478 Reviews — Prof. Cole's Open-air Studies. 



of fimdanaental knowledge be must acquire. This very chapter is 

 one that may repel a general reader whose enthusiasm has not 

 already been kindled, and who desires only to know the leading 

 objects and conclusions of geological enquiry ; but as no sound 

 knowledge can be acquired without application, the earnest student 

 will do well to master this preliminary lesson (with the aid of 

 specimens) before he engages in the more inviting open-air studies. 



Once in the field the student is led on to "a mountain hollow" 

 to witness the work of glaciers, and " down the valley " to examine 

 the work of springs and rivers. He is taken more or less rapidly 

 from one country to another "along the seashore" and "across the 

 plains." He passes from the " dead volcanoes " of Auvergne and 

 other regions to " a granite highland," and then to the volcanic 

 mountains of Skye. He is given a rapid and consequently meagre 

 account of " the Annals of the Earth," of its main epochs, and their 

 rocks and fossils. Then " the Surrey Hills " are visited, and many 

 particulars are given of the Cretaceous rocks, as a sample of what 

 might be said with respect to other strata and their fossils. 



The author introduces a table showing the foreign divisions with 

 which some of our English foi'mations are correlated ; but such 

 names as Urgonian for Atherfield Clay, and Genomanian for Upper 

 Greensand and Lower Chalk, if used at all in this country, are for 

 the Museum and not for the Field. In their broad usage they 

 apply to minor epochs of time rather than to formations ; and the 

 author rightly employs the local stratigraphical terms in his field- 

 lessons. But why separate Gault from Upper Greensand in so 

 marked a way as to put the former into Lower and the latter into 

 Upper Cretaceous ? 



A study of the Weald leads on to a study of " the folds of 

 mountains," and to lessons on the results of earth-movements and 

 attendant phenomena. 



The nine chapters dealing with open-air studies thus cover a good 

 deal of ground, and form a fitting introduction to the principles of 

 geology. Writing in a pleasant and familiar style, that reminds us 

 not a little of "The Gamekeeper at Home," the author shows him- 

 self so enthusiastic a lover of Nature that his work cannot fail to 

 arouse keen interest in geology. We would commend it to all 

 beginners, and to the " Home Eeading Union," for although there 

 may be a little too much of detail, here and there, to please every- 

 body, yet the explanations are lucid, and the. narrative is for the 

 most part attractive enough, even if it be discursive. We would 

 commend it also to advanced students and teachers, for they would 

 surely freshen up their knowledge on many a subject, whether it 

 be on salt-lakes or volcanic phenomena, chalk-flints, or pressure- 

 metamorphism. The beginner, let us hope, after reading this book, 

 will be tempted to proceed to more systematic works, and although 

 in the fuller records he will find the facts not embedded in quite so 

 picturesque a matrix, yet the fascinating Open-air Studies of Prof. 

 Cole will have given the subject a glow of animation, which will be 

 fostered and developed by actual work in the field. 



