fied or abandoned. Nevertheless, that the doctrine of progressive development may contain in it the germs of a true theory, I am far from denying. The consideration of this question will came before you when the age of the White Sandstone of Elgin is discussed a rock hitherto referred to the Old Red, or Devonian formation, but now ascertained to contain several reptilian forms, of so high an organisation as to raise a doubt in the minds of many geologists whether so old a place in the series can correctly be assigned to it.

The Late Professor George Wilson of Edinburgh.

We observe with deep regret the announcement of the decease of this excellent and able man. In the great work of wedding science to the useful arts, and in the power of making its hardest truths intelligible and acceptable to the common mind he has left few equals and no superior. We copy the following notice from the "Scottish Press":

THE death of Professor George Wilson is an event with cannot but be deeply and widely felt. By many amongst us it will be deplored as a grievous personal loss, to the interests of science generally, it is great indeed, but to the University of Edinburgh it may almost be said to be irreparable. We have no wish to magnify the acquirements of the dead at the expense of those of the living, nor would we wish it to be thought that we write under a sense of despondency occasioned by the removal of one who was ao wise and kind a counsellor; but Dr. George Wilson's connection with the University and the department of science in which he laboured so ardently until the close of his life was in one sense so peculiar as to justify the remark we have made. The Chair of Technology which he was destined to fill for so short a time, was not so much created for him as by him. The foundation of his Professorship was, so to speak, only the recognition of his untiring efforts for the advancement of truth and the application of science to the industrial arts. It was felt not only that he was the best man who could be selected, but that he was the only man who fulfilled all the conditions necessary to render such a professorship as that of Technology permanently effective. The saying that thoroughly original men not only make their own instru

ments, but, humanly speaking, create occasion for the use of them, was never more clearly illustrated than in the case of Dr. George Wilson. And it is because we know that everything, or nearly everything, connected with the position from which death has just called him, owed its existence to his wisdom, his zeal, and his never flagging energy that we feel his death to be so great a public loss. It will never be possible to estimate with anything like correctness the amount of physical and mental labour which he endured in order to fulfil the objects contemplated in the foundation of his Professorship, and to carry out the projected Industrial Museum of which he was appointed curator. His duties in the class-room, arduous as they were, did not represent a tithe of that labour. The clearness of his mind, the warmth of his heart, the graces of his style, and the natural buoyancy of his temperament, made his duties as a teacher seem as light as they were pleasant. No man better knew how to make the portals of the temple of knowledge inviting, and in a secular as well as a sacred sense, wisdom's ways were ways of pleasantness to him and all whom he sought to teach. Duty, "the stern lawgiver," ever were a smile for him, and his works abundantly prove that while he laboured as comparatively few are capable of labouring to extend the boundaries of knowledge, he never ceased to look forward, with the eye of steady faith, to that state of things in which we shall no longer see darkly as through a glass. It was his delight to think that those who reverently sought to know something of the Creator's work here, had begun studies that would never end, and he was wont to say that "the shortest lesson in heaven will teach more than the longest upon earth.

A brief notice like this affords us no opportunity of saying anything satisfactory as to the position to which Dr. George Wilson attained as a man of science and of letters. But it is scarcely necessary that anything should be said, for the sense of his loss attests the value of his scientific labours, and his books afford abundant evidence of the fine tone of his mind. His "Chemistry of the Electric Telegraph," and "Chemistry of the Stars" though scientific treatises in the best sense of the word, are felt by those who read them to be something more than this; they are the products of a highly poetical, as well as an accurate and well-balanced mind. His fertile imagination, and lively fancy, enabled him to impart not only lucidity, but attractiveness

to themes which by others have been rendered obscure and uninviting. His delicate and often subtle humour, too, played around such themes relaxing their gravity and lighting them up. Above all these characteristics of his literary works, is the steadfast faith and deep religious feeling which pervades them. In none is this so manifest, as in his Life of Dr. John Reid, one of the most delightful examples of biography within our knowledge. To Dr. George Wilson, religion was not only not a gloomy thing, but it was the brightness of existence. It not only cheered him in many days of prostration from severe bodily affliction, but it was an element in almost all his studies, and a thing of his daily laborious life. And we have reason to know, that during his last days on earth, he felt it to be indeed the peace of God, and the firm anchor of his soul.

REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS.

HANDBOOK OF GEOLOGICAL TERMS AND GEOLOGY, by DAVID PAGE, E.G.S., Author of the Advanced Text Book of Geology. Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons. Montreal: B. Dawson & Son, pp. 416, $2.

