REVIEWS. 361 
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some manion to know that, zoologically, they are inferior in rank to the harmless ones; 
‘and certainly,’ adds Sidney Smith, ‘a snake that feels fourteen or fifteen stone stamping on 
his "Ki: vine little time for reflection, and may be allowed to be e poisonous.’ If bitten, apply am- 
monia externally immediately, and take five drops in water gai it is an almost certain 
antidote. The discomforts and dangers ricas: from the anima Hin MN n are no greater than 
11 erland fr w York to New Orl 
SEMN of one thing the —— in oor America may be assured that dear to him, as it 1s 
to us, 
vang of nature, the adventurous walk through the primeval forest, the "uc canoe-lifo 
n the Napo, and the long, monotonous sail on the waters of the Great River. 
SKETCHES OF CREATION.* — The scope of this book is fully set forth 
in the rather SARI us The aim of hys author is an excellent one and 
just such a work as this is intended to be is much neede ed, and we wel- 
come every Eua: at popularizing ds latest facts and theories of sci- 
ence. Our ideal of such works às these are the writings of Hugh ice: 
e Faraday, Gosse, Quatrefages, and others, who, added to the 
charms of a pure, simple, pellucid style, present "ep story of eas or 
a ciam at fragments of it, in a thoroughly artles 
fo 
and Figuieresque, the r sometimes becomes grandiloquent, and his 
aiios falls far short a d sprightly style of his French prototype. In 
Spite, however, of these faults of style the book is a very readable one; 
the facts are correctly stated; the theories presented with much fairness; 
the illustrations excellent, and if the whole book had been as well and 
simply written as the chapters on salt and gypsum, and oil, where the 
learned author is fully at home, our duty as a critic would have almost 
been a Fpa As regards his choice of subjects lovers of the sensa- 
tional and marvellous will find their cravings fully satisfied in the chap- 
ters entitled > “ The Ordeal by Water,” ** The Ordeal o pet The ** Solar 
ystem in a Blaze," * The Reign of Fire," **'The T of Time," ** The 
Reign € Universal Winter," “The Sun Cooling Off,” a “The Machinery 
of the Heavens Running Down." When the author has endeavored, as 
he seems to think salintectaclly: to settle so many vexed points in the 
science of our day we wonder that he “refrains from been attempt to lift 
the veil which conceals the destiny of other firmaments! 
e close with a few special criticisms. The Orthoceratite may have 
been a very formidable monster to a trilobite’s mind, but for the life of us 
we do not understand how, considering the probable structure of the 
T a Sketohes of Creation: a popular view or some of the grand conclusions of the sciences in 
together ig d — of the intimations of 
scienc of the earth and the solar 
System. By Alexander Pete LL.D. With illustrations. New York. Harper and Broth- 
ers. 1870. 12mo, pp. 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 46 
* 
