298 Geological Society, 



quire in this department of natural knowledge, — I should say, that it 

 would be, — First, by rendering themselves accurately familiar with the 

 geological phenomena of our own country; and then, — by taking 

 abroad with them the knowledge thus acquired, and comparing the 

 phenomena with those of distant regions; since it is only from the 

 multiplication of such comparisons, that sound general views can 

 be derived. 



But even within the British Islands, there still are tracts, and of no 

 small extent, which are comparatively, and a great part of them abso- 

 lutely, unknown. More than one half of Ireland is in this condition : for 

 the publications of Conybeare and Buckland, Stephens, Weaver, Grif- 

 fith, and Dr.Berger, comprehend nearly all that has been done in that 

 country. But this subject, as I have already mentioned, has passed into 

 such hands, as will, no doubt, accomplish every thing that can be 

 desired. 



In the North and North-west of England, the labours of Otley*, 

 Smith, Professor Sedgwick, and some other inquirers, have already 

 ascertained the principal relations of one of the most important dis- 

 tricts ; but very little has yet been published upon it. And on the 

 mountainous tracts in Wales, the ancient and very interesting essay 

 of Owen f, and the valuable papers of Mr. Aikin and Professor 

 Henslow, with that of Mr. De la Beche on Pembrokeshire, and of 

 Mr. Martin on the Coal Basin of Glamorganshire %, — a tract on which 

 Mr. Conybeare is occupied at present, comprehend nearly every 

 thing that deserves to be mentioned here. 



In Scotland also, notwithstanding the graphic and copious illus- 

 trations of Dr. MacCulloch, and the mineralogicai skill and perse- 

 verance of other eminent naturalists who have applied themselves to 

 the Geology of their native country, — no geological map has yet ap- 

 peared ; and a great part of that rich and varied region remains to be 

 explored. But the Society will have pleasure in observing, in the last 

 portion of their Transactions §, that an effective comparison of the 

 more recent strata of Scotland with our English formations has 

 already begun. The memoir of Mr. Murchison on the Brora Coal- 

 field is an excellent specimen of what may be effected in this de- 

 partment of inquiry ; and a paper produced at the last meeting by 

 the joint labours of Professor Sedgwick and Mr. Murchison, leaves no 

 doubt that the remaining memoirs which are to be expected from 

 those gentlemen, will throw great light on the comparative geology 

 of that distant portion of our island. 



The value, however, of the researches and identification at Brora, 

 goes much further than the mere comparison of a remote tract, with 



* The work here referred to, is a brief but valuable notice, * On the 

 succession of rocks in the district of the Lakes," published in the Lonsdale 

 Magazine, or Provincial Repository, for October 1820:—- Vol. I. No. x. 

 pp. 433, &c. 



f Dated in 1570:— See Cambrian Register, for 1796, and Geol. Trans. 

 N. S. Vol. I. page 312. 



X Philosophical Transactions, 1806. page 342. 



§ Second Series, vol. ii. p. 293. 



the 



