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 in situ — River-terraces — Parallel roads of Glen Roy —
Various theories respecting their origin 79

CHAPTER VIII.

CHRONOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF ROCKS.

Aqueous, plutonic, volcanic, and metamorphic rocks, considered

chronologically — Lehman's division into primitive and
secondary — Werner's addition of a transition class —
Neptunian theory — Hutton on igneous origin of granite —
How the name of primary was still retained for granite — The
term "transition," why faulty — The adherence to the old
chronological nomenclature retarded the progress of geology
— New hypothesis invented to reconcile the igneous origin of
granite to the notion of its high antiquity — Explanation of the
chronological nomenclature adopted in this work, so far as
regards primary, secondary, and tertiary periods 89

CHAPTER IX.

ON THE DIFFERENT AGES OF THE AQUEOUS ROCKS.

On the three principal tests of relative age — superposition,

mineral character, and fossils — Change of mineral character
and fossils in the same continuous formation — Proofs that
distinct species of animals and plants have lived at successive
periods — Distinct provinces of indigenous species — Great
extent of single provinces — Similar laws prevailed at
successive geological periods — Relative importance of
mineral and palæontological characters — Test of age by
included fragments — Frequent absence of strata of
 intervening periods — Principal groups of strata in western
Europe 96

CHAPTER X.

CLASSIFICATION OF TERTIARY FORMATIONS.—POST-

PLIOCENE GROUP.

General principles of classification of tertiary strata — Detached

formations scattered over Europe — Strata of Paris and
London — More modern groups — Peculiar difficulties in
determining the chronology of tertiary formations —
Increasing proportion of living species of shells in strata of
newer origin — Terms Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene — Post-
Pliocene strata — Recent or human period — Older Post-
Pliocene formations of Naples, Uddevalla, and Norway —
Ancient upraised delta of the Mississippi — Loess of the Rhine
104

CHAPTER XI.

NEWER PLIOCENE PERIOD. — BOULDER FORMATION.

Drift of Scandinavia, northern Germany, and Russia — Its northern

origin — Not all of the same age — Fundamental rocks
polished, grooved, and scratched — Action of glaciers and
icebergs — Fossil shells of glacial period — Drift of eastern
Norfolk — Associated freshwater deposit — Bent and folded
strata lying on undisturbed beds — Shells on Moel Tryfane —
Ancient glaciers of North Wales — Irish drift 121

CHAPTER XII.
 BOULDER FORMATION—continued.

Difficulty of interpreting the phenomena of drift before the glacial

hypothesis was adopted — Effects of intense cold in
augmenting the quantity of alluvium — Analogy of erratics
and scored rocks in North America and Europe — Bayfield on
shells in drift of Canada — Great subsidence and re-elevation
of land from the sea, required to account for glacial
appearances — Why organic remains so rare in northern drift
— Mastodon giganteus in United States — Many shells and
some quadrupeds survived the glacial cold — Alps an
independent centre of dispersion of erratics — Alpine blocks
on the Jura — Recent transportation of erratics from the
Andes to Chiloe — Meteorite in Asiatic drift 131

CHAPTER XIII.

NEWER PLIOCENE STRATA AND CAVERN DEPOSITS.

Chronological classification of Pleistocene formations, why difficult

— Freshwater deposits in valley of Thames — In Norfolk cliffs
— In Patagonia — Comparative longevity of species in the
mammalia and testacea — Fluvio-marine crag of Norwich —
Newer Pliocene strata of Sicily — Limestone of great thickness
and elevation — Alternation of marine and volcanic
formations — Proofs of slow accumulation — Great
geographical changes in Sicily since the living fauna and flora
began to exist — Osseous breccias and cavern deposits —
Sicily — Kirkdale — Origin of stalactite — Australian cave-
breccias — Geographical relationship of the provinces of living
vertebrata and those of the fossil species of the Pliocene
periods — Extinct struthious birds of New Zealand — Teeth of
fossil quadrupeds 146
 CHAPTER XIV.

