iv 



PREFACE. 



due, and to many others I would wish to make personal acknowledg- 

 ment if space allowed. 



The space devoted to correspondence gives a means of freely dis- 

 cussing any important topic without rendering the Editor, or the 

 Magazine, responsible for the opinions expressed. The beneficial in- 

 fluences of the free scope thus given to the expression of opinion 

 must already have become evident to all, and the advantages of some 

 of the other changes made in the arrangement of the Magazine must 

 likewise be apparent. 



Notwithstanding the necessity of increasing the price in order to 

 ensure the permanent commercial stability of the journal, our circu- 

 lation has materially increased — a satisfactory and convincing proof 

 of the increased usefulness of the work, and the friendship of the 

 geological public towards it. 



From Sir Roderick Murchison, Sir Charles Lyell, and other emi- 

 nent geologists, I have received flattering encouragement ; and it is 

 much to be able to say that men of such eminence regard with interest 

 the success of this publication as a valuable medium of communica- 

 tion, and as an important means for the accumulation of new facts. 



The arrangements made for the forthcoming year, while they in no 

 way diminish my personal interest in the Magazine, will provide 

 against those unavoidable impediments which ill -health and ever-in- 

 creasing professional engagements put in the way of my individual 

 attention to the details of publication. 



For the future, however, we will make no promises at all ; but we 

 hope ever to be judged by results attained. 



S. J. MACKIE. 



London, 1st December, 1861. 



