Reviews — Progress of the Geological 8urvey. 531 



This startling theory has of course been much disputed. We 

 ourselves pointed out grave reasons for receiving it cum grano 

 salis (See GtEOlogical Magazine, 1868, Vol. V., p. 456, Keview 

 of a Journey in Brazil : by Prof, and Mrs. Louis Agassiz). That 

 caution still holds good — Avoid hasty generalizations. " Is one 

 year's search over hundreds of thousands of square miles to be con- 

 sidered exhaustive? We think not." (I.e. p. 459.) ''Nowhere," 

 writes Prof. Hartt, '' over the whole region covered by the drifts do 

 we find other water-deposits than those clearly referable to the action 

 of rivers or lakes. Above the old sea-level of Eio, Victoria, Bahia, 

 etc., there are neither raised beaches nor any other testimony of the 

 action of the sea." 



Space will not admit us to deal with the work before us at greater 

 length ; but we have cited sufficient to prove its great value and 

 that its author, Prof. Hartt, is an able and diligent naturalist, and a 

 worthy associate of Prof. Agassiz. That he should hold to the views 

 of his chief is only natural, but we hope he will be induced, by the 

 love he feels for Brazil, to go there yet again, and find more 

 geological evidence before insisting on Agassiz's Glacial theory. 

 Stratified beds, with abundance of Freshwater and Estuarine shells, 

 appear to have been met w^ith by another observer, Prof. Orton, 

 whose letter we publish in our Correspondence this month (p. 540) . 

 We congratulate His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil upon another 

 most interesting contribution made to a knowledge of his country 

 by an English-speaking foreigner. 



U. — The Geological Survey of the United Kingdom. 



[Annual Report of the Director -General of the Geological Survey, the Museum 

 of Practical Geology, the Eoyal School of Mines, and the Mining Record Office, for 

 the year 1869.] 



WE have just received the official annual report of Sir Eoderick 

 I. Murchison, Bart., Director-General of the Geological 

 Survey ; and although much progress has doubtless been made since 

 the report was prepared, it may be interesting to note the state of 

 the Survey at the close of last year. 



In England and Wales, Professor Eamsay, the Director, reports 

 that during the year 1869 a total area of 2,634f square miles was 

 surveyed, which involved the tracing of 8,491^ miles of boundary 

 lines of formations. In Cumberland, Westmoreland, Yorkshire, and 

 Lancashire, much work has been done, the mapping of the Lanca- 

 shire coal-field has been finished, and the main coal-fields of York- 

 shire have also been traced out. 



In Durham and Northumberland the Survey is also being carried 

 on, and the mapping of the important northern coal-fields will, it is 

 thought, be finished during the ensuing year. 



Portions of Rutland, Lincoln, Northampton, Huntingdon, Cam- 

 bridge, and Essex have been surveyed, while over a large area in 

 Somersetshire the Eh^tic or Penarth Beds have been mapped. 



Perhaps the most interesting statement of the Director-General is, 