OLDER PLIOCENE AND MIOCENE FORMATIONS.

Strata of Suffolk termed Red and Coralline crag — Fossils, and

proportion of recent species — Depth of sea and climate —
Reference of Suffolk crag to the older Pliocene period —
Migration of many species of shells southwards during the
glacial period — Fossil whales — Subapennine beds — Asti,
Sienna, Rome — Miocene formations — Faluns of Touraine —
Depth of sea and littoral character of fauna — Tropical climate
implied by the testacea — Proportion of recent species of
shells — Faluns more ancient than the Suffolk crag —
Miocene strata of Bordeaux and Piedmont — Molasse of
Switzerland — Tertiary strata of Lisbon — Older Pliocene and
Miocene formations in the United States — Sewâlik Hills in
India 161

CHAPTER XV.

UPPER EOCENE FORMATIONS.

Eocene areas in England and France — Tabular view of French

Eocene strata — Upper Eocene group of the Paris basin —
Same beds in Belgium and at Berlin — Mayence tertiary strata
— Freshwater upper Eocene of Central France — Series of
geographical changes since the land emerged in Auvergne —
Mineral character an uncertain test of age — Marls containing
Cypris — Oolite of Eocene period — Indusial limestone and its
origin — Fossil mammalia of the upper Eocene strata in
Auvergne — Freshwater strata of the Cantal, calcareous and
siliceous — Its resemblance to chalk — Proofs of gradual
deposition of strata 174
 CHAPTER XVI.

EOCENE FORMATIONS—continued.

Subdivisions of the Eocene group in the Paris basin — Gypseous

series — Extinct quadrupeds — Impulse given to geology by
Cuvier's osteological discoveries — Shelly sands called sables
moyens — Calcaire grossier — Miliolites — Calcaire siliceux —
Lower Eocene in France — Lits coquilliers — Sands and plastic
clay — English Eocene strata — Freshwater and fluvio-marine
beds — Barton beds — Bagshot and Bracklesham division —
Large ophidians and saurians — Lower Eocene and London
Clay proper — Fossil plants and shells — Strata of Kyson in
Suffolk — Fossil monkey and opossum — Mottled clays and
sand below London Clay — Nummulitic formation of Alps and
Pyrenees — Its wide geographical extent — Eocene strata in
the United States — Section at Claiborne, Alabama — Colossal
cetacean — Orbitoid limestone — Burr stone 190

CHAPTER XVII.

CRETACEOUS GROUP.

Divisions of the cretaceous series in North-Western Europe —

Upper cretaceous strata — Maestricht beds — Chalk of Faxoe
— White chalk — Characteristic fossils — Extinct cephalopoda
— Sponges and corals of the chalk — Signs of open and deep
sea — White area of white chalk — Its origin from corals and
shells — Single pebbles in chalk — Siliceous sandstone in
Germany contemporaneous with white chalk — Upper
greensand and gault — Lower cretaceous strata — Atherfield
section, Isle of Wight — Chalk of South of Europe — Hippurite
limestone — Cretaceous Flora — Chalk of United States 209
 CHAPTER XVIII.

WEALDEN GROUP.

The Wealden divisible into Weald Clay, Hastings Sand, and

Purbeck Beds — Intercalated between two marine formations
— Weald clay and Cypris-bearing strata — Iguanodon —
Hastings sands — Fossil fish — Strata formed in shallow water
— Brackish water-beds — Upper, middle, and lower Purbeck
— Alternations of brackish water, freshwater, and land — Dirt-
bed, or ancient soil — Distinct species of fossils in each
subdivision of the Wealden — Lapse of time implied — Plants
and insects of Wealden — Geographical extent of Wealden —
Its relation to the cretaceous and oolitic periods —
Movements in the earth's crust to which it owed its origin and
submergence 225

CHAPTER XIX.

DENUDATION OF THE CHALK AND WEALDEN.

