i 
ii 
PREFACE. 
to this composition ; but I trust I have succeeded in 
collecting together information which has an especial 
reference to the physical and moral phenomena de- 
veloped in the district in which it is my happiness to 
exercise a noble profession. 
With that profession, the inquiries proposed to be 
instituted by our Society, have a very close connec- 
tion ; since without a correct knowledge of the Natu- 
ral History of the locality in which the physician 
practises, he must be ignorant of many things which 
influence its mortality, and cannot discern what 
Hippocrates esteemed the greatest excellence in the 
art of physic, the constitution of the seasons, and the 
diseases which attend them. 
As respects the map which accompanies the Lec- 
ture, and for which I am indebted to the exertions of 
Mr. Lees, Mr. Pearson, and Mr. Strickland, I trust, 
as a first attempt to represent the Geological Forma- 
tions of Worcestershire, it will be considered valuable ; 
as it gives a general outline of the Geology of the 
district, which for the present, at least, will be useful, 
and may assist future labourers in their efforts to 
give a more extended and detailed view of the various 
and highly interesting features presented to the Geo- 
logist in several parts of Worcestershire. 
The investigations of that enlightened Geologist, 
Mr. Murchison, have been extended along the western 
boundary of our county ; and it is expected that his 
splendid work, which will soon appear, will be illus- 
trated by maps on a large scale, and will afford most 
important information upon our local researches. 
