276' Revieics—W. H. Wheeler s Sea- Comt. 



Penrose, 1901, wliose recent observations indicate that the date of 

 the erection of Stonehenge may be about 1680 B.C. Sliort abstracts 

 or summaries of the contents of the different books and papers are 

 given, and the work contains some photographic plates of Avebury 

 and Stonehenge. Every important reference to the subject, scientific 

 and literary, appears to have been noted, as may be judged when 

 we mention that George Borrow's "Lavengro," Hardy's "Tess of 

 the D'Urbervilles," and other worlcs of similar character are included 

 in the Bibliography. Geologists will be interested in the works 

 dealing with the character and origin of the materials used in the 

 " Great Stone Monuments of Wiltshire." The subject is a many- 

 sided one, and all interested will feel gratitude to Mr. Harrison 

 for his laborious and, it is needless to add, most carefully executed 

 work. H. B. W. 



III.— The Sea-Coast. By W. H. Wheeleu, M.Inst.C.E. 8vo ; 

 pp. 361, with 39 illustrations. (London : Longmans, Green, & 

 Co., 1902. Price 10s. Q>d. nett.) 



IN this work the author gives the results of his long experience 

 on the coasts of England, Belgium, and Holland, with especial 

 reference to the protection of the land from the ravages of the sea. 

 As an engineer charged with the design of important works for 

 coast-protection, he has given particular attention to the laws which 

 govern the action of waves breaking on the shore, and the effect 

 produced by them on the beach, and on sea-walls and groynes ; he 

 has likewise devoted much study to the conditions under which 

 material is drifted along the coast. 



In many of the subjects thus dealt with the geologist is more or 

 less interested, especially in the waste on many parts of the coast 

 where " The fight between sea and land is continuous and unceasing." 

 In some localities the cost of preservation of the cliffs may be greater 

 than the value of the land ; but as man is sometimes an agent of 

 destruction it is satisfactory to know that when the removal of beach 

 material is shown to be injurious to the coast, the Board of Trade 

 issues an order prohibiting further material being taken awaj'. 



From a geological point of view sotne of the statements of the 

 author require revision, as they lack clearness. Thus, referring to 

 the flint shingle on the South Coast, he remarks that " Many are 

 quite angular, and are still coated with the white colour of the 

 chalk from which they are derived," having, we presume, the white 

 siliceous crust characteristic of chalk flints. 



Again, there is a vagueness about the sentence " It seems 

 improbable that the extensive banks of shingle at Aldborough and 

 Weybourne, each several miles in length, can have accumulated 

 from any waste of adjacent cliffs now going on. The present source 

 of supply is derived almost entirely from the waste of the cliffs, 

 and the falling on to the beach of gravel originally deposited on 

 their surface at the breaking up of the glacial period." There is 

 much pebbl}^ gravel in the cliffs at Weybourne, and still more in 

 those of Sonthwold and Dunwich, from which supplies have been 



