244 



3u flDcmoriam. 



THOMAS MELLARD READE, F.G.S. 



We regret to record the death of one of our oldest contribu- 

 tors, Thomas Mellard Reade, which recently took place at his 

 residence, Blundellsands, Liverpool, at the age of seventy- 

 seven. Mr. Reade was a civil engineer, and in connection with 

 his work in the Liverpool district, he had many opportunities 

 of studying the more recent geological strata. He was a 

 voluminous writer, there being about two hundred papers to 

 his credit, mostly dealing with glacial and post-glacial deposits. 

 He was one of the leading supporters of the old idea of the 

 marine origin of Boulder clay ; probably he was one of the last 

 to actively support that theory. 



His most important treatise appeared in 1886 on ' The Origin 

 of Mountain Ranges considered Experimentally, Structurally, 

 Dynamically, and in Relation to their Geological History.' 

 This was followed in 1903 by ' The Evolution of Earth Structure 

 with a Theory of Geomorphic Changes.' He became a Fellow 

 of the Geological Society in 1872, and was awarded its Mur- 

 chison medal in i8g6. He took an active interest in the Liver- 

 pool Geological Society, occupying its Presidential chair on 

 three occasions. 



T. S. 

 ♦♦ 



A Survey and RecDtd of Woolwich and West Kent. Woolwich, 1909. 

 526 pp. 



This volume recalls the excellent handbook compiled in con- 

 nection with the British Association at Glasgow a few years ago. It 

 contains an account of the geology, botany, zoology, archaeology, etc., of 

 the Woolwich area ; the major portion being devoted to carefully-compiled 

 lists of species of animals and plants. The original intention was that the 

 handbook should be prepared for the twelfth annual Congress of the 

 South-Eastern Union of Scientific Societies, held at Woolwich in 1907. 

 Some sample pages only were ready by that time, however; and now, 

 nearly two years after the Congress, the handbook is ready. The delay, 

 it seems, could not be helped, and undoubtedly the volume is much more 

 comprehensive and complete than it would have been. The general 

 editors are Messrs. C. H. Grinling, T. A. Ingham and the late B. C. Polking- 

 horne, and amongst the many contributors we notice such well-known 

 names as W. Whitaker, A. E. Salter and J. W. Tutt. The book does not 

 profess to be complete, and the editors ask for particulars of omissions from 

 this ' preliminary edition.' We would like to draw attention to the omission 

 of the ' survey of surveys, and a sketch of work waiting to be done,' said 

 to appear in a ' final chapter.' There is a long list of errata, but it is not 

 complete. The second word ' Additions ' should be ' Remarks ' on the 

 heads of pp. 457-9, and 461. The indexes are particularly complete and 

 useful, and, on the whole, the book is a valuable record. 