Physical geography of certain districts composed of Cretaceous

and Wealden strata — Lines of inland chalk-cliffs on the Seine
in Normandy — Outstanding pillars and needles of chalk —
Denudation of the chalk and Wealden in Surrey, Kent, and
Sussex — Chalk once continuous from the North to the South
Downs — Anticlinal axis and parallel ridges — Longitudinal
and transverse valleys — Chalk escarpments — Rise and
denudation of the strata gradual — Ridges formed by harder,
valleys by softer beds — Why no alluvium, or wreck of the
chalk, in the central district of the Weald — At what periods
the Weald valley was denuded — Land has most prevailed
where denudation has been greatest — Elephant bed,
Brighton 238
 CHAPTER XX.

OOLITE AND LIAS.

Subdivisions of the Oolitic or Jurassic group — Physical geography

of the Oolite in England and France — Upper Oolite —
Portland stone and fossils — Lithographic stone of Solenhofen
— Middle Oolite, coral rag — Zoophytes — Nerinæan
limestone — Diceras limestone — Oxford clay, Ammonites and
Belemnites — Lower Oolite, Crinoideans — Great Oolite and
Bradford clay — Stonesfield slate — Fossil mammalia,
placental and marsupial — Resemblance to an Australian
fauna — Doctrine of progressive development — Collyweston
slates — Yorkshire Oolitic coal-field — Brora coal — Inferior
Oolite and fossils 257

CHAPTER XXI.

OOLITE AND LIAS—continued.

Mineral character of Lias — Name of Gryphite limestone — Fossil

shells and fish — Ichthyodorulites — Reptiles of the Lias —
Ichthyosaur and Plesiosaur — Marine Reptile of the Galapagos
Islands — Sudden destruction and burial of fossil animals in
Lias — Fluvio-marine beds in Gloucestershire and insect
limestone — Origin of the Oolite and Lias, and of alternating
calcareous and argillaceous formations — Oolitic coal-field of
Virginia, in the United States 273

CHAPTER XXII.

TRIAS OR NEW RED SANDSTONE GROUP.

Distinction between New and Old Red Sandstone — Between
Upper and Lower New Red — The Trias and its three divisions
— Most largely developed in Germany — Keuper and its
fossils — Muschelkalk — Fossil plants of Bunter — Triassic
group in England — Bone-bed of Axmouth and Aust — Red
Sandstone of Warwickshire and Cheshire — Footsteps of
Chirotherium in England and Germany — Osteology of the
Labyrinthodon — Identification of this Batrachian with the
Chirotherium — Origin of Red Sandstone and rock-salt —
Hypothesis of saline volcanic exhalations — Theory of the
precipitation of salt from inland lakes or lagoons — Saltness
of the Red Sea — New Red Sandstone in the United States —
Fossil footprints of birds and reptiles in the Valley of the
Connecticut — Antiquity of the Red Sandstone containing
them 286

CHAPTER XXIII.

PERMIAN OR MAGNESIAN LIMESTONE GROUP.

Fossils of Magnesian Limestone and Lower New Red distinct from

the Triassic — Term Permian — English and German
equivalents — Marine shells and corals of English Magnesian
limestone — Palæoniscus and other fish of the marl slate —
Thecodont Saurians of dolomitic conglomerate of Bristol —
Zechstein and Rothliegendes of Thuringia — Permian Flora —
Its generic affinity to the carboniferous — Psaronites or tree-
ferns 301

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE COAL OR CARBONIFEROUS GROUP.

Carboniferous strata in the south-west of England — Superposition
of Coal-measures to Mountain limestone — Departure from
this type in north of England and Scotland — Section in South
Wales — Underclays with Stigmaria — Carboniferous Flora —
Ferns, Lepidodendra, Calamites, Asterophyllites, Sigillariæ,
Stigmariæ, — Coniferæ — Endogens — Absence of Exogens
— Coal, how formed — Erect fossil trees — Parkfield Colliery
— St. Etienne, Coal-field — Oblique trees or snags — Fossil
forests in Nova Scotia — Brackish water and marine strata —
Origin of Clay-iron-stone 308

CHAPTER XXV.

