XXIV PREFACE. 



it is unnecessary, to geologists, to say that no 

 such system does exist ; as they must be fully 

 aware of that defect ; and to have referred the 

 reader to that which has been proved incorrect 

 and imperfect, would have been in some measure 

 to defeat the objects of the present work ; one of 

 the designs of which has been, to bring into a 

 system more consonant to the apparent order of 

 Nature, those facts which the labours of the 

 author, or the industry of others, have collected. 

 Had he even been content to refer to other 

 authors for that which he believes to be correct in 

 their writings, he must still have followed the 

 practice which he has adopted, in those cases 

 where his own views differ from those of his pre- 

 decessors. Thus the geological prefaces which 

 precede each Synopsis became indispensible ; as it 

 was only by reducing the whole under one general 

 plan, that he could either have preserved consist- 

 ency or rendered his own statements intelligible. 



In arranging these prefaces, it was found dif- 

 ficult to draw the line between that which might 

 have been said pn the subject and that which it 



