MURCHISON'S SILIIRIA. * AMONG the worthies of whom Englishmen may justly

be proud, is the class of men who, born to ease and affluence, turn them to account in promoting the aims of science and enlarging the stores of general knowledge. Not content to bury themselves in com- fortable obscurity, nor to devote the energies of mind and body solely to field-sports ranking not much higher than the occupations of the savage, these better spirits have the resolution to grapple with an arduous subject, and to apply a lifetime of labour, physi- cal and mental, to the advancement of those pursuits which ennoble our civilization. The class alluded to is but a small one, and should therefore be the rather pointed out as an example; whilst geology, so often stigmatized by well-meaning dullards as danger- ous, so commonly shunned by the frivolous as a bore, is the science which perhaps of all others can boast the greatest number of these earnest and disinterested inquirers after truth.

Sir Roderick Murchison has for many years preferred the labour of the workman and the studies of the philosopher to the ephemeral vanities of fashion, and now he deservedly stands in the first rank of those geologists who have won themselves with ham- mer and pen a world-wide reputation. His numerous descriptive works form a standard item in all geological libraries ; and his recently-published Siluria is a work calculated not only to ex- tend his reputation among adepts in his own science, but also to render palatable subjects of great interest to a larger circle of the general public.

The handsome volume before us professes only to consider one Particular section of Geology—that part, indeed, to which Sir Rode- rick has successfully devoted a great portion of his labours during the last twenty years. There can hardly be a thinking mind but will acknowledge the interest of the researches which, leading us up through the vista of time, far, far beyond the introduction of man on the face of earth, introduce us to new and strange succes- sions of land and sea animals, till we arrive by degrees at those Pages in the history of the earth which appear to tell us that we there examine the first living beings which appeared on the globe, and that if we go beyond, we study a series of events which took Place before there was life on land or in the waters.

The design of the work is, to place before the reader in a con- densed form all that is known, in our own country and elsewhere, the rocks which contain the entombed remains of these pri- mseval creatures, to illustrate by comparison the succession of the strata in different regions, and to aid by full descriptions and co- Pious figures the acquisition of a general view of nature as it ex- isted at that remote epoch.

B•ilaria; the History of the Oldest Known Rocks containing Organic Remains. y Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, G.C.St.S., &c. &c. Published by Murray.

In descriptions of this kind, technical language must necessarily come into play, and the reader of Siluria will be unable to appre- ciate the force of the arguments employed, unless he be pre with some such knowledge of the terms and habits of thong t as may be acquired from a more elementary work. Certain innova- tions in language, too, require explanation, and, we think, apology : " buttress" is not a term very applicable to a series of rocks spread out evenly beneath another series ; and when Sir Roderick talks of the " transgressions " of a system of strata, we are inclined to consider him a greater transgressor than any of the beds of mud or sand-stone which he describes.

The author approaches his subject, as if mindful of his old pro- fession of arms, in the guise of a conqueror. A large portion of the tracts which he describes is his, geologically, to rule over, but has been subjected in consequence of a mistake. It is not many years since the strata below the Old Red Sandstone were lumped together as " greywacke " or " transition rocks," and supposed to be incapable of arrangement or definition by the fossils found in them. To the labours chiefly of the author, and of Professor Sedgwick, we owe a satisfactory insight into that series of mineral deposits and of animal life so fully exhibited in our own country. When these geologists first investigated the subject, Murchison took the border counties of England and Wales, the land of the ancient Silures, and, reducing to order what he patiently worked out, described as the " Silurian System " the succession of rooks and their fossils, from the bottom of the old red sandstone, down- wards to the strata which appeared to constitute a different " sys- tem" below. Meanwhile, the Cambridge Professor, with wonder- ful energy and acuteness, unravelled the complicated phenomena of the formations of North Wales, and made the upper boundary of his "Cambrian System" the lowest bed of the Silurian. But the boundary proved to be fallacious : the physical structure of both regions had thus, it is true, except along this line, been well elucidated ; but geology, taken as a history of the succession of life on the earth, divides the formations according to the character of the animal remains found in them : the fossils described by Mur- chison were found to extend through the Cambrian system, physi- cally so different in appearance ; and as Murchison had published all his " Silurian" forms, whilst the " Cambrian " were not fully made known to the world, succeeding investigators applied the same term, and " Lower Silurian," in spite of Sedgwick's protracted defence, invaded all those regions which proved unable to establish a distinct zone of life.

