300 Chronicles of Science. [April, 



cases like these, even if their meaning were more clear, are not suffi- 

 cient to prove a law of such paramount importance, and as Mr. Sterry 

 Hunt remarks, " it remains to be determined how far chemical and 

 mineralogical differences, such as those which have been here indi- 

 cated, are geological constants." 



The ' Geological Magazine ' has been quite as good as usual 

 during the past quarter, having contained much that is instructive, 

 with occasionally something amusing. Papers of sterling worth have 

 been as abundant as before, and all the better for not being quite so 

 technical. We may specially mention Professor Owen's description 

 of Anthrakerpeton crassosteum, a new air-breathing reptile of low or- 

 ganization from the Coal-measures of Llantrissent, Glamorganshire ; 

 Mr. C. B. Rose's paper " On the Brick-earth of the Nar," in which he 

 states his conviction of the approximate synchronism of that deposit 

 with the Post-tertiary beds of the Clyde basin, and records Dr. Otto 

 Torell's identification of several of the Nar shells with some of those 

 found in the raised beds at Uddevalla ; Mr. Seeley's paper " On the 

 Neck-bones of a new Fossil Whale from near Ely," which the author 

 states were derived from the Kimmeridge or the Oxford clay, although 

 the oldest English whales hitherto known have been found in the 

 Crag; and lastly, Mr. Handel Cossham's description of the geo- 

 logical structure of Kingswood Hill, in the course of which he shows 

 that the rock mapped as Millstone-grit by the Geological Survey is 

 merely a particular bed of sandstone (known as the " Holmes Rock ") 

 occurring in the Coal-measures, and that therefore coal exists (as he 

 has proved by actual mining operations) where, if the Survey-maps 

 were correct, it would be hopeless to look for it. 



Two other papers come into another category — one by Sir Roderick 

 Murchison, in which he quarrels with Sir Charles Lyell for stating 

 that the gneiss of the north-west of Scotland and of the Hebrides has 

 been conjectured to correspond with the Laurentian rocks of Canada. 

 Sir Roderick says that he has proved it, not only for the Scotch gneiss 

 but also for the old gneiss of Bavaria and Bohemia. What may be 

 "proof" to the mind of one of these distinguished men, may con- 

 ceivably, in a Science like Geology, be no more than a " conjecture " 

 to that of the other. We know that everyone believes in his own 

 theories. The other paper is vastly entertaining, and not a little re- 

 markable ; it is by Mr. Ruskin, and is entitled " Notes on the Shape 

 and Structure of some parts of the Alps with reference to Denudation." 

 It is so entirely sui generis, that we can scarcely hope to give an ade- 

 quate idea of it, except by a reprint. However, we subjoin a few 

 extracts, with explanations. Mr. Ruskin begins with the following 

 odd notion : — " It is often said that controversies advance Science ; I 

 believe, on the contrary, that they retard it — that they are wholly 

 mischievous — and that all good scientific work is done in silence, till 

 done completely." Believing this, he at once acts contrary to his be- 

 lief by becoming a partisan in the question of glacier-erosion, arguing 

 the matter in his own peculiar way, after the manner of an exaggerated 

 reductio ad absurdum. Thus : " VVhere would be the harm of granting 

 it for peace sake, even in its complete expansion ? There were, we 



