i u wra IN is 



a taste for geology or to furnuh nutriment for a taste 

 already existent however, in what 



apparently unfavourable circumstances an appetite for 

 ;>ursuits can not only exist but flourish. Let 

 us suppose that the <li-,tru t in question consists of strati 

 ficd rocks, like sandstones and shales, and that these 

 strata are exposed to view in numerous quarries and 

 natural sections. The varying composition of the beds, 



order of succession, their changes in character as 

 they are traced over the country, their influence upon 

 the contour of the ground, the glimpses they afford of 

 an ancient geography very different from that of the 

 district to-day, and the i in which they have been 



tilted up, < urved, and broken since the time of their 

 original formation these, and a thousand other panic u 

 lars, will eventually give even barren and seemingly 

 repulsive rocks a charm which the richly fossiliferous 

 deposits of the observer's later experience may never 

 possess. If, on the other hand, the rocks are crystalline 

 granites, schists, and other similar masses, or basalts, 



and other volcanic accumulations, the geologist 

 who begins work among them will almost of necessity 

 devote himself to the mineralogical and structural side of 

 the science. He may be first attracted by pretty minerals, 

 sparkling felspars, well crystallised and variously coloured 

 quartzes, glittering micas, and many more. And doubt- 

 less the temptation to collect them, if it once arises within 

 him, will not be likely to diminish, so long as his taste for 

 geological pursuits lasts, and as he finds himself face to face 

 with the minerals in the field. Pursued not as the hobby 



Met tor, but as an important branch of the sciences 



