306 Notices of Memoirs — The Geological Survey. 



Summary of Progress of the Geological Survey for 1897. 

 By Sir A. Geikie, D.Sc, D.C.L., LL.D., F.E.S., F.G.S., Director- 

 General, 8vo ; pp. 176. (London : Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1898. 

 Price Is.) 



Introduction. 



AS no official publication up to the present time has given an 

 account of the origin, history, organization, methods, and aims 

 of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom, advantage is 

 taken of the opportunity offered by the preparation of the present 

 Summary of Progress to prefix an Introductory Section, in which 

 these particulars may be specially set forth. 



The objects for which the Geological Survey is carried on are 

 of a twofold character, scientific and practical. It is charged 

 with the preparation of a detailed map of the United Kingdom, 

 in which the geological structure of every district is worked out, 

 the boundaries and limits of the various rocks and superficial 

 deposits are traced, and the outcrop of each important seam or vein 

 is represented. Such a map forms the basis for an exact knowledge 

 of the geology of the country, and is thus of fundamental value 

 in the interests of pure science. It is also intimately connected 

 with many of the most important questions of every-day life. Thus, 

 by discriminating and delineating the different kinds of superficial 

 deposits and subsoils, the map provides a basis for the solution of 

 some of the chief problems in agriculture. It aifords information 

 which is absolutely necessary in questions of water-supply, drainage, 

 and other sanitary matters. It supplies data i-equired by the engineer 

 in constructing roads and railways, by the architect in providing 

 materials for new buildings, by the mining surveyor in determining 

 the position of new pits and mines. 



Besides preparing the map, the Geological Survey constructs 

 detailed sections explanatory of the geological structure of the 

 country ; also memoirs descriptive of the geology of the districts 

 represented on the sheets of the map, and larger monographs 

 illustrative of the various geological formations of Britain. It 

 collects specimens of the minerals, rocks, and fossils of each of 

 the three kingdoms, arranges and describes them, and displays 

 them to the public in the Museums in London, Edinburgh, and 

 Dublin. 



Besides its contributions to the progress of geology as a science, 

 the Survey from the very beginning of its existence has kept in 

 view the general utility of its operations. It has been constantly 

 called upon by the various public Departments. to furnish information 

 in regard to the practical application of geology. The general 

 public, also, has continually sought assistance of a similar kind. 

 Each of the three offices in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin has 

 become a centre of reference for information and advice on questions 

 in which a knowledge of the geology of the country is requisite. 



The following introductory pages contain (1) a brief narrative 

 of the origin and progress of the Geological Survey and of the 



