REVIEWS. 
85 
general handbooks we possess in which the local element is sufficiently pro- 
minent, and the former of these has been so left behind in many points by 
the progress of geology during upwards of 50 years, that although still of 
great value as a book of reference, its statements require to be greatly modified 
to suit them to modern ideas. 
It is therefore with great pleasure that we call the attention of our 
readers to the admirable little handbook of the Geology of England and 
"Wales lately published by Mr. Horace B. Woodward, of the Geological 
Survey, the son of the late Dr. S. P. Woodward, whose “Manual of the 
Mollusca ” must be well known to most of them. In this book, Mr. Wood- 
ward has brought together in systematic form the results of the best in- 
vestigations that have been made in English geology, and we find that 
even the most recent publications have been laid under contribution. He 
commences with a short introduction on the principles of geology, and 
then proceeds at once to the description of the stratified rocks, from the 
Laurentian or Pre-Cambrian formations up through the long series of fossili- 
ferous rocks, to the most recent alluvial deposits. In his classification of the 
older Palseozoic strata he adopts the views of Sedgwick, as lately revived 
by Mr. Hicks and other geologists, placing the boundary between Cambrian 
and Silurian at the base of the Lower Llandovery rocks. As an innovation 
upon generally received opinions, we may note that Mr. Woodward cuts the 
knot of the difficulty as to the line of separation between the Palaeozoic and 
Mesozoic rocks, by shifting the Permians bodily into the latter series, where 
he makes them form, with the Trias and Ithsetic beds, a primary division 
for which he adopts Conybeare’s term " Poikilitic.” In this, at all events 
as regards the position assigned to the Permians, we cannot help thinking 
that the author has made a step in the wrong direction — the fossils of the 
Permian series are so decidedly Palaeozoic in their character, that if a line is 
to be drawn anywhere it ought at least to be above them. 
In all other particulars we can only repeat that Mr. Woodward’s book is 
an admirable one. That it is of necessity to a great extent a compilation 
will be evident to all ; but there are compilations and compilations, and in 
the present case the author has selected the best authorities and used his 
own judgment in the employment of the materials they afford him, guided 
no doubt in many cases by his own experience gained by several years hard 
work in the field. Moreover, he is not content wfith calling on his readers to 
accept •what he tells them, simply because he says it, leaving them to sup- 
pose that no other view is by any means admissible ; but in all disputed or 
doubtful cases, he briefly indicates the evidence on both sides, and places 
the matter in such a form, that those who choose the path that he has 
rejected, may still make use of his lamp as a guide for their feet. 
Besides describing the characters of the different formations and their 
divisions, including those minor subdivisions which have received local 
names, and indicating the localities in which exposures of the various rocks 
may be studied, Mr. Woodward notices the economic products of the rocks 
as he passes them in review, and in most cases their influence on the overly- 
ing soil. He has also a special chapter on the effect of geological structure 
and denudation on the scenery of the country. The fossils indicated under 
the different formations are not numerous, as the author says that he does 
