REVIEWS. 
299 
A TALE OF AGES * 
P OETRY is surely not Science, yet there are some who expect that in 
fnturo a race of pure poetical savans will arise who will work veritable 
wonders in the Poet-world. Perhaps Mr. Richardson is, as it were, the 
troubadour of this future race. His lines are fairly written ; and though in 
metre they are sadly deficient, in the statement of fact they are as accurate 
as alone a geologist could make them. Their nature is briefly this : First 
there is an introduction, and then follow a series of geological sketches in 
verse, viz. the respective ages of chaos, water, fire, forests, ice, and man. 
In the Appendix Mr. Richardson explains the technicalities which he em- 
ploys, so that his verse may be intelligible, not merely to the student of 
natural science, but to the generally educated reader. It is, after all, to 
Edinburgh men chiefly that the poem will be of interest, for the geological 
observations extend exclusively to the country surrounding. We think that 
the author was not unwise in his selection of the spot ; but he cannot com- 
plain if more Southern readers, unless they are well-read geologists, fail in 
many cases to see his points. In many instances, too, his rhyme is somewhat 
questionable. Surely no one ever pronounced eozoon in such a manner as 
one is compelled to do in the following line : — 
“ What first breathed life with God P — embalmed in stone 
Most time-worn, the Laurentian eozoon.” 
We have said enough to explain what we think of the effort made by the 
author, and the reader must now take up the book and judge of it for him- 
don’t know how it is, but unfortunately people generally do not 
much like books of this kind. To be sure a certain number read 
them with avidity until, like the old gentleman of former days, they timidly 
rise from their chairs lest they might fall to pieces from the shock. But 
we do not believe that the mass of people — we mean people who read 
scientific books — care to peruse a physiological essay. We do not think, 
therefore, that Mr. Hinton’s labours will meet with the success they unques- 
tionably deserve ; for though he has not brought out his science as one who 
had gone into the subject might have done, and though he has left such a 
number of important physiological questions untouched that we almost 
wonder at the title he has chosen, still what he has done he has done well 
for the public, for the style of composition is really out of the common. 
Indeed, had not the editor stated the contrary in the preface, we should have 
imagined the several articles were from the same pen. It is our intention, 
* “ A Tale of Ages ; being a Description of some of the Geological and 
Historical Changes which have occurred in the Neighbourhood of Edin- 
burgh.” By R. Richardson, Secretary to the Geological Society of Edinburgh. 
Edinburgh : Edmonston & Douglas, 1874. 
t u Physiology for Practical Use.” By various Writers. Edited by 
James Hinton. Two vols. London : Henry S. King & Co., 1874. 
self. 
PHYSIOLOGY FOR PRACTICAL USE.f 
