I879.J 
Notices of Books. 647 
good, and the subject is not overburdened by mathematical 
treatment. A fair example of the lucid explanation and admir- 
able illustration of a subject will be found under the head of 
“ fridtion on the inclined plane” (pp. 92, 93.) 
Outlines of Geology and Geological Notes of Ireland. Being an 
Account of the Formation and Localities of its Mineral 
Resources. With an Addenda, containing Disintegration 
of Rock, Antiquity of the Earth, Climatic Changes of the 
Earth, Supposed Antiquity of Man, and the author’s con- 
cluding Note. By William Hughes. Third edition. 
Dublin : M. H. Gill and Son, and W. H. Smith and Son. 
We have here a manual of the mineral resources of Ireland, 
along with descriptions and illustrations of the wild and sublime 
scenery of its coasts. Such a work, doubtless, might serve the 
very important purpose of drawing the attention of its readers 
to the great truths of geology and leading them on to become 
observers. So far as the author confines himself to a descrip- 
tion of fadls we can follow him with approval. But when he 
enters upon speculation and theory we are compelled to put in 
our protest. Mr. Hughes is in the first place a catastrophist of 
a school which we had supposed extin( 5 L He declares that 
“this earth was subjected to repeated changes, that thousands 
of years intervened between them, and that each completely 
destroyed all vegetable and animal life.” To him the history of 
our globe is not a career of regular development, but an alterna- 
tion of extirpations and creations, separated by “ periods of 
repose.” It might have been hoped that notions so irreconcilable 
with recent discoveries and observations would no longer be 
reproduced in a popular treatise. 
We are unfavourably impressed, too, with the apologetic tone 
of the work and with its vacillating character. At one moment 
the author seems to have fully grasped the great truth that 
“ revelation was given not to inculcate physical science,” but 
the next he is reconciling geology with Genesis — a process which 
his former admission ought to render needless. On the supposed 
high antiquity of the human race he declares (p. 117) that “we 
must leave our readers to draw their own conclusions from the 
evidences we have laid before them ;” but, in his concluding 
note, he withdraws this permission and declares, “ To those 
whose minds are not warped (!) there can be no doubt whatever 
but that man’s appearance upon this terrestrial scene is as we 
have been all taught to believe it, and as Holy Writ gives it in 
the simple narrative of the creation.” So then, in this respetft 
at least, “revelation has been given to inculcate physical science.” 
