Bibliographical Notices. 61 



the crust of tlie earth consists, notes the relative position of tlie 

 several layers, studies their minerals, and compares their fossils. 



In the deeper valleys around Xewbury, the different members of 

 the cretaceous formation crop out ; and these are covered nearer the 

 town by some of the members of the middle and lower tertiary series, 

 which in their turn are overlaid by depoi«its of gravel, the adjacent 

 valleys of the Kennctt and Lambourne being partially occupied by 

 peat-accumulations. As the different deposits here exhibited are but 

 continuous portions of strata spread over more extensive areas, any 

 remarks concerning the origin of local ])hsenomena necessitate an 

 inquiry into the successive changes which have obtained over larger 

 regions of the earth's surface. 



It is thus that local geology, when well explained, embraces larger 

 Tiews, embodies general principles, and points to their practical 

 bearings. In this spirit the lecture is conceived. By examining the 

 nature of the deposits, it is shown how these liave been accumulated 

 by the action of seas and rivers during a long period of time, 'under 

 various conditions of climate, and w'ith many changes in the relative 

 position of land and sea. The order of the succession of these 

 changes, and the description of their results, together with notices of 

 the animals and plants that tenanted the lands and waters during this 

 long period, are also treated of in this lecture. 



Nor are the higher inducements to the study of natural science 

 overlooked. There are a large class, even at present, to whom the 

 nature and tendencies of geological science arc a sealed book, and 

 whose personal respect for its teachings, if it has dawned, has cer- 

 tainly not passed the mioccne period, ^yith some notions that the 

 ground beneath us yields certain treasures, they have but little know- 

 ledge that it exhibits an order and arrangement consistent with the 

 dictates of Infinite Wisdom. These persons, well-meaning though 

 they may be, belong to a class not entirely extinct, who regard any 

 allusion to the Volume of Nature as a book replete with lessons of 

 divine truth, with feelings somewhat approaching to horror, forget- 

 ting that there is no true piety in depreciating the evidences to be 

 derived from the study of the works of Nature. 



The x\ppendix contains tables of the geological formations ; dia- 

 grams illustrative of the geological structure of parts of Hampshire 

 and Berkshire ; detailed sections of the strata at some of the locali- 

 ties near Newbury which yield fossils, as well as an account of the 

 peat-beds of the Kennet Valley, and also notices and illustrations of 

 some of the characteristic fossils of the formations ; so that this little 

 treatise forms not only a useful guide to the physical structure of the 

 district, but is also explanatory of the characters of the tertiary de- 

 posits in the western area of the London basin, while it may be equally 

 consulted with advantage by the general reader, for the concise man- 

 ner with which the leading points are enunciated. 