This difference of opinion would not have been alluded to, but that it is important the public should understand, that neither is it a question of conflicting "theories," nor do the truths of geology suffer thereby. Facts have been established by the unwearied application of both observers, but the nomenclature, like that of all progressive sciences, is open to discussion. The term " Cam- brian" has been lately given by the Government surveyors to certain almost unfossiliferous strata lying beneath the representatives of Murchison's Lower Silurian, and called by our author with a cer- tain cacophony his " bottom rocks." Yet here there is no very philosophical line of demarcation, and it remains to be seen whether it will not be better to extend the Cambrian series upwards, or perhaps to establish a " Cambro-Silurian" division, to include what is by Murchison called the Lower Silurian,—a series often separated, it would appear, from the Upper, by a physical break, and characterized by different groups of fossils. To turn from these questions of name, let us learn what obser- vation has taught concerning the rocks upon which the Silurian strata are often found to repose.

"The geologist sees before him an enormous pile or series of early sub- aqueous sediment, originally composed of mud, sand, or pebbles, the succes- sive bottoms of a former sea, all of which have been derived from pretixist- ing rocks; and in these lower beds, even where they are little altered, he can detect no remains of former creatures. But lying upon them, and there- fore evolved after them, other strata succeed, in which some few 1.-dies of a primeval ocean are discernible ; and these again are everywhere succeeded by newer deposits in which many fossils occur." (P. 21.)

Armed with such facts, Sir Roderick makes a successful stand against the unsatisfactory views of those geologists who would fain deny that we possess any traces of a beginning, who argue that the lowest strata appear unfossiliferous only because they have been metamorphosed till their organic remains have disap- peared, and who thus reason round in a circle resting only upon negative evidence. The eighteenth chapter is devoted to a recapitulation of the prin- cipal phenomena, and speculations on the succession of life made known to us by geological observation. Here again we are glad to find that our author is far from being a believer in the uniform- ity of nature through all times past, and that his long researches and studies have established in him a faith in the principle of progression in creation ; a principle, it appears to us, fraught with trust and hope. First, with regard to the early " Silurian " stage of existence-

" Whether the term of progressive' or that of 'successive' be applied to such acts of creation, my object is simply to show, upon clear and gene- ral evidence, that there was a long period in the history of the world, where- in no vertebrated animal lived. In this sense, the appearance of the first re- cognizable fossil fishes is as decisive a proof of a new and distinct creation, as that of the placing of man upon the terrestrial surface, at the end of the long series of animals which characterize the younger geological periods." And then, after a rapid survey of the succeeding newer forma- tions— " Let the reader dwell on these remarkable facts, which the labours of geologists have elicited within the last fifty years. Let him view them pro- gressively, and in the order indicated by Nature herself. Let him execute a patient survey from the lower deposits upwards, and he will find every-

where a succession of vertebtated creatures, rising from lower to- higher orgtutizationa,—a doctrine first promulgated by the illustrious Cuvier, but front much less perfeot data than we now possess. Guided by facts only, he will everywhere recognize signs of a similar primordial life registered on the same lower tablets of stone ; and thence examining upwards, he will admit the proofs of the advancing steps above indicated."

Those who feel inclined to regard geology with a view to its practical bearings will find much valuable matter scattered through the volume, particularly where the relation of the Silurian rocks to the overlying carboniferous formation is discussed. One chapter, the weakest in the book, is devoted to that seducing topic Gold ; and a good deal of argument is expended to uphold the view, that we are indebted for nearly all the precious metal to the favourite Silurians.

The question of the existence of true coal in Russia has lately fallen under discussion : Sir Roderick, during his examination of that country, collected distinct information on the subject. ," Of the Carboniferous system, as exhibited in Russia in Europe, it is enough to say, that its lower members only are there well developed. In the small section given at p. 328, we see in the uppermost strata the repre- sentatives of the carboniferous limestone, with coal bands inferior to it—im- mediately lying on the red and green rocks with Devonian fish. "To the North-east, or on the Andoma river in the government of Olonetz, this division swells out in its calcareous members, but loses even the few courses of poor coal above mentioned. In its range by Moscow to Tula and Kaluga, the limestone, which is in part yellow and a true earthy dolomite, contains also thin subordinate seams of coal. Again, in the Southern region of the Donetz, between the Don and the Dnieper, where these lower coal strata reappear, they are of much larger dimensions, with several beds of coal of bet- ter quality, which, as in other places, are interstratified with beds of true carboniferous limestone.

