The Press.
London, England, 1858-03-27 00:00:00

some and encroaching. The practice extended
in many cases to the native civil servants, and
the mischief was similar to that which De
Tocqueville tells us was caused by the " ga-
rantie des fonctionnaires " in France before
1798. The power of passing grievances through
a powerful British official amounted to an
" exceptional jurisdiction," easily stretched
beyond just limits, and tending, as the French
philosopher says, " to make men at once re
" volutionary and servile."
However monotonous the long catalogue of
crimes contained in these volumes may ap-
pear, and however imperfect, in a literary
point of view, the form of a diary must neces-
sarily be, their sound common sense, and the
peculiarity of their subject, would always com-
mand attention. At the present crisis they
stand fore'nost among the works which no one
who desires to understand the Indian mutiny
will think of neglecting, and they will no
doubt form a standard authority on a state of
things which we trust is now passing away
with the calamities it has engendered.

The Geology and Extinct Volcanos of Central
France. By G. Poulett Scrope, AI.P., F.R S.
Second Edition. London: Murray.
Tin: wonders of electricity and galvanism,
and the peculiar discoveries on the laws of
light, have to some small extent abated the
ardour with which geology was popularly pur-
sued for nearly twenty years. But there is
not the_ least chance of geology losing its im-
portance. On the contrary, with increased
facility for locmotion between various coun-
tries, and with the economical results of the
gold discoveries, it seems reasonable to expect
that no other science will permanently sur-
pass it in attraction. The philosopher and
the student of cosmogony must always regard
geology with especial interest, on account of
its intimate relation to the highest la ws of
created matter ; while the political economist,
and even the ethnologist, are compelled to
regard the geological features of a territory,
before offering any estimate of the degree of
civilisation to which particular countries and
races may attain. Let it also be remembered
that careful geological surveys of many vast
tracts of the earth's surface have not yet been
made ; and we may fairly conjecture that new
discoveries in geology may be anticipated
which will be of the highest philosophical/and
economical value.

The brilliant volume befoie us is in many
respects a new book, although " second
edition " is on its pages. Mr. Pudica Scrope,
while residing in Italy in the years Wl7 18-19,
had observed the phenomena of Vesuvius,
Etna, and the Lipari Isles. On returning to
England, he had the advantage of intercourse
with the late Professor E. D. Clarke, and also
with Professor Sedgwick, who was then direct-
ing his vigorous faculties to the study of
geology. When Mr. Scrope published his
volume on "The Geology of Central France,"
the doctrines of Werner were in the ascend-
ant, but Mr. Poulett Serope was by no means
disposed to agree in the dogmas of that par-
ticular school, and his earlier geological
writings had the force which comes front the
freshness of scientific controversy. In the
Quarterly Review for May, 1827, Mr. Scrope's
first edition of his work had the advantage of
being specially noticed by Sir Charles Lyell
in that accomplished gentleman's first literary
essay. Other geologists fullov•ed Mr. Scrope
to the country of the Auvergne, amongst whom
we may particularise Sir Roderick Murchison ;
and several French savans concurred subse-
quently in the views originally put forward by
Mr. Serope.
The central parts of France are not often
visited by English tourists ; and it is remark-
able that previous to the middle of the last
century those districts had not been studied
with philosophic attention. Mr. Serope ob-
serves:—

To those who now travel over the mountains of Central
France, and see on all sides marks of volcanic agency
exhibited in the most decided manner, numerous hills
formed entirely of loose cinders, red, porous, and scorilied
as t lose just thrown from a furnace, and surrounded by
plains of black and rugged lava, on which the lichen
almost rtfuses to vegetate, it appears scarcely credible
that, previous to the middle of the last century, no one
had thought of attributing these marks of desolation to the