The Scenery of England and IVales. By D. Macintosh, F.G.S.
(Long- mans.)—Mr. Macintosh deals with his subject in a way that will be un- familiar to most readers. He seta himself to investigate the causes which have made the varieties of scenery and to describe their work- ing. We may take a well-known instance. Every one must have noticed the strongly marked terraces which are to be seen in many parts of England. So strongly marked indeed are they, and so regular in many cases, that it is almost impossible to believe but that they are the work of man. And yet they occur in situations where it is inconceivable that labour should have been applied to form them ; in places, for in- stance, where they could have been of no possible use for purposes of cultivation. This is one of a very large number of phenomena to which our author applies his theory. That theory may be briefly described by the words "ocean denudation." Mr. Macintosh strongly insists on the fact that "efficiency is the main requisite of geological causes," and he does not recognize this requisite in the action of rivers, to take one of the causes which some geologists have suggested. The book con- tains a general account of the subject and the author's views, a descrip- tion of the chief types of scenery in England and Wales, and a number of excursions to various spots in which the author sees illustrations of his view. It shows a vast amount of labour and careful observation ; altogether it is a moot useful and valuable contribution to the natural history of this country. Future generations, with their scientific appre- ciation of the beauty of landscape, will probably look down with the same contempt upon our sentimental appreciation just as we look down upon the ancients, because they, we fancy, had no appreciation of it at all.
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