514 Reviews — Whitaker's Geological Model of London. 



It is the work of Mr. W. Whitaker, B.A., F.G.S., whose Memoir on 

 the Chalk and Eocene Beds of the London Basin is alone a sufficient 

 monument for a geologist to leave behind him. Mr. Whitaker has 

 been admirably seconded in the constructive part of the work by 

 Mr. J. B. Jordan, of the Mining Eecord Office. The Model is so im- 

 portant in its scientific aspects, and at the same time so pictorial 

 and popular in treatment, as to deserve special recognition and 

 welcome, and a description of its more novel features. 



The surface of the Model exhibits the 160 and odd square miles 

 of ground which may fairly be called metropolitan. Near the 

 four corners of this vast residential quadrangle are Hampstead (N.W.), 

 Wimbledon (S.W.), Great Ilford (N.E.), and Shooter's Hill (S.E.). 

 All these places are well within the district represented. The 

 horizontal scale is no less than six inches to the mile — a good 

 liberal allowance, and one which will make the Model of real 

 service for the study and reference of Londoners. The length 

 (E. and W.) is seven and a half feet (15 miles), and the breadth. 

 (N. and S.) five and a half feet (11 miles). The excellent six-inch 

 topogra])hical maps of the Ordnance Survey have been coloured 

 geologically by Mr. Whitaker, and fitted on to the plaster contours of 

 the Model. The difference between landscape contours as shown 

 on the plane surface of a map, and the same contours shown in the 

 vertical relief of a model, is one which will be appreciated by that 

 increasing class of the general public who frequent the Jermyu 

 Street Museum for educational purposes. 



Owing to the very moderate heights to which the land rises about 

 London, the vertical scale has been exaggerated four times and a 

 half, so as to give 200 feet to an inch. Even with this enlargement, 

 one is struck with the lowness of the hills, or rather undulations, 

 and the dej)ressed appearance of the whole district. That low and 

 solitary mound in the S.E. corner, coloured red, is Shooter's Hill — 

 quite an important eminence in London landscapes. The generally 

 wasted, reduced, and flattened appearance of the entire area conveys 

 its own comment upon the softness of the rocks, and their suscepti- 

 bility to meteoi'ic agencies — rains, rivers, and frosts. 



The Model also shows the subterranean geology of London to a 

 depth of more than 1100 feet. To do this so as to show important 

 points which lie in the centre of the district, an ingenious arrange- 

 ment has been adopted. The Model has been divided vertically into 

 nine pieces. Of these the inner ones can be hoisted up by simply 

 turning a handle. The pieces thus exposed show us the deeper 

 geology of London at such interesting spots as the Kentish Town 

 well-boring (lllo feet). In every case care has been taken to carry 

 the sections tlirough the most instructive points. All the sections, 

 too, are carried down through the Eocene beds, the Chalk, and the 

 Upper Greensand to the Gault, a point at which our knowledge of 

 London geology is for the present at a stand-still. The total length 

 of the sectioiis drawn (not counting the duplication of some on 

 opposite faces) is over 52 feet, or about 105 miles. 



The reason of the persistent growth of London along certain 