CARBONIFEROUS GROUP—continued.

Coal-fields of the United States — Section of the country between

the Atlantic and Mississippi — Position of land in the
carboniferous period eastward of the Alleghanies —
Mechanically formed rocks thinning out westward, and
limestones thickening — Uniting of many coal-seams into one
thick one — Horizontal coal at Brownsville, Pennsylvania —
Vast extent and continuity of single seams of coal — Ancient
river-channel in Forest of Dean coal-field — Absence of earthy
matter in coal — Climate of carboniferous period — Insects in
coal — Rarity of air-breathing animals — Great number of
fossil fish — First discovery of the skeletons of fossil reptiles
— Footprints of reptilians — Mountain limestone — Its corals
and marine shells 326

CHAPTER XXVI.

OLD RED SANDSTONE, OR DEVONIAN GROUP.

Old Red Sandstone of Scotland, and borders of Wales — Fossils
usually rare — "Old Red" in Forfarshire — Ichthyolites of
Caithness — Distinct lithological type of Old Red in Devon and
Cornwall — Term "Devonian" — Organic remains of
intermediate character between those of the Carboniferous
and Silurian systems — Corals and shells — Devonian strata
of Westphalia, the Eifel, Russia, and the United States —
Coral reef at Falls of the Ohio — Devonian Flora 342

CHAPTER XXVII.

SILURIAN GROUP.

Silurian strata formerly called transition — Term grauwacké —

Subdivisions of Upper and Lower Silurian — Ludlow formation
and fossils — Wenlock formation, corals and shells — Caradoc
and Llandeilo beds — Graptolites — Lingula — Trilobites —
Cystideæ — Vast thickness of Silurian strata in North Wales —
Unconformability of Caradoc sandstone — Silurian strata of
the United States — Amount of specific agreement of fossils
with those of Europe — Great number of brachiopods —
Deep-sea origin of Silurian strata — Absence of fluviatile
formations — Mineral character of the most ancient
fossiliferous rocks 350

CHAPTER XXVIII.

VOLCANIC ROCKS.

Trap rocks — Name, whence derived — Their igneous origin at

first doubted — Their general appearance and character —
Volcanic cones and craters, how formed — Mineral
composition and texture of volcanic rocks — Varieties of
 felspar — Hornblende and augite — Isomorphism — Rocks,
how to be studied — Basalt, greenstone, trachyte, porphyry,
scoria, amygdaloid, lava, tuff — Alphabetical list, and
explanation of names and synonyms, of volcanic rocks —
Table of the analyses of minerals most abundant in the
volcanic and hypogene rocks 366

CHAPTER XXIX.

VOLCANIC ROCKS—continued.

Trap dike — sometimes project — sometimes leave fissures vacant

by decomposition — Branches and veins of trap — Dikes
more crystalline in the centre — Foreign fragments of rock
imbedded — Strata altered at or near the contact —
Obliteration of organic remains — Conversion of chalk into
marble — and of coal into coke — Inequality in the modifying
influence of dikes — Trap interposed between strata —
Columnar and globular structure — Relation of trappean rocks
to the products of active volcanos — Submarine lava and
ejected matter correspond generally to ancient trap —
Structure and physical features of Palma and some other
extinct volcanos 378

CHAPTER XXX.

ON THE DIFFERENT AGES OF THE VOLCANIC ROCKS.

Tests of relative age of volcanic rocks — Test by superposition and

intrusion — Dike of Quarrington Hill, Durham — Test by
alteration of rocks in contact — Test by organic remains —
Test of age by mineral character — Test by included
fragments — Volcanic rocks of the Post-Pliocene period —
 Basalt of Bay of Trezza in Sicily — Post-Pliocene volcanic rocks
near Naples — Dikes of Somma — Igneous formations of the
Newer Pliocene period — Val di Noto in Sicily 397

CHAPTER XXXI.

