X PREFACES TO THE FIRST AND SECOND EDITIONS. 



various parts of our island, with the drawings, sections, and map in 

 the present volume, will, I trust, facilitate the study of geology, and 

 prove particularly acceptable to those who are entering on these en- 

 quiries : at the same time, I flatter myself with the hope, that the origin- 

 al information this work contains, respecting the geology and natural 

 history of England, will secure it a candid reception. — Edit. o/*1813. 



Several have been deterred from the study of geology by the sup- 

 posed difficulty of learning its attendant science, mineralogy ; but 

 an acquaintance with the nice distinctions made by many modern 

 mineralogists, is not necessary to gain a knowledge of the structure 

 and arrangement of the great masses of matter that environ the 

 globe, nor of the substances of which they are composed. He who 

 would gain a useful knowledge of geology, would do well to provide 

 himself with specimens of common rocks, and the simple minerals 

 of which they are composed, and examine their external characters 

 and physical properties, comparing them with the descriptions given 

 by the best mineralogical writers. Fortunately these substances are 

 not very numerous, and he may (without present inconvenience) omit 

 the more rare crystallizations and varieties, so much valued by cab- 

 inet philosophers ; for here, as in many other instances, the received 

 value is in an inverse ratio of the utility. The pedantic nomencla- 

 ture, and frivolous distinctions recently introduced into mineralogy, 

 may gratify vanity with a parade of knowledge ; but they are uncon- 

 nected with objects of real utility, or with any enlarged views of nature. 



On hearing the various names which mineralogists give to the same 

 substance, and observing; the avidity with which each new name is seiz- 

 ed, as if it conveyed a hidden charm, the uninitiated might suppose that 

 he was ''journeying in the land of Shinar," and had fallen in compa- 

 ny with a set of masons fresh from the tower of Babel, each one call- 

 ing the same stone by a different name, and glorying in his absurdity. 

 Such frivolities disgust men of sense with the study of an important 

 and interesting science ; a science that has, for its immediate object 

 the structure of the planet which the Author of nature has destined 

 for our abode, and an acquaintance with the situation of its various 

 mineral productions, subservient to the wants or enjoyments of man 

 in civilized society. 



The advice of Cicero to the cultivators of moral science, applies 

 with peculiar force to the geologists and mineralogists of the present 

 day. " In these natural and laudable pursuits, two errors are par- 

 ticularly to be avoided : the first not to confound those things of which 

 we are ignorant with those we know, or rashly to yield our assent 

 without due investigation ; the second, not to bestow too much labour 

 and study on obscure, intricate, and unprofitable subjects." — "In 

 hoc genere et naturali et honesto duo vitia vitanda sunt: unum, ne 

 incognita pro cognitis habeamus, bisque temere assentiamur (quod 

 vitium effugere qui volet, adhibebit ad considerandas res et tempus 

 et diligenliam.) Alterum est vitium, quod quidam nimis magnum 

 studium multamque operam in res obscuras atque difficiles conferunt, 

 easdemque non necessarias. "—Czc. Offic. i. 6. 



