of positive and rigorous experiment. He claims to have established directly, by observations that may be verified, that matter passes from the non-living to the living state, and he aims furthermore to show that this fact is consonant with the whole scheme of Nature's working. His preliminary chapters on the correlation of the vital and physical forces, on the nature and theories of life, on organized and organizable matter, on the relations of the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, and on cell-phenomena and cell-doctrines, form the clearest and most readable exposition of these subjects that we have yet seen, and they have a value quite independent of the special inquiry to which they are an introduction.
Geological Survey of Ohio. Report of Progress in 1870, by J. S. Newberry, Chief Geologist, including Reports by the Assistant Geologists, Chemists, and Local Assistants. (Columbus: Nevin & Myers, State Printers, 1871, pp. 568.)
The labors of Prof. Newberry and his colleagues during the year 1870 have resulted in the accumulation of a great many details relating chiefly to the structure of that portion of the great Appalachian coal-field which extends over a considerable part of Ohio. Without the aid of a good map it is somewhat difficult to follow the descriptions given in this report, the numerous local references and details having a tendency to bewilder the reader. This, however, is unavoidable under the circumstances; and those who desire to obtain a full and clear conception of the geological structure of Ohio will have to wait the completion of the map and final report promised by Dr. Newberry, the present volume not pretending to be more than its title implies. Nevertheless, it contains a very large and varied amount of information, which will, no doubt, be duly appreciated by those for whom it has been prepared. Especially noteworthy are the numerous illustrative sections of Carboniferous strata, and analyses of coals, iron-stones, fire-clays, and soils, as also two ably-written sketches, "On the Present State of the Manufacture of Iron in Great Britain," and "On the State of the Steel Industry," both of which will repay perusal by those who are interested in these matters.
Scattered through the purely geological portion of the report are many points of interest, which arrest attention as one glances over the pages. Thus we are told that "at Zaleski, in mining the Nelsonville coal, a fine bowlder of gray quartzite was found half embedded in the coal, and the other half in the overlying shale. The quartzite is very hard, and the bowlder was rounded and worn by friction before it came to the coal." It measured 17 in. by 12 in., and had adhering to it in places bits of coal and black slate which showed a slick ensided surface. The stone appeared to have settled into the coal when the latter was in a soft state. Prof. Newberry speculates with diffidence on the possibility of the bowlder having been "brought down by river-ice from some higher and colder part of the old continent, which was skirted by the coal-producing lowlands." In connection with this, it is somewhat interesting to find that a local deposit of quartz conglomerate occurs here and there underneath and skirting the coal-strata, and is believed by Dr. Newberry to represent an old beach of the period. From some such gravel and shingle deposit the bowlder may have been transported, but whether by means of ice, water-plant, or land-plant, who shall tell?
Another exceedingly interesting and readable portion of the Report is the "Agricultural Survey," by Mr. J. H. Klippart, in which the writer discusses, among other subjects (such as prairies, forests, etc.), the origin of the soils in certain districts of the State. Those geologists who believe in the former existence, during the Glacial epoch, of mild interglacial periods, will find much here to support their opinion. We are told that the succession of the drift-materials, beginning with the oldest, is as follows:
| a. | Glacial drift. | |
| b. | Erie clays. | |
| c. | Forest-bed. | |
| d. | Iceberg-drift. | |
| e. | Alluvium. | |
| f. | Peat, calcareous tufa, shell-marl. |
The oldest deposit is believed to be the product of land-ice, and the presence of the Erie clays betokens that, after the disap-
