256 Local Geology. 



to the minerals, and above all, to the fossils contained within them j and 

 we shall add such observations as we may be able to make, upon their 

 oeconomical uses, and tiie vegetation to which each gives nourishment. 



With each portion of description will also be prepared, upon a scale of 

 four inches to the mile, a map or plan of the section described, upon which 

 the geological formations will be laid down in colours, and their dip, bear- 

 ing, etc. indicated by proper marks. By this means our readers will 

 gradually obtain a geological map of their district, upon a scale, and with 

 an attention to detail, obviously inadmissible in a general map. 



Specimens of the rocks, minerals, and fossils made mention of in each 

 number, together with coloured field drawings of country, sections, etc, 

 will be deposited in the geological apartment of the Institution, where 

 they may be conveniently referred to by every one. References will also, 

 in most cases, be found in the catalogue, to the exact spot from whence 

 each specimen was obtained. 



Although the basis of the description will be geological, attention will 

 also be paid to the Hydrography of each district, and to its architectural 

 and topographical antiquities ; in short, it will be the rule of those by 

 whom this plan may be carried into effect, to bestow attention upon what- 

 ever subjects may seem to them to deserve it. 



When the maps and descriptions of the whole, or the greater part of 

 any particular district, or geological formation, shall have been completed, 

 a plate will be given of sections or profiles, in different directions, across 

 the formation, instead of the usual map ; and instead of the descriptive 

 text, a general summary of what has been observed, with the plain and 

 obvious inferences which such observations may indicate. This much is 

 strictly due to the students in every inductive science. 



Upon the merits of some such plan as the above there can be but one 

 opinion j it is the peculiar province of local journals to collect local in- 

 formation ; their supporters, resident for the most part upon the soil, pos- 

 sess opportunities for observation which a stranger cannot in any great 

 degree obtain j and surely it is not too much to say, that they owe it to 

 society to take advantage of such opportunities, provided always that their 

 observation is not inconsistent with their severer duties. We shall be at 

 all times obliged by sections of coal pits and workings of wells, draughts 

 of local maps, lists of fossils, minerals, or plants of particular districts, 

 together with any other local information. 



For the convenience of those persons who may desire a second impres- 

 sion of each portion of the map, for the pur])ose of mounting, a number of 

 extra impressions will be held on sale by the publishers j but these can in 

 future only be issued to those persons who shall give notice of their wishes 

 at least two months before the publication of each number. 

 Wc shall commence in .January with the ])arish of Portishead, 



