322 Rfviews — Milne 8^ Burton's Greed Earfliquake in Japan. 



North- Western Railway, at least 50 feet thick, often false-bedded, 

 the lamini* of deposition beint^ very irregular, iiiterspei'sed here 

 and thei'e with numerous small pebbles, many of which are sand- 

 stone, none very large, though all are more or less rounded, and 

 including much flint. Amongst these were man}' Lias Gryphaeas 

 (chiefly G. incurva), and some Cretaceous, Oolitic and Liassic pebbles 

 with occasional fossils ; but apparently not many ancient rocks, 

 some of which may possibly be Carboniferous. There are also 

 here and there traces of Carbonaceous matter. The interest in the 

 section consists in the accumulation of such a mass of soft sand, 

 which occupies a ridge of considerable extent both in length and 

 breadth, on high ground, and is seen at other places in and near the 

 village, and can hardly be considered to belong to the Drift properly 

 so-called, and might almost be supposed to be referable to some 

 later Tertiary deposit just anterior to the earliest Drift epoch. No 

 recent shells of any kind were noticed, so that it is impossible to 

 say whether the sand was fluviatile or marine. 



It is not easy to determine whence such a mass of fine sand was 

 derived, though it may perhaps have originated from the denudation 

 of some of the sandy beds of the Middle Lias not far off, or from 

 some of the more arenaceous Oolitic rocks. If, which is not im- 

 probable, the Chalk and Greensand formerly extended over this area, 

 and have since been entirely removed, the Cretaceous sands would 

 have supplied ample material. Coarse Drift also seen elsewhere, in 

 the same position, but quite distinct from the sand below, occurs at 

 the top overlying the sand. 



As this section has not been recorded in the Geological Survey 

 Memoir of the District, it seems to be worthy of notice. 



I, — The Great Earthquake of Japan, 1891. By Professor John 

 Milne, F.R.S., F G.S., and Professor W. K. Burton, CE. 

 Illustrated by 29 Plates and a Map of Japan prepared by K. 

 Ogawa. Long folio, pp. 71. (Lane, Crawford, & Co., Yokahama ; 

 and E. Stanford, Charing Cross, London. Price £2 2s.) 



TO Professor John ]\lilne belongs the credit of placing the study 

 of seismology in Japan upon a sound scientific basis. By his 

 earnestness and enthusiasm he created the Seismological Society 

 of Japan, which has already published sixteen volumes of Trans- 

 actions. He has induced the Japanese Government to establish 

 stations of observation in various parts of the Empire and to have 

 notice of all shocks telegraphed to Prof. Milne at Tokio to be duly 

 recorded and studied. Largely at his own expense, and aided by 

 grants from the British Association, he has set up seismographs 

 invented by himself and Mr. Gray, in Tokio and other places. He 

 has spared neither labour nor expense to carry on his researches, and 

 the record of the great Earthquake of last year is now presented to 



