XIV. On the Bocks in the vicinity of Edinburgh. By 

 Thomas Allan, Esq; F. R. S. Edin. 



[Read March 4. 1811.] 



ALTHOUGH fcience has only within thefe few years ac- 

 knowledged the importance of Geology, the eagernefs 

 with which it has been cultivated, affords fufficient proof of the 

 intereft it is capable of creating. Of this we have a recent ex- 

 ample in the laborious undertaking of Sir George Macken- 

 zie and his friends, who, notwithstanding all the dangers pre- 

 fented by a voyage through the moft tempeftuous ocean, and 

 the deprivations to which they were expofed, in a journey 

 through a country deftitute of the flighteft trace to guide the 

 route of the traveller, were not deterred from exploring the 

 inhofpitable fhores of Iceland. Thefe, and other travellers, 

 have extended our knowledge of various diftricts on the furface 

 of the globe j but we have ftill to lament the extreme imper- 

 fection of the fcience, which, as yet, has afliimed no decided cha- 

 racter or form. This appears principally owing to the want of 

 fome fimple method, grounded on clear and intelligible princi- 

 ples : 