ON THE DIFFERENT AGES OF THE VOLCANIC ROCKS—

continued.

Volcanic rocks of the Older Pliocene period — Tuscany — Rome —

Volcanic region of Olot in Catalonia — Cones and lava-
currents — Ravines and ancient gravel-beds — Jets of air
called Bufadors — Age of the Catalonian volcanos — Miocene
period — Brown-coal of the Eifel and contemporaneous
trachytic breccias — Age of the brown-coal — Peculiar
characters of the volcanos of the upper and lower Eifel —
Lake craters — Trass — Hungarian volcanos 408

CHAPTER XXXII.

ON THE DIFFERENT AGES OF THE VOLCANIC ROCKS—

continued.

Volcanic rocks of the Pliocene and Miocene periods continued —

Auvergne — Mont Dor — Breccias and alluviums of Mont
Perrier, with bones of quadrupeds — River dammed up by
lava-current — Range of minor cones from Auvergne to the
Vivarais — Monts Dome — Puy de Côme — Puy de Pariou —
Cones not denuded by general flood — Velay — Bones of
quadrupeds buried in scoriæ — Cantal — Eocene volcanic
rocks — Tuffs near Clermont — Hill of Gergovia — Trap of
Cretaceous period — Oolitic period — New Red Sandstone
period — Carboniferous period — Old Red Sandstone period
 — "Rock and Spindle" near St. Andrews — Silurian period —
Cambrian volcanic rocks 422

CHAPTER XXXIII.

PLUTONIC ROCKS—GRANITE.

General aspect of granite — Decomposing into spherical masses

— Rude columnar structure — Analogy and difference of
volcanic and plutonic formations — Minerals in granite, and
their arrangement — Graphic and porphyritic granite —
Mutual penetration of crystals of quartz and felspar —
Occasional minerals — Syenite — Syenitic, talcose, and
schorly granites — Eurite — Passage of granite into trap —
Examples near Christiania and in Aberdeenshire — Analogy in
composition of trachyte and granite — Granite veins in Glen
Tilt, Cornwall, the Valorsine, and other countries — Different
composition of veins from main body of granite —
Metalliferous veins in strata near their junction with granite —
Apparent isolation of nodules of granite — Quartz veins —
Whether plutonic rocks are ever overlying — Their exposure
at the surface due to denudation 436

CHAPTER XXXIV.

ON THE DIFFERENT AGES OF THE PLUTONIC ROCKS.

Difficulty in ascertaining the precise age of a plutonic rock — Test

of age by relative position — Test by intrusion and alteration
— Test by mineral composition — Test by included fragments
— Recent and Pliocene plutonic rocks, why invisible —
Tertiary plutonic rocks in the Andes — Granite altering
Cretaceous rocks — Granite altering Lias in the Alps and in
 Skye — Granite of Dartmoor altering Carboniferous strata —
Granite of the Old Red Sandstone period — Syenite altering
Silurian strata in Norway — Blending of the same with gneiss
— Most ancient plutonic rocks — Granite protruded in a solid
form — On the probable age of the granites of Arran, in
Scotland 449

CHAPTER XXXV.

METAMORPHIC ROCKS.

General character of metamorphic rocks — Gneiss — Hornblende-

schist — Mica-schist — Clay-slate — Quartzite — Chlorite-
schist — Metamorphic limestone — Alphabetical list and
explanation of other rocks of this family — Origin of the
metamorphic strata — Their stratification is real and distinct
from cleavage — Joints and slaty cleavage — Supposed
causes of these structures — how far connected with
crystalline action 463

CHAPTER XXXVI.

METAMORPHIC ROCKS—continued.

