Town Geology

Town Geology

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Town Geology, by Charles Kingsley
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Title: Town Geology
Author: Charles Kingsley
Release Date: November 24, 2003 [eBook #10251]
Language: English
Chatacter set encoding: US-ASCII
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOWN
GEOLOGY***
Transcribed by David Price, email [email protected]
TOWN GEOLOGY

PREFACE

This little book, including the greater part of this Preface, has shaped

itself out of lectures given to the young men of the city of Chester. But
it does not deal, in its present form, with the geology of the
neighbourhood of Chester only. I have tried so to recast it, that any
townsman, at least in the manufacturing districts of England and
Scotland, may learn from it to judge, roughly perhaps, but on the whole
accurately, of the rocks and soils of his own neighbourhood. He will
find, it is true, in these pages, little or nothing about those "Old Red
Sandstones," so interesting to a Scotchman; and he will have to bear in
mind, if he belong to the coal districts of Scotland, that the "stones in
the wall" there belong to much older rocks than those "New Red
Sandstones" of which this book treats; and that the coal measures of
Scotland, with the volcanic rocks which have disturbed them, are often
very different in appearance to the English coal measures. But he will
soon learn to distinguish the relative age of rocks by the fossils found
in them, which he can now, happily, study in many local museums; and
he may be certain, for the rest, that all rocks and soils whatsoever
which he may meet have been laid down by the agents, and according
to the laws, which I have tried to set forth in this book; and these only
require, for the learning of them, the exercise of his own observation
and common sense. I have not tried to make this a handbook of
geological facts. Such a guide (and none better) the young man will
find in Sir Charles Lyell's "Student's Elements of Geology." I have tried
rather to teach the method of geology, than its facts; to furnish the
student with a key to all geology, rough indeed and rudimentary, but
sure and sound enough, I trust, to help him to unlock most geological
problems which he may meet, in any quarter of the globe. But young
men must remember always, that neither this book, nor all the books in
the world, will make them geologists. No amount of book learning will
make a man a scientific man; nothing but patient observation, and quiet
and fair thought over what he has observed. He must go out for himself,
see for himself, compare and judge for himself, in the field, the quarry,
the cutting. He must study rocks, ores, fossils, in the nearest museum;
and thus store his head, not with words, but with facts. He must
verify--as far as he can--what he reads in books, by his own observation;
and be slow to believe anything, even on the highest scientific authority,
till he has either seen it, or something like enough to it to make it seem
to him probable, or at least possible. So, and so only, will he become a

scientific man, and a good geologist; and acquire that habit of mind by
which alone he can judge fairly and wisely of facts of any kind
whatsoever.
I say--facts of any kind whatsoever. If any of my readers should be
inclined to say to themselves: Geology may be a very pleasant study,
but I have no special fancy for it. I had rather learn something of botany,
astronomy, chemistry, or what not--I shall answer: By all means. Learn
any branch of Natural Science you will. It matters little to me which
you learn, provided you learn one at least. But bear in mind, and settle
it in your hearts, that you will learn no branch of science soundly, so as
to master it, and be able to make use of it, unless you acquire that habit
and method of mind which I am trying to teach you in this book. I have
tried to teach it you by geology, because geology is, perhaps, the
simplest and the easiest of all physical sciences. It appeals more than
any to mere common sense. It requires fewer difficult experiments, and
expensive apparatus. It requires less previous knowledge of other
sciences, whether pure or mixed; at least in its rudimentary stages. It is
more free from long and puzzling Greek and Latin