PREFACE. 



IN this, the fifth edition, many improvements and 

 additions have been made. Of these, the most im- 

 portant consists of an account of the British Formations, 

 showing the topographical range of each in succession, 

 their lithological characters and the general nature of 

 their fossils. This part of the work begins with 

 Chapter V., and ends with Chapter XVII., and it con- 

 stitutes a condensed Manual of British Stratigraphical 

 Geology from the Laurentian to the latest Pliocene 

 strata. The substance of these 227 pages was originally 

 written by me for Blackie's Cyclopaedia, and by the kind 

 permission of these gentlemen, I have, with some re- 

 arrangement and many additions, made much use of the 

 matter printed in the article. 



A leading feature in this part of the book is, that 

 I have endeavoured to give a sketch of the Physical 

 Geography of each successive Geological Epoch, so as 

 to induce a scenic interest in the matter, beyond what 

 can be gathered from mere lithological descriptions and 

 lists of fossils, which, in the bald shape that they are 