Strata near some intrusive masses of granite converted into rocks

identical with different members of the metamorphic series —
Arguments hence derived as to the nature of plutonic action
— Time may enable this action to pervade denser masses —
From what kinds of sedimentary rock each variety of the
metamorphic class may be derived — Certain objections to
the metamorphic theory considered — Lamination of trachyte
and obsidian due to motion — Whether some kinds of gneiss
have become schistose by a similar action 473
 CHAPTER XXXVII.

ON THE DIFFERENT AGES OF THE METAMORPHIC ROCKS.

Age of each set of metamorphic strata twofold — Test of age by

fossils and mineral character not available — Test by
superposition ambiguous — Conversion of dense masses of
fossiliferous strata into metamorphic rocks — Limestone and
shale of Carrara — Metamorphic strata of modern periods in
the Alps of Switzerland and Savoy — Why the visible
crystalline strata are none of them very modern — Order of
succession in metamorphic rocks — Uniformity of mineral
character — Why the metamorphic strata are less calcareous
than the fossiliferous 481

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

MINERAL VEINS.

Werner's doctrine that mineral veins were fissures filled from

above — Veins of segregation — Ordinary metalliferous veins
or lodes — Their frequent coincidence with faults — Proofs
that they originated in fissures in solid rock — Veins shifting
other veins — Polishing of their walls — Shells and pebbles in
lodes — Evidence of the successive enlargement and re-
opening of veins — Fournet's observations in Auvergne —
Dimensions of veins — Why some alternately swell out and
contract — Filling of lodes by sublimation from below —
Chemical and electrical action — Relative age of the precious
metals — Copper and lead veins in Ireland older than Cornish
tin — Lead vein in lias, Glamorganshire — Gold in Russia —
Connection of hot springs and mineral veins — Concluding
remarks 488
Dates of the successive Editions of the "Principles"
and "Elements" (or Manual) of Geology, by the
Author.

Principles, 1st vol. in octavo,

Jan. 1830.
published in
——, 2d vol. do. Jan. 1832.
——, 1st vol. 2d edition in octavo 1832.
——, 2d vol. 2d edition do. Jan. 1833.
——, 3d vol. 1st edition do. May 1833.
——, New edition (called the 3d) of
May 1834.
the whole work in 4 vols. 12mo.
——, 4th edition, 4 vols. 12mo. June 1835.
——, 5th edition, do. do. Mar. 1837.
Elements, 1st edition in one vol. July 1838.
Principles, 6th edition, 3 vols. 12mo. June 1840.
Elements, 2d edition in 2 vols. 12mo. July 1841.
Principles, 7th edition in one vol.
Feb. 1847.
8vo.
——, 8th edition, now published in
May 1850.
one vol. 8vo.
Manual of Elementary Geology (or
"Elements," 3d edition), now Jan. 1851.
published in one vol. 8vo.

Works by Sir Charles Lyell.

I.
RAVELS IN NORTH AMERICA,—1841-2. With Geological
Observations on the United States, Canada, and Nova Scotia.
With large coloured geological Map and Plates. 2 vols. post
8vo. 21s.

II.
SECOND VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES,—1845-6. Second Edition.
2 vols. post 8vo. 18s.

III.
RINCIPLES OF GEOLOGY; or the Modern Changes of the Earth and
its Inhabitants considered, as illustrative of Geology. Eighth
Edition, thoroughly revised. With Maps, Plates, and Woodcuts.
8vo. 18s.

IV.
MANUAL OF ELEMENTARY GEOLOGY; or the ANCIENT CHANGES of
the Earth and its Inhabitants, as illustrated by Geological
Monuments. Fourth Edition. Thoroughly revised. With 531
Woodcuts and Plates. 8vo. 12s.

MANUAL OF ELEMENTARY GEOLOGY.

 CHAPTER I.

ON THE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF ROCKS.

Geology defined — Successive formation of the earth's crust —

Classification of rocks according to their origin and age —
Aqueous rocks — Their stratification and imbedded fossils
— Volcanic rocks, with and without cones and craters —
Plutonic rocks, and their relation to the volcanic —
Metamorphic rocks and their probable origin — The term
primitive, why erroneously applied to the crystalline
formations — Leading division of the work.

