is important to the Progress of Geology . 2/7 



previoudv, the universal cover of the solid land, as the Mos,.iie, 

 records attest, and as innumerable /ac/s 5/i/Z oive^-yoWe within 

 the earth's suiface, concur in proving to liave been the case. 



I was lonsT myself, after I had begun to take views of the subject, 

 not very different from the above, under the then too common mis- 

 take of supposing, that, in order to be able to contribute in any 

 useful degree towards the stock of Geological knowledge, which 

 even yet is lamentably deficient, it was necessary to possess a 

 considerable and /ec//7n'cr(!/ know-ledge oilSIineralogij, (including 

 its chemical and crystallographical departments,) of Botany and 

 comparative Anatomy, of Cnnc/iolon)/ in particular, with ample 

 leisure and opportunities for employing these, in foreign counlrics, 

 more than in om- o\^ii, which last we liad been often told, was 

 barren to a proverb, of true Geological pluenomena ! ! 



A sight however with which I was favoured, of Mr. IVilUam 

 Smith's Collection of Fossil Shells and other Organic Remains, 

 arranged in the order in which they arc found in the several 

 Strata described by colours on his Alap of England, and each 

 Specimen distinctly marked with the name of the Place from 

 whence it was taken, at once convinced me, that what had been 

 achieved, by the })erseverance of a plain and moderately lettered 

 Man, in a great measure if not totally unacquainted with the /ec/;- 

 «ica/ knowledge above mentioned, might be followed by others ; 

 and I became convinced, that the efforts of persons like myself, 

 and numl)ei-s of my acquaintance, residing always or frequently 

 in the Country, might contrilnite usefully to Geology: and since 

 Mr. Suiuerhy has begun the Work, which it is now my object 

 to recommend, the same has been e\ident to most of the Indivi- 

 duals in the above List, and to his Readers in general, and v.ill I 

 trust prove so to daily increasing numbers, everywhere. 



Industry and attention only are wanted for Ladies or Gentle- 

 men to be able, in most coimtry situations, to collect many fossil 

 Shells, either from Quarries or Pits which are constantly in the 

 course of work, b\' small occasional gratuities to the Workmen 

 for preserving all thev meet with, awi pointing out the exact led 

 of stone, riaij, cSc. in which they each lie, entombed ; by the 

 like attention to occasional opportunities of seeing the strata 

 penetrated by new Wells, Shafts, Drains, Foundations, &c. or 

 after the slipping down of Cliffs or sj,eep banks after heavy Rains 

 or Frosts, &c. in order to collect the shells newly exposed thereby, 

 and recor<l their exact matrix or place in the strata, (I)y their 

 local appellations as well as by their ordinary names, as Lime- 

 stone, Chalk, Sand-stone, Sand, Clay, Marl, &c.) which are even 

 still more important, because resident Oijservers can alone col- 

 lect these occasional facts, while the regular Quarries and Pits 



S <3 uiiiy 