Such a Handbook as this is has long been a great desideratum to the reading public. The "hard words and forbidding technicalities" of science which appear to beginners of so difficult acquirement, are here explained and made intelligible in brief and simple language. The ordinary reader will find the information he requires, generally in the first and second sentences of a definition, while,what follows is more especially addressed to students and other professional enquirers. This book is just the thing for students, and for those who attend geological lectures, or read geological books. As the first book of the kind that has yet appeared, it is a most meritorious production. Although far from complete it yet contains nearly every term to be met with in ordinary books on geology. In no other single work can the same information be obtained. The defintions may be received with perfect confidence. The author is well known as a most painstaking and careful practical geologist.

EVENINGS AT THE MICROSCOPE; or Researches among the Minuter Organs and Forms of Animal Life. By P. H. GossE, F.R.S. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Montreal: B. Dawson & Son. pp. 480.

Little need be said in commendation of this new work by Mr. Gosse. His popular writings in the department of Zoology are so well known and highly valued by Students of Natural History, that any thing on his favorite science, which he may now publish, is sure to meet with a favorable reception. To open the path to the myriad wonders of creation which, altogether unseen by the unassisted eye, are made cognisable to sight by the aid of the microscope is the aim and scope of this volume. The revelations of the microscope in the department of the organic world are of the most wonderful and interesting kind, and may well attract the attention of all intelligent and educated persons. The staple of this book consists of original observations by the author. He has set down simply what he himself has seen and what may be seen by any one with the aid of a microscope of ordinary power. He has relieved the dryness of technical description by a colloqial and familiar style in a series of imaginary microscopical conversaziones. The precision essential to science has, however, never been sacrificed. Throughout the work considerable information is given on the selecting, securing and preparing objects for examination under the microscope, which cannot fail to be highly useful to those who have not books at hand containing special directions on these points. In almost every instance the objects selected for illustration are common things, such as any one with access to the sea-shore or country-side may easily obtain. The book contains one hundred and thirteen illustrations, all of which, with the exception of eighteen, are from the author's own pencil They are also, even in this American edition of the work, engraved with much accuracy and beauty. To the young we cannot too highly commend this book. With the aid of a microscope its interest will be greatly increased, but with or without such a companion it cannot fail to prove highly instructive.

DURA DEN; a Monograph of the Yellow Sandstone and its remarkable Fossil remains. By the Rev. JOHN ANDERSON, D.D., F.G.S., &c. With illustrations. Edinburgh: Thos. Constable & Co. Montreal: B. Dawson & Son.-imp. 8 vo. pp. 96, $3.50.

This is a truly sumptuous book which any geologist will regard as a real luxury. The illustrations are in the highest style of

lithographic art and artistic beauty. The two finest and largest are drawn by the fair hand of Lady Kinnaird, and are of unquestionable excellence. The writer is well known as a distinguished amateur geologist. His name is associated with some important discoveries in this department of Science. Lately the remarkably well preserved fossils of a district in Fifeshire, Scotland, called Dura Den, has attracted the attention of geologists. and led to an interesting determination of the position of the rocks in which they are embedded. The fossils are now regarded, on almost unquestionable evidence, to belong to the Devonian or old red Sandstone formation. At first, from their contiguity to the coal fields of Fifeshire, these rocks were supposed to have some relation to the lower members of the Carboniferous system, but the careful examination of their fossils and the relat ed strata have led the chiefs of geological science to regard the Yellow Sandstone of Dura Den, as a curious and most interesting section of the great Devonian System. We cordially recom mend this book to those interested in the progress of Geological Science.

NUGGETS FROM THE OLDEST DIGGINGS OR RESEARCHES IN THE MOSAIC CREATION. By R. W. VANDYK. Edinburgh: Thos. Constable & Co. Montreal: B. Dawson & Son.

This is another book on the great question of the reconciliation of the Mosaic Narrative of Creation, with the facts of physical science. Notwithstanding the uncouth title, the book is written with much vigour and eloquence. There is no pretension to a critical examination of the text with this branch of the subject our author does not intermeddle. Nor does he claim any higher acquaintance with science than that which may be obtained from a careful study of good books. The author persuades himself that he has made a grand discovery which removes all the difficulties which have hitherto perplexed the wisest of men, and sheds a perfect flood of light upon the scripture narrative. He is evidently in a very happy frame of mind, and writes in a style of delightful enthusiasm. "Happy is he who knoweth the causes of things." Our authors' idea is that, with the exception of the very first act, which was the creation of the substance of the universe, the whole events narrated in Genesis i. were truly effects of the laws given to the created mass, showing themselves gradually and in succession, and by a process