Decembi;1< 28, IS?;).] 



6'CIis\YC£. 



82.) 



it sliould he given its due proiniuence in anv 

 {rcnoral account of the series. 



The last eighteen pages of the book arc given 

 to the ciiapter on physiographic geology. 



This matter helongs in close relation to the 

 earlier chapters of the book, and seems some- 

 what isolated in its position. It is not so com- 

 pletely treated as the other parts of the book ; 

 but it is. nevertheless, a fair condensation of 

 the most material points of the subject. The 

 illustrations of this subject arc rather limited, 

 Init a diagi-am of the Colorado Can3-on by ^Ir. 

 Holmes (p. 923) gives a peculiar value to the 

 set of diagrams. 



It is hardly fair to quarrel with the title of 

 so good a book, but it would have been better 

 to have given it the name of a manual rather 

 than a text-book. It is not fitted for the ordi- 

 nary use of schools ; being far too rich in 

 matter, and calling for too much collateral 

 knowledge for classroom work. It belongs in 

 association with Dana's classic manual of geol- 

 ogy. For American students it cannot replace 

 that .idmirable book ; V)Ut, taken along with the 

 .\nierican work, it will give the student a very 

 complete encyclopaedia of geologic science. 



The book is fairly well made. The type is 

 bolder-faced than in Dana's manual ; so that 

 the total amount of matter is about the same 

 in the two books, despite the somewhat larger 

 page of Geikic's volume. An admirable fea- 

 ture of the book is the free use of footnotes 

 referring to authorities, which is a distinct ad- 

 vantage the book has for the student. The 

 figures are well chosen, and finel}' serve their 

 purpose ; though there are not quite half so 

 many as in Dana's work. 



The index is voluminous and well made. 



HAECKEVS CEYLON. 



/iii/itr/iereisebrie/c. Von Erxst Haeckel. Berlin, 



Paelel, ISSZ. 1.3-1-356 p. 16°. 

 A vi.iil Id Ceylon. By EiixsT Haeckel. Translated 



by Clara" Bell. Boston, Co.wino, 1883. 8 + 3.37 



p. lt)°. 



In his 'Voyage of the Beagle,' Darwin has 

 shown that an acquaintance with nature does 

 not in the least detract from the interest of 

 a traveler's adventures. Haeckel, in his new 

 book on Ceylon, has still further given evi- 

 dence that a love for nature's treasures adds 

 an indescribalile charm to one's wanderings in 

 a strange land. In tlie ' Indische ieiscl)riefo ' 

 we find a charming account of a scientific 

 pleasure-excursion whi'ch the author made dur- 

 ing the six months following Octolier, I.'^.sl. 

 The journev incliidi'd a brief stav at r.Diiibav. 



and a much longer scries of travels through 

 Ceylon, covering a space of four months. 



Upon reailing the book, the first impression 

 we get is, that Haeckel must be a most pleasant 

 travelling-companion, so delighted is he with 

 every thing. He starts, he tells us, on a trip 

 ho has been longing for all his life, and evi- 

 dently with the expectation and intention of 

 having a delightful excursion. Nor will he 

 allow an}" thing to frustrate his intention. It 

 makes no difference where he is, or who are his 

 companions: his good nature is unlwunded. 

 Ever\- one, he seems to think, treats him with 

 more than kindness ; the roads he travels are 

 models of comfort ; and even the elements eon- 

 spire in his fiwor. The country he passes 

 through calls forth the whole wealth of the 

 German language to find adjectives sulflcient 

 to express his boundless .admiration. Ollicials 

 give him every assistance ; private homes open 

 to him with the kindest hospitality ; and even 

 the natives take great interest in him, and arc 

 ever ready to give him aid which is at least 

 kindly intended. When he establishes his lab- 

 oratory at Belligam. he is supplied with ser- 

 vants, to whose excellency he can only do justice 

 bj" naming one Socrates, and a second (iany- 

 mede. Belligam, the name of the town where 

 he established his laboratory, means ' sand- 

 village.' This name, however, does not suit 

 llaeckel's general delight ; and he calls it Bella 

 gemma, considering it as 'a choice jewel in na- 

 ture's casket.' An ordinary trip in the tropics 

 is thus, by good nature and cntiiusiasm, trans- 

 formed into a glowing joiu'ncy througii fairy- 

 land. Indeed, one almost imagines, as he 

 reads, that he has found an American advertise- 

 ment of a pleasure-excursion. So full of pleas- 

 ure and good fortune is tlie whole trip, that the 

 reader soon grows weary, and wishes that some 

 slight accident might hajipen, to break the 

 monotonj-. It is certainly a relief to find the 

 admission that the fauna of the island is dis- 

 appointing ; and we are quite reconciled to the 

 fact, that the scientific laboratory was not quite 

 so successful as had been hoped. 



llaeckel's style in this book, as indeeil in 

 all his writings, is a most happy one. He gives 

 what m.ay be called a confidential description of 

 nature where it is most lovable. The reailer 

 gets the impression that it is being given him 

 in person by the author, for the pui'pose of en- 

 joying once more the pleasures of the journey', 

 and having a quiet laugh at the people. He can- 

 not keep himself out of his descriptions, — in- 

 deed he does not try to do so ; and what wo see 

 on every page is not a picture of Ceylon, but a 

 picture of a man. making a journey through 



