But he will soon learn to distinguish the
relative age of rocks by the fossils found in them, which he can now,
happily, study in many local museums; and he may be certain, for the
rest, that all rocks and soils whatsoever which he may meet have been
laid down by the agents, and according to the laws, which I have
tried to set forth in this book; and these only require, for the
learning of them, the exercise of his own observation and common
sense. I have not tried to make this a handbook of geological facts.
Such a guide (and none better) the young man will find in Sir Charles
Lyell's "Student's Elements of Geology." I have tried rather to
teach the method of geology, than its facts; to furnish the student
with a key to all geology, rough indeed and rudimentary, but sure and
sound enough, I trust, to help him to unlock most geological problems
which he may meet, in any quarter of the globe. But young men must
remember always, that neither this book, nor all the books in the
world, will make them geologists. No amount of book learning will
make a man a scientific man; nothing but patient observation, and
quiet and fair thought over what he has observed. He must go out for
himself, see for himself, compare and judge for himself, in the
field, the quarry, the cutting.
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