The Ancient Volcanoes of Great Britain. By Sir Archibald Geikie.
Illustrated. 2 vols. (Macmillan and Co.) —Sir A. Geikie has devoted two sumptuous volumes to the now happily extinct volcanoes of Great Britain and Ireland, which, however, is not indicated on the title-page. England, it is to be observed, has but little volcanic material to show, a little in the old red sandstone of the Cheviots and in the silurian rocks of the Lake District. The rest of England is a blank, and when one thinks of the generally smooth contour of the country, the garden-like land- scape so characteristic of most English counties, we need not wonder. In Ireland there is a large area in the north-west and a little in the south-west, but the rest, again, is non..volcanic. The West Coast of Scotland presents an interesting field in the Cambrian and tertiary strata, and a line of vents and bosses extends across that country from the Firth of Clyde to Montrose and Stonehaven. The Hebrides, of course, are entirely volcanic. North Wales, again, is a fertile field for the geologist. The study of these ancient volcanoes is fascinating, for besides the geological interest and the demands it makes on the imagination, it lends an added interest to the scenery. Sir A. Geikie has treated the whole subject in the most comprehensive manner, and broadly too, so that a very little geological and physiographical knowledge will enable the reader to appreciate the great features as they are, and the succession of changes that have produced these familiar landscapes of what are really the most picturesque parts of these islands. The illustrations and maps, especially the latter, are excellent, and they constitute almost as valuable references as the letterpress itself.
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