted in the accumu- 

 lation of a great many details relating chiefly to the struc- 

 ture of that portion of the great Appalachian Coal-field 

 which extends over a considerable part of Ohio. With- 

 out the aid of a good map it is somewhat difficult to 

 follow the descriptions given in this Report, the nu- 

 merous local references and details having a tendency 

 to bewilder the reader. This, however, is unavoidable 

 under the circumstances ; and those who desire to obtain 

 a full and clear conception of the geological structure of 

 Ohio will have to wait the completion of the map and 

 final report promised by Dr. Newberry, the present 

 volume not pretending to be more than its title implies. 

 Nevertheless, it contains a very large and varied amount 

 of information, which will, no doubt, be duly appreciated 

 by those for whom it has been prepared. Especially 

 noteworthy are the numerous illustrative sections of 

 Carboniferous strata, and analyses of coals, ironstones, 

 fireclays, and soils, as also two ably written sketches " On 

 the Present State of the Manufacture of Iron in Great 

 Britain," and " On the State of the Steel Industry," both 

 of which will repay perusal by those of us here who are 

 interested in these matters. 



Scattered through the purely geological portion of the 

 Report are many points of interest, which arrest attention 

 as one glances over the pages. Thus we are told that " at 

 Zaleski, in mining the Nelsonville coal, a fine boulder of 

 grey quartzite was found half imbedded in the coal, and 

 the other half in the overlying shale. The quartzite is 

 very hard, and the boulder was rounded and worn by 

 friction before it came to the coal." It measured 17 in. 

 by 1 2 in., and had adhering to it in places bits of coal and 

 black slate which showed a slickensided surface. The 

 stone appeared to have settled into the coaf when the 

 latter was in a soft state. Prof. Newberry speculates 

 with diffidence on the possibihty of the boulder having 

 been " brought down by river ice from some higher and 

 colder part of the old continent, which was skirted by 

 the coal-producing lowlands." In connection with this it 

 is somewhat interesting to find that a local deposit of 

 quartz conglomerate occurs here and there underneath 

 and skirting the coal-strata, and is believed by Dr. New- 

 berry to represent an old beach of the period. From 



some such gravel and shingle deposit the boulder may 

 have been transported, but whether by means of ice, 

 water-plant, or land-plant, who shall tell? 



Another exceedingly interesting and readable portion of 

 the Report is the "Agricultural Survey," by Mr. J. H. 

 Klippart, in which the writer discusses, amongst other 

 subjects (such as prairies, forests, &c.), the origin of the 

 soils in certain districts of the State. Those geologists 

 who believe in the former existence during the Glacial 

 epoch of mild interglacial periods will find much here to 

 support their opinion. We are told that the succession of 

 the Drift materials, beginning with the oldest, is as fol- 

 lows : — 



a Glacial drift. 



h Erie clays. 



c Forest bed. 



d Iceberg drift. 



e Alluvium. 



f Peat, calcareous tufa, shell marl. 



The oldest deposit is believed to be the product of land- 

 ice, and the presence of the Erie clays betokens that after 

 the disappearance of the great glaciers, wide sheets of 

 fresh-water overspread some districts of the State. The 

 forest bed (consisting of roots, trunks, branches, and 

 leaves of such trees as sycamore, beech, hickory, and red 

 cedar) shows that by-and-by the fresh-water basins were 

 in some places filled up, and the new soil covered with an 

 abundant forest-growth. After this came a period of de 

 pression, when great deposits of gravel and sand gathered 

 over the surface of the drowned land, and large boulders 

 and erratics were floated by ice from the north. 



These and other matters of interest and importance will, 

 no doubt, be fully treated of in the final report, which is 

 to consist of four volumes, the first two being devoted to 

 the geology and palaeontology of the State, the third to its 

 economic geology, and the fourth to its agriculture, botany, 

 and zoology. A large collection of fossils has been made, 

 many species being new to science. It is to be hoped that 

 the good people of Ohio will not grudge the money that 

 will be required for the adequate representation and 

 description of these remains, but that when published the 

 final report will be found in every way as complete as those 

 admirable works which have been issued by other States 

 of the Union. Professor Newberry seems to have little 

 doubt that it will be so, for he thinks that the value and 

 significance of fossils are coming to be generally appre- 

 ciated. " There are, however," he says, " yet some intelli- 

 gent men, even editors and members of legislature, who 

 cherish the notion that there is nothing which has any 

 value in this world but that thing which has a dollar in it, 

 and that so plainly visible as to be seen by them. Such 

 men, to quote the language of one of them, ' don't care a 

 row of pins for your clams and salamanders, but want 

 something practical.' " This "practical " man must surely 

 have been related to that colonial official who is said to 

 have objected strongly to the expense of " engraved por- 

 traits of extinct bugs and beetles," as he irreverently styled 

 certain Silurian fossils. But the day of such wiseacres has 

 gone past, and it may be confidently expected that Dr. 

 Newberry and his colleagues will have no difficulty in 

 getting the necessary funds voted for the completion of 

 their important Survey, J. G, 



