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INTRODUCTORY TEXT-BOOK

OF

GEOLOGY

GEOLOGICAL EXAMINATOR.

Under this Title, and in compliance with frequent requests from Teachers and Students, the Author has prepared for his Text-Books (Introductory and Advanced) three progressive sets of Examination, with references, in each case, to the paragraphs of the Text on which the question is founded. Adapted to three grades of proficiency, and arranged, each as far as it goes, so as to present a systematic epitome of Geology, these series of questions enable the teacher to frame his examinations with greater sequence and connection than his time will ordinarily permit, while to the student they afford a ready means of testing his own progress and proficiency.

PRICE NINEPENCE.

INTRODUCTORY TEXT-BOOK

OF

GEOLOGY

BY

DAVID PAGE, LL.D. F.G.S.

PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY IN THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE,
NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE-UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM

Author of 'Advanced Text-Book of Geology,' 'Handbook of Geological Terms and Geology,' 'Past
and Present Life of the Globe,' 'Geology for General Readers,' 'Introductory
and Advanced Text-Books of Physical Geography,' &c.

TENTH AND ENLARGED EDITION

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS

EDINBURGH AND LONDON

MDCCCLXXIII

188. g. 29.
д

"The study of the structure of the Earth must tend to enlarge the mind of man, in seeing what is past, and foreseeing what must come to pass in the economy of nature; and here is a subject in which we find an extensive field for investigation, and for pleasant satisfaction."-HUTTON'S Theory of the Earth, 1795.

PREFACE.

THE object of this little Treatise is to furnish an elementary outline of the science of Geology. In its preparation the utmost care has been taken to present a simple but accurate view of the subject, to lead the learner from things familiar to facts less obvious, and from a knowledge of facts to the consideration of the laws by which they are governed. By adopting such a method, Geology, instead of being a dry accumulation of facts, and its study a mere task of memory, becomes one of the most attractive departments of Natural Science, and affords one of the finest fields for the exercise of the observing and reflective faculties. The treatise, though initiatory, is arranged on a strictly scientific basis, the Author being convinced that the student's progress is best promoted by commencing at once with the technical treatment of his subject, and making him feel that he is step by step acquiring the power to master for himself the higher and more difficult deductions. Such a course may require closer attention, and cost him a little more labour at the outset ; but it will be found, as he advances, to be the more pleasant as well as more profitable mode of procedure. Every science, like every manual art, has a style and mode of handling peculiar to itself a fact too often lost sight of in volumes professing to be "Popular Treatises" and "Easy Introductions." A soldier does not acquire the ready use of his musket by being trained to handle a broomstick; neither can a student become familiar with the truths of his science, or be taught to apply them,

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