"In this last tract, however, the prevailing horizontality of the palnozoic strata of this vast country no longer exists. The limestone, sandstone, and shale, with coal, have there been violently extruded to the surface through a cover of surrounding jurassic and even cretaceous deposits,] and are very highly dislocated.

"But if, as it is has been suggested, Russia should open out deep shafts around the field of the Donetz, the beds of lower coal which she possesses may be found to lie in valuable and regular masses beneath the unbroken secondary rocks."

The Emperor, whose ambition is now a curse to his neighbours, had the wisdom to welcome and honour the untiring English geo- logist, who visited his country for scientific purposes ; and had he been content to postpone for another half-century the long-cherished schemes of Russian aggrandizement, whilst the material resources of the country were fostered with the same spirit and intelligence as before, who could predict the result The execution of plans founded on the above hint might have been sufficient to turn the scale, and to render impossible to the opponents of Russian power that which already offers difficulties so serious.

NOVELS OF THE SEASON.*

Leather Stocking and Silk is an American tale, designed to illus- trate country life in Virginia at the beginning of this century, when the old Anglo-Colonial manners were encountering the habits and ideas of young America. The story is in the main one of misconcep- tion between two rivals, who, it turns out, are not in love with the same lady : but story is subordinate to characters and manners. The incidents are rather for what they show than for what they lead to. The exhibition is that of an old hunter, with his simplicity and strong natural affections, surrounded by a new state of society, which he is getting too old to leave behind him for the forest, as he once would have done. In conjunction with him are some old settlers, and contrasted with these are the rising generation, as well as several foreigners, who have come to cultivate the minds or bodies of the Virginians.

There is a perception of the " prisea fides" and the domestic af- fections in the writer, as well as some power of pleasant descrip- tion : but the idea of the book is better than the execution. The topics and the dialogues are in many cases too minute in subject and weak in style to sustain even curiosity ; the bulk of Leather Stocking and Silk is in fact linsey-woolsey.

It is probable, too, that the writer has not any living know- ledge of his subject. The book has not been suggested by his own observation, but by the works of Washington Irving. The best descriptions recall the style of that writer, and even seem occasion- ally to smack of Europe as well as of America. The picture of the town of Martinsburg, where the scene is chiefly laid, is Eng- lish or German in many points ; at least the manner of the artist recalls descriptions of England and Germany.

" There was about the town in those days a thoughtful, slumbrous quietude, which was very striking to such travellers as stopped there ; more especially if among such travellers there were any artists armed with their sketch-books. All day long the atmosphere brooded like a dreamless slum- ber upon the quiet borough, and the only sound that never died away was the sighing of the willows, which, stretching down their long arms to the stream, unceasingly complained to the waves. All day long the air was stirred by no other sound, unless it were the sudden roar of the rock-blaster's

• mine echoing along the stone-fenced valley. No stranger, except atlong in- tervals, made the stony street resound with hoof-strokes ; no cur ran barking at the pedestrian's heels. Such horsemen and pedestrians were seldom seen, and the curs had got out of practice. The cloud-shadows floated across the streets, the tall old willows sighed and rustled, the corn-tassels waved

their silky fibres in the gentle lazy breeze; and Martinsburg might have sat 1 fog sketch of Drowsyland. " Our story relates to this old Afartinsburg—this land of the deice far niente—which is so completely a thing of the past. But not wholly. The town was at the period when these veritable events occurred in the trend- ‘1i911 state. The habitudes and fashions—in costume, modes of thought., • Leather Stocking and. Silk; or Hunter John Myers and his Times. A Story of the Valley of Virginia. Published by Low, Son, and Co. Janet Mowbray., By. Caroline Omuta' In three volumes. Published by Burst and Blackett.

The Cardinal. By the Author of "The Duchess," &c. In three volumes. Pub- lished by Bentley.

everything—were changing. The close-shaven and prim eXpt:esaion of oar own day and generation had already begun to take the place of the bluff and joyous bearing of the elder time. Powdered heads were going out of fashion with fair-top boots and 'shoe-buckles and silken hose: the minuet, that stately divertisenient in which those honest old folks our grandfathers and grandmothers took such delight, was slowly disappearing: stages had com- menced running between the towns, thereby realizing the long-dreamed-of luxury of a weekly mail : and Martinsburg with her sister boroughs was enlivened from time to time by 'professors' of music, dancing, fencing, drawing, all the accomplishments, in a word, which are thought necessary parts of education by the inhabitants of a thriving country town."

