PREFACE. 



NATURALISTS of every class know too well how HUGH MILLER 

 died, the victim of an overworked brain ; and how that bright 

 and vigorous spirit was abruptly quenched for ever. 



During the month of May (1857) Mrs Miller came to 

 Malvern, after recovering from the first shock of bereavement, 

 in search of health and repose, and evidently hoping to do 

 justice, on her recovery, to the literary remains of her hus- 

 band. Unhappily the excitement and anxiety naturally at- 

 taching to a revision of her husband's works proved over much 

 for one suffering under such recent trial, and from an affec- 

 tion of the brain and spine which ensued ; and, in consequence, 

 Mrs Miller has been forbidden, for the present, to engage in 

 any work of mental labour. 



Under these circumstances, and at Mrs Miller's request, I 

 have undertaken the editing of " The Cruise of the Betsey, 

 or a Summer Ramble among the Fossiliferous Deposits of the 

 Hebrides," as well as " The Rambles of a Geologist," hitherto 

 unpublished, save as a series of articles in the "Witness" news- 

 paper. The style and arguments of HUGH MILLER are so 



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