Revieivs — Falconer^ s Memoirs. 423 



rhinoceros, and the bear; and we know that man's intellect was 

 there, for sometimes we find graven the shapes of those extinct 

 mammalia, and graven upon their old bones, to tell us gatherers of 

 these dimly -preserved records that, long ages ago, a representative 

 of God's noblest creature, at least on this planet, lived, and not only 

 lived but reasoned. 



I^IEl^VIIE^WS. 



I, PALiEONTOLOGICAL MeMOIRS AND NOTES OF THE LATE HuGH 



Falconer, A.M., M.D., V.P.K.S., For. Sec. G.S., etc., etc., with a 

 Biographical Sketch of the author. Compiled and edited by 

 Charles Murchison, M.D., F.E.S., etc. Vol. I., Fauna Antiqua 

 Sivalensis, pp. 590, 34 plates. Vol. II., Mastodon, Elephant, 

 Ehinoceros, Ossiferous Caves, Primeval Man and his Cotempo- 

 raries, pp. 675, 38 plates. 8vo. London : Eobert Hardwicke, 1868. 



THE severest test of friendship is death. Happy is that man, 

 who, after death, shall be borne in kindly remembrance by 

 the friends and comrades of past years. Yet, of these, who would 

 be found willing and able to turn aside from his own pursuits and 

 engage in the task of raising — .not a subscription for a bust or 

 statue — but a colossal literary monument to the memory of his 

 departed friend? To the late Dr. Hugh Falconer's memory both 

 these tributes of friendship have been fully paid. Looking back over 

 the three years and a half that have passed away since his death, 

 we recall numerous instances of the way in which his memory lives 

 among us still, and for a literary monument, which will outlast our 

 brief remembrance, the book before us attests both the sterling 

 worth of Falconer's labours, and of Dr. Murchi son's friendship. 



Volume I. commences with a biographical notice of Dr. Falconer. 

 The sketch of such a life cannot be read without exciting an interest, 

 not only in the man, but in the pursuits to which he devoted his 

 best energies, and may serve as a stimulus to others. 



If not already printed as a separate pamphlet, we would suggest 

 to the editor that copies might be so prepared and given away to our 

 public schools and elsewhere with the best results. For if, as 

 Longfellow writes : — 



" Lives of great men all remind us 

 We can make our lives sublime, 

 And departing leave behind us 

 Footprints on the sands of time " — 



certainly it may be said of Falconer that he has left behind an 

 example of energetic work and earnest labour in science that many 

 may do well to imitate. 



No better illustration can be cited of the way in which Falconer 

 overcame difficulties than that mentioned by Lj^ell in his address in 

 1837, on presenting him with the Wollaston Gold Medal of the 

 Geological Society of London (given that year in duplicate to Capt. 

 Cautley and Dr. Falconer). When they failed to obtain Cuvier's 

 works they made for themselves a Museum of Comparative Anatomy, 



