178 RevieiDS — LyelVs Principles of Geology. 



I am sorry to say that the boulder has within the last few years 

 been broken up for the purpose of mending the roads. 



It may be worth mentioning in connexion with this boulder, that 

 on the brow of the hill, in a field on the south of the Watchet Eoad, 

 beyond the top of the hill descending to Blue Anchor, there was 

 formerly a small boulder of quartz conglomerate projecting above 

 the turf. Also at low-water mark off the commencement of the 

 Alabaster Cliffs at Blue Anchor, a large round boulder of the same 

 conglomerate, which probably had dropped from the top of the cliff, 

 — as it has been gradually worn away — where it would have been 

 in the same relative position with the previous boulder as regards 

 the edge of the hill. These boulders may have been derived from 

 a Carboniferous or older conglomerate. I am not aware of such a 

 conglomerate in the New Eed formation. 



The Drift overlying the country is, in a great measure, derived 

 from the Devonian rocks of the district, with a large intermixture of 

 rolled quartz and hasmatite, which occur abundantly in the Brendon 

 Hills. In the flat country, between Blue Anchor and Withycombe, 

 there is a deposit of angular grauwacke drift, which, between Blue 

 Anchor and the Pill (a small river), is overlain by a deposit of peat 

 and remains of a forest, with occasional horns, etc., of red deer. 

 This drift is exposed below the beach near the mouth of the Pill at 

 Blue Anchor. 



I.^-Peinciples of Geology; or, the Modern Changes of the 

 Earth and its Inhabitants considered as Illustrative of 

 Geology. By Sir Charles Lyell, Bart. Eleventh and entirely 

 Eevised Edition. Murray. 1872. 



II. — The Student's Elements of Geology. By the same Author. 

 MuiTay. 1871. 



IT has been well remarked that "there is no subject in the whole 

 realm of human knowledge that cannot be rendered clear and 

 intelligible if we ourselves have perfectly mastered it." We are, 

 therefore, pleased to see our greatest authorities coming forward in 

 answer to the increasing demand for a more popular teaching of 

 science, and gladly welcome a new work, and a new edition of an 

 old work, from the pen of Sir Charles Lyell. 



I. — It is more than forty years since the Principles of Geology first 

 appeared. In those days the true methods of scientific investigation 

 were but ill understood, and Cuvier's Theory of the Earth was sup- 

 posed to offer a sufficient explanation of the laws which have 

 governed the formation of its crust. To examine the modern 

 changes in the organic and inorganic world, to study the operations 

 of Nature as far as they come under our direct observation, and 

 then to compare the phenomena observed in the rocks with results 

 of agencies which we have seen in operation, was a mode of treating 

 the subject which recommended itself at once to the common sense 

 and growing freedom of thought of the age. 



