Logo

Synopsis In preparing the present edition of this Text-Book, every section of it abreast of the onward march of Geological Science. Some portions have been recast or rewritten; others have been largely augmented by the incorporation of the results of the latest researches, while between thirty and forty illustrations have been added. As the new material thus supplied amounts to 300 pages, the work has now been divided, for more convenient use, into two volumes; but to facilitate reference their pagination has been made continuous. So uninterrupted, however, is the progress of investigation, that since the sheets of most of the book were successively printed off, various valuable memoirs have appeared of which it has not been possible to make use. As in previous editions, copious references have been inserted to sources of more ample information in each branch of the science. A detailed table of contents for the whole work is placed at the beginning of the first volume, while the index of subjects at the end of the second volume has been made as full as the requirements of the student seemed to demand. These requirements have been further kept in view by the insertion of numerous cross references, which it is hoped will enable the reader more easily to follow up any desired path through the various sections of geological enquiry.