Eerieic of Recent CTeolo(jical Literature. 115 
granitic. Between them lay a deep sea dotted perhaps with a few is- 
lands. The waste of these ancient rocks was deposited in the adjacent 
S3a forming the Cambrian, Silurian and Devonian series, the last of 
which is in some places 10,000 fest in thickness. The later part -of the 
ensuing Carboniferous era was marked by an elevation of several thou- 
sand feet and a S3vere crumpling of the strata "by a force from the 
east," which together brought most of the former shores and S3a bot- 
toms of the eastern land high above the water. This was apparently 
the date of the deposition of the now auriferous fissures. The result 
S3ems to have been a continent much like that now existing, with an 
elevated range along the eastern coast and a climat? favorable to vege- 
tation. 
Later, about the beginning of Mesozoic time, a second elevation took 
plac3, carrying the continent yet higher and annexing the Great Barrier 
reef, New Guinea and possibly Timor, but making little change on the 
western side. To this elevation and the high movmtains which it devel- 
oped along the eastern coast, probably 10,000 feet in altitude, Mr. 
Gregory is inclined to attribute the great moisture of the Carboniferous 
era, whose deposits are limited entirely to that part of the continent. 
An extensive depression ensued in late Mesozoic time, cari-ying the in- 
terior part again below the sea and affording room for the wide-spread 
Cretaceous rocks. Only the higher peaks and ranges rose above the 
water. 
Subsequent elevation, without distortion, raised the whole area to a 
hight about 500 feet above its present level and it then presented almost 
its present appearance. 'Extensive river systems then existed in the in- 
terior and violent volcanic outbursts poured basalt over the new Creta 
ceous beds. Then followed the era of the great Australian n>arsupial 
fauna when i)/jj?"o/mio/i. A"o^of//e/'/»»( and others obtained subsistence 
where now the kangaroo cannot live. Great rainfall marked this era, as 
is shown by the way in which the fossils are buried on the margins of 
extinct freshwater lakes. 
But desiccation followed and the huge marsupials vanished, the dingo 
alone surviving by adaptation to the altered conditions, and the interior 
became the dry and waterless area that it is at the present time. 
K. w. c. 
Portland Cem" tit : (t Monograph. By Charles D.Jameson. (The 
Transit, vol. iii, no 1, 192 pp. Iowa City, 1895.) The recent broaden- 
ing of the scope of geological surveys so that the official geologist is ex- 
pected now to not only point out the location of valuable Vieds but to 
also indicate the best methods of working them, makes it imperative 
that he keep informed upon certain jjortions, at least, of technical liter- 
ature. Few recent contributions are therefore more welcome than that 
which Prof. Jameson has just made to the study of cements. There has 
l)3en of recent years a notable expansion in the l)usiness of cement 
manufacture. Portland cement was first manufactured in 1824 in 
England. The industry for many years made little headway against the 
u'.'tive competition of the natural or Roman cements. In 1852 the in- 
