474 Reviews—A. J. Jukes-Browne—Building of British Isles. 
Thus the story of the “ Building of the British Isles ” involves to 
a considerable extent the history of most of the geological formations. 
To write a book of this kind successfully requires peculiar qualifica- 
tions, and certainly no one is entitled to attempt the task who does 
not possess a tolerably intimate acquaintance with the geology of 
Western Europe, a fair share of the imaginative faculty and good 
literary abilities. To these it will be generally conceded that the 
author may fairly lay claim, and we must now proceed to consider 
what use he has made of them in the work before us. 
The study of geographical evolution has had many votaries, both 
in this and in other countries. The early efforts of Godwin-Austen 
in this direction have been singularly confirmed by the deep borings 
made of late years in the Eastern and Midland Counties. Indeed, 
it is the frequency with which the Neozoic rocks have been probed in 
so many localities—mostly in search of water, more rarely to find 
coal—which enables the modern geologist to lay down with tolerable 
accuracy the suberranean surface of the Palaeozoic rocks. We have 
a good summary of these results, as applied to a certain line of 
country, in the diagram-section (p. 115), from the valley of the 
Severn to the valley of the Lea. [N.B.—A more clearly defined 
sea-level line would improve this section.] The information thus 
acquired provides the means by which it is possible to reconstruct 
the Mesozoic geography of a large part of England with a tolerable 
degree of probability. ‘There is just one terrible factor in the 
account which must present itself to every one who attempts geo- 
graphical restoration from geological data, viz. the imperfection of 
the geological record. This the author admits with a candour which 
is in good keeping with the general sobriety of the book. “In 
some instances,” he says, “the facts which are known suggest 
different inferences to different minds, and there are several cases 
in which different views are held with regard to a certain area 
having been above or below water during a certain period. In such 
cases I have carefully examined the different views which have been 
taken by those who have written on the subject, before selecting that 
which appeared to be the most probable interpretation of the facts.” 
The plan of the book is as follows. He gives a summary of the 
stratigraphical evidence of each period, followed by a geographical 
restoration, which is further exemplified by a map, in which the 
present outline of the British Isles is indicated by a red line, whilst 
horizontal blue lines represent the area which is supposed to have 
been covered by water during the successive periods. There are fifteen 
of such maps, plates xii. xiii. and xiv. being drawn on a smaller 
scale so as to include Iceland and parts of the west coast of the 
Continent and Norway. The following periods are recognized :—The 
Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Old Red or Devonian, Carboniferous, 
Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Hantonian (Hocene and 
Oligocene), Icenian I. (Miocene and Pliocene), Icenian II. (Pleisto- 
cene). Then follows a summary of the geographical evolution of 
the British Isles, and in the last chapter he discusses the theory of 
the permanence of oceans and continents. 
