REVIEWS. 
73 
GEOLOGY, HISTORICAL AND PHYSICAL.* 
H OWEVER much may be said about the importance of a student 
pursuing his study of Geology in large treatises, such as LyelPs and 
Murchison’s, there can be no doubt that the expense attendant on the 
purchase of these works which are generally dear, is sufficient to prevent 
a good many students from purchasing them. This cannot be said of 
volumes such as those now before us, which are issued at such a price that 
they are within the hands of everyone. Weale’s series are too well known 
to need any general explanation at our hands. But they are not at all equal 
in value, some of them being the merest trash, while others, by far the 
majority, are the very best works we can put into a beginner’s hands. 
Unquestionably the two works now before us belong to this category, and 
we should not be sorry to see them in any beginner’s hands. Furthermore, 
Mr. Ralph Tate, whom we are glad to see directing himself to geological 
science, has spared no pains in bringing out new editions of the two geolo- 
gical manuals to make them as fully representative of the progress geolo- 
gical science has lately made as possible. He has introduced new passages 
into the books which prove beyond question that he has been at pains to 
bring the volumes up to the present state o science ; and in cases where a 
doubt existed he has been open enough to state both sides of the question. 
This is clearly the case in his chapter on the coal-measures, in which he 
has introduced us to the more recent facts, those especially connected with 
the Kilkenny coal formation and its remarkable fossil fauna. It is further 
shown in his few remarks about Eozoon, where he candidly owns the 
difference which is known to be between the general opinion and the view 
of Messrs. Rowney and King. In the work devoted to purely Physical 
Geology, the author is even happier in his construction of the book. It 
seems quite marvellous what a mass of the opinions of those who have 
written upon the subject he has introduced. Invariably, too, we find him, 
when a question is known to have two sides, giving both fully and fairly. 
Indeed, in all respects, we are much pleased with the manner in which Mr. 
Ralph Tate has discharged his task, and it is very pleasant for us to be able 
to avow it. 
LONGMANS’ TEXT-BOOKS : THE THEORY OF HEAT.f 
A SSUREDLY few could have been better selected for the authorship of a 
manual of u Heat ” than Dr. Clerk Maxwell, and, in choosing him, the 
editor of the Text-books is especially to be congratulated. Yet it is to be 
regretted, in our opinion, that the author should have so fully developed one 
part of the work to the exclusion of other points of quite as much import- 
ance to the student who goes in for examination, though possibly not of 
* “ Historical Geology,” and “ Physical Geology.” By Ralph Tate, F.G.S. 
London : Lockwood & Co., 1871. 
f a The Theory of Heat.” By Dr. Clerk Maxwell. London : Longmans 
& Co., 1871. 
