Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1860-03-30
New Publications.

/ WV
MANUAL OF GEOLOGY. Designed for the use
of Colleges and Academies ByEsEsEzEr
ExxoSs, Prof. of Nat. History and Geol-
ogy in Williams College, late n. Y State
Geologist &C. Philadelphia, Sower ,Barns.
& Co.; Albany Elias Bates, &c. &c. 1850.
limo, PIP. 300.
The author of this treatise is one OF ths
veteran geologists of our country, and one Of
its most laborious and discriminating observ-
ers in the wide field OF Natural science. Ao-
lively engaged for several years as one Of the
State Biologists of the State of New York.
for some years past employed as State Gsolo-
| gist of North Carolina, and for forty years
an untiring explorer in the realms of Nature.
he has brought TO the preparation Of this
! volume a wealth of knowledge, an acuteness
of discrimination and precision Of language
on the subjects of discussion which are not
often found combined in the preparation of
a manual for beginners. The condensation
of matter and expression in the book are re-
markable. For large portions of it. almost
every sentence is a text on which large dis
course and illustration may be laid by an
experienced and discriminating instructor
This quality, adding in reality much to the
value of the work for the purposes intended
BY its author, will make it less satisfactory
TO such as may wish TO read it with the haste
allowable for an illustrated article in Har-
per's Magazine for they will find themselves
overwhelmed with a multitude Of definitions,
facts, propositions. and conclusions which re-
quire for their mastery great deal Of study
and cautious re-examination.
As far as possible, the author has drawn
his illustrations of sections, fossils, &c.
from American objects, believing that to be
the most natural and instructive course for
the benefit Of American pupils,-not on a
supposition that the laws Of nature are diff
ferent in one part of the world from what
they are in another, but because it is easier
and more satisfactory for learner to see
them exomplifed in such particular objects
as he is able to find existing in the ancient
or modern productions Of his own country,
rather than in their congeners and co-varie-
ties, however closely related, which can onlo
be found abroad. Ge logy is not considered
as science of principles peculiar to itself,
but as a Natural History of the Earth's ex-
terror to a moderate depth-of the natural
bodies which make it up, of the forces which
have operated to modify its parts, and of the
order of succession which belongs to the
changes 1T ;has undergone, under the inhu-
ences of such mechanical and chemical laws,
such natural agencies, inorganic and organic
as the Creator Of the Universe has employed,
from the beginning, ini the world which we
inhabIt. The author presuppOses in the stu
dent of this work some knowledge of botany,
and zoology, of chemistry and mechanical
philosophy. &c-,-enough, at least, 20 enable
him 70 understand the more general divisions
and terms Of those sciences for without
such preparatory knowledge all his notions
on geological subjects must DC Of the most
vague and unsatisfactory kind. Brief synop-
ses Of the main divisions of classification as
applied 70 plants and animals are, neverthe-
less. given in the book, followed by a
classification and nomenclature of rocks, and
then by consideration Of the various systems
Of rocks, so far as in the present state of
geological knowledge, their conditions and
proper limitations are allowed by geologists.
as in many of these systems, their limita-
tions are to a great degree determined by the
character and relative abundance of the Pc
culiar fossils which are found in them, a very
large number of distinct wood-eut illustrs-
tions OF such FOSSILS are inserted in the work,
and the whole Is terminated by copious
glossary of terms used in it. We know of no
other work which can be considered as any
adequate substitute for this one of Prof.
Emmons, and we are sure that it will be
found largely useful, not only to beginners
but to many who have made considera bls
progress in their geological studies
HAEPER's New MONTHLY, for April, con-
tains for its two chief articles, one on the
Iron region of New Jersey, and another On
the processes of gold-getting in California
Each of them is illustrated by about twenty
effective wood cuts, and the information con-
tanned in them Especially the latter) will
interest readers generally. The miscsllane
Gus contents of tho number are in as great
variety as usual
IL can be found at Fullers.