INDIAN GEOLOGY. 1 



IT is the misfortune of the stratigraphical geologist that 

 the interest which is taken in his work varies inversely 

 as the distance of the scene of his labours. Indian geology 

 therefore stands but a poor chance of recognition in Eng- 

 land ; and the Indian geologist has only the melancholy 

 satisfaction of knowing that he writes for posterity. 



This ought not to be. There is much in the geology of 

 India which can never be of interest outside of India 

 itself; but there is much also which bears on the widest 

 and greatest questions of the science. It is in India and in 

 the southern hemisphere that we find the clearest evidence 

 of a period of severe cold towards the close of the palaeozoic 

 era — evidence which only those who have not seen it have 

 dared to doubt. It is in India and on the frontiers of India 

 that we have the grandest mountain-chains of the globe, 

 where the problems of mountain-building may frequently 

 be studied without the vexatious hindrance of vegetative 

 growth. In India, too, there are the great lava-flows of the 

 Deccan Trap, and the magnificent mass of ancient crystal- 

 line rocks in Southern India ; — but the oreolooist does not 

 boast of these, for they have never been adequately 

 examined. 



The only general account of the geology of India which 

 we had until lately was the Manual by Medlicott and 

 Blanford, published in 1879. But Indian geology has not 

 stood still since then, and the new edition of this Manual 

 (edited and largely rewritten by R. D. Oldham) which has 

 recently appeared shows how great is the progress that 

 has been made. It is no bad record for the labours of a 

 dozen men who are scattered over the whole of India and 

 the adjoining countries, and who are now required by a 

 short-sighted Government to devote the greater part of 



X A Manual of the Geology of India. Chiefly compiled from the obser- 

 vations of the Geological Survey. Stratigraphical and Structural Geology. 

 Second edition, revised and largely rewritten by R. D. Oldham. Calcutta, 

 1893. 



