PREFACE. 



IN preparing this little work for the schools I have 

 kept constantly in view two ends : 1. I have tried to make 

 a book which shall interest the pupil, and at the same 

 time convey real scientific knowledge. 2. I have tried, 

 as far as possible, to awaken the faculty and cultivate the 

 habit of observation, by directing the attention of the 

 pupil to geological phenomena occurring and geological 

 agencies at work now on every side, and in the most 

 familiar tilings. By the former I hope to awaken a true 

 scientific appetite ; by the latter, to cultivate the habits 

 necessary to satisfy that appetite. 



JOSEPH LE CONTE. 



BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, September, 1884. 



PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION. 



ALTHOUGH a work so elementary as this embodying 

 only the most general principles of geology does not 

 require so frequent revision as a more advanced work, yet 

 geology is so rapidly advancing a science that even gen- 

 eral statements must, from time to time, be modified. 

 Especially is it necessary that new and better illustrative 

 figures should be used. 



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