PREFACE. XYll 



extraneous fossils ; but, as such list has previously 

 been drawn up by others ( m ) its omission here can 

 be of little moment. 



The reader is now in possession of my plan 

 It must be considered, merely, as an attempt to give 

 the principles of a study yet in its infancy A study 

 however, hourly rising into notice, and which 

 the best Mineralogists of the pi*esent day (n) have 

 pointed out to the attention of all, who wish for the 

 advancement of general knowledge. 



In respect to the execution of this design there 

 is little to offer. At a distance from extensive collec- 

 tions and valuable libraries, those necessary helps to 

 the naturalist when writing my time almost wholly 

 taken up with the duties of my profession and 

 debarred, by local situation, from that personal in- 

 tercourse with the scientific, which might so mate- 



(>) V. Townson. Phil. Min. Jameson. Miner. Dumfries. 

 Parkinson. Organ. Remains. &c. 



(w) Compare the observations of Werner, Kirwan, Jameson, 

 Cuvier, &c. on the subject of extraneous fossils, with the illiberal 

 reflections cast on the study by the late M. Magellan, in his edition 

 f Constadt's Miner. 



