Abstract
THE first edition of this book has been out of print for some years; meanwhile, Indian geology has greatly advanced, so that a revised and extended issue, bringing the work in line with the new results of the Geological Survey, has long been needed. Few are more capable of doing this re-writing and revision better than Mr. Oldham. He has had a wide and varied experience of survey work in India, and his acquaintance with the literature pertaining to the subject is evidenced by the “Bibliography of Indian Geology,” compiled by him in 1888. Mr. Oldham has entirely altered the arrangement of the book. The original edition consisted of a series of descriptions of separate districts; but in the present volume the rocks are described in chronological order. All references to economic geology are excluded, being relegated to the works specially devoted to it, while this deals with stratigraphical and structural geology. In the detailed table of contents, the excellent plan has been followed of indicating by a different type the matter which is new or entirely re-written in the present edition. A glance at this shows at once that Mr. Oldham has produced almost a new book. Especially interesting is the chapter on the “Homotaxis of the Gondwáina System” Most geologists will remember the bitter controversy that once raged over the age of this system, but which has now died out. Mr. Oldham has made a detailed study of the rock-groups of the Gondwána system, and has compared them with their representatives in Australia and Africa. He has thus been able to show the relation of the Upper Palæozoic and Lower Mesozoic rocks of India, Africa, and Australia to those of Europe. The two last chapters in the book are entirely new. One deals with the age and origin of the Himalayas, and the other with the geological history of the Indian peninsula. In both of these a number of important questions are discussed in a scientific manner. Wherever Mr. Oldham has interpolated new matter, he has done it well. Unlike many other,revisers, therefore, he has produced a restoration which really improves the old structure. The result is that the manual is once more the standard work on the present state of knowledge of the geology of India.
A Manual of the Geology of India.
Second edition. Revised and largely re-written by R. D. Oldham, (Calcutta: Geological Survey Office. London: Trübner and Co., 1893.)
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[Book Reviews]. Nature 50, 52 (1894). https://doi.org/10.1038/050052a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/050052a0