Abstract
PROF. SEELEY tells the geological story of the earth in an orderly, though not strikingly luminous, manner. Beginning with evidence of the earth's internal heat, he passes to the materials of mountain chains, and then to the consideration of volcanic rocks. With reference to the latter section, it seems to us that his descriptions of the compositions of rhyolites, trachytes, andesites, and basalts are more suitable for a text-book than for a book intended for popular reading. In fact, Prof. Seeley has too exalted an idea of the knowledge of the general public, who, we are afraid, will not be able to understand a large part of his little book. Few of his unscientific readers will have any idea conveyed to them by remarks such as follow: “The bivalve shells are usually species of Cyclas, or Unio, or Anodonta. The univalve shells are either the pond shells Planorbis, Paludina, and Limnæa, or such river shells as Neritina, and the freshwater limpet.” Similar instances of the use of technical nomenclature without explanation could be quoted from almost every chapter in the book.
The Story of the Earth in Past Ages.
By Prof. H. G. Seeley Pp. 196. (London: George Newnes, Ltd., 1895.)
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The Story of the Earth in Past Ages. Nature 53, 77 (1895). https://doi.org/10.1038/053077c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/053077c0