nocted the region described by M. Dubois with the southern Medi- 

 terranean types. IMr. W. Hnuiilton, who, with Mr. Strickland (liis 

 associate during a portion ol' Ins time spent in the East), has hiid be- 

 fore yon in former years a memoir on the geoU^jijy of Asia Minor, 

 incU\(liii^- the Cataeecaumene, u tract of extinct voU'anoes, luis now 

 publish(Ml an account of all iiis travels. Amidst a inunber of new 

 facts which hv has brought togetiier to throw light on the geography 

 and history of tracts held in veneration both by cUissical and bib- 

 lical antic|uai'ies, he has added nuieh valuable geological information 

 to our previous stock of knowledge of these little-explored coun- 

 tries, and for the greater part unknown to the s.-ientific. In Arme- 

 nia he shows the existence of vast basaltic plateaus within the visual 

 horizon of Ararat, where he found deposits of tertiary shells extend- 

 ing over a surface of fronr 50 to .100 miles, at an altituile of upwards 

 of 6000 feet above the sea, a phanu)menon quite analogous to one 

 of those instanced by M. Dubois: and they both denu)nstrate to 

 Avhat gi'eat distances the powerful action which elevated Ararat and 

 the Caucasian chain extended. IMr. Hamilton points out that the 

 bniestone formations, probably cretaceous, betMeen the Caucasus 

 and KrzerCnn are pi-netvated at. numerous localities by basalt and 

 trap ; whilst along the southern coast of the Black Sea the rocks are 

 shown to bo ehietly igneous towanls Trebizond, and cretaceous as 

 they appr(.)ach Siuo})e. The mountains of Fontus, Irom the Black 

 Sea to Amasia, are composed, it appears, of senucrystalline lime- 

 stone, accompanied by intrusive igneous rocks ; but the former passes 

 to the west or toM ards Galatia into red sandstone, containing nu- 

 uuu'ous deposits of rock-salt. I>astly, the central plains of Asia 

 Minor, oceup3'ing a great poi'tion of (ullatia and Phrygia, are sup- 

 ported by the semi-crystalline limestone, containing Nunnnulites (so 

 well known in the iMedj,terrau(!an basin, and which has been generally 

 referred to the Cretaceous age), accompanied by luimerous igneous 

 outbursts, and consisting of wide expanses of white tertiary lacustrine 

 limestone, sonn^ portions of M'hich advance even to the northern range 

 of Mount Taurus. Such extensive data are, yon will agree with me, 

 of essential value in enabling us to form a soniul geological theory 

 respecting the ancient condition of the crust of the globe, and in 

 convincing us that tertiary sediments of lacustrine origin occupy 

 areas of great extent INIr. Hamilton has furnished the most decisive 

 proofs that, in such ])ei'iods,thephysical conditions of the siu'face were 

 fast approaching to those which now ]n'evail. I must, however, re- 

 quest every geologist who wishes to obtain a correct acquaintance 

 with Asia Minor, to consult the well-tilled volumes of our Secretary, 

 ■which, pregnant with valuable truths, worked out with energy and 

 fidelity under nnmberless ditticulties, will be placed, I fear not, 

 among the works which have considerably exteiuled the boundaries 

 of positive knowledge. 



Tnr/,ri/ in Europe, Sei'ina, ^-c. — Our indefatigable friend M. Bone 

 has the nun-it of having united the distant regions of Asia Minor 

 with Western Europe. Courting, as he has always done, a line of 

 useful research, however difficult and repulsive, it was enough for 



