[page] 553

Of the second edition of Mr. Darwin's book on Coral Reefs, we need scarcely say more than that, considering the importance of the book, it is surprising that thirty-two years have been allowed to elapse without a reissue of it being called for. The wonderful power of  generalization-since so brilliantly displayed by the author in the development of his hypothesis of the origin of species -is the striking characteristic of this book also; and the theory proposed by him more than thirty years ago, to account for the puzzling phenomena presented by coral reefs and islands, has never met with more than partial objections. In the new edition the author has added here and there some new facts, and considerably modified the last two chapters relating to the theory of the formation and the distribution of coral reefs, but his fundamental propositions are in no way changed.