viii The Founders of Geology 



begun in the New World instead of the Old, geology would 

 unquestionably have made a more rapid advance than 

 it has done. The future progress of the science may be 

 expected to be largely directed and quickened by dis- 

 coveries made in America, and by deductions from the 

 clear evidence presented on that continent. 



Amidst an almost feverish earnestness in the prosecu- 

 tion of investigation there is unavoidably a risk that the 

 present activities of the science, with their engrossing 

 interest, may lead to neglect of its past history, and that 

 in this way unintentional injustice may be done to the 

 labours of the earlier workers, while at the same time the 

 vision of living students may be narrowed by the too 

 exclusive contemplation of what they and their comrades 

 are engaged upon. In inaugurating the Williams Lecture- 

 ship at Baltimore I hoped that by turning aside to the 

 achievements of half-forgotten pioneers, I might in some 

 small measure help to counteract this tendency by 

 recalling attention to examples of strenuous and suc- 

 cessful labour among the Founders of Geology. 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OFFICE, 

 28 JERMYN STREET, LONDON, 

 ISth June 1897. 



