218 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1157 



suit of intellectual fame; nor did Newton do 

 less for the greatness of his coimtry, from 

 whatever standpoint you choose to view it, by , 

 uncovering the secret of the imiverse than he 

 would have done by sticking closer to earth 

 in the strivings of his unrivalled intellect. — 

 New York Evening Post. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



An Introduction to Historical Geology with 

 Special Reference to North America. By 

 William J. Miller. New York: D. Van 

 Nostrand Company. With 238 illustrations. 

 Pp. xvi + 399. $2.00 net. 

 The meaning of the word geology was 

 greatly modified and vastly expanded in the 

 early part of last century through the works 

 of Wm. Smith, Cuvier, Brongniart and their 

 followers. In the place of philosophical min- 

 eralogy the meat and marrow of the subject 

 became earth history. To this phase of the 

 subject Conybeare and Phillips devoted the 

 greater portion of space in their well-known 

 treatise of 1822. Lyell's tastes being largely 

 along the line of the modern physical geog- 

 raphers, judiciously termed his great work not 

 Geology, but the "Principles of Geology, or 

 the modern Changes of the Earth and Its 

 Inhabitants Considered as Illustrative of Geol- 

 ogy." Yet he included in the earlier five edi- 

 tions of this work a large amoimt of strati- 

 graphical matter gleaned during his various 

 trips into the Tertiary fields of south Europe. 

 In 1838, however, he excerpted the stratigraph- 

 ieal or historical matter from his " Principles," 

 recast and enlarged upon the same and brought 

 out a separate volume called "Elements of 

 Geology." This ran through some half-dozen 

 editions down into the " seventies " and was 

 referred to by him as Elements of Geology, 

 Students' Elements of Geology, Geology 

 Proper or simply Geology. Some time before, 

 however, De la Beche had foreseen the divisi- 

 bility of the subject along similar lines, for he 

 remarks in the preface to his treatise of 1833 : 



It is not difficult to foresee that this science, es- 

 sentially one of observation, instead of being, as 

 formerly, loaded with ingenious speculations, will 

 be divided into different branches each investigated 



by those whose particular acquirements may render 

 them most competent to do so; the various com- 

 binations of inorganic matter being examined by 

 the Natural Philosopher, while the Natural His- 

 torian will find ample occupation in the remains of 

 the various animals and vegetables which have lived 

 at the different periods on the surface of the 

 earth. 



A recent text-book of geology, by Pirsson 

 and Schuchert follows practically the lines of 

 subdivision suggested by De la Beche : Part I. 

 is designated Physical Geology; Part II., His- 

 torical Geology. These parts may be pur- 

 chased in separate binding. Another recent 

 text-book by Cleland, is styled " Geology, 

 Physical and Historical." 



In Miller's work before us we have an inde- 

 pendent volume styled " An Introduction to 

 Historical Geology." This the author hopes 

 " may find a place as a class-book dealing with 

 the historical portion of a one-year course in 

 general geology," adding, however, " An ele- 

 mentary knowledge of what is generally com- 

 prised under dynamical and structural geology 

 is presupposed." 



Except in this independent character of the 

 work. Professor Miller's production does not 

 differ radically from what has usually been 

 found in the historical portion of the better 

 text-books on geology. That is, the various 

 periods are taken up in chronologic order. 

 The origin of the name of the period, its 

 subdivisions, distribution of rocks, physical 

 history, foreign equivalents, climate, economic 

 products, and life are the usual subdivisional 

 topics. Under life, Plants, Protozoa, Pori- 

 fera, Coelenterata, Echinoderms, MoUuscoids, 

 Mollusca, Arthropods and Vertebrates, with 

 subdivisions are systematically discussed. 

 The author quotes freely from modern text- 

 books, manuals and general geological litera- 

 ture, seemingly content to let well-enough 

 alone. Likewise "appropriate illustrations 

 more or less familiar because of their appear- 

 ance in other text-books or manuals of geol- 

 ogy, have not been abandoned merely for the 

 sake of something new or different." 



As regards the matter of allotment of space 

 and attention to the several eras, we believe 

 good judgment has been shown. 145 pages are 



