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past, and as the British, Romans, Normans, as others did, so 
can we, but in another form, enjoy and contemplate the grand 
old Forest of Dean amidst its varied associations. Some of the 
trees still mark ancient sites, and the rocks and monuments are 
still there ; the Naturalist and Antiquarian may therefore enter 
upon those interesting and important researches as would best 
conduce to the personal recreation and utility of the age in 
which we live. 
Unfortunately, however, the Geologist and Mineralogist 
will find that the elements for study in such useful branches of 
science are comparatively limited; still they are of an interest- 
ing and valuable character, because they form links of connec- 
tion with the surrounding mineral districts, the whole of which 
must be studied in an extended form in order to understand 
and define the natural phenomena presented. 
The Forest of Dean is no exception to the rule, %.e., that 
in no given locality or district can the Geologist find all the 
known strata in a conformable condition or succession. 
The whole has consequently to be studied, understood, 
and made up of the patch-work—so to speak—of the rocks as 
they exist and are presented under different forms and condi- 
tions, and in other places. 
Doubtless all the recognised rocks forming the crust of 
the earth, from the most recent, or Pleistocene, down to the 
Cambrian and Laurentian, once existed over the whole of the 
British Islands, but the immense thickness of the Carboniferous 
strata, from the coal measures upwards, have been broken up 
and denuded to form other and newer strata. Consequently, 
those great periods or divisions of formations known as Tertiary, 
Secondary, and the upper member—Permian—of the Paleozoic, 
are entirely absent in the Forest of Dean, evidencing those 
forces which were exerted, probably over millions of years, in 
producing these changes. 
From a general consideration of the circumstances and 
conditions which are presented in the surrounding districts, 
we are led to form the conclusion that the Forest of Dean 
Mineral Basin is only a small portion of the Mineral Basin 
