and Antarctic oceans do actually possess this transporting power is beyond doubt, and they must ever keep their place as true causes in all speculations on the subject. It is also evident, that in passing over low rocks, such icebergs would rub and scratch their surfaces, and in this way many of the striæ might be produced. It appears a strong confirmation of this theory, that only the northern face of hills, or that turned to the point whence the drift has proceeded, is worn and striated, whilst the opposite side is rough and in its natural condition. Admitting the agency of these icebergs to convey the larger angular blocks, Sir R. Murchison still thinks that another agent is needed to transport the great mass of smaller detritus and to striate the rocks. Referring to Mr. Russell's researches on the power and velocity of waves of translation, he supposes the Scandinavian mountains to have been suddenly elevated at many intervals, throwing off such waves, and also propelling forwards large bodies of drift in semi-solid masses. He states, In its essential properties of weight, solidity, ductility, and ' materials for polishing and scoring at its base, a mass of 'moistened drift, one or two hundred feet in height, and a mile ' or two in length, must have embodied nearly all the properties ' of a glacier, the nature of the movement and the actual state 'of such mass of detritus being properly understood.' We must confess that this supposition is to us entirely inadmissible. We cannot imagine any method of forming such an isolated mass of debris and keeping it in the proper state of moisture and pliability. Nor supposing it once formed, can we conceive of any natural power by which 'masses of moist and pliant detritus' could be, in the author's own words, 'shouldered off 'from the sides of mountains and hills or forced through gorges.' With all the difficulties attaching to the transportation of the detritus, and the striation of the subjacent rocks by ordinary sea currents and the ascertained agency of floating ice, this latter theory seems far preferable to that of Sir R. Murchison. But though differing from him in this one point of the theory, we cannot omit expressing our obligations to him for the large collection of accurate facts, by which the true theory can only be at length discovered. Another singular deposit of the Russian plains is the Tchornozem, or Black Earth. It is only found in the southern provinces, being limited on the north by a waving line running from Kief by Tchernigof and along the bank of the Volga above Kazan, whence it passes into the valley of the Kama and the vicinity of Ufa. Traces of it are also seen in some parts of Siberia, on the east of the Ural. Even south of the above line it does not cover the whole surface, but occurs in large though limited tracts, often fifteen to twenty feet deep, as far south as the granitic steppe, and on rocks of all ages. 'In travelling over these black tracts in a dry summer, we were often, during a whole day, more or less surrounded by a cloud of black dust, arising from the dried-up tchornozem, which is of so subtile a nature as to rise up through the sod, in rich grass countries, under the stamp of the horse's feet, and forms so dense a cloud, that the traveller is often begrimed like a working collier. The tchornozem is unquestionably the finest soil in Russia, whether for the production of wheat or grass. It is so fertile as arable land, that the farmers never apply manure; and after taking many crops in succession, leave it fallow for a year or two, and then resume their scourging treatment.' An analysis by Mr. R. Phillips showed that this earth consists of about eighty-three per cent. of silica and alumina, seven per cent. oxide of iron, nearly as much organic matter, with a small amount of lime and other substances. In the organic matter, M. Payen, a French agricultural chemist, finds nearly 2 per cent. of nitrogen, and thinks that this may be the principal cause of its fertility. Perhaps the fine levigation of the mass, and the due mixture of the whole forming a peculiar, loamy clay, permeable to air and moisture, may be a no less important element. The popular belief asserts that this soil has originated from the decay of ancient forests. But there is no evidence that these ever existed in the tracts where it occurs, and, as Mr Strangways long ago observed, it contains no trace of trees, roots, or vegetable fibre. Sir R. Murchison believes it must be of marine, or at least subaqueous origin, and 'thinks it highly 'probable, that this fine silt may, to some extent, have been derived from the destruction of the black Jurassic shale, so ' uniform in its colour over all northern and central Russia.' This opinion is confirmed by the black earth being only found to the south of the Jurassic rocks, and being invariably absent where the latter have not existed. Perhaps, however, we may regard it simply as the finer material of the drift borne farthest south in the gently flowing currents, and mingled with the dark organic mud derived from the destruction of some northern tundras. On this view the patches found in Siberia present no difficulty, for though the Jurassic beds do not occur in that region, there is no deficiency of mossy tundras. In this rapid survey of the geology of Russia, we have at length reached the most recent period, or that in which we now live. It is usual to call this a period of repose, but the phenomena of the Russian rivers, especially those running to the north, show with how little reason. In the spring of 1835, the water of the Dwina rose fourteen or fifteen feet in a few hours, lifting up the whole ice in a compact mass. At length, the cover broke with a crash like the roar of artillery. Where the banks consist of stones, or rock, the ice tears up these with it, and deposits them in long lofty ridges along the banks, or sweeps them down to the sea. Similar ridges, at various elevations, surround many of the northern lakes. But even the southern provinces of Russia are not free from vast, changes, caused by the inundations of the modern rivers, which, on the melting of the snows in spring, rise forty feet, or more, above their summer level, convert the whole ground into vast chains of lakes, and undermining the cliffs, cause large masses of the loose friable materials to fall down in enormous land-slips, furnishing inexhaustible materials for the rapidly increasing deltas at their mouths. 