ItEVIEWS. 
135 
hollow work on account of the labonr involved, hut for marine construction in 
jHcrre perdue the whole mass of <)olitc there is admirably adapted. The otlier 
quarries in Purbeck furnish stone less hard than those above mentioned, but still 
superior to the true ' Portland ' in their essential characters. All the quarries of 
' Purbeck'-Portland are in the face of the sea cliffs, the first portion being cut 
down perpendicularly from the crest, which when effected at once by blasting is 
termed ridding, so as to form a platform level with the base of the nierchantable 
stone, which in most of them is afterwards extracted by di-iving galleries into the 
rock, forming deep caverns, and leaving pillars for the support of the superincum- 
bent mass. From the position of the quarries the produce can only be sliijiped in 
very calm weather, so that the greatest part of the year they are unapproachable. 
" The beds, in descending order, are the ' cinder,^ the ' red-head,^ thick beds of 
shelly rock, the 'sA?-i»iji '-stone, the ' blue-bed,^ the ' white' and ' spangle-cap,'' good 
for lime, 'pond' or '■upper freestone,' a good material for building purposes, the 
^cap-stone' in three beds, 'listi/,' ' middle,' and ' house cap,' then the ' unde7--p'icking 
cap,' which is picked or blown out to free the great bed of working stone, known 
as the 'freestone' or ' under freestone.' Below this is a thick mass of rock, con- 
taining large nodules of chert blending by concentric rings into the limestone. 
This has never been used, but would be admirable for the pierre perdue works, 
above refen-ed to. 
" The mode of shipping the stone from Swanage is even more primitive than 
that employed for bringing it to the surface. There is no pier for this puiiiose, 
although its construction would be a source of great profit even in the present 
state of the trade. The stone, being carted to the beach, is there piled on the 
bankers, as the storage quays are called ; when wanted it is handed into a cart, the 
cart is drawn into the water, and the stone is passed into a barge, and thence 
again is delivered to the vessel lying in the bay. For the oolite, or ' Purbeck '- 
Portland, it is necessary to get it from the quany in the short intervals of tine 
weather, when it is craned into the vessel and conveyed to the bankers, where it 
remains until it is required for use. By these cumbrous arrangements a valuable 
and beautiful piece of beach is rendered a useless deformity for all other pui-poses, 
and by this accumulation of tedious and expensive labour, some of the finest and 
most durable building stones are prevented from being so fully employed as they 
might be, and a great hindi'ance is created to the execution of architectm-al works, 
for which the varieties of Purbeck and ' Pm-beck'-Portland are not only eminently 
fitted, but really superior to any other kinds in the market." 
Geological Map of England and Wales. By A. C. Ramsay, F.R.S. F.G.S. 
Local Director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. London : E. Stanford, 
Charing Cross. 
When we say this is unciuestionably the best geological map as yet published of 
England and Wales,* we nave said all that even Professor Ramsay could desire of 
a critic, and we may fairly proceed to point out what appear to be defects. This 
we do unactuated by the slightest desire to find fault, but simply because an 
authoritative name will often lend an unintentional character to blemishes. 
First, then, in more places than are indicated on this map the occuiTence of 
alluvium might have been marked ; as, for instance, the Pevensey levels, on the 
north side of the mouth of the Humber, and in the river valleys of Norfolk. 
The patch of Tertiary strata at Newhaven has been overlooked, and we should 
have certainly wished that Professor Ramsay had dropped as obsolete the term 
" Plastic Clay ;" for having partly adopted Mr. Prestwich's admirable grouping of 
the British Tertiary strata, he should also have adopted Mr. Prestwich's far 
preferable denomination of " Woolwich-beds." 
* We are not oblivious of Mr. Greenough's long celebrated map, the larger size of which gives, 
of course, greater latitude for details. A new edition of this, we believe, is about to be published. 
Its greater dimensions and higher pretensions will necessarily make it a more expensive work ; 
but although it should even surpass Mr. Stanford's publication, it can never be regarded in the 
light of a rival. 