The elements of Janet Mowbray are not very new, neither are the forms into which they are thrown. Yet the circumstances of the story are natural, the positions of the persons are adapted to attract attention, and the whole is well fitted to display life in the upper classes of its middle strata. A high-spirited, high-principled young man, losing an expected property by the sudden death of an old relation who neglected to sign his will in time, and compelled as a barrister to enter into a struggle for success, is a position to excite the sympathies either in real life or in fiction. When to this is added an enduring but hopeless passion for the heroine, which the hero's sense of honour forbids him to divulge ; Janet Mowbray herself, though in doubt as to his feelings, refusing offers or keeps lovers at a distance, while Walter Crawford is struggling in India or afterwards at home,—it will be seen that there is enough in the story to embrace the romance of every-day life. The poverty with which Janet has to contend at the death of her father adds, no doubt, to the distress, but has become too common by frequent use, and in the fiction before us is too much of a pendent to the pecuniary troubles of the hero. The story is well filled up in addition to its general interest. The occurrences in the class of society among which the tale is carried on are well fitted to exhibit that society, at the same time that they serve to develop the story itself. Janet Mowbray is an agreeable novel ; it would have been a very superior one had the writer possessed more strength and originality. Caroline Grautoff's pic- tures of society are rather conventional than lifelike. They are not imitations, or mere repetitions ; but the idea seems drawn from books instead of nature. Her dialogues, and her descrip- tions of the trains of thought in the persons, have the effect of diffuseness, from the words being in too great proportion to the weight of the matter. There are touches of the melodramatic in the hero ; the temptation to which was doubtless great, for it is diffi- cult to sustain the dignity of a disappointed young man, who has troubles both from love and fortune. However, the writer shows sense and courage in fairly carrying her hero through. She does not wind up with a recovery of his property, which the common run of novelists would doubtless have done.

The Cardinal is an historical romance. The scene is laid in Spain, and the historic purpose of the story is to bring about the

downfall of the Cardinal Alberoni. This is to be erected by a diplomatic envoy, a young Englishman by blood though Spanish by birth and breeding. These last circumstances qualify him to act the various parts which may become necessary to a disguised agent of France and England ; his private love being mixed with his public duty, and he forwards his own snit as much as that of the Allies when he is enabled to ruin the Spanish Minister.

The author of The Cardinal has a good deal of historical know- ledge, and a vigorous rhetorical style. The book shows an ac- quaintance with Spanish manners, however it may have been ac- quired; and the writer is not devoid of cleverness in contriv- ing scenes or carrying on his story. One of his great defects

is a hard and formal literalness, which often renders his scenes slow and unreal ; they do not pass before our eyes, we are only told of what is going on. Another deficiency, springing from the same source—a want of native dramatic power—is an imita- tive manner. Scott is continually recalled to mind, not by the matter, but the way in which it is presented. The romance, how- ever, is not a bad one. There is variety, adventure, intrigue, and Spanish manners, wherever they may come from. The main adventures occur on a journey from the frontiers to Madrid, whither Charles Clifford is going in the disguise of a eon-

trabandista ; and he is induced, against his sense of duty, to under- take the escort of two ladies. One of them is of course the he- roine ; and it is the part of Charles, aided by a gipsy, to guard her from the dangers of a lawless road and an abandoned noble. At Madrid the same persona are beset by other difficulties; the same agents being' still engaged, till two of them are removed from the scene. The fatal occurrence takes place in the park of Ma- drid, where Don Ambrosio is assailing a lady for her jewels, but is interrupted by the gipsy Perez ; towards which group Charles and his lady love are drawn.

