510 Revieus — T/tc Survey Memoir on the Scottish Uplands. 



the most fav-reacliing changes on the climate of different parts of 

 the Northern Hemisphere; and this may, to some extent, exphiin tl)e 

 local character of the accumulation of great masses of snow and ice 

 during that epoch. 



I^ IE "V" I IE ^AT" S. 



I. — The Survey Memoir on the Scottish Uplands.^ 

 [Concluded from p. 479.) 



THE volume opens with a preface by the Director-General giving 

 in outline the raison d'etre of the work, the mode of its prepara- 

 tion, and the names of the Surve}' officers concerned in working 

 out the geological facts and phenomena described. In Chapter I 

 a ver}' short description is given of the physical characteristics of the 

 Upland region ; and then in Chapter II, a " History of Previous 

 Kesearches among the Silurian Eocks of the South of Scotland," 

 the writers enter upon the subject-matter of their work in earnest. 

 In this second chapter the whole histoiy of research in the Uplands 

 is passed in review, from the days when Hutton and Hall laid here 

 the foundations of stratigraphical and tectonical geology, down to the 

 present time. The work of all the chief stratigraphical investigators — 

 Moore, Nicol, Harkness, Sedgwick, Murchison, and others — is first 

 noticed in outline. There are abundant references to those palteou- 

 tologists who have studied the fossils of these rocks — Salter, McCoy, 

 Carruthers, Hopkinson, Davidson, Henderson, Etheridge, Nicholson, 

 Hinde, etc. An account is given of the earlier formational mapping 

 by the Survey officers, and its results summarized, explained, and 

 discussed. Next the work of the zonal geologists is taken up, and 

 treated in some detail. And, finally, we have a summary of the 

 progress and results of the Survey revision as carried out in the yeai s 

 1888 to 1898 ; from which it would appear that well before the 

 close of 1888 the Survey officers had convinced themselves of the 

 accuracy and availability of the zonal methods, and that since that 

 time they have employed them continuously and successfully in 

 developing the stratigraphy and tectonics of the whole of the Upland 

 region. 



It is hardly possible to praise the tone of this chapter too highly. 

 It is evident that an attempt has been made to treat all contributions 

 to the literature of the subject as historical documents, with perfect 

 impartiality. The main conclusions of all observers, official and 

 non-official, are given in brief, and discussed openly and frankly 

 in the light of present geological knowledge and opinion. 



In Chapter III we are presented with a summary of the whole 

 geological stoiy of the Uplands, from a stratigraphical point of view. 

 Each of the great Upland formations — Arenig, Llandnilo, Caradoc, 

 Llandovery, Tarannon, Wenlock - Ludlow, and Downtonian — is 



1 Memoirs of the Geological Survey of the United Kiugdom : "The Siliuian 

 Rocks of Britain," vol. i, Scotland, 1899. 



