270 



SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



NOTICES BY JOHN T. CARRINGTON. 



History of Geology and Palaeontology. By Karl 

 Alfred von Zittel. Translated by Maria M. 

 Ogilvie-Gordon, D.Sc, Ph.D. xv + 562 pp., 7§ in. 

 x 5 in., with 13 portraits. (London : Walter 

 Scott. 1901.) 6s. 



We have to congratulate Mrs. 

 Ogilvie-Gordon upon the admir- 

 able way in which she has trans- 

 lated Karl von Zittel's well-known 

 " History of Geology." The trans- 

 lation is indeed an improvement 

 upon the original work, as it gives 

 all the information one needs 

 without being encumbered with 

 much detail, which is liable to 

 obscure the "pith" of the book. 

 The volume before us, therefore, 

 becomes of interest to general 

 readers as well as to students of 

 Geology. To the latter, however, 

 it is indispensable, for every good 

 geologist should have a full grasp 

 of what has preceded in the 

 science. There are few sections 

 of Nature's study that have had 

 a harder fight for emancipation 

 from the influence of the dark 

 ages than Geology. Neither has 

 it yet shaken itself quite free 

 from the ancient Babylonian and 

 following Mosaic theories in the 

 minds of many good people, not- 

 withstanding the hard facts sur- 

 rounding them on which has been 

 built the modern science of Geo- 

 logy. Professor von Zittel in a 

 masterly manner carries us step 

 by step through the history, from 

 the dim ages of antiquity and 

 from the cuneiform inscriptions 

 of ancient Nineveh, up to the end 

 of 1899. We cannot help being- 

 struck by the fact of the recent- 

 ' ness of intelligent thought in 

 Geology. One may say that it 

 was born no more than a century 

 ago. There has been, neverthe- 

 less, so much accomplished within 

 that hundred years that the 

 modern student has ample basis 

 on which to found a life's work. 

 Like the rest of the volumes 

 of "The Contemporary Science 

 Series," of which this is one, it 

 is well produced, and the por- 

 traits are admirable. We have the pleasure of re- 

 producing, by permission of the publishers, one 

 of Sir Charles Lyell, taken from a painting by 

 G. Richmond, R.A., as an example. The frontis- 

 piece is an admirable portrait of Prof, von Zittel. 



The World of Animal Life. Edited by Fred 

 Smith, vii + 416 pp., 8 in. x 6 in., with 217 

 illustrations. (London, Glasgow, and Dublin : 

 Blackie & Son, Limited. 1902.) os. 



As a "Natural History" book many young people 

 would be proud to possess this stout volume. It is 

 very popularly written and liberally illustrated. 

 Some of the drawings are effective and good, but 

 it is a pity to have admitted several that detract 

 from the whole, as they appear to represent some- 

 thing else than that intended. As an example we 

 may refer to page 208, where is shown an im- 

 possible long-tailed titmouse and nest, in impro- 

 bable surroundings. On page 358 is a picture, 

 inscribed " peacock butterfly," which if it repre- 

 sents a real specimen, one so abnormal would 

 realise a high price at Stevens' auction rooms as a 



SIR 0. EiYBI/L. 



(From Professor Zittel's "History of Geology.") 



unique aberration. We can hardly understand any 

 person, undertaking to edit such a book as this, 

 passing for press drawings like those to which we 

 have referred. The evil is, that youngsters who 

 begin with such books have so much to unlearn. 



