32 ON THK STUDY OF 



useful and ornamental among human inventions, 

 and the link by which the arts are kept together 

 and rendered subservient to the happiness and 

 conveniences of mankind ; and they are the great 

 sources of wealth to, and of intercourse among na- 

 tions, however remotely situated, or opposed to 

 each other in character, customs, and climate. 



Having acquired a knowledge of mineralogy, 

 we shall be the better prepared to enter upon its 

 sister science geology, which illustrates the 

 structure, relative situation, and mode of forma- 

 tion of the different mineral substances in mass 

 that compose the crust of the globe; thus differing 

 from mineralogy, which is confined to a descrip- 

 tion, classification, and history of each particular 

 substance, without a reference to the general 

 structure. 



The study of this subject is, on two accounts, 

 peculiarly interesting. First, as it serves to con- 

 firnithe Mosaic account of the deluge; secondly, 

 because it teaches us the situation in which, and 

 under what circumstances, particular minerals 

 are to be found. It may be divided into two 

 heads first, an account of the actual arrange- 

 ment and relative position of the various rocks of 

 which the mineral kingdom is composed ; se- 

 condly, an inquiry into the causes by which that 

 arrangement was produced. It is to the former, 

 or the practical part, that we shall confine our 

 present observations, as we have not time to 



