PREFACE. 



jlHE three first lectures in the following 

 collection on Earthquakes and Vol- 

 canoes, on the Sun, and on Comets 

 were delivered by the Author to a vil- 

 lage audience, in the school-house of the parish 

 of Hawkhurst, in Kent, his place of residence. 

 They were subsequently printed as contributions 

 to the pages of that excellent and useful periodi- 

 cal, Good Words, in which they were followed 

 by those " On the Weather and Weather Pro- 

 phets," " On Celestial Measurings and Weigh- 

 ings," and *' On Light," the latter assuming in its 

 progress the dimensions of a little elementary 



