82 Revieivs — Skertchly's Physical System of the Universe. 



They comprise an Introductory Notice of the circumstances which 

 led to the discovery and restoration of the extinct Avifauna of New 

 Zealand. The descriptions are accompanied by Illustrations of the 

 natural size of the fossils, and reduced views of the restored skeletons 

 on which the several genera and species have been founded. The 

 whole is preceded by an illustrated Anatomy of the existing wingless 

 bird (Apteryx australis) which is the nearest ally of the extinct 

 Dinornis ; and is followed by notices of the food, footprints, nests, 

 and eggs of the Moas, the Maori traditions relating to those gigantic 

 birds, the causes and probable period of their extirpation, and a 

 speculation on the conditions influencing the atrophy of the wings in 

 flightless birds. 



The latter topic has led the Author to append Supplementary 

 Memoirs on the Dodo, Solitaire, Great Auk, and some evidences of 

 gigantic extinct Birds of Australia and Great Britain. 



His advanced age has led him to issue the present Work entire, in 

 preference to a publication in Parts. It consists of a Quarto Volume 

 of Text (512 pp.), and a similar Volume of 130 Plates, several of 

 which, from the size of their subjects, are in folio. With the Text 

 are intercalated Woodcuts. 1 Dr. Hector's Geological Map of New 

 Zealand, giving the localities of the discovered fossils, is annexed. 



IR. IE "V I IE "W S_ 



I. — The Physical System of the Universe. An Outline of 

 Physiography. By Sydney B. J. Skertohly, E.G.S. 8vo., 

 pp. 385. (London, Daldy, Isbister & Co., 1878.) 



SINCE the Science and Art Department determined to hold an 

 Examination in Physiography we have been presented with 

 various text-books on the subject. Professor Huxley, the Rev. 

 Alexander Mackay, Professor Ansted, and more recently Mr. 

 Skertchly, have come into the field ; while in late numbers of " Good 

 Words " Mr. Norman Lockyer has contributed a series of physio- 

 graphical sketches on " The Earth's Place in Nature." 



This subject — which, at South Kensington, seems to have sup- 

 planted Physical Geography, ought, however, in no sense to interfere 

 with it. Physical Geography deals with the configuration of the 

 earth's surface, and with the distribution of its various forms of life ; 

 it is, in fact, the geology of the present day, and must always retain 

 more or less of an individuality so far as any study can do so. 



Physiography, on the other hand, endeavours to knit together the 

 sum and substance of all that is known of the physical history of 

 the universe — it is, in fact, a Cosmogony— though its chief aim is 

 to develope the intimate connexion between all sciences, and to illus- 

 trate the Unity of Creation. 



It is only within the past few years that Physiography has assumed 



its present comprehensiveness. The term has not unfrequently been 



in use to designate the physical aspect or contour of any tract on 



the earth's surface. Nor has the connexion of various sciences been 



1 The price of the Work is £6 6s. 