Of what materials is the earth composed, and in what manner are

these materials arranged? These are the first inquiries with which
Geology is occupied, a science which derives its name from the
Greek γῆ, ge, the earth, and λογος, logos, a discourse. Previously to
experience we might have imagined that investigations of this kind
would relate exclusively to the mineral kingdom, and to the various
rocks, soils, and metals, which occur upon the surface of the earth,
or at various depths beneath it. But, in pursuing such researches, we
soon find ourselves led on to consider the successive changes which
have taken place in the former state of the earth's surface and
interior, and the causes which have given rise to these changes; and,
what is still more singular and unexpected, we soon become
engaged in researches into the history of the animate creation, or of
the various tribes of animals and plants which have, at different
periods of the past, inhabited the globe.

All are aware that the solid parts of the earth consist of distinct
substances, such as clay, chalk, sand, limestone, coal, slate, granite,
and the like; but previously to observation it is commonly imagined
that all these had remained from the first in the state in which we
now see them,—that they were created in their present form, and in
their present position. The geologist soon comes to a different
conclusion, discovering proofs that the external parts of the earth
were not all produced in the beginning of things, in the state in
which we now behold them, nor in an instant of time. On the
contrary, he can show that they have acquired their actual
configuration and condition gradually, under a great variety of
circumstances, and at successive periods, during each of which
distinct races of living beings have flourished on the land and in the
waters, the remains of these creatures still lying buried in the crust
of the earth.

By the "earth's crust," is meant that small portion of the exterior

of our planet which is accessible to human observation, or on which
we are enabled to reason by observations made at or near the
surface. These reasonings may extend to a depth of several miles,
perhaps ten miles; and even then it may be said, that such a
thickness is no more than 1/400 part of the distance from the
surface to the centre. The remark is just; but although the
dimensions of such a crust are, in truth, insignificant when compared
to the entire globe, yet they are vast, and of magnificent extent in
relation to man, and to the organic beings which people our globe.
Referring to this standard of magnitude, the geologist may admire
the ample limits of his domain, and admit, at the same time, that
not only the exterior of the planet, but the entire earth, is but an
atom in the midst of the countless worlds surveyed by the
astronomer.
 The materials of this crust are not thrown together confusedly;
but distinct mineral masses, called rocks, are found to occupy
definite spaces, and to exhibit a certain order of arrangement. The
term rock is applied indifferently by geologists to all these
substances, whether they be soft or stony, for clay and sand are
included in the term, and some have even brought peat under this
denomination. Our older writers endeavoured to avoid offering such
violence to our language, by speaking of the component materials of
the earth as consisting of rocks and soils. But there is often so
insensible a passage from a soft and incoherent state to that of
stone, that geologists of all countries have found it indispensable to
have one technical term to include both, and in this sense we find
roche applied in French, rocca in Italian, and felsart in German. The
beginner, however, must constantly bear in mind, that the term rock
by no means implies that a mineral mass is in an indurated or stony
condition.

The most natural and convenient mode of classifying the various

rocks which compose the earth's crust, is to refer, in the first place,
to their origin, and in the second to their relative age. I shall
therefore begin by endeavouring briefly to explain to the student
how all rocks may be divided into four great classes by reference to
their different origin, or, in other words, by reference to the different
circumstances and causes by which they have been produced.

The first two divisions, which will at once be understood as

natural, are the aqueous and volcanic, or the products of watery and
those of igneous action at or near the surface.

Aqueous rocks.—The aqueous rocks, sometimes called the

sedimentary, or fossiliferous, cover a larger part of the earth's
surface than any others. These rocks are stratified, or divided into
distinct layers, or strata. The term stratum means simply a bed, or
any thing spread out or strewed over a given surface; and we infer
that these strata have been generally spread out by the action of
water, from what we daily see taking place near the mouths of