CONTENTS.
- 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]