PREFACE. Vll 



and memoirs. Friedrich Hoffmann gave a much more attrac- 

 tive account of the history of geology, and carried it as far as 

 the year 1835. The history of geology by Sainte-Claire 

 Deville covers practically the same ground, but devotes more 

 than a third of the whole work to the writings of Elie de 

 Beaumont. The eight volumes of D'Archiac's Histoire des 

 Progres de la Geologic provide for the period 1834 to 1850, 

 afterwards continued to 1859, an exhaustive discussion of all 

 the geological publications that appeared during this time, 

 but is a work intended primarily for the specialist. The 

 chief work and the later historical writings of this eminent 

 Frenchman gave the predominant place to French authors, 

 and owing to his defective knowledge of German, the con- 

 tributions in that language met with scant attention. 

 H. Vogelsang's Philosophie der Geologie contains an interesting, 

 but very subjective, historical introduction, wherein the progress 

 of petrographical knowledge is more especially considered. 

 Valuable contributions to the history of geology have been 

 made by the fluent pen of Sir Archibald Geikie. His ad- 

 mirable biographies of Sir Roderick Murchison and Sir Andrew 

 Ramsay offer far more than the title indicates. With unsur- 

 passed literary skill and scientific mastery of the subject, they 

 describe the development of geology in Great Britain during 

 the lives of these illustrious geologists. In a course of lectures 

 on the Founders of Geology, Sir Archibald Geikie has given a 

 series of admirable biographies from which may be culled 

 a connected account of the early advances in the science of 

 geology. 



I have derived information from all the above-mentioned 

 works; but it has usually been my endeavour to consult the 

 original sources, and to form my own judgment independently 

 of all books of reference. Where critical treatment was called 



