PHYSICS OF THE EARTH'S CRUST BY THE REV. OSMOND FISHER, M.A., F.G.S., RECTOR OF HARLTON, HON. FELLOW OF KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON, AND LATE SECOND EDITION, ALTERED AND ENLARGED. London: MACMILLAN AND CO. AND NEW YORK. 1889 [The Right of Translation is reserved.] First Edition, 1881. Second Edition, 1889. Cambridge: PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. AND SONS, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. QE501 1889 EARTH SCIENCES PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. FOR many years past I have been convinced that various questions of Physical Geology might be answered negatively, if not positively, by applying to them simple mathematical reasoning, and quantitative treatment. My own views have, in some respects, been greatly altered by the application of this method; and I confess that the present work contains within itself evidence of the circumstance; for not only will it be found that the views now put forward differ in some respects from those which I have previously published in contributions to scientific periodicals; but the effect of the progressive application of the quantitative method may be traced in the book itself; and the development of ideas, proposed in the earlier chapters, will sometimes be found to have taken an unexpected turn later on. This remark applies especially to certain hypotheses, which at first presented themselves in a favourable light, to account for compression and for the formation of ocean basins. It is extremely probable that, if these investigations are carried further, some of the theories now offered as fairly established, may turn out to be untenable. With a growing science like Geology this is unavoidable. On a review of what I have written, I feel how many difficulties have been left unsolved, and some which have occurred to me not even mentioned. Nevertheless I hope that this attempt will not be without a certain value in advancing the study of the Physics of the Earth's Crust. M306310 |