'The hands of man have also produced, and are still effecting, considerable changes in large tracts of Russia, by the destruction of her forests, and the conversion of her northern marshes into arable lands. A few centuries only have elapsed since northern Russia was a dense virgin forest, with vast intervening marshes and lakes, but now her gigantic pine-trees are felled, lakes and marshes are drained, and the culture of corn is extended to the White Sea. The natural recipients of so much moisture having been destroyed, we may, (exclusive of the great spring debacle, which, in an extreme climate, may have been always nearly the same,) in great measure, account for the sensible diminution, in late years, in the waters of the Volga, and other great streams, whose affluents rise in those very countries where large tracts are now drained.' But it is time to bring our review of this important work to a close. There are a few points on which we might have wished to express our dissent from some speculations of the authors: particularly regarding the origin of the crystalline formations of Finland and Sweden, and the evidence for their palæozoic epoch, being in reality the protozoic-the earliest dawn of life and organization on the globe-but we have travelled too far with them in friendly communion to begin a dispute so near our journey's end. We are too grateful for the light which their labours have shed on the geological structure and history of so large a portion of the European continent, or, more correctly, of so large a portion of the habitable globe, to indulge in trivial criticism on small points of minute detail. It was, indeed, a bold undertaking to fill the blank which Russia but a few years ago presented on the geological map of Europe-and well has it been accomplished in the beautiful maps and carefully prepared volumes before us. We have, indeed, spoken chiefly of the first volume, in which Sir R. Murchison has given the results of the whole journey to the general reader in the English language; but the second, written in French by his associates, and containing the descriptions of more than four hundred species of fossils, will not be less valued by the scientific geologist. In its preparation they have been assisted in par ticular departments by some of the most eminent paleontologists of the day: D'Orbigny, Agassiz, Brongniart, in France; Owen, Lonsdale, and Morris, in our own country. We rejoice to see scientific men thus working in the common cause of advancing truth, without distinction of country or of language, and setting an example of brotherly assistance which politicians would do well to follow. And it is right that it should be so, for science is undoubtedly the common inheritance of the human race, and not of one age or one people. And well may men when contemplating the mighty revolutions revealed to them by geology -revolutions involving not kingdoms or empires, but whole continents, and the great globe itself-forget the puny political distinctions and national animosities by which the one family has been too long divided. Even in this region we see a series of events, before which the rise and fall of empires is as nothing. We see vast masses of sedimentary matter distributed in uniform horizontal layers over immense spaces, and each layer exhibiting its own peculiar group of life and organized beings, These formations must have taken place beneath the waters of the ocean, above which they have now been raised, not by many isolated partial movements, but in one continuous mass, from the Ural to the Baltic on the one hand, from the Arctic ocean to the Euxine on the other. In this series of mighty events, the elevation of the Ural chain and the filling its rocks with veins and ores of metal, appear but as minute episodes, im portant, indeed, to man, but small in the general history of the planet, on whose convexity that chain forms a scarce perceptible wrinkle. Truly may we conclude with the authors, that every 'effort made by man to read new lessons in the ancient book of nature has augmented his admiration of the works of the 'Creator,' his profound conviction of the power, the wisdom, and the goodness wherewith they have been formed, and that every onward step in the path of natural science but more impressively proclaims, in the words of the sublime poet, that— "La gloria di Colni che tutto muove 315 ART. II. Newspaper Press and Political Literature of Spain. (1.) Gaceta de Madrid.-(2.) Eco del Comercio.-(3.) Clamor Publico.-(4.) Heraldo.-(5.) Espanol.-(6.) Espectador.—(7.) Universal.-(8.) Esperanza.-(9.) Tiempo.-(10.) Pensamento de la Nacion.-(11.) Catolico.-(12.) Guia del Comercio.(13.) Faro.—(14.) El Correo.—(15.) El Popular, &c. It is a strange but an unquestionable fact, that the genius, learning, and intellectual power of Spain shone forth brightly when the rest of Europe, with the exceptions of Attica and Etruria, were steeped in barbarism. At a period, more than twenty centuries ago, when Gaul and Germany were covered with forests and morasses, and their inhabitants as wild and untutored as backwoodsmen, the population of Iberia, guided and instructed by the Phoenicians, knew not merely how to construct, but to guide and govern ships-to dig into the bowels of the earth in search of mines and minerals-to melt and model metals in a most cunning fashion-to spin, and weave, and dye in brilliant colours-to manufacture arms-to build cities, and to defend them by regular fortifications. Roman civilization found in no part of the world a soil more fruitful in great men than Spain-men whose renown contributed to enhance her glory and consolidate her greatness. The geographer, Pomponius Mela, and the agriculturist, Columella, were both born in Spain; the literary celebrities, to use a word borrowed from the French, and recently adopted by usage, if not sanctioned by critical authority-the literary celebrities, Quintilian, Florus, Seneca, Martial, Lucan, and Silius Italicus, were all Iberian; and among those highest in station and power, the liberal patron of letters, the active and austere Adrian-Trajan, whose virtues were so remarkable for his time, and the brave and warlike Marcus Aurelius, may be mentioned as natives of the Spanish peninsula. In the barbarous irruption of the people of the North, Spain suffered less than other lands. The Arabs, who expelled the Visigoths, introduced a knowledge and a civilization that had never expired in the East. Numerous scientific establishments were founded by them at Cordova, Toledo, Grenada, Seville, and Valencia. Their schools acquired a universal repute, and were frequented by a considerable number of Western Christians. Agriculture and irrigation were professed and practised as liberal sciences-the vine, the olive, the palm, the cotton, the fig-tree and sugar-cane were cultivated; the culture and pro |