THE GEOLOGIST. 



3 



see them flourish as they deserve. By creatmg more Geologists, 

 we are likely to increase rather than diminish the number of their 

 readers; we interfere with none, we plough in no man's furrow, 

 but break a new fallow for ourselves. 



We are not so conceited about our workmanship as to think it 

 perfect, and are not reluctant to believe that it may be improved, 

 as it goes on ; we are ready to listen to reasonable complaints, 

 eager to receive useful hints and suggestions; we will do our 

 utmost to discover and remove defects. We wish to make our 

 magazme really good and useful ; no personal caprice or individual 

 interests shaU be allowed to interfere with our efforts to make it 

 worthy of the great science which it aspires to represent. 



Geology is a noble science, and holds a dignified position 

 amongst natural sciences. It is pursued as a study by a section of 

 society which, though not large, is learned. It is wondered at, and 

 enquired about by that larger section, who knowing next to nothing 

 of its principles, meet with allusions to it in many of the books 

 they read ; who cannot help noticing as they walk about the country, 

 that the earth is deposited in layers or strata ; who see fossils dug 

 out of Railway cuttings, or who stop to gaze with astonishment, 

 blended with incredulity, at the restorations of uncouth antedilu- 

 vian creatures in the gardens of the Crystal Palace. This science, 

 elevating alike to the rational and moral constitution of man, 

 affords to him, whose bent is to contemplate nature, a healthy 

 intellectual occupation and a fruitful source of mental enjoy- 

 ment; it treats of questions of the deepest interest to every 

 reflectmg mind; while its practical benefits are neither few 

 nor unimportant. To the careful observer, who trains himself 

 to a steady scrutiny of the things and circumstances amongst 

 which he lives ; who gazes at the heavens, not to indulge in empty 

 musings upon the stars, but to reflect intelligently upon the laws 

 which regulate their motions ; who watches living beings, not to 

 indulge in vain speculations as to the nature of vital force, but to 

 ascertain the plan of their construction and vital actions, and the 

 mutual relations of their functions ; who, eschewing vague reveries, 

 examines what he sees around him by the only test to be relied 

 upon — the test of a sound experimental philosophy; who accus- 

 toms himself to traee effects to their causes : searching for sources 



