136 NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



those employed, and without injury to the mine, or interference 

 with subsequent operations. In this department the ventilation of 

 mines is considered, and the safety lamps used in different districts 

 described. Then follows an account of the mechanical preparation 

 of ores, and the book concludes with a chapter on the general con- 

 ditions of the working of mines. The remarks in this chapter are 

 extremely pertinent, and well worthy of notice. 



It appears, from the observations here made, that in France the 

 proportion of miners killed or seriously injured annually in coal 

 mines, has amounted to 1 in 144, while, in other mines, it is only 

 on an average of 1 in 425. In the basin of S. Etienne, 698 miners 

 have been killed or wounded in 15 years, and the general annual, 

 average of deaths in France, occasioned by mine accidents, is be- 

 tween 90 and 100, for an extraction of coal equal to that of Belgium, 

 where the average is as much as 112. 



The work of M. Burat is full of valuable information, and what 

 is more, in a subject abounding so much with technical and statis- 

 tical detail, is very readable. It is neatly illustrated, and contains 

 a good index-geological map of France, marking all the carboni- 

 ferous basins and the localities in which iron ore is found. 



D. T. A. 



III. The Medals of Creation. By G. A. Mantell, LL.D., F.R.S. 

 2 vols. pp. 1016. London, 1844. 



The object of the author in this work was three-fold, namely, 

 first, to give an epitome of Palaeontology ; secondly, to assist the 

 collector in his search for organic remains ; and, thirdly, to place 

 before the reader an exposition of the elementary principles of 

 Palaeontology. The book is illustrated with numerous wood-cuts, 

 and several zincographic plates, some of which are coloured. 



The first few chapters of the work are occupied with preliminary 

 remarks, and an account of the arrangement and nomenclature of 

 the British strata, the author including in his secondary series the 

 Devonian system. He also considers the Cambrian series as dis- 

 tinct from the Lower Silurian, and omits noticing the presence of 

 Silurian strata extensively developed in the Lake district of Cum- 

 berland and Westmoreland. 



After these preliminary notices, the nature of fossils is explained, 

 and many important hints given by which collectors of fossils may 

 learn how to obtain and preserve specimens under difficult circum- 

 stances. To this succeeds a general account of vegetable remains, 

 and a notice of the structure of coal, serving as an introduction to 

 fossil botany. 



In the chapter on this subject (Fossil Botany), the arrangement 

 of Brongniart is chiefly followed, and most of the generic forms are 

 illustrated by figures of characteristic species. With regard to the 



