PREFACE 



TO THE FORMER EDITION. 



A course of Lectures delivered at Brighton, in an 

 unsuccessful attempt to establish in that town a public 

 museum, illustrative of the Geology, and Organic 

 Remains, of the South-East of England, formed the 

 groundwork of the unpretending volumes which, under 

 the title of " The Wonders of Geology," have met 

 with so favourable a reception. 



When the first edition appeared, my collection, 

 consisting of upwards of 20,000 specimens, from which 

 the subjects for the illustrations of the Lectures were 

 selected, was exhibited at Brighton, by the Sussex 

 Literary Institution, as the Mantellian Museum, with 

 the view to its permanent establishment as the basis of 

 a County Museum. 



That expectation was, however, defeated; for 

 though I would willingly have made any pecuniary 



