The Wonders of Geology

WONDERS OF GEOLOGY;

OR,

A FAMILIAR EXPOSITION

GEOLOGICAL PHENOMENA ;

BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF A COURSE OF LECTURES

DELIVERED AT BRIGHTON.

GIDEON ALGERNON MANTELL, LL.D. F.R.S.

FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS;

AND OF THE LINNEAN AND GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES OF LONDON AND CORNWALL; HONORARY MEMBER OF THE PHILOMATHIC SOCIETY OF PARIS;

OF THE ACADEMIES OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA; AND OF ARTS AND SCIENCES OF CONNECTICUT; OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA;

OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTION OF BOSTON;

OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF QUEBEC; AND OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL

SOCIETIES OF YORK, NEWCASTLE, ETC.

"Horum contemplatio multiplicem habet usum. Sunt instar nummorum memorialium, quæ de preteritis globi nostri fatis testantur, ubi omnia silent monumenta historica."-BERGMAN. Med. de Syst. Foss.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

FIRST AMERICAN, FROM THE THIRD LONDON EDITION.

A. H. MALTBY, NEWHAVEN, CONNECTICUT;
¡RELFE AND FLETCHER, LONDON.

the Work, and made such corrections and additions as the leisure moments which my professional engagements have allowed me, would permit.

The additional illustrations are both numerous and important, and I trust will be found to enhance the interest of these volumes, without having materially increased their size or price.

My geological collection, consisting of upwards of twenty thousand specimens, from which the subjects for the illustration of the Lectures were selected, was, at the period of the former editions, exhibited at Brighton by the Sussex Literary Institution, as the "Mantellian Museum." At that time I had every reason to believe that my collection would be permanently established in Sussex, and serve as the foundation for a County Museum. In that expectation I have, however, been utterly disappointed; for although I would willingly have made any pecuniary sacrifice, to accomplish what appeared to me so desirable an object, yet after the death of my noble and lamented friend, the late Earl of Egremont, the munificent patron of the Institution, the proposed measure was abandoned, and even opposed by many of its

former supporters. I have therefore, in compliance with the wishes of my scientific friends, disposed of my entire collection to the Trustees of the British Museum.

But although the main object of my labours. has thus been frustrated, and that collection, which would have been of tenfold importance if located in the district from whence it was derived, and whose physical structure it was designed to illustrate, is now broken up, and will be dispersed through the cabinets of our National Institution, yet the most interesting specimens are so unique, and so strikingly distinct from any others hitherto obtained, that they may be referred to with facility, when the gallery of organic remains in the British Museum shall be finally arranged.

I avail myself of this means to record the deep sense of obligation I feel to many excellent friends, for their strenuous and unremitting exertions to prevent the dispersion of my Museum, and establish it on a permanent basis in my native county. And although their efforts have proved unavailing, a time will assuredly come, when their endeavours to promote a taste for scientific knowledge among

the intelligent inhabitants of Sussex, and to direct attention to the investigation of its physical phenomena, will be properly appreciated, and the failure of their attempt to secure to the county a collection so rich in its peculiar fossil and mineral productions, be remembered with regret.

Should Providence allot me life and health, I purpose adding another volume to this Work, under the title of "FIRST LESSONS, or an Introduction to THE WONDERS OF GEOLOGY;" being the substance of a series of Lectures, designed for persons wholly unacquainted with the nature of geological investigations.

G. A. M.

CRESCENT LODGE, CLAPHAM COMMON,

May 1, 1839.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

VOL. I.

LECTURE I.

17. Alluvial deposits.

3. Nature of

5. Extent

1. Introductory remarks. 2. Importance of geology.

geology. 4. Harmony between revelation and geology.

of geological epochs. 6. Object of the lectures. 7. Physical struc-