PREFACES TO THE FIRST AND SECOND EDITIONS. ix 



covered, in which the remains of animals or vegetables frequently 

 occur : the latter he called secondary. In our own country, the 

 Reverend J. Michell was the first person who appears to have had 

 any clear views respecting the structure of the external parts of the 

 earth : they were made public in a valuable paper on the cause of 

 earthquakes, in the Philosopical Transactions, 1759. About twen- 

 ty years afterwards, Mr. John Whitehurst published his " Inquiry in- 

 to the original State and Formation of the Earth." His observa- 

 tions were principally confined to the rocks and strata of Derbyshire. 

 Independently of its speculative opinions, this work was highly valu- 

 able as an attempt to describe the geology of a district, from actual 

 examination. The great variety of original information it contained, 

 and its general accuracy, will remain a lasting monument of the wri- 

 ter's industry and ability. Mr. Whitehurst, however, fell into the 

 same error with the celebrated Werner in Saxony, an error to which 

 the first cultivators of geology were particularly exposed, — that of 

 drawing general conclusions from local observations, and forming uni- 

 versal theories from a limited number of facts. 



Though Mr. Whitehurst's book was favourably received, yet till 

 the beginning of the present century geological pursuits made little 

 progress in England. On the continent, the researches of Saussure, 

 Pallas, Werner, St. Fond, Dolomieu, and others, had before this 

 time produced a powerful interest, and brought into the field many 

 active and enlighted enquirers. The first general impulse given to 

 the public taste, for geological investigations in this country, was pro- 

 duced by Professor Playfair's luminous and eloquent illustrations of 

 the Huttonian theory. The leading feature of this theory, that all 

 rocks or strata have been either formed or consolidated by central 

 subterranean fire, was very warmly opposed ; and much personal 

 animosity and many adventitious circumstances were associated with 

 the contest, not highly honourable to philosophy, but well calculated 

 to keep alive the attention of the disputants to those appearances in 

 nature which favoured or opposed their different theories. 



He who attempts to make a scientific subject familiar, runs the 

 risk, in this country, of being deemed superficial ; a plentiful share 

 of dullness, combined with a certain degree of technical precision, 

 are regarded as essential proofs of profundity. By prescriptive 

 right, long established in these realms, dullness and pedantry guard 

 the portals of the temple of Science, and command those who enter, 

 to avert their eyes from whatever can elevate the imagination, or 

 warm the heart, and to look at nature through a sheet of ice. In 

 compliance with their authority, writers of introductory treatises have 

 generally thought it necessary to avoid that felicity in the familiar 

 illustration of scientific subjects, so conspicuous in some elementary 

 works of our neighbours. Without venturing to depart too far from 

 established usage, I have endeavoured to render geology more in- 

 telligible, by avoiding as much as possible theoretical and technical 

 language, and by introducing a simple arrangement, and suited to 

 the present state of our knowledge. The local illustrations frona 



B 



