Notices of Books. 
92 
[January, 
and to detecft these is an essential step towards the verification 
of Mr. KingsmiH’s supposition. Another important test will be 
a r ^-examination of the leading fadts of animal and vegetable 
geography in the light of this new hypothesis. If it harmonises 
with the distribution of organic species its probability will be 
greatly augmented. 
It would be unpardonable to conclude this hasty survey of a 
brief but most important treatise without putting on record our 
appreciation of its character. The author dissents, indeed, from 
certain geological theories widely — if not universally — received ; 
but he thinks and writes as a man of Science, and he may there- 
fore justly demand for his views a full and a candid examination. 
The advice which he gives, in concluding, to the members of the 
“ North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society,” is most 
excellent. “ In the investigation of the loess,” he says, “ a wide 
field is open for research, and one in which many members of 
this Society can render a service. We are entirely ignorant of 
its microscopic composition, yet without a knowledge of this we 
can do no more than speculate as to the conditions under which 
it was deposited. What Dr. O. von Mollendorff has done for 
Chihli (Petcheler) is wanted for all the other provinces of China 
— a reliable catalogue of the animals resident within their limits. 
Of the botany of North China we are supremely ignorant, and 
we have still a very imperfetft knowledge of its fishes. The 
interesting fossil flora of the Kinsin coal-field is still untouched, 
yet it is of special importance in its connection with the Ardtic 
flora of similar age.” 
Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool 
during the Sixty-fifth Session, 1875-76. No. 30. London : 
Longmans and Co. Liverpool: D. Marples and Co., Lim. 
This volume possesses the character common to the Proceedings 
of most of our provincial learned societies : its contents are 
literary rather than scientific, and the papers of the latter class 
are devoted rather to popular exposition than to the results of 
research. This, of course, is to be expected : we reap just what 
we sow. As long as our education is based upon literature, as 
long as the art of expression is prized more highly than the 
power of origination, so long we shall abound in novels, sermons, 
speeches delivered in Parliament and elsewhere, historical, anti- 
quarian, and critical dissertations, and be scanty in scientific 
work, in discoveries, and inventions. Whether we are adding 
wisely or foolishly it is now not the time to inquire. 
The first paper in the volume before us is the Presidential 
Address on “ The Tendencies and the Future of Modern 
