I S 8 2 .] Recent Literature. 1 29 



Whitney himself, and while we may accept nearly all of the 

 statements Whitney makes at second hand, the testimony is of 

 course weakened by this fact. Until, then, geologists who are 

 also palaeontologists, which Professor Whitney would not claim to 

 be, have settled the age of our western gold drift, which may turn 

 out to be no older than our eastern glacial drift, we do not see 

 why the layman should not wait until geologists agree in the 

 matter. At any rate the present pamphlet is a confused and 

 hasty statement of conclusions from a mass of indigested and 

 necessarily vague notions of a few geologists, naturalists and 

 historians (the latter most worthy men, but not claiming to know 

 anything about the Pliocene, or any other geological period). 

 We doubt whether one geologist in a hundred thinks man is older 

 than the glacial period, while if well verified facts warranted the 

 conclusion, they would willingly allow that man lived not only 

 through the Pliocene, but began his existence in the Chalk period. 

 The true scientist is willing to follow the lead of facts ; critics, 

 such as our author, seem anxious to prejudice good people against 

 geology and geologists, and to. forestall public opinion on ques- 

 tions about which geologists themselves are divided and uncer- 

 tain from the very nature of the evidence with which they are 

 dealing. Perhaps before i8~2 Mr. Uawkins would have made the 

 same overstatements that Lyell made previous to 1S/2. There is 

 a tendency in the mind of a scientific discoverer to overestimate 

 m his enthusiasm the tendency of new found facts, and to at first 

 exaggerate the importance of the results of his discovery. But 

 for a critic after the lapse of ten or fifteen years to " run a muck " 

 at such men, as though the same opinions' were now held as ten 

 or fifteen years ago, is to mislead good people who cannot dis- 

 tinguish between blind and mdiscriminating, ignorant pseudo- 

 criticism and the habit on the part of every candid scientific man 

 to abandon extreme views it" fresh discoveries teach him to hold 

 more moderate ones. The pamphlet is only of value as contain- 

 ing remarks of Professors Dawkins, Dawson, Hughes and others, 

 who cannot speak without saying something of interest. 

 ^Miss Ormerod's Manual of Injurious Insects. 1 — This is a 



; 

 authoress. It is devoted to "Food Crops and the Insects that 

 "mure them » « Forest Trees anJ thc [n ^ ^ ;h ,, ;;r . ;rc them ;- and 

 fi "ally to " Fruit Crops and the Insects that iniure them." It 

 doses with a glossary and b traduction to 



