128 Notices of Books . [January, 
mous radius of 1507 miles, so that, to quote the author’s illus- 
tration, were it placed at Derby a spectator on its highest point 
would be able to see the sea eastward of Yarmouth, the Isle of 
Wight southwards, the Irish Channel on the West, and the 
country beyond Carlisle to the north. A very remarkable feature 
is the dense population of the habitable zone of Etna, amounting 
to 1424 persons per square mile, a proportion almost equalling 
that of Lancashire, and due doubtless to the great fertility of the 
region. A characteristic of Etna is the great number of minor 
cones and craters, from all of which fire and lava have at times 
issued. Of these Waltershausen has mapped no fewer than 
two hundred within a 10-mile radius from the summit crater. 
Among the chief organic features of the region are the gigantic 
chestnut trees of Carpinetto, which are no myths, but sober 
realities. The trunk of one, according to the author, is 25 feet 
in diameter, whilst a public road passes through the much- 
decayed stem of the largest, the Castagno di Cento Cavalli. 
The author gives a brief account of the flora of the mountain, 
and dismisses the fauna with the brief and somewhat hazardous 
remark that “ of course it is the same as that of the eastern 
sea-board of Sicily.” 
The author’s ascent of the mountain is next described. He 
recommends travellers who undertake a similar expedition to 
seleCt, as did he, the middle of summer, as the cold on the sum- 
mit has been declared by some more severe than anything expe- 
rienced in the Alps. If this opinion is based on sensations 
experienced, it may be due to the abrupt change from the semi- 
tropical temperature of the sea-coast. 
Like Brydone, the author appears to have been much struck 
with the clearness of the sky and the brilliance of the stars. 
The speCtroscopic lines he found defined with wonderful dis- 
tinctness. Hence it is very satisfactory to learn that an 
observatory is to be ereCted at the Casa Inglesi, 1200 feet below 
the summit. Mr. Rodwell gives a very interesting account of 
the sunrise, and of the curious optical efieCts produced. The 
shadow of the mountain was projected across the island a 
hundred miles away, and seemed suspended in space at or 
beyond Palermo. The villages at the base of the mountain 
“ seemed painted on a vertical wall in front of us.” The chief 
hardship experienced is the change of temperature. 
We have next a description of the principal localities in the 
Etnean region, including the ancient city of Adranum, whose 
temple was once “ guarded by a thousand dogs.” Aci Reale is 
noteworthy for its seven beds of suposed lavas, one of the 
earliest discovered pieces of evidence against the chronology of 
Usher. 
After noticing the seventy-eight recorded eruptions of Etna, 
our author turns to the geology and mineralogy of the region. 
The oldest eruptions must have taken place during the Glacial 
