21 DECEMBER 1889, Page 23

A Little Brown Pebble. By S. L. Pumphrey. (W H

Allen and Co.)—Some children find a brown pebble, and the brown pebble tells them his story, beginning with the account of how, being

originally sandstone, he was hardened into quartzite by the action of hot water that was full of flint. In fact, he gives his young audience a geological history of the world, this including the development of plant-life, and an account of various creatures that inhabited land and sea in the early ages, the gigantic rep- tiles and mammals, till we get to the appearance of man. In short, a considerable amount of knowledge is given in a convenient and attractive form, with the assistance of appropriate illustrations.