806 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



ried out in the spirit of Sir Henry De la Bec-lie's preface to the first De- 

 cade, palreontolociists and natiu-alists generally would benefit very greatly 

 by aVork so remarkable for +be beauty and" accuracy of its figures and 

 the completeness of its 'ns. 



I dare sav most pala?-:.. . ^ would not object to receive one Decade 

 or Monograph at the least every three months. 



I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, 



E. Lechmeee Guppy. 



Fort of Sjjain, Trinidad, I9fh June, 1862. 



GEOLOGICAL NOTES IN THE GEEAT EXHIBITION. 



In a few months — and how soon they will fly away ! — the great show of the 

 world's industry, that daily attracts its tens of thousands of visitors, will 

 have closed for ever, and have become like many other beautiful things — 

 an iiem of the olilivious past. As tlie dulcet sounds of music pass awaj^ 

 and are never heard again, although fresh lips or fingers may bring forth 

 other sounds as tender and as sweet, so from our eyes this exquisite vision 

 will pass, and if in future years other and nobler displays shall take its 

 place, tuh dorious scene will truly be no more. How much material of 

 high interest for the geologist is there ! as there is for the naturalist and 

 ethnologist ; as there is for every thinking mind, for every inquiring intel- 

 lect. In these notes it is not our intention to attem^Dt to detail all the 

 geology ihat may be learnt within those miles of walls, the catalogues show 

 what a volume ^vouLl be needed for this; nor is it our wish to fill our 

 pages with expatiaiions on the wonderful scenery. The work of the navvy 

 and the meelianie, the work of the labourer and builder is the work that 

 endures. We aTtem]jt to harvest in the fields of facts which other men 

 have there recorded : facts written down for the present occasion for their 

 purposes : facts which vre wish to gather for our science. \\ e have mineral 

 materials troni all parts of the globe. "WTio has described them, figured 

 themr Plants, tr. -a v- "I^. animals, skins, bones, gems, and metals con- 

 veying years of it. f to the student. Surely in these fields we may 

 gather as much a< _ . ale of such goodly seeds of knowledge. 



First, in wa lough the courts, how many noble samples of our 



nation's greai - ^..^ . - of power and wealth, coal and n'on, have we seen? 

 Samples of many or of most of them we may have seen before, for 

 they ai'e of daily use, some or other hourly before us ; but when have we 

 seen such samples so instructively placed? Where have we seen them 

 accompanied and illustrated by such instructive plans and sections ? 



We have pondered long how we should best place these various matters 

 before our readers, and at last we have resolved to gather the good seed 

 wherever we can find it, and to take it as it stands, to gather it as it is, 

 and to store it in our volume for everybody's use. This we must do, or 

 lose it altogether. Otir readers may thrash it, grind it, do what they will 

 with it ; but urdess M e bring it in it will perish thriftless in the field where 

 it stands. What we intend to do, then, is to take note of whatever is 

 valuable as we meet it, we shall not attempt more. As we find good facts 

 we shall write them down— ay. in the Exhibition itself— and send them, 

 then and there, direct to our printers, 



MiXEEAL Eesoueces OF TASMANIA. — The bold greenstone and basaltic 

 mountains of Tasmania, formerly known as Van Diemen's Land, their 



