REVIEWS. 



499 



much of "fast" language in the book; but vulgarity of vulgarities, to talk 

 about tobacco-smoking. 



His geological statements are equally valueless, as witness at page 5 his 

 remarks about " veins of porphyry and serpentine in the trap and basalt 

 those at page 44; about " the extinct volcanic agency" that had made " red, 

 yeUow, and green jasper-flints" out of " burnt flints" from the chalk ; and others 

 of the like sort too numerous to mention. 



Although his notions about kaolin, sapphires, the age of granite, and the 

 relations of clay and feldspar, and on many other subjects may be vague and 

 ridiculous enough, he sometimes shows out in his better self, and presents us 

 with passages which by themselves might be regarded almost as beautiful. 

 One of these in reference to ^ems we pick out as weU worthy of a better book. 

 " As to om- own sea-gii't isle, it is sui'cly as guiltless of indigenous gems as of 

 wliite elephants or bu'ds of paradise. Had any such existed with us, they 

 must lon^ ere this have been brought to light and appeared in the market. 

 We have bored the plain to two hundred fathoms depth; we have pierced the 

 hiU-side in tunnels which extend for miles ; geologists and antiquarians have 

 delved, and hammered, and sifted ; many curious fossds have tui-ned up, and 

 a world's wealth in minerals, but never auythmg like a diamond or oriental. 



"It is well that to console us under such apparent poverty as to the gems, we 

 possess the treasure an hundi'cd-fold in other shapes, though derived from the 

 same sources. Clay gives us no sapphires ; but it floors our ponds and canals, 

 furnishes our earthenware, and yields the bricks which have buUt the ribs of 

 London. Carbon refuses to flash upon us in the rays of an indigenous 

 " brilliant," but it feeds our furnaces, propels our steamers and locomotives, 

 and cheers a miUion of household hearths under the well-known form of coal. 

 And iron is our national sceptre ; it reddens here no jacinth or ruby ; but it 

 supplies us with spades and ploughshares, lays down thousands of miles of 

 railway, and lias made England the forge and workshop of the known world 

 for giant engines and massive machinery. 



" If our earth be less dazzling than that from Golconda or Peru, it is, we 

 may hope, more durable, flowing to us through a healthier channel, by the 

 honest labour and steady perseverance of the sons of the soil." 



We have admitted that we have read only half the book ; we have, however, 

 skimmed over the rest, hoping sincerely to find some redeeming parts ; but, 

 alas ! we have only found it worse and worse. 



Here and there, as we have already said, there are pretty bits of writing ; 

 but as neither gold nor silver, however beautifully elaborated by human art, 

 redeems the treacherous mock jewel within the setting, so such attractive pas- 

 sages only gild with a showy film the rottenness of the work within. 



Handhooh of Geological Terms and Geology. By David Page, P.G.S. Lon- 

 don and Edinburgh : Blackwood and Sons, 1859. 



This is a valuable book that has long been wanted by professional geologists 

 and amateurs. The "General Terms and Technicalities" (pages 55 — 381) are 

 carefully elaborated. The derivations are correctly given ; the explanations are 

 full and suggestive. The right pronunciation of the terms is indicated by 

 proper accentuation. 



The list of "Specific Appellations" (pages 385 — 416) wiU be a boon to many 

 a student, who can hereby make himself acquainted with their meaning and 

 pronounce them correctly, though unacquainted with Latin and Greek. 



The " Tabular Schemes of the Chemical, Mineral, Lithological, and Vital 

 aspects of the Globe" (pages 11 — 51) form a skeleton of geological knowledge. 