"On gaining the end of the alley, he saw, about a hundred yards to the right, a group whose relative positions at once explainsri the mystery. BY a small tree near the edge of the alley, stood a stout elderly woman. -Her mantilla lay upon the ground, her dress was disordered, and her arms were bound to the tree with cords, while near her were engaged two raen to mortal combat ; and notwithstanding the distance, Clifford had no diffiolPtY

in recognizing in them Perez and Don Ambrosio. ,e bad "He rushed towards them ; but ere ha could approach the struggl,:„. terminated. The gipsy had been unable with his knife to gurard him against the passes of the sword of the Andalusian ; and as Clifford eanr,u!' a successful lunge had driven the weapon through the chest of thoGuall,o, and the poor wretch sank to the ground' with a groan. Scarcely hasid 'fallen, when' Don Ambrosio Demme aware of the • approach 4 lb ir party, and he instantly reoognized him.. ' kjed ' Yalgame Dios, senor contrabandista!' said he, as a Oa& joy /Par in his eyes. The saints are favourable to me today : 'to have the haPiAllie?' of meeting, and at the same moment, both royfriends of the -Boestalusatou " ' Murderous ruffian !' shouted Clifford. The happlassaistthabl'=1 escaped me once—you shall not do so again!' Ho ho, ho!' said Don Ambrosio, with a taunting laugh. The lover of

Do: Teresa Pacheco is jealous of a rival, and probably a successful one ; for a little bird has whispered in my ear that Alberoni would pay high for the capture of the contrabandista ; and it may be he will not think the dam- eel's hand too extravagant a price.' "'Scoundrel! defend yourself, was the reply. And the swords crossed instantly.

' The parties were equally matched. Dissolute as Don Ambrosio was, he had still all the accomplishments of a Spanish noble, and among these was a perfect command of his weapon ; and Clifford speedily found that he would require all his skilL In the first instance, indeed, it appeared that the coin- bat would go against him, for, irritated by the sarcasms of his antagonist, be had lost temper, and exposed incautiously. A slight wound, how- ever, on the outside of the sword-arm at once recalled his self-control. With his usual sang froid, returned his power of judgment, and he determined for a while to act entirely on the defensive, and content himself with parry- ing the lunges of the Andalusian.

"In proportion, however, as Clifford recovered calmness, Don Ambrosio lost it. Confident of his superiority, he had in the first instance entertained no doubt of the speedy termination of the contest in his favour, and had signalized with a cry of triumph the lunge which had drawn blood from Clifford's shoul- der; but the unexpected protraction of the combat irritated his fiery temper. He became, in turn, angry, excited, desperate, till at length he lost head al- together, and thrust furiously, but without discretion or special object. The extravagant exertion produced its natural results. His foot became less steady, his wrist less firm, and the attack wavered from pure want of phy- alma strength to continue it. "The exhaustion did not escape his keen-eyed opponent. He had hitherto rested upon the left limb, the head thrown back, the body motionless, and the iron hand ever in front but unchanging in its position, except in the half-curve which at intervals it described from the wrist, and with which, as if without an effort, it had baffled the lightning-like movements of the long rapier. As, however, the thrusts became less frequent, and the weak- ness of his adversary apparent, all at once Clifford gathered himself up as if for immediate action. "'Now, scoundrel !' shouted be, in a voice of thunder, and as his eyes flashed fire, 'now it is my turn ! This,' said he, as he passed his sword through the fleshy part of Don Ambrosio's arm, this is for the wrongs of Manuelar "The Andalusian gnashed his teeth with pain. "'This,' continued Clifibrd as he once more made the point of his blade felt in the right loin of his opponent—' this is to avenge Perez ; and this, Don Ambrosio, is to revenge your outrage upon Donna Teresa Pacheco ! '

"The words were ominous, and may shadow out the result. The hidalgo had made a lunge, but reeling with pain, it had been weak and ill-directed. Clifford parried it with the lull strength of his powerful arm ; and as the point of the weapon flew up, he seized with his left hand the Andalusian by the wrist, and with his right buried his rapier in his throat. Don Am- brosio fell dead.

"No sooner was the tragedy over than he turned to Perez. The poor fel- low was still breathing, but it was evident that life was ebbing rapidly. Yet even in his last moments did there live, warm as ever, the passions of his race; for he had watched with an anxious eye the struggle between his old fellow-traveller and his great enemy ; and as Clifford approached him, there seemed to pass over his face a slight smile as if of gratitude. But there were others who also had a place in his memory; for his lips stirred, and it seemed to his companion as if he had pronounced the word 'Senorita!'

"'She is here, Perez—my poor Perez, she is here !' said Therese, as she approached, and fell on her knees by his side. "'Die gipsy took her hand, and faintly and with difficulty raised it to his lips. Scarcely had he done so when he started as if he had felt the in- fluence of some internal spasm. Almost at the same moment, the blood rushed in torrents from his mouth, the limbs stretched themselves, the eyes dimmed, and the devoted servant of the house of Pacheco lay on the ground a corpse!"