• 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 Page 1

• CHAPTER II.
• AQUEOUS ROCKS—THEIR COMPOSITION AND FORMS OF STRATIFICATION.

Mineral composition of strata — Arenaceous rocks — Argillaceous — Calcareous — Gypsum — Forms of stratification — Original horizontality — Thinning out — Diagonal arrangement — Ripple mark 10

• CHAPTER III.
• ARRANGEMENT OF FOSSILS IN STRATA—FRESHWATER AND MARINE.

Successive deposition indicated by fossils — Limestones formed of corals and shells — Proofs of gradual increase of strata derived from fossils — Serpula attached to spatangus — Wood bored by Teredina — Tripoli and semi-opal formed of infusoria — Chalk derived principally from organic bodies — Distinction of freshwater from marine formations — Genera of freshwater and land shells — Rules for recognizing marine testacea — Gyrogonite and chara — Freshwater fishes — Alternation of marine and freshwater deposits — Lym-Fiord 21

• CHAPTER IV.
• CONSOLIDATION OF STRATA AND PETRIFACTION OF FOSSILS.

Chemical and mechanical deposits — Cementing together of particles — Hardening by exposure to air — Concretionary nodules — Consolidating effects of pressure — Mineralization of organic remains — Impressions and casts how formed — Fossil wood — GÖppert's experiments — Precipitation of stony matter most rapid where putrefaction is going on — Source of lime in solution — Silex derived from decomposition of felspar — Proofs of the lapidification of some fossils soon after burial, of others when much decayed 33

• CHAPTER V.
• ELEVATION OF STRATA ABOVE THE SEA—HORIZONTAL AND INCLINED STRATIFICATION.

Why the position of marine strata, above the level of the sea, should be referred to the rising up of the land, not to the going down of the sea — Upheaval of extensive masses of horizontal strata — Inclined and vertical stratification — Anticlinal and synclinal lines — Bent strata in east of Scotland — Theory of folding by lateral movement — Creeps — Dip and strike — Structure of the Jura — Various forms of outcrop — Rocks broken by flexure — Inverted position of disturbed strata — Unconformable stratification — Hutton and Playfair on the same — Fractures of strata — Polished surfaces — Faults — Appearance of repeated alternations produced by them — Origin of great faults 44

• CHAPTER VI.
• DENUDATION.

Denudation defined — Its amount equal to the entire mass of stratified deposits in the earth's crust — Horizontal sandstone denuded in Ross-shire — Levelled surface of countries in which great faults occur — Coalbrook Dale — Denuding power of the ocean during the emergence of land — Origin of Valleys — Obliteration of sea-cliffs — Inland sea-cliffs and terraces in the Morea and Sicily — Limestone pillars at St. Mihiel, in France — in Canada — in the Bermudas 66

• CHAPTER VII.
• ALLUVIUM.

Alluvium described — Due to complicated causes — Of various ages, as shown in Auvergne — How distinguished from rocks 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. —

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