468 Revmos — Jenhinson's Isle of Wight, 



II. — Practical Guide to the Isle of Wight. By Henry Irwin 

 Jenkinson. (E. Stanford, 1876.) 



THE first importaiit work descriptive of the beauties of this 

 interesting island, that of Sir Henry Englefield, contained the 

 valuable letters of Thomas Webster, which maj'- be regarded as 

 having laid the foundation of British Tertiary Geology. And, since 

 the appearance of that work, every successive guide-book has ver}^ 

 properly aimed at giving some account of the geological structure 

 of a district, concerning which Mr. Hopkins very justly remarked 

 that, " it might have beeu cut out by Nature for a geological model 

 illustrative of the phenomena of stratification." 



The latest-published guide to the island, which now lies before 

 us, presents so many excellent features — as regards convenience of 

 arrangement and general accuracy — that we greatly regret to be 

 obliged to speak in terms of unqualified condemnation concerning its 

 geological section. 



The ten pages devoted to a summary of the characters of the 

 several geological formations exposed in the island contain more 

 than the average number of blunders usually committed by innocent 

 compilers ; and no attempt seems to have been made to bring the 

 information up to date by a reference to the latest-published ac- 

 counts of researches carried on in the district. All this is, however, 

 venial compared with the offence committed by the author in the 

 last seven pages of his chaj)ter on Geology. Like an individual 

 calling himself '^ Parallax," who fancies that all astronomers are 

 labouring under a delusion, and that the earth is not spherical, but 

 flat, Mr. Jenkinson insists on laying before his readers a number of 

 arguments which prove nothing but his total incompetence to deal 

 with scientific questions at all. One quotation from the statement of 

 what he is pleased to call his '' new theory," and which, it seems, 

 has been already published in several guide-books, will more than 

 suffice for the readers of this Magazine. 



Speaking of the highly -inclined strata of the Isle of Wight, he 

 says : " After many attempts to settle the matter distinctly to my 

 own mind, it gradually appeared clear to me that the contortions 

 and various angles of the layers of flint in the chalk, may be 

 accounted for by the deposits on the irregular surface of an ocean - 

 bed ; and that the vertical strata of the Lower Tertiaries are merely 

 parts of an arch or curve caused by the strata having been deposited 

 on the sides of the chalk downs, the curves gradually disappearing 

 and resolving themselves into horizontal lines, in one direction on 

 the summits of the downs, and in the other at a little distance from 

 their base." Mr. Jenkinson has " satisfied himself" that geologists 

 are altogether in error in supposing that movements have taken 

 place in stratified rocks subsequently to their deiiosition. 



We would earnestly recommend the author, before making any 

 further exposure of " his theory " or himself in guide-books, to care- 

 fully read some manual of Geology — a very simple and elementary 

 •one, like Professor Geikie's excellent little Primer, will be best 

 adapted for the purpose — and to make himself acquainted with what 



