Reviews— Taylors Geological Essays. 125 
Y Y 
Mr. Taylor’s notions of physical causes are as remarkable as his 
comparative anatomy; and his account (p. 59) of a ‘brecciated 
limestone’ having been formed from shingle, is particularly absurd. 
He is very fond of a simile now and then: and, although we ocea- 
sionally get a good one, we are frequently at a loss to imagine how 
he has satisfied himself of their applicability; for instance, we are 
told of ‘the sea, like a huge mortar, pounding its coast-lines into 
muddy sediments, to be again reconsolidated.’ The best we have met 
with in the book is that in which the geological record is compared 
to the old Woodstock Palace, as described by Sir Walter Scott, the 
different fronts of which were said to contain specimens of every 
style of architecture, just as the different rock-formations contain 
examples of every fauna. If the ideas, many of which, we are told, 
‘were sketched during a few minutes’ rest in some solitary quarry,’ 
were more frequently of this stamp, we should be inclined to forgive 
the author for many inaccuracies, in the hope that such similitudes, 
by impressing the reader with a sense of the beautiful, would draw 
off his attention from errors in facts and principles, or, at any rate, 
loosen their hold on his mind. 
It becomes, indeed, a serious matter when men who, though 
having probably a very tolerable knowledge of local facts, under- 
take to write a work of this kind for the public at large, having no 
better knowledge of paleontology than what induces them to believe 
that a Yurbinolia differs from a Cyathophyllum only in being 
‘smaller, and more even in its outline,—an opinion which he im- 
mediately illustrates by figuring a Cyathophyilum as a ‘Turbinolia.’ 
A man must be a very accomplished geologist to write a good 
general or elementary work; and the more popular the book, the 
more care and knowledge does it require. For this reason, such 
men as Phillips, Huxley, Ramsay, and Jukes, spend a portion of 
their time very advantageously in providing intellectual food for 
the rising generation of amateur geologists; but men of Mr. Taylor’s 
stamp can employ themselves much more profitably in working out 
a special subject, than in composing a bad imitation of Hugh Miller’s 
writings, as full of errors as it well can be. 
Nores or A Trip To IcELAND 1n 1862. By ALExanpeR Bryson, 
F.R.S.E., F.G.S. Edinburgh, Grant, 1864. 8vo. pp. 56. 
HIS little pamphlet, reprinted from the ‘ Scottish Guardian,’ is 
more genial than scientific, and the author evidently did his 
best to deserve the name of ‘ Bacchus,’ given to him by one of his 
fellow-travellers. There is, however, some geology; and what there 
is is good and useful, for Mr. Bryson belongs to the modern school, 
and does not take things too much for granted. 
The lava of Iceland would seem to represent, in modern times, the 
eruptions on a great volcanic line, skirting the extreme west of the 
old world. This line has existed since the Cretaceous period, and 
the points of eruption have been gradually travelling northwards. 
Unlike the great volcanos of America, which erupt through tens of 
