96 THE GROUND BENEATH US. [1854-55. 



Geological Society in 1854, Prestwich gave the first 

 of three lectures on the 1st May at the Clapham 

 Athenaeum, on the geology of Clapham and of London 

 generally. There was a particular fitness in his de- 

 livering these lectures, as he was a native of the place, 

 and knew every inch of ground described ; they were 

 heartily received (the two other lectures being given 

 in April 1856), and although not written with a view 

 to publication, they were brought out (at the request 

 of friends) in 1857 in book form, as the well-known 

 little work, ' The Ground Beneath Us : Its Geological 

 Phases and Changes.' There were then but few 

 elementary treatises of geology, and none, like those 

 at the present time, which combined the soundest in- 

 struction in the most simple and pleasing language, so 

 as to make geology easy ; therefore it supplied a real 

 want. It was written with the terse clearness which 

 characterises all his writings, and was deservedly 

 popular. Letters of congratulation on the appearance 

 of this booklet poured in from the old geological 

 leaders, some of them couched in the most generous 

 terms. It was acknowledged to be the best possible 

 introduction to geology, and had a large sale. Twenty 

 years later Professor Huxley was heard by the writer 

 to single it out and recommend it to his class for study, 

 as the best exponent of the geology of London and its 

 neighbourhood. 



Although the record of geological papers for 1855 is 

 shorter than that for 1854, still 1855 is signalised as 

 being the year which produced another of the Tertiary 

 memoirs those memoirs on which his fame as a 

 geologist will to a certain extent rest. It bears the 

 title, " On the Correlation of the Eocene Tertiaries of 

 England, France, and Belgium." 



