^2 Reviews — E. Dale's Peak of Berbf/shire. 



these beds, and a fairly large fauna, very widely spread, is to be 

 found in them. 



Chap, iv (pp. 60-84), on the Millstone Grit, strikes us as one of 

 the best parts of the book, and included in it we find a brief account 

 of the evolution of rivers. On p. 83 is a statement, however, which 

 may cause misconception : " We know that even yet the Millstone 

 Grit is of exceeding thickness, although thousands of feet have been 

 removed by denudation." But Miss Dale surely does not mean that 

 the Grit series was ever thicker than it is at present, i.e. between 

 the limits of the base of the Coal-measures and the top of the Upper 

 Limestone shales, and in the interest of accuracy one is tempted to 

 ask — and surely one has the right to do so, for the book purports to 

 be an introduction to the science of geology — how thick is an exceeding 

 thickness? Miss Dale is fond of awe-inspiring superlatives. We 

 are also told that the " Coal-measures once extended over the 

 Pennine anticline." Did they ? And where is the evidence for the 

 great volcanoes which are said to have existed to the north-east 

 and on the higher ground, round the swamps which became the 

 ■coalfields ? 



Chap, v (pp. 85-105) treats of the Coal-measures at length ; it 

 discusses the fossil botany, various theories of the origin of coal, and the 

 climate of the Coal period, and ends with a picturesque description 

 of the scenery of the period. By the way, why are we told " over 

 all the land and water hangs a thick pall of grey cloud " ? Did not 

 the Carboniferous flora require the aid of the sun to fix carbon? 

 One plate of Coal-measure fossils is given ; fig. 45 is said to be 

 Naiadttes, but the drawing has no resemblance whatever to any 

 species of that genus ; it may possibly belong to Carbomcola, though 

 the drawing looks more like Nucidana. Fig. 47, a cast of the pith- 

 cavity of the stem of a Calamite, is not very clear, because we do not 

 "tjuite see how the pith-cavity should bear fairly large branches ; and 

 should not the fish scale be spelled Ehizodopsis both in the plate 

 and the text ? 



Chap, vi (pp. 106-127) deals with the Glacial Period, and we 

 gladly appreciate Miss Dale's local work on this subject. 



Chap, vii is devoted to post-Glacial deposits and early Man, and 

 ends with an allusion to Pithecanthropus erectus. 



Chap, viii deals with the development of geology and its relation 

 to modern thought, and in our opinion is utterly out of place in 

 a book of the kind. It is as equally unnecessary to allude to the 

 past struggles between knowledge and those who demanded a literal 

 interpretation of the Bible, as it is to talk in a volume which 

 purports to be a description of local geology and scenery, of tran- 

 scendental theology. Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes ; somehow or 

 other we distrust textbooks of science which have excerpts from 

 religious books at the commencement. 



The work of the book is unequal, here condescending to the 

 almost pedantic explanation of terms, there dealing with theories 

 which have little or no application in the Peak district proper, 

 ^nd we confess we cannot quite see for what class of reader this 



