Geological Worlt of Frost and Fire. 9 



GEOLOGICAL WOEK OF FROST AND FIRE.* 



The craft of reviewing has got into deplorable discredit in this 

 country through the very shallow, or very untrustworthy opi- 

 nions of books, or other productions, that too often occupy 

 the pages of publications pretending to intelligence and im- 

 partiality. Some works are indeed difficult to describe fairly, 

 and Mr. J. T. Campbell comes before us with two very beau- 

 tiful and valuable volumes, in which merits and defects are 

 alike conspicuous, so that it is far from easy to speak of them 

 as they deserve. Sir Roderick Murchison, an excellent judge 

 of such matters, speaks highly of Frost and Fire, and some 

 critics have overwhelmed both the book and its author with 

 preposterous praise. The truth, as we apprehend it, is that 

 Mr. Campbell is a shrewd observer, and an admirable draughts- 

 man of certain physical appearances which our globe presents, 

 but his stock of scientific knowledge, though greater than he 

 takes credit for, is by no means extensive, and he lacks the 

 art of sustaining a pleasing, or methodical style. We should, 

 therefore, describe his book as a collection of a hundred and 

 seventeen beautifully executed and remarkably interesting 

 sketches, chiefly illustrating the geological work performed by 

 ice, and water set in motion by heat, accompanied by ram- 

 bling, often crotchetty, and frequently clever descriptions of 

 what he has seen, and how he interprets it. Most persons 

 will, we think, find it tiresome to read his volumes through ; 

 but no one of scientific taste can fail to gain both pleasure and 

 information from their pages. To the beginner they offer 

 many shrewd hints and valuable suggestions, and the expe- 

 rienced geologist will welcome so large a collection of data of 

 the highest importance in interpreting the history of our 

 globe. 



The fundamental idea of Mr. Campbell, and it is a good 

 one, is that work, whether human or geological, is done with 

 tools, and that tools leave their marks behind them wherever 

 they have been employed. In the natural world two very 

 important tools are, in his phraseology, " Frost and Fire/* 

 the glacier being the grandest exemplification of the one, and 

 the volcano of the other. He does not take sufficient notice 

 of the enormous amount of work performed by less striking 

 agency, such as the quiet flow of rivers, the fall of rain, and 

 the action of the air, hence his philosophy is incomplete, and 

 his account of the modifications which terrestrial strata have 

 experienced, wants the charm of due proportion in its several 



* Frost and Fire, Natural Fngines, ToolmarJcs and Chips. With Sketches 

 taken at Home and Abroad, by a Traveller. 2 vols. Edmonston and Douglas. 



