Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Contributions to the Physical History of the British Isles: With a Dissertation on the Origin of Western Europe, and of the Atlantic Ocean
I had intended giving the title of palaeo-physio graphy of the British Islands to this volume; but certain friends in whose judgment I have the most implicit confidence assured me that no one would have the slightest conception from such a title of the contents of my book, and consequently that it would be useful only to adorn the shelves of my publishers, or of such of my private friends as I might feel disposed to present with a copy. I was aware that the term Physiography had been invented by an eminent naturalist, and I supposed that, having been popularised through the instrumentality of his pen, the reading public would have had no difficulty in discovering that palaeo-physiography meant the physiography of past geological times. But I was assured that none but a few of the most profound Greek scholars would be able to elucidate the meaning of such a terribly long word and as I was aware that, in the first place, one-half of the reading public never learn Greek at all, and that of the other half only about one per cent. Retain anything of their knowledge after leaving the halls of alma mater, I waived my predi lections in favour of the name at first proposed, and adopted the more commonplace designation which will be found on the title-page.
The volume itself, indeed, would never have seen the light had it not been for a fortunate concourse of circumstances which may be, in confidence, revealed to the inquiring public.
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