20 OCTOBER 1877, Page 22

Elementary Lessons in Physical Geography, By Archibald Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S.

(Macmillan,)—Tliere can be no doubt that what Mr. Wilkie undertakes he will do in a scholarly and accurate manner, and that from the height of his knowledge he can descend to the schoolboy level, ho has already abundantly shown in his excellent primers on geology and physical geography. This book is what it professes to be,. —elementary. The author rouses the interest in his subject by appeal- ing to the common experience of students in the changes passing around, thorn, and is very careful to teach the method of drawing correct in- ferences from such observation. This work will compare favourably with other text-books on the subject. It has not been written as a cram-book of examination, and much that is to be found in other- treatises on this subject is absent. Its object is to sot forth. the principles of the science, and not to overburden the mind of the, student by the relation of a number of dry details, with very little* or no connection between them. Mr. Goikie is particularly happy in hie treatment of the air and the sea. We do not think the difficult subject of the movements of the air and the resulting atmospheric dis- turbances called" storms" could have been made more intelligible, and we believe the writer is the first who has made modern meteorology a part of his treatise. The excellent maps whieh illustrate the volume are in Johnston's best style, and have been very carefully prepared.