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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
country. Its faison detre is therefore distinct enough. How has the author 
done his work ? On the whole, well. Still there are objections to be raised. 
In the first place we accuse him of a desire to make a book. This is quite 
clear. Indeed, everything that has been said in the nearly 300 pages 
might have been easily put into half that number. Then, again, the author 
is lax and talkative where he should be precise and terse. We note also an 
utter absence of illustrations, save the coloured frontispiece. This is a mis- 
take, especially as the author admits that his descriptions are inexact. 
How can the reader use the book ? Still it has passed through a second 
edition, and we suppose that is an adequate reply to our queries. Never- 
theless we fancy if illustrations were employed it would soon reach a third 
edition. 
VICTORIAN GEOLOGY AND PALAEONTOLOGY. * 
T HE catalogue by Mr. Ulrich contains a detailed description of an exten- 
sive series of rocks, illustrative of the geology of Victoria, the classifi- 
cation being mainly based on that given by Dr. Zirkel in his work on Petro- 
graphy. Interspersed throughout are some valuable notes on the distribu- 
tion and characters of the various rocks, and their modes of occurrence. 
Erom these it appears that the basalt rocks are extensively developed in 
Victoria, being estimated to occupy from 6,000 to 7,000 square miles of the 
surface. They appear to belong to two distinct periods ; the older, and more 
widely distributed, occurred at the end of the miocene epoch, the newer 
eruption commencing towards the close of the pliocene epoch, and seems to 
have continued into the most recent post-pliocene times, the country occu- 
pied by the two basaltic flows differing very much in its physical features. 
Of the Palaeozoic series, the Silurian rocks occupy a large area, and are esti- 
mated to be about 35,000 feet in thickness, and as regards the mineral 
capabilities, the Silurian, as a whole, is the most important rock formation 
to the gold miner, on account of its containing the matrix of the gold in the 
number of veins, lodes, and reefs of quartz that traverse it. 
The Tertiary strata, however, whether regarded in their economical or 
physical aspects, occupy by far the most prominent place in Victorian 
geological history — either of sedimentary or volcanic origin. The strata of 
this period are distributed over fully one-half of the surface of the colony, 
varying in thickness from a few to more than 300 feet, and ranging from the 
sea-level to elevations of over 4,000 feet. They are of miocene, pliocene, 
and recent ages, the two latter having a far wider surface range than the 
older marine tertiary deposits, and are the most important, as they embrace 
the auriferous drifts which, with the associated streams of basalt-lava, belong 
at least to three distinct periods of deposition, the earliest not older than 
the pliocene, and the newest is probably due to causes still in operation. 
* u A Descriptive Catalogue of the Specimens in the Industrial and 
Technological Museum, illustrating the Rock System of Victoria.” By 
G. H. F. Ulrich, M.E., F.G.S. Melbourne: 1875.— “ Prodomus of the 
Palaeontology of Victoria.” By Prof. F. McCoy. Decade III. Melbourne : 
1876. 
