REVIEWS — THE STORY OF A BOULDER. 493 



in any English work, as for a longtime his theories have been rejected 

 by both English and German chemists. Gradually, however, they 

 are being adopted, and almost every new discovery in organic chem- 

 istry tends to prove their truth and their applicability to the explana- 

 tion of the composition and formation of organic bodies. Berzelius, 

 the great champion of the dualistic system, would be somewhat puz- 

 zled to give a rational formula for many of those complex bodies which 

 have rewarded recent investigations, but the composition of which 

 becomes perfectly simple when referred to the types of Gerhardt. 



We consider this portion of the supplement as one of the most 

 valuable departments of the whole work. 



H. C. 



The Story of a Boulder : By Aechibald Geikie, of the Geological 

 Survey of Great Britain. Edinburgh : Thomas Constable & Co.» 

 1858. 



The literature of Geology may be classed under three heads : first, 

 works of original research, whether in the form of extended treatises, 

 or in that of scientific papers, including reports on unexplored dis- 

 tricts, and on the general progress of Geology ; secondly, manuals 

 and text-books, embodying a systematic exposition of the facts and 

 theories of the science, or of some special department of it, arranged 

 and displayed according to the ability of the respective authors, in a 

 spirit of greater or less originality ; and thirdly, popular essays, in 

 which a scientific and literary treatment of the subject is alike 

 attempted — using these terms in their general sense : the discoveries 

 and deductions of science being here re-produced and set before us, 

 with all the accessories of harmonious language and engaging style. 

 Of these latter works we may take as typycal examples, Hugh Miller's 

 Testimony of the Rocks, Ansted's Ancient World, and the Geschichte 

 der Schopfung of Professor Burmeister. To this class belongs also Mr. 

 Geikie's " Story of a Boulder ;" a little work of much merit, although 

 necessarily, from the nature of its subject, with but slight claims to 

 scientific originality. The student who has carefully read over any of 

 our ordinary manuals, — for example, such as Lyell's Elements of 

 Geology, or the Manual of Professor Phillips — will find in Mr. 

 Geikie's book, little that he will not be already familiar with. A 

 perusal of this unpretending little book, however, cannot fail to 



