The Very Rev. WILLIAM BUCKLAND, D.D., F.R.S.,

DEAN OF WESTMINSTER,

PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY AT OXFORD, ETC. ETC.

MY DEAR FRIENDS,

The lapse of twenty years has only served to strengthen in my mind those sentiments which induced me to dedicate to you, conjointly, the former Edition of this Work.

Regarding, which I have never ceased to do, Chemistry as the Grammar of all those Natural Sciences with which I can pretend to an acquaintance, it is no less my desire now than heretofore to express the gratitude I feel to the Individual who was my first Instructor in that fascinating Study; and unimportant as may have been the Fruits culled by myself during occasional and somewhat desultory in. cursions into the regions of Geology, I ought not to leave out of the account the benefit I have each time derived, after several months of sedentary occupation, from change of scene and a more active mode of life, in estimating what I owe to a Pursuit, which holds out the strongest inducements to both.

Thus am I every year reminded of the obligations I am under to the Professor, whose animated pictures of the early History of the Globe, and of its successive Revolutions, first awakened my attention to this branch of Natural History, and thus not only opened to me a new and interesting Department of Chemical Research, but also supplied me with a powerful incentive to foreign travel, and to healthful bodily exertion.

In inscribing therefore these results of my labours in the field of Physical Research, to those who first taught me to reap the Harvest it affords, and even to handle the implements of my Craft, I am doing not only what is grateful to my own feelings but just also towards yourselves ; and it is my hope, that the same lapse of years, which has given to you both a more extended reputation and a higher position amongst Men of Science, may likewise have enabled me to present you with a less inappropriate homage, by so maturing my knowledge, as to render the present Edition of this Work at once more accurate in its details, and more comprehensive in its general outline, than the one that preceded it.

I remain,

My deur Friends,

Yours most faithfully,

CHARLES DAUBENY.

Oxford, Nov. 30, 1847.

PREFACE

TO THE FIRST EDITION.

a

The circumstance of a work like the present proceeding from a Professor of Chemistry seems to call for some explanation; for notwithstanding the near connexion that subsists between the latter Science and every Department of Geological inquiry, yet it must be confessed, that the Study of Volcanos embraces in itself a field of such extent, that it ought to be entered upon as a principal, rather than as a subordinate occupation.

It is fair therefore to myself to mention, that the subject was first taken up at a time when there appeared a reasonable prospect of my obtaining an appointment, which would

, have entailed the necessity of a five years' absence from my natire country.

a

The appointment in question I indeed ultimately lost, owing, as it was understood, to certain doubts that had been started with regard to my eligibility as a Candidate; but, as I had already formed the plan, and in some degree advanced in the details of the inquiry, I continued to prosecute it at intervals, not only for several years after my hopes of the situation alluded to had been frustrated, but even at a time when the office I afterwards obtained in the University of Oxford might have rendered a somewhat different line of pursuits more appropriate.

I have been obliged however in consequence to curtail in a considerable degree the scheme I had formed, which comprehended originally an examination of the Volcanos in the New, as well as of those in the Old World; and am under the necessity of now bringing forwards as a compilation, many parts of the work in which I had intended to introduce nothing but original matter.

It is satisfactory for me however to reflect, that I have visited most of the principal localities in Europe, noticed in my first two Lectures* as the seats of volcanic action, so that with respect to them, even where facts are stated which did not fall within the compass of my own observation, I have been able to ascertain, by going over the same ground, what degree of credit is due to the individuals on whose authority they are given.

In treating of the other Quarters of the Globe in which Volcanos occur, I have spared no pains in availing myself, to the best of my ability, of those resources, which a proximity to extensive public libraries has placed at my disposal, and therefore hope that this part of the work at least may be of use to future travellers ; not merely by putting before them what is already ascertained, but likewise by directing their attention to those points which still require investigation.

I venture therefore to offer these Lectures as supplying in some degree, even in their imperfect state, a deficiency long felt in the geological literature of Great Britain ; no treatise on the subject of Volcanos having appeared in this language since that of the Abbé Ordinaire, except indeed the recent publication of Mr. Poulett Scrope, which, though containing many ingenious views on the theoretical parts of the subject, is not calculated to supersede the demand for another work, expressly designed to convey a detailed statement of facts,

* Comprising what now occupies the first 300 pages of the Work.