Reviews — Nicliolson and LydtMers Palaeontology. 81 



Biology. It is still the fashion with some zoologists of the present 

 day, whose studies are limited to recent organisms exclusively, to 

 regard with lofty scorn the pretensions of palaeontologists to he 

 scientific in their aims and methods; but such pharisaic contempt is 

 certainly undeserved by the present workers in this science, who 

 are not content now, as in former times, with a mere description 

 of the outer forms of fossils, but by means of sections and the 

 microscope endeavour to ascertain all that can be known of the 

 structure and relations of the organisms they study. 



Taking into account the changes produced in fossilization, and the 

 generally fragmentary condition of fossils, the task of the palaeon- 

 tologist in investigating extinct forms is far more difficult than that 

 of the student of recent species, who has perfect materials at his 

 disposal. As a rule, those who are purely zoologists seldom care to 

 meddle with fossils, or, if they do, they frequently give abundant 

 proof that something more than a knowledge of recent organizations 

 is needed to interpret rightly the remains of extinct forms. It is 

 fairly certain, that but for the work of those who have given their 

 entire attention to fossil forms, but little comparatively would now 

 be known of the life of the past, for the zoologist finds abundant 

 recent material waiting for his study, and as this is more attractive 

 and less difficult than the fossil, there is no temptation for him to 

 forsake the recent for the study of past life. 



Returning now to the Manual, we may note as one of the best 

 features in this edition, the consideration given to the minute 

 structure of the different groups of organisms. This, however, is 

 limited to the Invertebrates; for though the microscopic structure of 

 certain of the hard structures of fossil Vertebrates is of considerable 

 importance in determining their affinities, there are no figures given 

 of this in the second volume. It is of the greatest advantage to 

 the student to be able to recognize in sections the nature of the 

 organic fragments of which many rocks are largely composed, and 

 it is sometimes as important to determine whether a rock consists of 

 crustacean, echinodermal, or molluscan remains, as to know the 

 particular genera or species which may be present in it. In this 

 edition we are glad to see good figures of the minute structures of 

 Foraminifera, Corals, Stromatoporoids, Echinoderms, Annelid tubes, 

 Trilobites, etc. Aided by these the student is not likely to refer 

 the plates and teeth of fishes to Stromatoporoids and fossil Sponges — 

 a mistake which has been made in pre-microscopic days. 



In spite of the greatly increased contents of these volumes, it is 

 well to bear in mind the authors' statements that only the leading 

 types of each great group of fossils have been selected for notice 

 and characterization. To the student indeed the number of these 

 leading forms might seem sufficient to embrace all that have been 

 discovered ; but the specialist, who knows something of the extent 

 of his own particular department, is conscious of the great amount 

 of condensation which has been necessary to keep the work within 

 its present limits, and he possibly might find, here and there, 

 reason to regret the brevity with which some subjects have been 



DECADE III. — VOL. VII. NO. II. 6 



