1873O Notices of Books. 259 



Written in a pleasing gossiping style, they lead the reader 

 smoothly onwards, until he finds himself in possession of a great ■ 

 deal of geological information. 



These stories have, for the most part, already appeared in 

 " Science Gossip," a journal of which the author is editor ; but 

 they are now arranged in chronological order, so as to present a 

 simple and picturesque view of the past history of our Earth. 

 The autobiographies are told by pieces of granite, quartz, slate, 

 limestone, sandstone, coal, rock-salt, jet, Purbeck marble, chalk, 

 clay, lignite, the " Crags," a boulder, and a gravel-pit. 



Whilst recommending these " Stories " to the class of readers 

 for whom they were primarily intended, we cannot help re- 

 marking an unsatisfactory looseness of expression, common to 

 most popular writings, but annoying to the scientific reader. 

 For example, confining ourselves to the first chapter, — the story 

 of a piece of granite, — we object to alumina, soda, potash, lime, 

 and other oxides, being constantly called " elements ; " nor are 

 we pleased to hear the chemical constituents of mica and of 

 felspar spoken of as "mixed" together in these minerals 

 respectively. But the most curious statement in this chapter is 

 that felspar may be detected in a mass of granite by being " so 

 soft that you may scratch it with your finger-nail ! " If this ex- 

 traordinary assertion is made on the authority of personal 

 examination, it is clear that either certain parts of the author's 

 exo-skeleton had acquired an unwonted degree of induration, or 

 the specimen under test was advancing to a state of kaolinisa- 

 tion. Mr. Taylor is evidently more at home when speaking of 

 fossils than of minerals ; and, as might be supposed, we find 

 him at his best in the later chapters, from the " Story of the 

 Crags" onwards. 



Despite any little defects observable here and there, the work 

 contains an attractive collection of stories well calculated to 

 quicken a taste for geology in those who may be too careless 

 about the grand Science of the Earth to apply themselves to the 

 study of systematic treatises. x . 



The Owen's College Junior Course of Practical Chemistry. By 

 H. E. Roscoe, B.A., F.R.S., Professor of Chemistry in 

 Owen's College, Manchester, and Francis Jones, Chemical 

 Master in the Grammar School, Manchester. London : Mac- 

 millan and Co. 



The number of elementary works on chemistry which have been 

 lately issued from the English press proves that the importance 

 of this science is at last beginning to receive something like due 

 recognition. Amongst these treatises few are likely to prove 

 more valuable than the one before us, which bears the impress 

 of having been arranged by one who, like Prof. Roscoe, has 



