PREFACE, 



The last, or fifth edition of this work, was published in 

 February, 1855, so that nearly ten years have since elapsed. 

 I have allowed it to remain several years out of print, having 

 been much occupied in travelling through various parts of 

 Europe, and latterly in writing my " Geological Evidences of 

 the Antiquity of Man," as well as the appendices to the 

 second and third editions of that treatise. In the interval 

 since 1855 I have published several supplements to the " Ele- 

 ments," the contents of which are now incorporated in this 

 work. This and other new matter, illustrated by more than 

 50 new woodcuts, has added 130 pages to the volume, which 

 has thus outgrown the dimensions usually assigned to a 

 Manual. I have, therefore, restored to the book its original 

 title of " The Elements of Geology," under which name it 

 first appeared in 1838, when it consisted of an expansion of 

 the fourth book of my " Principles of Geology," which had 

 at that time reached a fifth edition. 



The "Elements" were successively reedited, and in each 

 case to a great extent recast, in the years 1842, 1851, 1852, 

 and 1855. On former occasions I have given a list of the 

 principal corrections and additions in which each new edition 



