226 The Founders of Geology LECT. 



the east, and terminated sharply towards the west, like so 

 many " slices of bread and butter." He took the liveliest 

 interest in this matter, and felt convinced that it must 

 have a far deeper meaning and wider application than he 

 had yet surmised. 



His first start on geological exploration took place the 

 following year (1794) when, as engineer to a canal that 

 was to be constructed, he was deputed to accompany two 

 of the Committee of the Company in a tour of some weeks' 

 duration, for the purpose of gaining information respecting 

 the construction, management, and trade of other lines of 

 inland navigation. The party went as far north as New- 

 castle, and came back through Shropshire and Wales to 

 Bath, having travelled 900 miles on their mission. The 

 young surveyor made full use of the opportunities which 

 this journey afforded him. He had by this time satisfied 

 himself that the stratigraphical succession, which he had 

 worked out for a small part of the south-west of England, 

 had an important bearing on scientific questions, besides 

 many practical applications of importance. But it needed 

 to be extended and checked by a wider experience. " No 

 journey, purposely contrived," so he wrote, "could have 

 better answered my purpose. To sit forward on the chaise 

 was a favour readily granted ; my eager eyes were never 

 idle a moment ; and post-haste travelling only put me upon 

 new resources. General views, under existing circum- 

 stances, were the best that could have been taken, and the 

 facility of knowing, by contours and other features, what 

 might be the kind of stratification in the hills is a proof 

 of early advancement in the generalization of phenomena. 



" In the more confined views, where the roads commonly 



