•tS* Geological Society. 



to reach us from those foreign countries in which Enghsh capital is 

 now employed. 



Mr. Taylor has prefixed to this first series of tracts, a Prospectus 

 of a School of Mines in Cornwall* ; which contain suggestions well 

 deserving the attention of those engaged in this important depart- 

 ment of commercial speculation- 



I have dwelt the longer upon that portion of our labours which 

 refers to England, because the structure of this country is the pri- 

 mary object of our researches ; since it is here, at home, that we 

 can best, and in the first instance, acquire the rudiments of our 

 subject, and gain that correctness of eye, and of judgment, which 

 confers the right, as it were, to examine the geology of other dis- 

 tricts, — and to claim, either from foreigners, or our own countrymen, 

 that confidence in our accuracy, without which all attempts at com- 

 parison are vain. But in proportion as this country is known, a 

 comparison with other regions becomes not only more interesting, 

 but more necessary ; and few, unfortunately, can be found, who, 

 with sufficient knowledge of our subject, possess also the opportu- 

 nity of travelling with geological views. In the mean time, we 

 must be grateful for all those contributions from remote countries, 

 which, if they do not illustrate the relations of rocks, enable us at 

 least to answer some questions respecting their local diffusion and 

 comparative composition, — leaving their relations and many of the 

 phasnomena of structure to future inquiry. 



In the foreign Geology of Europe, — we have the gratification of 

 knowing that the examination of France, with a view to a general 

 map of the strata, is steadily proceeding. 



We ourselves have had papers on the environs of Nice, from 

 Mr. De la Beche and Dr. Buckland, giving a comparison of the 

 strata in that neighbourhood with those of England, and in some 

 cases establishing their correspondence. 



The proofs of the identity of the prevailing rocks in the more 

 distant parts of the world, are continually multiplied, by the recep- 

 tion of authentic specimens ; for which we have been of late indebted 

 to the Admiralty, and to British officers, in the Navy and the ser- 

 vice of tlie East India Company : and the donoi-s of every such con- 

 tribution, — even of the smallest specimen, the locality of which in a 

 distant quarter is correctly ascertained, — will have the satisfaction 

 of feeling, that they bring us nearer to the ultimate solution of the 

 interesting problems which are before us. 



We have received from Captain Beechey, commander of the late 

 expedition to Behring's Straits, and from Lieut. Belcher, a valuable 

 series of specimens, collected in several detached points during the 

 progress of that voyage : and, the notes taken by Lieut. Belcher 

 and Mr. Colly having been put into my hands by Captain Beechey, 

 I shall take an early opportunity of placing them before the Society. 

 The only subject of regret relating to these papers, is their brevity; 

 for the notes, and the sketches connected with them, would do 

 credit to the most experienced geologists. 



» See Phil. Mag. vol. Ixvi. p. 137.— Edit. 



A paper, 



