214 
The Great Ice Age and Origin of the “ Till” [April, 
V. “THE GREAT ICE AGE” AND THE ORIGIN 
OF THE “TILL.” 
By W. Mattieu Williams, F.R.A.S., F.C.S. 
S HE growth of Science is becoming so overwhelming 
that the old subdivisions of human knowledge are no 
longer sufficient for the purpose of dividing the labour 
of experts. It is scarcely possible now for any man to be- 
come a naturalist, a chemist, or a physicist, in the full sense 
of either term ; he must, if he aims at thoroughness, be 
satisfied with a general knowledge of the great body of 
science, and a special and full acquaintance with only one 
or two of its minor subdivisions. Thus geology, though but 
a branch of natural history, and the youngest of its branches, 
has now become so extensive that its ablest votaries are 
compelled to devote their best efforts to the study of sec- 
tions which but a few years ago were scarcely definable. 
Glaciation is one of these, which now demands its own 
elementary text-books over and above the monographs of 
original investigators. This demand has been well supplied 
by Mr. James [Geikie in “ The Great Ice Age,”* of which a 
second edition has just been issued. Every student of gla- 
cial phenomena owes to Mr. Geikie a heavy debt of gratitude 
for the invaluable collection of faCts and philosophy which 
this work presents. It may now be fairly^ described as a 
standard treatise on the subject which it treats. 
One leading feature of the work offers a very aggressive 
invitation to criticism. Scotchmen are commonly accused 
of looking upon the whole universe through Scotch spec- 
tacles, and here we have a Scotchman treating a subject 
which affedts nearly the whole of the globe, and devoting 
about half of his book to the details of Scottish glacial de- 
posits ; while England has but one-third of the space 
allowed to Scotland, Ireland but a thirtieth, Scandinavia 
less than a tenth, North America a sixth, and so on with 
the rest of the world. Disproportionate as this may appear 
at first glance, further acquaintance with the work justifies 
the pre-eminence which Mr. Geikie gives to the Scotch gla- 
cial deposits. Excepting Norway, there is no country in 
Europe which affords so fine a field for the study of the 
vestiges of extindt glaciers as Scotland, and Scotland has 
* The Great Ice Age, and its Relation to the Antiquity of Man. By James 
Geikie, F.R.S., &c. Second^edition, revised, 1877. Daddy and Isbister. 
